|
Within the church at Corinth believers were in similar situations as those I have just described to you. There were Christians in that church who felt that they had been wronged and defrauded in business transactions with other Christian in their church. As a result they were taking each other to court and suing each other.
The legal situation in Corinth probably was much as it was in Athens where litigation was a part of everyday life. Legal action had become a form of challenge and even entertainment. One ancient writer claimed that, in a manner of speaking, every Athenian was a lawyer. The Corinthian believers were so used to arguing, disputing, and taking one another to court before they were saved that they carried those selfish attitudes and habits over into their new lives as Christians.
Our society rivals and possibly even surpasses ancient Corinth in its passion for suing people. You are all familiar with the case where McDonalds was sued because their coffee was too hot. Another recent case involved a family suing an auto manufacturer because the car that their daughter was killed in did not have an air bag. As you can imagine, Christians greedily join in the fray, taking fellow believers to court, and even more commonly suing churches and para-church organizations.
In 1 Corinthians 6 Paul turned to a second example of how the judicial process should work within the church rather than outside it. The first example involved the church's discipline of a sinning believer. The same laxity the Corinthian church demonstrated in dealing with the immoral brother was found in cases of personal disputes between members which the church refused to adjudicate. It was yet another manifestation of the divisive spirit which racked the congregation. The report came back to Paul that the believers at Corinth were suing each other in the secular courts of law. So Paul wrote to correct this problem in 1 Corinthians 6:1-11.
These verses reveal important and abiding truths for the Church of God at all times. Paul's words to these Corinthians in the first century are very applicable to us today in twentieth century America. Paul told these Christians who felt that they had been wronged and defrauded that they had three options. The first option was prosecution which was the option that the Corinthians had chosen. The chapter begins:
1 Corinthians 6:1 (NKJV) "Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?
The phrase, "having a matter against another," is a very common phrase found in the Greek papyri for "having a lawsuit, or for prosecuting a person in a court of law." This was the option that the Corinthians had chosen. When a believer felt that he had been wronged he went to the courts in Corinth and prosecuted the brother that he felt had defrauded or wronged him. That is one of the options that a Christian has in such a situation. But if Paul makes anything clear to us in our passage it is this: prosecuting a civil matter against another believer is to be categorically rejected by every Christian because it is wrong.
Notice how he states it: "dare any of you". Paul is shocked, he is stunned that Christians would go to the law courts of Corinth and prosecute each other over such matters. How could they dare to do it? The emphasis in this opening statement is on "you." "Dare any of you?" That must be interpreted by seeing to whom this letter was addressed: the church in Corinth, those called saints, set apart in the name of Christ, and those who had been put by God into fellowship with Jesus Christ. "Dare any of you?" Whatever other people may do, dare you do it?
Paul did not say that the Corinthian Christians would not receive justice in the secular law courts. The word "unrighteous" in verse one refers to those who have not been justified by God, the unbelievers, as verse six explains: "But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers!" Paul admonished them for taking their lawsuits to courts where unbelievers were presiding.
Paul was probably drawing from the Jewish tradition: for centuries Jews had settled all their disputes either privately or in a synagogue court. They refused to take their problems before a pagan court because they believed that to do so implied that God, through His own people using His own scriptural principles, was not competent to solve every problem. It was considered a form of blasphemy to go to court before Gentiles. Jewish rabbinical law said, "It is a statute that binds all Israel that if one Israelite has a cause against another it must not be prosecuted before the Gentiles." When the Israelites had disputes they settled them among themselves and not before the Gentiles. Paul is telling us here that it is a shameful thing for a believer to prosecute another believer before a court of the land where an unbeliever is presiding.
If the option of prosecution is to be rejected, then what option is open to us? Paul proceeded to suggest that there was a second option open to these believers: arbitration within the Christian assembly by the elders or the wise men in that church. That is how he concludes 1 Corinthians 6:1:
1 Corinthians 6:1 "Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?"
"And not before the saints?" They should have taken their case before the saints. Remember that the word saint is a synonym for a believer. When a Christian feels that he has been wronged by another believer he is to take his case before the saints and have the wise men in that church to arbitrate in that situation. Arbitration is largely ignored by churches and believers in general today. When a believer takes another believer to court the work of God is hindered among the unsaved, our unity is damaged, and it is an offense to the church of God. Jesus prayed for the unity of all believers in His high priestly prayer:
John 17:21 (NKJV) "that they all may be one, as You, Father,
are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that
the world may believe that You sent Me."
