Bible Reading Challenge #12
1 Corinthians 6:1–8
When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? ² Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? ³ Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! ⁴ So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? ⁵ I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, ⁶ but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? ⁷ To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? ⁸ But you yourselves wrong and defraud—even your own brothers!
What Does This Teach About God?
Though Paul is addressing a very practical issue in Corinth, this text reminds me that God is sovereign over all. He will judge the world. Justice is in His hands, and the unjust will receive their due sentence. The call here is to trust God’s justice rather than grasp for vengeance.
How Can I Live Differently?
Verse 7 stands out: “To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you.” The very fact that believers were taking each other to court—airing their disputes before unbelievers—was a tragedy for the church, which was meant to be known for love.
Let’s be honest: bickering in the church is still a problem. We may not argue over carpet colors, but we do carry broken relationships into Sunday gatherings. Frustrations, disappointments, and long-held resentments cloud our fellowship. Grudges are nursed, slander is spoken, and division quietly festers.
Today, I call you to repent of these things. If you have a grievance, handle it directly. That might mean confessing to God or to the person you’ve wronged. It might mean releasing a grudge you’ve been holding. It might simply mean choosing to think the best of someone instead of rushing to judgment.
Jesus said His disciples would be known by their love. May we be a people who forgive quickly, encourage freely, and celebrate one another often. In doing so, we display the love of Christ that holds the church together.
Bible Reading Challenge #11
I encourage you to read Eugene Peterson’s commentary/translation of 1 Corinthians 5:6–13:
6–8 Your flip and callous arrogance in these things bothers me. You pass it off as a small thing, but it’s anything but that. Yeast, too, is a “small thing,” but it works its way through a whole batch of bread dough pretty fast. So get rid of this “yeast.” Our true identity is flat and plain, not puffed up with the wrong kind of ingredient. The Messiah, our Passover Lamb, has already been sacrificed for the Passover meal, and we are the Unraised Bread part of the Feast. So let’s live out our part in the Feast, not as raised bread swollen with the yeast of evil, but as flat bread—simple, genuine, unpretentious.
9–13 I wrote you in my earlier letter that you shouldn’t make yourselves at home among the sexually promiscuous. I didn’t mean that you should have nothing at all to do with outsiders of that sort. Or with criminals, whether blue- or white-collar. Or with spiritual phonies, for that matter. You’d have to leave the world entirely to do that! But I am saying that you shouldn’t act as if everything is just fine when a friend who claims to be a Christian is promiscuous or crooked, is flip with God or rude to friends, gets drunk or becomes greedy and predatory. You can’t just go along with this, treating it as acceptable behavior. I’m not responsible for what the outsiders do, but don’t we have some responsibility for those within our community of believers? God decides on the outsiders, but we need to decide when our brothers and sisters are out of line and, if necessary, clean house.
3 Things I Take from This
Non-believers will live in sin—why wouldn’t they? Our concern should be less about managing their behavior and more about their salvation. Transformation begins only after someone encounters Christ.
Believers are expected to live in a way that aligns with Christ. Perfection isn’t attainable, but the pursuit of holiness is. We all wrestle with sin, but the real danger comes when we stop wrestling and instead participate openly and unashamedly.
The church is responsible for its members. We cannot sit idly by and condone immorality of any kind within our fellowship. For too long, the church has been loudly opposed to some sins while suspiciously silent on others. Paul’s warning is clear: a little “leaven” corrupts the whole loaf. We must actively confront sin—within our walls and within ourselves—so that the church remains pure, genuine, and true to Christ.
Bible Reading Challenge #10
1 Corinthians 5:1–5
1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife.
2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.
3 For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing.
4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus,
5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
A Moment to Teach
Did you catch what Paul is furious about? There is a man in the church openly sleeping with his father’s wife. More than the grotesque immorality itself—so shocking that even pagans would not approve—Paul is outraged that the church knows about it and allows it.
Sexuality is a major topic in our world today as definitions of gender, marriage, and relationships are being reshaped before our eyes. But here’s the reality: none of this is new.
