Christians and the Civil Courts

1 Corinthians 6:1-11

In coming to chapter 6 we find that we are entering into another division within the book of first Corinthians. This section has to do with lawsuits among believers and how they should be handled. Here again it is amazing how our culture is almost like an identical twin to that of the Corinthian culture. The Corinthian culture was a highly litigious society. As a matter of fact one archeologist has said that the one thing that he most frequently comes across in his excavations are verdicts of court cases. It will be a piece of pottery with some sort—because paper wasn’t readily available—of verdict etched in it. It will say, “So and so must pay so and so x amount of dollars.” That’s how common litigation was in those days.

Like our day it was more than a mere occupation. Today we like to watch courtroom cases on television and use it as entertainment. We have things like Law and Order, Judge Judy, or back in the day there was the People’s Court. The same was true in Paul’s day. The courtroom was an outlet for entertainment. Sometimes juries could be up to 6000 people, and that’s not including the people who would come and just watch for the fun of it. Just like you would say, “Did you catch that last episode of L.A. Law?” the court cases of the Mediterranean world were the talk of the town. It was just fun and provided some thrill to a otherwise mediocre day.

Being that this was the pervading mindset of the day, it is easy to understand then why these practices were carried over into the church. It was merely second nature. But when Paul catches wind of this fact, that brothers within the church were suing one another in pagan courts, he is aghast. And in this passage we see just how appalled he is for he denounces it with quite strong argumentation. Indeed, Paul himself acts as a litigator here to make his case on why Christians should not go to the worlds courts to solve their problems. And he makes his case by telling us that it is stupid, shameful, and suspect to do this.

Now, as we consider this subject, the first thing we should understand is the absolute stupidity of taking our grievances outside the church to pagan courts.

I. The stupidity of it [1-5]
In the first five verses you can sense from the Apostle’s tone that he thinks the Corinthians are acting like a bunch of fools. The very first question he asks indicates this. “Do you dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?”

Perhaps you’ve caught the humor in this (or, the insult). The Corinthians were boasting in their human wisdom. They thought they were so wise, so intelligent, so incredibly shrewd. Well, if they are so smart, why can’t they take care of their own problems? Why do they have to take these matters to pagans to decide them? Their actions reveal that they are not as smart as they think.

The truth of the matter is that we are wise. Now that we have been redeemed we have the mind of Christ. A new mind gives us new understanding, and the word of God guides us into truth. We shouldn’t have to take things outside the church.

The Reformation/Geneva Study Bibles have a really good note here. It begins by linking this passage to the last passage we studied. Last week we saw that in Church discipline, we are not to judge those who are outside the church. In the same respect, those who are outside the church should not judge matters that go on inside the church. Then it gives the example of Israel in the wilderness. Just think how ridiculous it would be if the Israelites went to some pagan court for justice. What would that have said about the God of Israel?

This is not condemning secular courts or making any comment on their legitimacy. It is simply stating that church matters should be dealt with in the church. That’s because they are more than civil matters. These are spiritual matters. The issues that come up between brothers and cause them to become pitted against one another are issues that pertain to our relationship with God. So they should be dealt with in the courtroom where Christ presides.

Don’t get me wrong. We do not discount the courts of the world. However, we should remember that the courtroom of Christ is superior to the courts of the unbelieving.
The next couple of verses highlight just how superior it is too. Paul goes on to say that it is stupid to go to secular courts because the church is more than qualified to take up these matters. I want you to understand too that it is not just qualified, but more qualified than the unbelieving courts to deal with these matters!

Paul uses the argument from greater to the lesser. In verse 2 he says that we will one day judge the world. In verse 3 he says we will judge angels. Imagine that. When Christ comes back, he is going to put us on the bench with him. We will be part of the jury that decides the eternal fate of the unbelieving and angels.

Certainly we do not understand the whole import of what Paul means by this. We just know that we will play some role in the decision process. But the conclusion is obvious: if we are going to assist in passing judgment on matters pertaining to eternity, should we not be able to take care of these petty worldly matters?

It is no wonder why Paul says the least of us should be able to give an adequate judgment!

Do you realize now how foolish it is to go to pagan courts? The church is more than able to provide arbitration for you. We shouldn’t have to go outside the church to solve the problems that pop up within the church. As we see here, it is stupid to do so.

But it more than just stupid to go to outside the church. It is disgraceful too.

II. The shame of it [6-8]
In verse 5 Paul says, “I say this to your shame.” In other words, what has been said so far should make you think twice about going to an unbelieving court. But in the next few verses he really lays it on thick to show how shameful it really is. He says that it is a disgrace to go to these courts for two reasons. The first is because our standards are to be higher than that.

A. Because our standards are to be higher
Look at verse 6. It says, “Brother goes to law against brother.” And in verse 8 says, “You yourselves wrong and defraud—even your own brothers!”

What does it say about a group of people if they have to go to court? It says that one of them is a cheat. Courtrooms exist because people sin. People sue one another because they fail to honor one another as Christ commands them to.

Now we should expect unbelieving people to cheat each other and blow one another off. And we should expect that they would treat us with that same kind of disrespect. But that shouldn’t be true of us! We are to live by a higher standard. Our lives are to be more pure than that. We should never be even accused of having wronged anyone, let alone someone who is our brother in the Lord!

