In the first half of chapter 6 of the First Letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor 6:1–8), St. Paul accused the Corinthians of suing each other in Gentile court. He wrote, “To have lawsuits at all with one another is defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?” (1 Cor 6:7).
St. John Chrysostom commented, “But someone will say, ‘It is a terrible thing to suffer wrong and be maltreated.’ No, my friend, it is not terrible, not at all. How long will you be distressed about present things? God would not have commanded this if it were terrible. Consider this: the one who has committed injustice leaves the court with money but with a bad conscience, but the one who has suffered injustice, even if he is deprived of his money, has confidence before God, a possession more precious than countless treasures.…
“But someone will object, ‘What are you saying? I have been deprived of all my possessions; do you order me to keep silent? I was maltreated; do you exhort me to bear it meekly? How can I?’ You are quite mistaken; it is easy, if you look up to heaven, if you behold its beauty and see where God has promised to receive you if you suffer injustice nobly. Look up to heaven, therefore, and, as you do so, consider that you have become like the One who sits there above the cherubim (see Heb 9:5, 25). He too was insulted and bore it, he too was reproached and did not seek revenge, he was struck and did not strike (Mt 26:67–68). He repaid his enemies, who had done such things, with innumerable acts of kindness, and he ordered us to be imitators of him.”
Father George T. Montague, SM, wrote, “What stands out in this section is how real Paul considers the new family of Christians to be. How much does our being a Christian and our belonging to this family affect our identity? Our identity as citizens of our country is reinforced at every turn: the media, the traffic lights, our taxes on income or sales. If Sunday worship is the only reinforcement we receive for our Christian identity, it is likely to fall far short of what God means it to be. That is why other means—prayer, Scripture reading and study, parish ministry, retreats, faith-sharing groups—are needed to strengthen our Christian identity. If our secular identity is primary, we would probably rather sue than be reconciled within the Christian community, as Paul would expect.”
The second half of Chapter 6 is against immoral conduct (1 Cor 6:9–20). The Corinthians used two slogans to justify sinful behaviours: “All things are lawful for me” and “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food” (1 Cor 6:12–13).
St. Paul countered the first slogan with “but not all things are helpful” and “but I will not be dominated by anything” (1 Cor 6:12). In other words, if we abuse our liberty for sin, the sin will enslave us.
The Corinthians must have extended the second slogan into something like “sexual pleasure is meant for the body and the body for sexual pleasure.” St. Paul countered this by pointing out that God made the human body for himself: “The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body” (1 Cor 6:13).
A spiritual author wrote, “The reason lust is a sin is that it defiles both the soul and the body, and it is in effect sacrilege, for both our soul and body are members of Christ and belong to God alone.”
St. Paul reminded the Corinthians of their dignity as “members of Christ” (1 Cor 6:15) and “temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor 6:19). He urged them to “flee from sexual immorality” (1 Cor 6:18) and to “glorify God in your body” (1 Cor 6:20).
Regarding sexual temptations, it is not wise to dialogue with them. The best policy is to shun them. St. Thomas Aquinas said, “One does not win by putting up resistance, because the more one thinks about the thing, the more influenced one becomes; one wins by fleeing—that is, by avoiding unclean thoughts completely and by avoiding all occasions of sin.”
St. John Vianney listed the following means for safeguarding chastity: “The first is to be very vigilant about what we look at, and what we think and say and do; second, to have recourse to prayer; third, to frequent the sacraments worthily; fourth, to fly from anything which might tempt us to sin; fifth, to have great devotion to the Blessed Virgin. If we do all that, then, no matter what our enemies do, no matter how frail this virtue be, we can be quite sure of holding on to it.”
