1 Corinthians chapter 6

vs 1

This is proof perfect that this church was messed up. They had people sueing each other! There are just so many problems with this, and Paul is going to lay them all out for them. But his overarching idea is that judgement between two believers should be done by believers.

vs 2

And the reason for this is that the godly will in the end times bring judgement on the rest of the world. So if that is the case in the world to come, then why can't Christians sort stuff out between themselves today? I mean, when you compare things of eternal significance (which will be judged at the end) with things today, surely we can handle them?

vs 3

I wasn't aware of this, and I hope the Corinthians weren't either (that would make me feel better). But Paul seems to know this somehow. The idea being that if we will judge heavenly things, surely we can judge earthly things.

vs 4

There is a question as to whether this statement is in a questioning voice or a commanding voice. I think it would be more of a problem if the next verse didn't say that Paul was saying this to shame the Corinthians. Either way, I still think the interpretation that people of little account in the church should be able to make these judgements, because of all the facts that Paul has already brought up.

vs 5

The shameful thing is that if they are not solving their own problems, that points to the fact that no one in the church is smart enough to even be able to do that (as if the people outside the church are smarter by default or something). Of course this is a shame to the Corinthians, who have already been talking about how wise they are.

vs 6

Instead of following the laws of Christ in relation to how we treat each other, these Christians are appealing to secular law, which in fact makes it a "higher law" to them, and makes non-Christians think that this must be the only way to solve problems between Christians, because they can't seem to do it themselves. Remember, even Jesus said that it is best to solve a legal conflict before you get to court. Of course, that was to stop you getting owned by your opponent, but it's still relevant.

vs 7

Their very attitude towards this whole thing is incorrect. As a Christian, isn't it better to be wronged than to drag Christ's reputation through the dirt and through the courts? How are you showing the love of Christ when you are involved in a counter-claim against someone because they've already started a suit against you?

vs 8

Not only do these lawsuits mean that the Corinthian church is having internal division problemsn, and that they don't understand their positions in a heavenly sense, but it also means that people are doing things that are illegal! I mean, how Christian is that? No wonder Paul says they have already been defeated.

vs 9-10

You've really got to wonder why Paul feels the need to make this list so explicit. You'd hope that the people in the Corinthian church weren't these sorts of people. But you never know, really. The point of this statement, I guess, is to show that those people who are involved in evil stuff aren't the people God is looking for to judge the world. He's looking for the righteous, who don't need to be sued or to sue others, especially believers. I would go more exhaustively through this list, but I have actually done it before with one of these lists (not on here) and although the greek terms to us are fairly odd, the NIV translations of them seem pretty accurate. The NASB is more literal, but that's not a help when we don't really talk about "fornicators" as a technical term anymore.