1 Corinthians 6
Lawsuits Among Believers
1If any of you has a dispute with another, dare he take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the saints? 2Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? 3Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! 4Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, appoint as judges even men of little account in the church! 5 I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? 6 But instead, one brother goes to law against another—and this in front of unbelievers!
7The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? 8 Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers.
9 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
~
I want to go beneath the surface of this a little bit. Is there more here than just advice for handling legal matters and one of the most seemingly damning verses in the New Testament? I mean, you could take verse nine and virtually exclude anybody and everybody from the kingdom of God. Are there any immoral people, idolaters, gays, greedy folks, drunks, slanderers, or swindlers in the church? No? Are you in a coma?
First of all, why are the court dockets full? Why is Judge Judy one of the highest-paid performers on TV? Why are there so many lawyers and so many laws? The answer is that offenses abound; and, even more than that, people who want to get even because of offenses abound.
What does it mean to "get even?" It means, "I want justice." I want a fair shake. Nobody takes advantage of me: nobody.
We often join up with a religion because we become concerned about spiritual issues. Then, when we join, we strive to be the best we can at that religion's tenets. When we do, we invest a lot in that effort; and, when we have a lot invested in something, we begin to enforce it. And woe be unto anyone who challenges our position. It can get really savage. Also, that savagery undermines the very reason we sought religion in the first place.
In Christ's teachings, though, we encounter something very opposite to this tendency. He teaches love, kindness, mercy, forgiveness, and hospitality. In short, He asks us to be very contrary to the tendencies of our own natures.
In the above passage, Paul is talking first about legalities and disputes, then he tells us that the wicked won't inherit the kingdom of God. It almost seems there is no real context here, no connection between the two ideas.
But a closer look would reveal there is a connection. The previous chapter is part of the context here, where Paul deals with immorality in the church and sets up what seems to be a practice that endures to the present day: excommunication. But in the big picture of how Paul deals with these problems, we begin to realize that he was also quick to forgive and accept people back who changed their ways.
A closer examination of Paul's teachings reveals that he was anti-legalistic and into promoting harmony in the church. He was, as a major leader, trying to head off legalistic bickering that we know from history became the denominational and schism-happy situation we see today.
The point, really, of verse nine, is that we are all by the law condemned. Thus, do we take that same law and bully one another and those without, the outsiders? This is an anti-legalistic passage. It isn't saying we don't need to obey the law. It is saying we don't need to take legal judgments and bludgeon everybody.
Actually, this practice of going to law with fellow believers is exactly what we do and have done for centuries. When are we going to quit?
Paul says, "Some of you used to be very wicked yourselves. When did you start becoming so judgmental? When did you start using the law you once broke so frivolously to now bring everyone into line?"
In other words, we are all condemned. But now we are out from under the law because he who fulfilled the law (Jesus) is with us. Our understanding is that he has saved us from our condemnation, and further, he is saving everything he has made. Through Christ he is bringing what he has created back to himself. Who are we to judge?
Paul also says we will sit in judgment, even of angels, so we should be able to judge disputes. The primary thing that ends disputes is mercy, and mercy opens us to understand what brought the offending party to their present situation. How great is the mercy of God through Christ toward us? It knows no bounds.
Mercy rejoices against judgment, and lawsuits are about judgment. However, it is more than legal disputes we are looking at here: it is all contention within the church and even extended to those without. This does not mean we don't seek to understand the truth through dialog. It does mean we are all on the same trajectory and therefore are not enemies over trifles or disputes over words, semantic wrangling.
The church has a long and complicated history of disputes, legal questions, and doctrinal oppositions. Sometimes these things have been so prominent that they actually sidetrack from the work of proclaiming Christ's salvation to the world. This historical dynamic means there is something fundamentally wrong with what we believe Christ has accomplished. We have limited the mercy of God and made it only available to a select few. But His mercy endures forever: it knows no bounds and is certainly not boxed in by our preferences and prejudices. It's time for the church to open her bowels of compassion both to those without and those within.