1 Corinthians 10:31-32 (NKJV) "Therefore, whether you eat or
drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 32 Give
no offense, either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church
of God,"
Those who are related by faith in Jesus Christ need to settle their disputes like brothers, not like adversaries. Abraham provides us with a good example of this:
Genesis 13:7-9 (NKJV) "And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot's livestock. The Canaanites and the Perizzites then dwelt in the land. So Abram said to Lot, "Please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brethren. Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me. If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left."
Someone may ask, "May a Christian ever resort to court action? The Scriptural answer is clearly yes! For example, Paul himself used the secular courts:
Acts 22:25-26 (NKJV) "And as they bound him with thongs,
Paul said to the centurion who stood by, "Is it lawful for you
to scourge a man who is a Roman, and uncondemned?" When the
centurion heard that, he went and told the commander, saying, "Take
care what you do, for this man is a Roman."
Acts 25:10-11 (NKJV) "So Paul said, "I stand at Caesar's
judgment seat, where I ought to be judged. To the Jews I have
done no wrong, as you very well know. "For if I am an
offender, or have committed anything deserving of death, I do
not object to dying; but if there is nothing in these things of
which these men accuse me, no one can deliver me to them.
I appeal to Caesar."
By appealing to Caesar Paul resorted to the courts of the land to protect himself from the injustice of his countrymen. If Christians did not use the benefit of the law, they would suffer great loss at the hands of the unsaved. Generally speaking, Paul's opinion of pagan magistrates was favorable. In Romans 13 we learn that human government is established by God in order to maintain justice in our society. In 1 Corinthians 6 Paul was not talking about criminal cases because they must be handled by the state; only the state has the power of the sword. Paul was critical of Christians prosecuting other Christians before the courts of the land. He was shocked by that. Believers are to settle their disputes among themselves.
The question that might arise is, "Are Christians competent to arbitrate in cases of dispute?" In 1 Corinthians 6:2-3 Paul reminded the Corinthians of their future destiny when they would sit on the highest tribunal in all of the universe making judgements on the most complex issues of justice in all of God's universe. "Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?" (1 Corinthians 6:2). "Do you not know" is a phrase that Paul used when his readers should have known something. The Scripture commonly teaches that because of the believer's relationship with Jesus Christ, we will sit in judgement on the world.
Hebrews 2:5-10 (NKJV) "For He has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels. But one testified in a certain place, saying: "What is man that You are mindful of him, Or the son of man that You take care of him? You have made him a little lower than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor, And set him over the works of your hands. You have put all things in subjection under his feet." For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings."
The glory of the sons mentioned in verse 10 is the same glory mentioned in verse 7: it is the glory of dominion. The destiny of man is to rule creation as co-regents of God's Son. Those believers who are faithful to Jesus Christ will some day rule with Him.
2 Timothy 2:12 (NKJV) "If we endure, We shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us."
We will be associated with Christ in his dominion. Those who are disciples of Jesus Christ will some day rule with Him judging the world. This has to do with the adjudication of the affairs of the universe down through eternity.
And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? (1 Corinthians 6:2)
If we are going to judge the world, surely we should be able to judge the small matters that we deal with in this life.
Paul continued in verse 3 to say, "Do you not know that we shall judge angels?" Scripture is not clear as to which angels we will judge. This may refer to fallen angels because the fallen angels will be judged by the Lord (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6) and we will judge with Christ. There are many who feel that this refers to good angels because no qualifying adjective precedes angels and whenever that is the case generally good angels are in view. If that is so, in what sense will we judge good angels? The word judge has a double thrust; when an Israelite was on the throne of Israel, one of his major functions was to administer justice in the land. When the Bible speaks of Solomon as judging Israel, it also means that he ruled over Israel. The two are really convertible terms, ruling and judging. Now if that is so, then possibly as disciples we shall be identified with our Lord in His exalted position we will rule over all of the angels of God as Paul said we will rule the world in 1 Corinthians 6:2.
We are to be exalted above the angels, and preside over them; shall we not then preside over earthly things? Paul made this point in 1 Corinthians 6:3: "How much more, things that pertain to this life?" Because of our future destiny, we ought to be able to preside in the mundane affairs of this world which deal with the simple things of this life. Now the Corinthians had not judged the issues in their congregation. Instead, they had been taking their disputes to unbelievers. In 1 Corinthians 6:4-7 Paul reproached them for prosecuting fellow believers rather then resorting to arbitration in the Christian church.
If then you have judgments concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge? (1 Corinthians 6:4).
