It is disgusting that you prosecute fellow believers and let judges who are not believers decide your cases.

1Now another matter: When any of you believers accuses another believer about some matter, he takes that matter to judges who are not believers, for them to decide the case, instead of asking God’s people to decide it. ◄That is disgusting!/Why do you do that?► [RHQ]

2I want you to know that we who are God’s people will some day judge those who are unbelievers. [RHQ] So, since you will be judging unbelievers, you certainly are capable of judging between believers who disagree on small matters! [RHQ]

3◄You should keep in mind that we will even judge angels!/Do you not know that we will even judge angels?► [RHQ] So we certainly should be able to judge about matters that relate to how we conduct our lives here on earth!

4Therefore, when you believers have a dispute, you should certainly not choose as judges to decide your case people whom the congregation cannot respect because those judges are not believers! [RHQ]

5I am saying this to make you ashamed. Surely there is someone among you who is wise enough to judge disputes between believers! [RHQ]

6But instead, some believers among you accuse other believers in a legal court. And what is worse, you let the cases be judged by unbelievers {unbelievers judge the cases}!

God has freed you from your former sinful behavior, so remember that he will exclude from his kingdom those who engage in all kinds of sinful behavior.

7The fact that you have any lawsuits among you shows that you have completely failed as Christians (OR, allowed Satan to defeat you). You should allow other believers to wrong you without taking them to court!! [RHQ] You should not accuse them when they cheat you! [RHQ]

8But what is happening is that some of you are cheating others and doing wrong to them. That is bad. But you are doing that to fellow believers, and that is worse!

9◄You should keep in mind that wicked people will not become members of the group over whom God will rule./Do you not know that wicked people will not become members of the group over whom God will rule?► [RHQ] Do not be deceived {Do not deceive yourselves} by thinking wrongly about these matters. People who are sexually immoral, or who worship idols, or who ◄commit adultery/have sex with someone to whom they are not married►, or who happily allow others to commit homosexual acts with them, or who take the initiative in committing homosexual acts,

10or who are thieves, or who desire and forcefully seize things that belong to others, or who are drunkards, or who slander others, or who are swindlers, will not enter the place where God rules.

11Some of you previously did things like that. But God has freed/cleansed you [MET] from your sinful behavior. He has set you apart for himself. He has erased the record of your sins because you trusted [MTY] in the Lord Jesus Christ and because of what the Spirit of our God has done for you.

Because the Lord wants us to use our bodies in ways that please him, we must avoid all sexually immoral acts.

12Some of you may say, “God allows us to do anything that he does not forbid.” But I would reply, “That is true, but not everything that God permits us to do helps us.” Yes, as some of you say, God permits us to do anything that he does not forbid. But as for me, I will not let anything make me its slave; that is, I will not do anything that will gain control over me in such a way that I will not be able to stop doing it.

13Some of you may also say, “Food is just for us to put in the stomach, and the stomach is just for us to put food in. And since God will do away with food and stomachs when he gives us our new bodies, what we do with our bodies sexually does not affect us any more than eating food does.” But what you have concluded is wrong, because the Lord does not want us to use our bodies to do sexually immoral things. Instead, the Lord wants us to use our bodies in ways that please him. Also, the Lord wants us to do what is good for our bodies.

14God, by his power, caused the Lord Jesus to live again after he died, and he will cause us to live again after we die, which shows that he is very concerned about our bodies.

15You should keep in mind that your bodies belong to Christ. [RHQ] So, should I or any other believer [RHQ] take our body, which belongs to Christ, and join it sexually to a prostitute? No, certainly not!

16When a man has sexual relations [EUP] with a prostitute, it is as though their two bodies become one body. ◄You should never forget that!/Do you not know that?► [RHQ] What Moses wrote about people who join together sexually is, “The two of them will become as though they are one body.”

17But anyone who is united {who joins himself} to the Lord becomes one with him spiritually.

18Always ◄run away from/avoid► committing sexually immoral acts. Other sins that people commit do not affect their bodies, but those who commit sexually immoral acts sin against their own bodies.

19◄Keep in mind that your bodies are like [MET] temples of the Holy Spirit./Do you not know that your bodies are like [MET] temples of the Holy Spirit?► [RHQ] The Spirit, whom God gave you, lives within you. You do not belong to yourselves. You belong to God,

20because when his Son died for you it was as though [MET] God paid a price for you. So honor God by how you use your bodies!