1 Coríntios 6
Theophylact of Ohrid
1 Coríntios 6:1
Many were litigating in monetary disputes before Greek judges, as experts in law. Therefore he endeavors to correct this evil, which came to his mind incidentally. For having mentioned the covetous, he suddenly boiled over with zealous concern for those infected with such a sin. And see what indignation he shows from the very beginning, calling this matter audacity and lawlessness. He did not say: before the unbelievers, but: "before the unrighteous"; for everyone who litigates usually seeks justice, therefore the apostle shows that they will not find it, because the Greek judges are unrighteous, he says, so how will they judge you justly? He calls the faithful saints, showing by the very names the distinction between the former and the latter; for the ones are unrighteous, while the others are holy. — Commentary on 1 Corinthians
1 Coríntios 6:2
Since the faithful, as unlearned people, seemed incapable of judging disputes, he imparts to them weight and importance: first, he called them saints, then said that they will judge the world. This should not, however, be understood as though they will occupy the seats of judges and pronounce verdicts (the Lord will judge); no, they will only condemn (κατακρινοῦσιν). Indeed, if they, being like all others, turned out to be believers, while those others did not believe, is this not a condemnation of the unbelievers? Look, he did not say: will receive judgment from you, but "will be judged by you"; because you, having believed, were an example for the world. The saying "are unworthy to judge trivial matters" has this meaning: it seems the Corinthians were ashamed to be judged by those within; therefore he says: on the contrary, it is shameful for you when you are judged before those without; for those courts are bad, and not such as those within. — Commentary on 1 Corinthians
1 Coríntios 6:3
Angels he calls the demons. So then, we shall judge even the demons if, despite being clothed in flesh, we prove ourselves more perfect than they who have no flesh. — Commentary on 1 Corinthians
1 Coríntios 6:4-5
Wishing to turn them away from external courts, he says: perhaps someone will say that in the Church there is no one wise who could adjudicate disputes. But if, in your opinion, there is not a single wise person in the Church, then it is better to appoint as judges those who are of lesser account than unbelievers. However, I said this to your shame, if indeed there are so few wise among you that judgments must be carried out by simple and uneducated people. He added the words "between his brothers" in order to show that in such a case, when there is a dispute with a brother, extensive knowledge is not needed, because brotherly disposition contributes most of all to the resolution of the quarrel. — Commentary on 1 Corinthians
1 Coríntios 6:6
A twofold evil: one is that it is conducted against a brother, and the other is that it is conducted before unbelievers. — Commentary on 1 Corinthians
1 Coríntios 6:7
Previously he forbade going to court before unbelievers, and now he forbids judgment itself, saying: "and this is already very degrading for you," that is, reprehensible and shameful, "that you have lawsuits," that is, disputed matters, with one another (this is what the words "among yourselves" mean). The Apostle said this with particular expressiveness, for we Christians must regard one another as brothers. — Commentary on 1 Corinthians
1 Coríntios 6:7-8
Many accusations. The first is that they do not know how to endure wrongs; the second is that, on the contrary, they themselves commit wrongs; the third is that they wrong their brothers. It would be good, he says, both not to wrong others and not to suffer wrongs; but if one must choose one of the two, it is better to suffer wrongs. — Commentary on 1 Corinthians
1 Coríntios 6:9
He concludes the exhortation with a threat, intensifying his speech and asking them about a matter known to all. Here he hints at those of the Corinthians who said that God is loving of mankind and will not punish, but will bring them into the Kingdom. Therefore he says: "do not be deceived": for indeed it is clear self-delusion and error to expect all manner of blessings here, and there to be subjected to punishment. He puts the one who is already condemned in first place. Those who have shameful things done to them he calls "malakoi," and then he goes on to list those who do the shameful things. — Commentary on 1 Corinthians
1 Coríntios 6:9-10