The Bible says that we are to flee even the appearance of sin. That’s how pure our lives are to be. So when we sell something, we should sell a quality product for a fair price. If for some reason we are negligent, we admit we are wrong and we correct the matter. Or if there is some contract that we enter into, it should be expected that each of us will live up to our end of the contract.

The Corinthians were not doing that. Paul calls them out because they were not living up to God’s standard. They were acting just like the pagans.

But it is a disgrace not only because our standards are to be higher, but because our witness is to be better.

B. Because our witness is to be better
Look again at verse 6. It says, “Brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers!”

What is Paul talking about here? He’s talking about how the outside world will perceive us! What kind of testimony to we give the world if we are always dragging our own brothers and sisters before them? What does it say about us if we are always taking our problems to them to solve? What kind of message are we sending? They are going to look at us and say, “What’s with these Christians? There is not much that is Christian about them!”

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think that we should put up a façade and try and portray that the church doesn’t have any problems. That would be a foolish thing to do. But we should show that we have fewer problems. And we should show the world that we can handle our problems and we can handle them in a better way!

In other words, we should be giving the rest of the world the impression that Christ can (and does) take care of his people. They should see a difference between the way we act and the way other people act.

That’s why Paul says, “Why not rather be defrauded? Why not rather suffer wrong?” In other words, if the only option you have is to go out to the secular courts and drag Christ’s name through the mud, wouldn’t it be better to just take the hit and bear the injustice?

The church has a reputation to keep, and we should be aware of that. Everywhere we go, we bear the name Christian. And it should be our personal aim to keep the reputation of the church from being sullied.

I wonder if this might be part of the reason why we have seen the growth of counselors and psychologists. Maybe people don’t feel comfortable coming to the church with their problems because they have so frequently seen Christians not being able to take care of their own problems. If that is true, just think how many souls may have been lost over the years. What a shame that would be to us!

In verses 9-11 Paul points out one more thing about these courtroom ventures that the Corinthians have been involved in. He says that it is not just stupid and shameful. But it makes their salvation suspect.

III. The suspect of it [9-11]
In verse 9 Paul says, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?” He then goes on to list lifestyles that are incompatible with Christianity. The sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, men who practice homosexuality, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, swindlers: none of them will be saved on the last day.

What Paul is saying is that Christians don’t live like that. Christians act differently. If you have a litigious spirit and all you care about is getting back at someone (or getting money out of someone), then that shows that you are not really a Christian at all. If you idolize money and are out to bring everybody else down, then there is reason to question the validity of your salvation.

Whenever I post my blogs I frequently get people who comment and say that my faith is suspect. Some have even gone so far as to call me a false prophet. But the only thing that I do on my blog is apply the law of God to the various issues that come up. For that I am criticized.
What these people do not recognize is that their faith is the one that is suspect. If the whole orientation of your life is contrary to God’s law—without any sort of repentance, then you need to be aware that grace has not entered your life!

People who have experienced the grace of God orient their lives around the law of God. They don’t continue to jettison it. If they do, then it shows that they haven’t really experienced grace at all. Grace transforms you.

And that’s what Paul says of us. “Such were some of you. You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God.” Your lives have been radically transformed. Your lives are to no longer be characterized by lawlessness.

This is the real problem I have with Alcoholics Anonymous. They have their people get up and say, “I am so & so and I am an alcoholic.” Okay, they have a point. It is good to confess you that you have a problem. But the Christian can’t say that he is an alcoholic. If he was a drunk in the past, he doesn’t say, “I am an alcoholic.” Even if he is struggling with drinking still, even if his flesh still yearns for the booze—he does not say, “I am an alcoholic.” He says, “I am a Christian. I have been baptized and marked out by the Holy Spirit. I have been delivered from the kingdom of darkness and now live by faith in the Son of God.” Alcoholism, as a lifestyle, is a thing of the past for him.

As Christians, we go through a moral revolution. Our world is turned upside-down so that the patterns of our lives change. Not everything is dealt with immediately. We know that. But the power of sin is destroyed and the remnants are progressively subdued.

So we can say quite candidly that we are not gossips here. We are not liars or promise breakers. We are not sexually immoral; we are not addicted to pornography. We are not idolaters. Those were things we may have been before, but they are no longer true. We are the redeemed of God, and we have turned from that way of life.

Only those who have not been redeemed will persist in that kind wickedness.

Conclusion:
It is wonderful the way this passage ends. Despite all the cold hearted-ness and the loveless-ness that is taking place within the Corinthian church, Paul ends his message with the tenderhearted love of God. He reminds them of the immense grace God has bestowed on them so that the poor souls might learn to demonstrate love to one another.

It is awesome that as he talks about being in the courtroom, he takes us to the courtroom of heaven. He reminds us that we have, by the full grace of God, been justified in God’s court. That is to say, we have been fully pardoned of all our offenses before the Supreme Judge of men through the work of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And there is no better ending to such a sermon than to remind us of what has been transacted in highest court in the land. When we went to court, we were let off scot free.

We know that there will be grievances that need to be addressed. As sinners we’ll find that that is the case. And that is why we have the church. But we are also reminded that the principle that is to guide our daily lives is the principle of love.