1 Corinthians 6:1–8

Here modern practice, or even thought, differs greatly from apostolic principle. Christians today have little conscience about appealing to a worldly tribunal. It is clear that the Holy Spirit felt it to be an outrage. No Christian who walks rightly could think of taking another believer to court before the world. It makes no difference how wrong that believer might be. He must have forgotten what God counts each to be. The world has rejected His Son. The saints are those whom grace has separated from the world to God.

Notice first how the word "unjust" works as a title that marks out those the previous chapter calls "outside." The believer is justified by his faith. The world he was called out of, the Spirit leaves under the stigma of unrighteousness. "The saints" and "the unjust" are his two opposite labels. One covers the church of the living God. The other covers the world that the church was called out of.

It is remarkable that the apostle Paul brands the judges of the law in his day as unjust. Yet for all that, God employed them. There were magistrates and judges. God called them unjust when His own people were involved, because His people had a far higher standard of righteousness. They knew Christ. The Corinthians should have settled all these disputes among themselves. So they were badly wrong to carry on like the world. The world must go to the law-court. What else could it do? It cannot settle things itself, and it does not have the authority the court has. But the children of God have quite another tribunal.

The apostle brings the light of the coming day to bear on present matters… In the kingdom of our Lord there will be a judgment of the living. That future reality acts on the apostle now. He uses it to judge the conduct of every day. How can it be a living truth if it does not work like that? Even the Corinthians did not doubt the future fact. But like all unspiritual people, they let it slip in the present, where they ought to have remembered it.

Why, then, is it pressed on the believer as an almost self-evident principle? Because the believer is not of the world. He belongs to Christ. True, he will judge the world, and judge angels, but this will be with Christ. If Christ waits for that time, so must he.

The saints are going to judge the world and angels. So they must be able to settle the far smaller affairs of everyday life. If matters about this life come up between brothers, the least esteemed in the assembly can settle them. Such matters call for no great spirituality or gift, only common sense and honesty.

He tells them they should suffer wrong rather than take each other to court before unbelievers… His aim is to avoid lawsuits between brothers. The Lord says we are not to resist evil. It is a question of grace, though righteousness is in it. If I can keep Christ's character, I would rather do that than keep my cloak. It is more sorrowful for the heart to lose Christ's character than to lose the cloak.

It was also a wrong done to the world itself. What power is there in a testimony that contradicts itself, preaching the cross and yet fighting in the flesh?

Christian practice today, and even Christian thinking, differs greatly from the apostle's principle. Christians now have little conscience about appealing to a worldly court. It is clear that the Holy Spirit felt this to be an outrage. No Christian who is walking rightly could think of taking another to court before the world, however wrong that other may be. He must be forgetting what God counts each to be. The world has rejected His Son. The saints are those whom grace has separated from the world to God.

Here the apostle bases his reproof on how strange it is to seek judgment from the very people we shall judge at Christ's coming... The future judgment of the living in the kingdom of our Lord is a reality that acts on the apostle now. He uses it to judge the conduct of every day. How can it be a living truth if it does not work like this? Even the Corinthians did not doubt the fact about the future. But like all unspiritual people, they had let it slip in the very place where they should have remembered it... In the eyes of faith it was a glaring inconsistency. If the world is judged by the saints, are they unfit to judge the smallest matters? Such were and still are the questions people take to court.

"Judgment was given to them." That is, these saints receive royal authority to rule. It is the fulfilment of that grand and unqualified statement, "Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?" (1 Cor. 6:2).

They really ought to have known that "the saints will judge the world." This fact had been stated in the Old Testament. "The Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given for the saints of the Most High, and the time came when the saints possessed the kingdom" (Dan. 7:22; older translations read "judgment was given to the saints"). Had they really known it, they would not have dragged one another into pagan law courts. If we really knew it, we would perhaps avoid certain things that we do.

The saints are to judge as well as reign... This refers only to the earthly judgments connected with the kingdom. Where eternal issues are in question, we read of one "throne," not "thrones" (contrast Rev. 20:4 and 11). Still, the position is a wonderful one for us. Once we dreaded the judgment of God on ourselves, because of our many sins. Now all that dread has gone. We look forward to sitting on the judge's bench ourselves in the coming day when the earth is ruled in glory.

It simply means that the saints of God were going to law before the unjust instead of before the church of God. They were told to let the saints settle the matter. Why? Because the saints are going to judge the world. Many Christians think the saints will be judged along with the world. But they will be there as judges — quite a different thing. What a wonderful honour. It is most solemn. Think of Christ coming to take His saints to glory, and coming back with us to judge the world... All saved people in this present age are saints.