Scripture is filled with accounts of sexual sin—Noah’s daughters scheming to get pregnant by their father, the men of Sodom seeking to abuse Lot’s guests, Hosea’s wife chasing after other lovers. Prostitution, adultery, homosexuality, affairs—these are not modern inventions. They’ve marked humanity since the fall.
But Paul won’t let the church shrug and say, “That’s just how it is.” He calls for action. Do not condone this. Do not tolerate this. Do not let this kind of rebellion continue unchecked inside the church.
Now—this matters: Paul is not telling Christians to hunt sin in the world. He’s addressing someone inside the church, someone who claimed Christ but lived in blatant, unrepentant sin. That’s why Paul is so strong. A lifestyle of unrepentant sin cannot coexist with a genuine confession of Jesus as Lord.
For those outside the faith, our greatest concern is not first their behavior but their need for Christ. Only after someone encounters the grace of God can we expect to see their life transformed. But for those who name the name of Jesus, love sometimes looks like correction—because sin left unchecked destroys both the sinner and the witness of the church.
And even here, the goal is not punishment but salvation: “so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.”
So, church, let’s be people of both grace and truth. Let’s love sinners deeply, but never call sin good. Let’s refuse to compromise truth in the name of tolerance, while always longing for repentance and restoration.
Bible Reading Challenge #9
Read all of 1 Corinthians 4
Focus on verses 14–21
What do we learn about God?
Paul is clear with the Corinthians—justice is coming. It reminds me of kids who get left home alone. Things can spiral quickly, rules get ignored, and before long, it feels like no one’s watching. That’s what was happening in Corinth. People were living however they wanted, even arrogantly believing they’d get away with it. But God isn’t blind to sin. He sees, He knows, and His justice will come.
That’s heavy, but here’s where it lands for me today: I need grace just as much as anyone else. It’s easy to point at the wrongs of others, but if I truly appealed to God for justice alone, I’d be ruined. My only hope is His grace through Jesus—the substitute who took the judgment I deserve. That means when justice finally comes, I’m covered—not by my effort, but by His work on the cross.
How this can change today:
I need to take a hard look at where I’m living arrogantly, like I don’t really need God. Here are a few places I see it in me (maybe you’ll connect with some too):
I put too much trust in my own strength.
I live like I’m the one in control.
I feel like I have to solve everything myself.
I get caught up in the busyness and miss God’s presence.
I talk about faith but struggle to actually live it.
I get consumed with what feels urgent and lose sight of eternity.
Today I want to slow down, confess these things, and live in God’s grace instead of my arrogance.
Bible Reading Challenge #8
Overview of this passage
In the church of Corinth, there was great division over who to follow and whether Paul—who seemed unimpressive in society’s eyes—was truly worthy of being called a leader. Paul begins this section with biting sarcasm, pointing out how the Corinthians believed they already had everything they needed. The remaining verses reveal what Paul actually experienced as a preacher of the Good News.
1 Corinthians 4:8–13
Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you! For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.
How can this change my day?
That opening line from Paul is deeply convicting: “Already you have all you want!” The church in Corinth was content to live the life they loved—with just a splash of Jesus added in. Over the next few chapters, Paul will expose their failures, but today I’m struck by how easy it is to drift into spiritual passivity when life feels easy.
When I have everything I want, do I really sense my need for God? Do I truly trust Him? Do I genuinely pray to Him? While none of us like walking through hard times, it is often in those valleys that God draws us closest to Himself.
What does this teach me about God?
God wants us to trust Him and rely on Him—and often that trust grows when life shows us how little control we truly have. For Paul, that meant hunger, exhausting work, and constant opposition. We admire Paul’s commitment to Christ, but very few of us desire his circumstances.
Yet Paul’s life wasn’t hard because God had forgotten him, ignored him, or punished him. His hardships came because he was faithfully living out God’s mission in a broken world. And through it all, Paul endured because God was with him every step of the way.
The God of all comfort was present with Paul so that in his weakness, God’s strength could be revealed.
Is what you are walking through right now drawing you closer to God?