ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

1 Corinthians 6.9-10

Book: 1 Corinthians · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

7. Nay, already it is altogether a defect in you, that ye have lawsuits one with another. Why not rather take wrong? why not rather be defrauded? 8. Nay, but ye yourselves do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren.

9. Or know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with men, 10. nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

  1. And such were some of you: but ye were washed, but ye were sanctified, but ye were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God. 12. All things are lawful for me; but not all things are expedient. All things are lawful for me; but I will not be brought under the power of any. (1 Corinthians 6:7-12, ASV)
WEB

7. Therefore it is already altogether a defect in you, that you have lawsuits one with another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? 8. No, but you yourselves do wrong, and defraud, and that against your brothers.

9. Or don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s Kingdom? Don’t be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals, 10. nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortionists, will inherit God’s Kingdom.

  1. Such were some of you, but you were washed. But you were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God. 12. “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are expedient. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be brought under the power of anything. (1 Corinthians 6:7-12, WEB)
KJV

7. Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded? 8. Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren.

9. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10. Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

  1. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. 12. All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any. expedient: or, profitable (1 Corinthians 6:7-12, KJV)
YLT

7. Already, indeed, then, there is altogether a fault among you, that ye have judgments with one another; wherefore do ye not rather suffer injustice? wherefore be ye not rather defrauded? 8. but ye, ye do injustice, and ye defraud, and these, brethren!

9. have ye not known that the unrighteous the reign of God shall not inherit? be not led astray; neither whoremongers, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor sodomites, 10. nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, the reign of God shall inherit.

  1. And certain of you were these! but ye were washed, but ye were sanctified, but ye were declared righteous, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God. 12. All things are lawful to me, but all things are not profitable; all things are lawful to me, but I, I will not be under authority by any; (1 Corinthians 6:7-12, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: Paul the Apostle
  • Audience: the church at Corinth, a mixed Jew-and-Gentile congregation in a wealthy Roman colony, fractured over teachers, status, sexual ethics, and the limits of freedom
  • Location: composed in Ephesus, addressed to Corinth
  • Time period: c. AD 55-56

Theological reading

A vice list, and one of the most contested passages in the New Testament, chiefly over two words in verse 9. Malakoi means soft or effeminate and had a range of uses in Greek moral writing; arsenokoitai is a rare compound, apparently coined from the Septuagint wording of Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, where arsenos and koiten stand side by side. The revisionist argument is that the terms target exploitative practice, pederasty or prostitution, rather than same-sex relationships as such. The traditional argument is that the compound's derivation from the Levitical prohibition sets its reference by the act rather than by the power relation.

The lists themselves resist selective use in both directions. Paul places the two disputed terms in a run that includes the greedy, the drunkard, the reviler, and the swindler, categories no congregation has ever treated as identity markers and every congregation contains. Anyone deploying the passage against one behaviour while ignoring the others is not using it as Paul wrote it. See Homosexuality and Biblical Sexual Ethics Objection Defeater.

Verse 11 is the hinge and is usually left out of the argument: and such were some of you: but ye were washed, but ye were sanctified, but ye were justified. The tense is decisive. Paul writes to people who had been in these categories and are no longer defined by them. The passage is therefore not a boundary marker for keeping people out; it is a description of what the Corinthian church was made of.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Passages:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.