He asks them whether they do not know that the saints will judge the world. That is, of course, in the coming day of the Lord's rule over it; but it is for this that we are being trained and educated now. How could those who are on their way to such a place be unfit or unworthy to judge these small matters? In the apostle's estimate they count for very little.

Paul, in 1 Cor. 6:3, says that the saints will judge angels. They will judge the world too, and that is a truth revealed elsewhere; but this passage says plainly that they are to judge angels... Scripture does assure us that the earth we live on will be put under the Lord Jesus in that day, and the saints are to reign with Him. The risen saints will share His royal authority, for that is what "judging" means here. It has nothing at all to do with Christ's final award of man. It is no small mistake to think that the saints will carry out the final judgment on men or angels. All such judgment belongs to the Son of Man alone (John 5:22, 27; Rev. 20).

The Lord Jesus receives authority to carry out judgment as Man, and this includes the judgment of angels (John 5:22, 27). Redeemed people will be fully identified with Him in this judgment. If that is so, how much more should a believer be able to judge the things of this life. Remember that "the spiritual person judges [or discerns] all things" (ch. 2:16).

There are two ways in which this Scripture may be fulfilled. "The world to come" will be put under the rule of the Son of Man, and believers will share their Lord's earthly rule. So it is quite possible that angels will be under the direction of the saints in that day. Or, as someone has said, "when Christ judges the world and pronounces the doom of the [fallen] angels, the church will be joined with Him and take part in His judgment, for she has His Spirit and His mind." Paul mentions that we are to judge angels to shame the Corinthian believers, who were going to court before the unjust.

If it were true that the reign of the saints with Christ had been revealed only once, is our judging angels any less credible or important because we have it in this single passage? Christ handing the kingdom over to the Father is recorded only in 1 Cor. 15:24. Is that truth therefore of doubtful meaning or of little value?

Verse 3 brings before us a still more astonishing fact. But here the change from "the saints" to "we" may show that only the apostles will judge angels.

What strong reasons we are given here for having no lawsuits among brothers! What a case for stopping the proceedings! Cases are pending; trials wait for the great judgment day. But they are not the cases of the saints. They are those of the world and of angels, and in them we will be the judges together with Christ!

He tells them they should suffer wrong rather than go to court before unbelievers. They were in a terrible state; they lacked no gift, and they showed no grace... The Lord says we are not to resist evil. It is a question of grace, though righteousness is in it. If I can keep Christ's character, I would rather do so than keep my cloak. It is more sorrowful for the heart to lose Christ's character than to lose the cloak.

These verses open up before us a view of extraordinary authority and responsibility. In that light the things belonging to this life can only be called "the smallest matters." In keeping with this estimate, the instruction is that if the saints must judge such questions, those least esteemed in the church are to hear the case. Notice that it does not say all the saints are going to judge in the coming age. Perhaps not all are, and so those least likely to be judges then are to be judges now.

Verse 4 lays down a striking principle. For spiritual matters, the discernment of a spiritual person is plainly necessary. But if the matters belong only to this life, those "who are least esteemed in the assembly" should be expected to be competent for this. Simple honesty, not spirituality, is what such a case needs. These matters are not important enough to take the time of those who give themselves to the spiritual welfare of God's people. Let us always guard against letting such things grow so big that they overshadow what matters far more — the spiritual prosperity of the saints.

Some interpreters take verse 4 as a question, others as sarcasm. There seems no particular reason for the first. Matters of this life need no more than good sense and honesty. Having these would not create a claim to honour in the church. Believers might have both and still be little esteemed there, where the grace and power of Christ alone create such a claim. Deciding those matters in no way called for high spirituality.

See how high Paul lifts the Christian in this rebuke to the Corinthians, and how sharp that makes it. Telling them to set the least esteemed in the church to judge seems the exact opposite of Moses. Of course he does not mean it to be carried out to the letter... He would not have those judge who lacked wisdom. But he considers, on the one hand, that "the least esteemed in the Church" ought to have a raised and impartial spirit fit for such a task. On the other hand, those whose worldly matters come up for judgment should be so far above concern about things of this kind that they are ready to submit their case to any of their brothers.

The world is outside, and God will judge it in the day of judgment. But the gathered assembly is responsible to guard the Lord's character and doctrine, so it must exercise discipline. There too, some wise brother or brothers should settle difficult cases among the saints. The saints should never take their causes before the world's law-courts. The world's law-courts are the place of judgment for the world; but the assembly of God is the place of judgment for the children of God.