Many ask why he placed drunkards and revilers alongside idolaters and those who commit abominable deeds? Because Christ also declared worthy of gehenna the one who says to his brother "fool" (Matt. 5:22), and because again the Jews went from drunkenness to idolatry. Furthermore, the discussion here is not about punishment, but about the loss of the Kingdom; and the Kingdom is equally forfeited by all such sinners, but whether there will be a distinction in their punishments — this is not the place to discuss. — Commentary on 1 Corinthians
1 Coríntios 6:11
Consider, he says, from what evils He freed you and what blessings God bestowed upon you. You too were subject to all the vices enumerated above, but He cleansed you from them, and not only cleansed you, but also sanctified you. In what way? By justifying you; first He washed you, then, having justified you, He sanctified you, not in the name of this or that teacher, but in the name of Christ and by the Holy Spirit. That is, the Trinity bestowed these blessings upon you; for in saying that God sanctified in the name of Christ and by the Holy Spirit, he expresses nothing other than precisely the Trinity. — Commentary on 1 Corinthians
1 Coríntios 6:12
Since he had spoken before about the fornicator and will soon speak about him again, he introduces a discussion about gluttony as well: for the passion of fornication arises chiefly from gluttony. So he says: it is permitted for me to eat and drink, but it is harmful for me to partake of food and drink beyond measure. I, he says, am master over food and drink; but if I use them immoderately, from a master I will become their slave. For whoever uses them as one ought is master over them; on the contrary, whoever falls into excess is no longer a master but their slave, because in that case overindulgence becomes his tyrant. Do you see how the one who considered himself a ruler, the apostle showed to be ruled? Look: each of the Corinthians was saying, "it is lawful for me to give myself over to pleasures"; but the apostle says: you give yourself over to them not because you have power over them, but because you yourself are subject to their power. For as long as you remain intemperate, it is not you who have power over the belly, but the belly over you. — Commentary on 1 Corinthians
1 Coríntios 6:13
By "belly" he means gluttony, not a member of our body; and by "food" he means the immoderate use of food. So the meaning of the words is this: the immoderate use of food is in friendship and kinship with gluttony, and vice versa. Neither one can bring us to Christ; on the contrary, they mutually pass those devoted to them from one to the other — immoderation to gluttony, and gluttony to immoderation. Not the belly, but gluttony, and not food, but immoderation in food. In the word "will destroy" some see a prediction about the state of the future age, that is, that there will be no need there for either food or drink. And if even the moderate use of food will have no place there, then all the more does He abolish immoderation and gluttony. Having said that together with the abolition of food the belly too will be abolished, he expressed the thought that together with satiation the desire for more ceases. According to others, however, he sealed his exhortation with a prayer that immoderation and gluttony would be abolished, that is, would cease. From these words it is evident that the apostle speaks about gluttony in connection with his discourse on fornication. For he should have said: the body is not for meats nor for the belly. But he did not say this, but what? "Not for fornication," showing what is the consequence of bodily pleasures, namely fornication. And the meaning of his words is this: the body, he says, was not created to be drowned in pleasures and to fall into fornication, but so that it might obey Christ as its head, and the Lord would govern it as the head. — Commentary on 1 Corinthians
1 Coríntios 6:14
Do not be troubled upon hearing that God raised the Lord; for the apostle speaks thus, condescending to them as to infants. And since concerning the Father, as the source, all unanimously held the highest conceptions, the apostle attributes the resurrection to the Father and declares that He will raise us also. For just as He raised our head, I mean Christ, so He will raise the remaining members of the body, that is, us. Furthermore, in confirmation of his words he added: "by His power," as if saying: do not doubt what I say, for the power of God, which accomplishes great things, will fulfill this also. And that he attributes the resurrection of Christ to the Father as the cause is evident from what the Lord said concerning Himself: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (John 2:19). And again it is written of Him that He presented Himself alive (Acts 1:3). Thus, although He Himself also raised Himself, yet this deed is ascribed to the Father as the cause. — Commentary on 1 Corinthians