「人的身體是為主」
在格林多前書第6章的上半部（6:1-8），聖保祿責備格林多教友將彼此的紛爭帶到外邦人的法庭。他寫道：「你們彼此有訴訟的事，就各方面講，已是你們的缺點了；那麼，你們為什麼不寧願受點屈？為什麼不寧願吃點虧？」（格前6:7）
金口聖若望評論說：「但是有人會說：『受委屈和被欺負是件可怕的事。』不，我的朋友，這不可怕，一點也不可怕。你為什麼要一直為現世的事憂慮？若這真是可怕的事，天主就不會要求我們這樣了。想一想：那個行不義的人雖然帶著錢從法庭走出來，但卻要帶著不安的良心一起；而那個受了委屈的人，即使失去了錢財，卻在天主面前懷著坦然無懼的信心，這份信心遠比無數的財富更為珍貴…。然而，又有人反駁說：『你在說什麼？我已失去了所有的財產；你命令我要保持沉默嗎？我被欺負了；你勸我要溫順地忍受嗎？這怎麼可能？』你大錯特錯了；如果你仰望天堂，看見天國的美好，並想到天主曾應許要接納那些能以高尚的心靈承受不公義的人，你就會發現這並不困難。因此，抬頭仰望天國吧！當你這樣做時，要想想你已經肖似那位坐在革魯賓上方的唯一的主（參見希9:5, 25）。祂同樣受過侮辱，卻忍受了；祂也被責罵，卻沒有報復；祂被打了，卻沒有還手（瑪26:67-68）。祂用無數的善行回報那些冒犯祂的人，並吩咐我們要成為祂的模仿者。」
聖母會喬治、蒙塔古神父（Fr. George T. Montague, SM）寫道：「在這段經文中，最為突出的是聖保祿怎樣真實地看待新成立的基督徒家庭。他對於基督徒團體的認同是何等的重視！成為基督徒、屬於這個信仰家庭，對我們的身份認同影響有多深？我們作為國家公民的身份在不同情況中被強化：媒體的報導、交通燈號的指示、入息稅或消費稅的繳納。如果我們的基督徒身份只透過主日禮儀來加強，那麼這遠遠不足以達到天主所期望的程度。因此，我們需要其他方式 – 如祈禱、閱讀聖經與研習、堂區事工、退省、信仰分享小組等 – 來鞏固我們基督徒的身份。如果我們的世俗身份優先於基督徒身份，那麼我們可能會像保祿所擔憂的那樣，寧可打官司也不願在基督徒團體內和好。」
格林多前書第6章的下半部分譴責「不道德的行為」(6:9-20)。當時，格林多的教友用兩句口號來為自己的罪行辯護：「凡事我都可行」以及「食物是為肚腹，肚腹是為食物」(6:12-13)。
針對第一句口號，聖保祿反駁道：「但不全有益」；並且說：「但我卻不受任何事物的管制。」(6:12) 換句話說，如果我們濫用自由去犯罪，罪惡最終會奴役我們。
至於第二句口號，格林多人定把第二句口號延伸成類似「性慾是為身體而設，身體是為性慾而造。」對此，聖保祿指出，天主創造人的身體是為了自己。「人的身體不是為淫亂，而是為主，主也是為身體。」(6:13)
一位神修作家曾寫道：「迷色之所以是罪，是因為玷污了靈魂和身體，本質上是一種褻聖行為，因為我們的靈魂和身體都是基督的肢體，只屬於天主。」
聖保祿提醒格林多教友他們的尊嚴，即「基督的肢體」（格前 6:15）和「聖神的宮殿」（格前 6:19）。他敦促他們「遠避邪淫」（格前 6:18），並「用你們的身體光榮天主。」（格前 6:20）
關於性誘惑，與誘惑對話是不明智的。最好的做法是避開。聖多瑪斯·阿奎那說：「靠抵抗誘惑來取勝是不可能的，因為越是思考這個問題，就越會受到影響；真正的勝利來自於逃避，也就是完全避開不潔的思想，遠離一切罪惡的機會。」
聖若翰·維雅納列出了保持貞潔的幾個方法：「首先，要非常謹慎地對待我們所看到的、我們思想的、言語和行為；第二，要訴諸於祈禱；第三，要誠心勤領聖事；第四，要遠離一切可能引誘我們犯罪的事物；第五，要恭敬聖母瑪利亞的敬禮。如果我們遵循這些方法，無論敵人如何攻擊我們，無論德行多麼脆弱，我們都可以確信能夠持守貞潔。」
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