Suppose someone insults us or cheats us. Suppose something a brother or sister says or does affects us, and it looms so large in our minds that we decide to take it to law. Are we not stepping down from the platform of blessing God has placed us on? Should not Christian forgiveness work here, so that the matter is finished once and for all and never reaches the civil court?... We cannot be right in testimony, and we cannot be right in worship, if we are out of harmony with our brothers and sisters. Paul is saying: if such a matter exists, it is very simple, not complex. Why does not someone say "I forgive" and settle it, so that the honour of Christ and the glory of God are maintained?

If the Apostle has to speak like this, it really is to their shame. Their going to law before the world seemed to prove one thing. Despite all the knowledge and gifts they boasted about, there was not among them a wise man able to settle these little matters. And so brother went to law with brother, and that before unbelievers.

In verse 5 he speaks to their shame; the smallest — that is, in spiritual power — ought to be able to judge the things that belong to this life... They were in a terrible state: they came behind in no gift, and they came forward in no grace.

Matters of this life need no more than good sense and honesty. Surely having these would not be a claim to honour in the church. Believers might have both and still be little esteemed there, where the grace and power of Christ alone give such a claim. Deciding those matters in no way called for high spirituality. Indeed the apostle says, "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" — literally, "brother and brother."

It is clear that the apostle did not want such disputes taken to the assembly, at least not first. The gravest cases should be; lighter ones should not. Did they not have even one wise man to decide them? He is making light of such questions as well as rebuking them for their worldliness. Their moral state troubled him more than their lack of wisdom.

In our own cause we are not fit to be judges, and no laws anywhere would allow it; yet there is no office we take up more naturally. Self-interest pushes us to do the very thing that self-interest disqualifies us for... He would not want people without wisdom to judge. But he holds two things. First, that "the least esteemed in the Church" ought to have a raised and impartial spirit fit for such a task. Second, that people whose worldly matters come up for judgment ought to care so little about such things that they would readily hand their case to any of their brothers.

There was a double cause for humiliation here. First, the children of light and wisdom shamed their parentage by openly admitting they could not handle ordinary matters. Second, Christ's brothers were going to law with one another, and that before unbelievers, instead of living together in the unity of His peace. Among those who sat so royally on the throne of truth, was there no one who cared to be a peacemaker among his brothers?

Going to law before unbelievers was utterly disgraceful, and he allows no excuse for it at all. In fact, rather than that, a person should let himself be defrauded. And if someone did take his brother to law, he was himself guilty of defrauding his brother. He was robbing him of the right, at least, to have the matter settled by his brothers.

If the Apostle has to speak this way, it is really to their shame. They boasted of all their knowledge and gifts. Yet their going to law before the world would seem to prove that no wise man among them could settle these little matters. And so brother went to law with brother, and that before unbelievers. The Apostle is clearly speaking of matters that need not be brought before the assembly, for "a wise man" can settle them.

Matters of this life need no more than good sense and honesty. Having these would not be a claim to honour in the church.

The name given in Scripture to the class of people who do not have faith in the divine revelation of the gospel.

It is clear that the Holy Spirit felt it to be an outrage. No Christian walking well with God could think of bringing a case before the world against another, however wrong that other might be. To do it, he must forget what God says each one is. The world has rejected His Son. The saints are those whom grace has separated from the world to God.

The craft of the deceiver could devise nothing more destructive of the moral power of Christianity, as a testimony in the world, than such a proceeding… Truth had raised these people, in name at least, high above the ordinary aims of other men. If it had no power to provide for their contentment and happiness within its own circle, then from that day on truth might well seem to the natural man no better than a matter of opinion. And by taking their disputes to a worldly court, they were handing the world authority over the people of God.

How often nowadays one hears, "Well, one expects something better from a brother; he ought to suffer the consequences of his wrongdoing." That was the feeling of the Corinthian who brought the case. What, then, is the weapon the apostle uses here? It is the dignified place in glory that God designs for the Christian: "Do you not know that we shall judge the world — judge angels?" Were such people going before the Gentiles? So we see how practical all truth is. God casts the bright light of the coming day on the smallest matters of today's life.

In the assembly, some wise brother or brothers should settle difficult cases among the saints. Saints should never take their causes before the world's law-courts. The world's law-courts are the place of judgment for the world. But the assembly of God is the place of judgment for the children of God, and the Lord's table is where that assembly gathers.