1 Coríntios 6:15
Again he returns to the previously proposed exhortation concerning fornication. Meanwhile, he arms his discourse with great terrors. He did not say: to unite with a harlot, but, what is more terrible, "to make them members of a harlot." Indeed, who would not be horrified, hearing these words, that is, to tear away the members from Christ and make them members of a harlot? — Commentary on 1 Corinthians
1 Coríntios 6:15-16
The cited passage shows what was stated, that is, in what manner the members of Christ become members of a harlot. Through intercourse, he says, a man becomes one with a harlot; therefore his members, which were members of Christ, become members of a harlot. — Commentary on 1 Corinthians
1 Coríntios 6:17
See how by the very names of the harlot and of Christ he continues and intensifies the accusation. He says that "he who is joined to the Lord" becomes nothing other than "spirit," since he does nothing carnal — that is, he becomes spiritual. For union with the Lord grants him the sanctification of the Spirit. In these words he also showed how the faithful become members of Christ. — Commentary on 1 Corinthians
1 Coríntios 6:18
He prescribes to flee from fornication as from a kind of persecutor, from whom we cannot be safe for even a single moment, and to strain every effort to abstain from it. Fornication, he says, defiles the entire body, which is why those who have committed fornication usually go to the baths as well, testifying thereby that their body has been defiled. Thus the fornicator sins against his own body, defiling and soiling it. Although murder, it seems, is also committed with the body, yet it does not defile the entire body; for one can throw a stone, or a piece of wood, or some other object, but it is impossible to commit fornication without the body: therefore it is always defiled. However, the apostle's intention was to present the gravity of this sin in an exaggerated manner, since his present exhortation concerns it; for fornication is by no means a vice worse than all other vices. I know other explanations on this subject as well. One is the following: the fornicator sins against his own body in the sense that he does not unite for the purpose of producing children, as in union with a lawful wife, but needlessly ruins it by the emission of seed and thereby weakens it. Another explanation: the fornicator sins against the woman with whom he unites, since she becomes his body through this, and therefore if he unites with her unlawfully, he sins against her. However, the explanation of the great John Chrysostom is better than all of them: I mean the first explanation. Furthermore, some raise a doubt and ask: what then? Does not envy also dry out the body? And they resolve this question as follows: envy is a passion, not an action. But the apostle is now speaking of action (for here are his words: "every sin that a man commits"), not of passion. Indeed, envy is not produced by us, but occurs within us. — Commentary on 1 Corinthians
1 Coríntios 6:19
He frightens them even more—both by the greatness of the gift, that is, the Spirit, and by the dignity of the one who bestowed the gift, that is, God. You, he says, are a temple, and moreover a holy one, for you are a temple of the Holy Spirit. Do not defile the holy temple, then, and do not render the gift of God useless; for from God you have the gift and the Spirit. — Commentary on 1 Corinthians
1 Coríntios 6:19-20
You, he says, are under the Master and have nothing of your own; the body itself is not yours. "For you were bought with a dear price," that is, with the Blood of Christ. Therefore your members are subject to another Master, and to whatever is pleasing to Him, to that you must direct their activity. In saying this, he does not abolish free will, but shows that God, by Whom we have been redeemed, rightfully demands from us service to Himself. — Commentary on 1 Corinthians
1 Coríntios 6:20
So, since you have been bought, he says, glorify God in your body, that is, by performing good deeds with the body and keeping it holy and pure. For the glorification of God consists in people seeing your good deeds and as a result glorifying Him. He shows that one must flee fornication not only with the body, but also with the soul, so as not to be defiled even in thought (for by "soul" he meant the mind). In the Gospel (Matt. 5:28) even that adultery which remains only in the heart is forbidden. You are not your own, he continually reminds, but are under the dominion of God, Who redeemed both our soul and our body. — Commentary on 1 Corinthians