"Things pertaining to this life" is the translated from the Greek word biotikos which means "common life affairs." The translations of this verse vary with respect to punctuation and interpretation because the ancient Greek manuscript was written without punctuation. This could be taken as an interrogative, declarative or an imperative statement. It seems best to take this as an interrogative because there are eight rhetorical questions given one after another in the context. Interrogatively it would read like this, "Do you set as judges those least esteemed in (or by) the church (that is, the heathen)?" The words "least esteemed" are one Greek word which means contemptible or to despise. The gentile judges are the ones who are comtemptible. He reproaches them for letting unbelievers judge when a dispute arises between two believers.
Not long ago the local newspaper covered in great depth the lawsuits that were taking place at a local Christian university. The media today love to pounce on every racy story of Christians fighting. Some of the professors were suing the school and the school was suing the professors. All this was in direct violation of Scripture and it happened at a Christian university! It was a disgrace to the Church of Jesus Christ. Paul could have been speaking to them when he wrote 1 Corinthians 6:5.
I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren?
Paul used a very sarcastic and ironical tone to produce in them a sense of shame. The Corinthians were proud of the fact that they were the wise Greeks. Paul incredulously questioned whether there was not one wise man among those wise Corinthians. By taking lawsuits to a Gentile court with an unbelieving judge they were saying that there was no wise man among them, contrary to their own good opinion of themselves. To that local Christian university we could say, "All those professors and is there not a wise man among you who would be able to judge his brethren?" In fact, the Institute for Christian Conciliation offered to mediate for them and they refused. A university without a wise man.
Paul's shaming of the Corinthian believers reached its climax in verse 6 when he said, "But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers!" Notice that Paul is distressed very much by two things. First, they were going to law brother against brother instead of resorting to arbitration. The second thing that distressed him was they made unbelievers their judges. To summarize Paul's point: to have a dispute with another believer is bad and to take that dispute to a pagan law court is much worse. Paul drew a very strong argument for arbitration within the church which settled disputes between Christians rather than prosecution in a Gentile court where an unbeliever was judge.
We can document that arbitration was actually practiced in the early days of the church from pieces of literature that have come down from the church fathers. They actually set up courts in their local assemblies which were held early in the week. The elders or a particularly wise man in the area that was being contested would arbitrate. They did it early in the week so the matter could be settled by Sunday so the believers could partake in the Lord's Supper without animosity or bitterness. We know this was practiced in the first two or three centuries of the Christian Church. It stopped when Constantine made Christianity a state religion in Rome and wedded the church and the state. As a result the church said, "We do not need to arbitrate our disputes any more. We will let the state make the decisions because the state and the church are all one. We are a Christian nation."
According to 1 Corinthians 6:1-6, if you feel that you have been wronged or defrauded by another believer you are forbidden to go to a law court and prosecute him before an unbelieving judge. Rather you are to go to the elders of your church or to some wise men in your church and have your case dealt with by the saints. Even if the other party is not acting like a Christian, prosecuting him in a court is sinful. If the two believers are from different churches, then men from both churches should be involved in the arbitration. In any arbitration, both disputing parties must be willing to submit to the arbitration. Imagine the remarkable impact in American society if Christians settled all of their disputes between themselves in such a fashion. The body of Christ would be a great witness to the world and our unity would effect our evangelism according to John 17. The fact that a Christian brother is taking a fellow Christian to court is sufficient proof that he has set aside the command to love his neighbor. That believer is no longer showing the world that we are His dis ciples. Settling our disputes among ourselves might not be done very often today but it is expected of us.
What if the church doesn't have elders or wise men who are able to deal with a very technical situation? Would we then be justified in going to the public court system? Paul's answer is no! (We have no excuse today because of the exsistence of organizations like the I.C.C.)
Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. (1 Corinthians 6:7)
The word "failure" is the Greek word hettema, a word used of defeat in court. The early church fathers legitimately translated it `defeat'. The NASB uses that translation. Paul says that to go to court and have an unbeliever judge a dispute between two believers is already a defeat, regardless of the outcome of the judge's decision. The believer who takes a fellow believer to court has already been defeated because he has already damaged the Body of Christ and caused pain.
If arbitration is not possible for some reason, what is the believer to do since he can't prosecute? Paul gave a third option the middle of 1 Corinthians 6:7.
Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated?