Lawsuits Among Believers
1If any of you has a dispute with another, dare he take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the saints? 2Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? 3Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! 4Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, appoint as judges even men of little account in the church! 5 I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? 6 But instead, one brother goes to law against another—and this in front of unbelievers!
7The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? 8 Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers.
9 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
~
I want to go beneath the surface of this a little bit. Is there more here than just advice for handling legal matters and one of the most seemingly damning verses in the New Testament? I mean, you could take verse nine and virtually exclude anybody and everybody from the kingdom of God. Are there any immoral people, idolaters, gays, greedy folks, drunks, slanderers, or swindlers in the church? No? Are you in a coma?
First of all, why are the court dockets full? Why is Judge Judy one of the highest-paid performers on TV? Why are there so many lawyers and so many laws? The answer is that offenses abound; and, even more than that, people who want to get even because of offenses abound.
What does it mean to "get even?" It means, "I want justice." I want a fair shake. Nobody takes advantage of me: nobody.
We often join up with a religion because we become concerned about spiritual issues. Then, when we join, we strive to be the best we can at that religion's tenets. When we do, we invest a lot in that effort; and, when we have a lot invested in something, we begin to enforce it. And woe be unto anyone who challenges our position. It can get really savage. Also, that savagery undermines the very reason we sought religion in the first place.
In Christ's teachings, though, we encounter something very opposite to this tendency. He teaches love, kindness, mercy, forgiveness, and hospitality. In short, He asks us to be very contrary to the tendencies of our own natures.
In the above passage, Paul is talking first about legalities and disputes, then he tells us that the wicked won't inherit the kingdom of God. It almost seems there is no real context here, no connection between the two ideas.
But a closer look would reveal there is a connection. The previous chapter is part of the context here, where Paul deals with immorality in the church and sets up what seems to be a practice that endures to the present day: excommunication. But in the big picture of how Paul deals with these problems, we begin to realize that he was also quick to forgive and accept people back who changed their ways.
A closer examination of Paul's teachings reveals that he was anti-legalistic and into promoting harmony in the church. He was, as a major leader, trying to head off legalistic bickering that we know from history became the denominational and schism-happy situation we see today.
The point, really, of verse nine, is that we are all by the law condemned. Thus, do we take that same law and bully one another and those without, the outsiders? This is an anti-legalistic passage. It isn't saying we don't need to obey the law. It is saying we don't need to take legal judgments and bludgeon everybody.
Actually, this practice of going to law with fellow believers is exactly what we do and have done for centuries. When are we going to quit?
Paul says, "Some of you used to be very wicked yourselves. When did you start becoming so judgmental? When did you start using the law you once broke so frivolously to now bring everyone into line?"
In other words, we are all condemned. But now we are out from under the law because he who fulfilled the law (Jesus) is with us. Our understanding is that he has saved us from our condemnation, and further, he is saving everything he has made. Through Christ he is bringing what he has created back to himself. Who are we to judge?
Paul also says we will sit in judgment, even of angels, so we should be able to judge disputes. The primary thing that ends disputes is mercy, and mercy opens us to understand what brought the offending party to their present situation. How great is the mercy of God through Christ toward us? It knows no bounds.
Mercy rejoices against judgment, and lawsuits are about judgment. However, it is more than legal disputes we are looking at here: it is all contention within the church and even extended to those without. This does not mean we don't seek to understand the truth through dialog. It does mean we are all on the same trajectory and therefore are not enemies over trifles or disputes over words, semantic wrangling.
The church has a long and complicated history of disputes, legal questions, and doctrinal oppositions. Sometimes these things have been so prominent that they actually sidetrack from the work of proclaiming Christ's salvation to the world. This historical dynamic means there is something fundamentally wrong with what we believe Christ has accomplished. We have limited the mercy of God and made it only available to a select few. But His mercy endures forever: it knows no bounds and is certainly not boxed in by our preferences and prejudices. It's time for the church to open her bowels of compassion both to those without and those within.
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