Called to Judge
Spring 2024
Summary of 1 Corinthians 6
In the early church, Jews were totally prejudiced against going to heathen courts. Under Roman government they were permitted to settle their issues among themselves, if it didn’t affect the state. Greek converts to Christianity, however, were accustomed to taking their legal matters to public courts. They saw it as their right.
Paul addressed this glaring error in the Corinthian church of going “to law before the unjust, and not before the saints” (1 Corinthians 6:1). He made it clear that Christians should not go before the ungodly with their internal church issues. It was a matter of testimony for the church and of the peaceable fellowship of God’s people in the church.
We must understand that this teaching is related to the work of ministers and ruling elders. Members join the church to stand for its declared doctrines and its stated practices to strengthen the body of believers. They undertake to submit themselves to the local church’s oversight knowing that its rule in cases between fellow believers would be binding. The eldership, acting as a church court, must have that authority to be effective in deciding individual cases. So, the apostle argued for the power of the church court as he reasoned that Christians should not take their causes before the ungodly.
Surprisingly, in light of the apostle finding Corinthians to be puffed up with pride, Corinthian Christians were reluctant to take on the task of judging between fellow believers. Paul had to reason with them that Christians in the church are well suited to act as judges. He dismissed their professed unworthiness to sit in judgment over another believer’s complaint. In this chapter the apostle reasoned that it was right to seek out fellow Christians to act as judges to settle differences between brethren within the church.
By taking their cases to the ungodly Christians risk bringing scandal upon the church. The apostle challenged the Corinthians to see their error. He wrote: “Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to the law before the unjust, and not before the saints” (1 Corinthians 6:1).
The church always stands as a spectacle before the world. The behavior of Christians is constantly scrutinized by the ungodly. The world soon latches upon the least fault in a Christian to criticize the church and the whole gospel message. Therefore, it is best that offences and wrongs caused by Christians are settled among fellow Christians. They should put away the litigious spirit of going before ungodly courts with their complaints. By taking their complaints before the church, as Paul directed, believers demonstrate their love for the brethren, and they guard the testimony of the church.
Saints shall judge the world. This was a conceded point among God’s people. The apostle asked, “Do ye not know that saints shall judge the world?” (1 Corinthians 1:2)
On that day when Christ returns, the tables of judgment shall be turned. Christians shall then judge the world alongside Christ, the eternal Judge. This knowledge of future events must guide Christians now in this life. Christians must take up the worthy challenge of acting as judges over fellow saints who seek remedies for the wrongs committed against them by fellow Christians.
Christians will judge angels. The apostle then lifted his argument onto an even higher plain, by asking, them: “Know ye not that we shall judge angels?” (1 Corinthians 6:3) On that day when glorified with Christ, Christians will praise the Lord adding their verdict to His righteous judgments over all His creatures. This doctrine must control a believer’s mind when called upon to judge between fellow Christians. See the power of Paul’s, “If then,” conclusion: “If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church” 1 Corinthians 6:4.
Such is the vast scale of difference between judging angels in eternity and judging fellow believers in this life that there is no excuse for Christians to shy away from this work. By this use of sarcasm the apostle showed confidence that, among the ranks of the church in Corinth, there were men well suited to judge between fellow believers.
Redeemed and regenerated Christians are well equipped to judge the saints.
Paul made a further point that was already conceded by Christians. “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?” (1 Corinthians 6:9)
The heathen live debauched lives practicing the worst of sins. They care less about justice, righteousness, and mercy. All the while, Christians have a testimony of deliverance from vile sins and know by personal experience the pardoning power of the gospel. “And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11).
A justified believer who knows that Christ became a sacrifice for sin to turn away God’s wrath from his own head will have a keen sense of justice. He was once condemned by the law of God, but now he rejoices that he is justified by the redeeming work of Christ.
A pardoned believer also has a keen sense of mercy because he knows the power of pardon in his own soul. He rests and rejoices in the daily, loving kindness of the Savior toward him. This is the very kind of person believers should want to sit in judgment of them. Whether it is slander, physical harm, or any other form of injustice, the best possible person to judge your case against a brother or sister in the Lord is a fellow Christian, who lives in the blessedness of God’s pardon.
How much better, therefore, for a Christian who has felt the wrongdoing of a fellow Christian to take his cause to the saints, the church. Surely, he will have much greater confidence that right will prevail and that offences can be put to rest in a biblical, gospel manner, and all to the glory of God, not the mockery of men before heathen courts. Why, then, would a lover of righteousness go to the unrighteous to have his or her case decided in a Gentile court? The apostle simply asserts that a Christian is the best person to sit in judgment of a fellow Christian.
Rather than risk receiving a judgment that invites the mockery of the world the Christian should take wrong.
“Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded” (1 Corinthians 6:7).
This option lies at the heart of the matter and often provides the best solution. Not all cases are easy to judge. All the evidence may not be available and sometimes going to court does more harm than the wrong of the initial offence.
Self-denial is often the safest route for the people of God. It is better to suffer wrong than to lose your testimony as a self-denying Christian. What if you are defrauded and lose something of your good name or your property? Shall your wrong not be put right on that eternal day? Will you lose that much in this life when all is weighed in the balances of eternity? While it is most often wrong to take a case between professing Christians to the ungodly for judgment, it is never wrong to practice self-denial.
But do suffer loss victoriously as a Christian, rather than endlessly holding a grudge, as if a victim for life. Take the wrong for Jesus’ sake knowing that He suffered greater loss for you. There is no better way to prove that you are a Calvary Christian than to victoriously suffer the wrongs done to you for the gospel’s sake. Turn the offence into an opportunity to show that you are a Christlike Christian. Let’s give G. Campbell Morgan the last word on this whole matter. He said,
“Rather suffer injustice than seek for justice before a wrong court.”