The third option is deprivation: you have the right to deprive yourself of your rights in the face of being wronged or defrauded. This is the highest and most noble option. It is far better to lose financially than to lose spiritually. The person who places a very high value upon a dollar or on his property will find it very difficult to give up his rights. The person who is so proud that he must always fight for his rights could never voluntarily give them up. The whole concept of relinquishing one's rights seems anathema to a culture immersed in asserting them; we have women's rights, children's rights, civil rights, gay rights, animal rights. Everyone is screaming for their rights today. Today's secular world urges people to demand their rights and, if denied, to take someone to court. But the Bible teaches love which, when put to practice, translates into conciliation. The attitude of demanding one's rights remains diametrically opposed to Christ's teaching and example:
Matthew 5:39-42 (NKJV) "But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. "Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away."
Jesus said that it is better to lose money or possessions than to lose a brother and lose your testimony. Long ago, Plato had laid it down that the good man will always choose to suffer wrong rather than to do wrong. If the Christian is living his life in the power of the Spirit, he will rather suffer insult and loss and injury than to inflict them on someone else, especially a brother. To take vengeance is always an unchristian thing to do.
Romans 12:19-20 (NKJV) "Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord. Therefore "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head."
The word avenge is the Greek ekdikeo which means to vindicate one's rights, to punish a person. We are not to try to punish someone who has wronged us even though that is the natural response. Rejecting vengeance is not natural; we can only live like this supernaturally as we walk in the Spirit. In our flesh we all take joy in someone who gets even. There is a story about a truck driver who dropped in at an all-night restaurant in Broken Bow, Nebraska. The waitress had just served him when three swaggering, leather-jacketed motorcyclists--of the Hell's Angels type--entered and rushed up to him, apparently looking for a fight. One grabbed the hamburger off his plate; another took a handful of his French fries; and the third picked up his coffee and began to drink it.
The trucker did not respond as they probably expected. Instead, he calmly rose, picked up his check, walked to the front of the room, put the check and his money on the cash register, and went out the door. The waitress followed him to put the money in the till and stood watching out the door as the big truck drove away into the night.
When she returned, one of the cyclists said to her, "Well, he's not much of a man, is he?"
She replied, "I can't answer as to that, but he's not much of a truck driver. He just ran over three motorcycles out in the parking lot."
Did you laugh at that story? You love stories like that, don't you? That's because you're sinful and in your flesh you love revenge! May God help us to be more like Him.
Vengeance is God's job, not ours. The effects of holding a grudge are very serious. Modern medicine has shown that emotions like bitterness and anger can cause physical problems such as headaches, backaches, allergic disorders, ulcers, high blood pressure, and heart attacks, to name just a few. When we do not love our enemies but strike back at them, we are usurping Gods's prerogative to mete out justice. God says, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay." By seeking revenge, we really inflict great harm on ourselves. Let's trust Him to make things right and be willing to suffer the wrong.
The person who is able to take the wrong without bitter resentment or slandering is reflecting one of the most beautiful characteristics of Jesus Christ that you will ever see. That is exactly what our Lord was like he gave up his rights (Philippians 2:5-11). He took wrongs and he was defrauded; he did it patiently and without reacting. Peter said,
1 Peter 2:23 (NKJV) "who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously;"
Jesus committed himself to God knowing that God was in control and His will and purpose were at work both in what He gained and what He lost. Forgiveness and non-retaliation are beautiful traits of Christ likeness that a believer can display. Paul asked this of the Corinthians. It is the third option that a person may follow if he has been wronged, and it is the most Christlike. If, in the middle of arbitration, a believer senses any bitterness in himself or the other party, the best thing he can do is to drop the case and suffer the wrong for the sake of Christ and His body, the church.
In 1 Corinthians 6:1-7 Paul admonished those who had been wronged and those who had been defrauded for prosecuting. In 1 Corinthians 6:8-11, he admonished those who were defrauding, those who did the wrong. It is obvious from verse 8 that such a condition existed at Corinth.
No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren!
The Corinthians' attitude and actions were sinful because they were not Christlike and they were dishonoring to God. May God help us to heed Paul's words and be willing to forgive when we are wronged. May our lives reflect the Lord Jesus Christ in all we do at any cost. May we be willing to suffer the wrong for the sake of the reputation of Jesus Christ.
A Christian's primary concern should not be to protect his possessions or his rights but to protect his relationship with His Lord and with his fellow believers. Paul's words to the Corinthian believers are very practical for the American church which has immersed itself in our suit-happy culture. We are to supernatually different from the world around us; what an opportunity we would have to be radically different if we would be willing to yield our rights for the sake of the Body of Christ.
|
|