He tells them they ought rather to suffer wrong than go to law before the unbelievers. They were in a terrible state. They lacked no gift, yet they showed no grace… It is a question of grace, though righteousness is in it. If I can keep Christ's character, I would rather do so than keep my cloak. It is more sorrowful for the heart to lose Christ's character than to lose the cloak.

So it is quite clear. If one Christian has a charge of unrighteousness to bring against another, he must bring his case before fellow believers and not before the world. There is, however, something better than that, as verse 7 shows. Best of all is to meekly suffer the wrong, leaving the Lord to deal with it and to work repentance in the wrongdoer. Worst of all is to do the wrong and defraud even your brothers.

He tells them they ought rather to suffer wrong than go to law before unbelievers. They were in a terrible state; they came behind in no gift, and they came forward in no grace. His aim is to avoid lawsuits between brothers. The Lord says we are not to resist evil. It is a question of grace, though righteousness is in it. If I can keep Christ's character, I would rather do that than keep my cloak. It is more sorrowful to the heart to lose Christ's character than to lose the cloak.

Wrong practices so often come from a wrong spirit and from not knowing God's principles. They were clearly not prepared to take wrong, or to suffer wrong, for Christ's sake... We may show a lot of temper and strong feeling when we think someone is overcharging us. That proves we are more ready to lose Christ's character than to lose our pennies.

They had better suffer wrong; they had better let themselves be defrauded. There was to be no demanding even of their rights. Grace does not exact. Someone may say, can we let the wrong go on in the assembly? That is another matter. The question here is entirely about seeking our own things. If the matter is serious enough to touch the assembly, Matthew 18 has given us the rule for it. There the first aim is the one that should mark our whole course: to gain your brother. That is what discipline aims at.

Going to law before unbelievers was a total disgrace, and he allows no excuse for it at all. Far better to let yourself be defrauded. And if a man did take his brother to law, he was himself guilty of defrauding him. He robbed him of the right, at least, to have the matter settled by fellow believers.

Suppose we are insulted. Suppose we are defrauded. Suppose something a brother or sister says or does to us affects us, and it looms so large in our minds that we decide to take it to law. Are we not stepping down from the platform of blessing God has placed us on?... If we are out of harmony with our brothers and sisters, we cannot be right in testimony, and we cannot be right in worship. Paul is saying that if such a matter exists, it is a simple matter, not a complicated one. Why does someone not say "I forgive," and get it settled? Then the honour of Christ and the glory of God are kept.

So it is quite clear. If one Christian has a charge of wrongdoing against another, he must bring his case before God's people, not before the world. There is, however, something better than that, as verse 7 shows. Best of all is to meekly suffer the wrong, leaving the Lord to deal with it and to work repentance in the wrongdoer. Worst of all is to do the wrong and defraud even fellow believers.

Failure in faith and hope, I must repeat, soon proves to involve failure in love. "But you yourselves wrong and defraud — even your own brothers!" From first to last it was a direct dishonour to God. It was a false witness to their relationship with Him, if they really were born of God. His sense of their failure as Christians does not lessen his horror at the dishonesty or other wrong which provoked the lawsuits.

It was clear they were not prepared to take wrong, or to suffer wrong, for Christ's sake. Instead, by taking one another to court, they did wrong and so defrauded one another. Where, then, was the patience and suffering for doing good? As someone has said, "They came behind in no gift, and they came forward in no grace," and again, "If I can keep Christ's character, I would rather do that than keep my cloak." We may show a lot of temper and strong feeling when we think someone is overcharging us. That proves we are more ready to lose Christ's character than to lose a few coins.

They were not only refusing to be defrauded themselves; they were doing wrong and defrauding their own brothers. "Do you not know," he asks, "that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?" ... Here it is no use pleading grace in any way. Grace is what breaks the rule of sin and sets the soul right to go on with God. If that is not the result, grace has never been learned at all. And no one can plead it for people who, whatever they claim, show no sign of its influence.

Taking a brother before unbelievers was a total disgrace, and he allows no excuse for it at all. Far better than this, one should let himself be defrauded. And anyone who did take his brother to court was himself guilty of defrauding him — defrauding him at least of the right to have the matter settled by fellow believers.

The Corinthians had sadly forgotten the true glory of the church. When Christians forget their proper standing, and the conduct that fits it, they stop walking even as honest men should. ... Christians were never meant to walk well except by faith. Peter could not walk on the water without looking to Christ either. When he stopped looking to Him, he began to sink at once, less safe than those who had never ventured out of the boat.