Can it be that…brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers?
1 Corinthians 6:1-11
Understanding the background of these verses is crucial for rightly applying Paul’s words. Some believers read this text as if there is never an appropriate time to pursue public justice in a dispute with a professing believer. However, Paul’s intent is that he does not counsel against every use of the legal system but only for “trivial cases” and “matters pertaining to this life.” Criminal matters or the severe defrauding of another Christian should be a matter for the legal system of this world. He refers to minor issues between believers that can be solved outside a public court hearing. Remember that God has established authorities and rulers to enforce laws made that the church has not been authorized to deal with. For such criminal cases, the proper remedy is the government’s justice system as Paul wrote of in Romans 13:1–7. As Paul continues to argue against believers’ bringing the civil magistrate in to settle their private affairs, he pours on a bit of shame to get the Corinthians to wake up and see the error of their ways. In particular, Paul asks them if there truly is no one wise enough to settle their minor disputes. Remember that the Corinthians prided themselves on their man-centered wisdom, and Paul corrected them by pointing to the wisdom of God as seen in Christ crucified back in chapter 1. By his question, Paul shows them yet again that they are not as wise as they think they are. True wisdom, if they possessed it, would lead them to arbitrate matters themselves, and Paul calls them to embrace such wisdom and keep minor issues in the church and not lay them before outsiders. Paul’s concern is with the public witness of the church. The Apostle does not want believers to bring their relatively insignificant, easily solved disagreements before unbelievers because, if believers cannot settle minor matters among themselves, that encourages the world to question the ability of the gospel to settle issues such as man’s reconciliation to God. Christians should never engage in lawsuits till all other remedies have been tried in vain. Prudent Christians should prevent, if possible, their disputes, and not have courts adjudicate them, especially in matters of no great importance. Christians must endeavor to settle minor disputes among themselves and bring in outside resources only when absolutely necessary.
Source: S C Ball October 27, 2023
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