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THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY SEARCHER VOLUME 6, NUMBER 34, AUGUST 27, 2006 “DARE TO GO TO LAW?” I am sure that most of you recognize the title of this article as a statement found in the First Letter to the Corinthians. The Corinthian church was a congregation of the Lord’s people experiencing many problems ranging from the toleration of sins of immorality to abuses of the Lord’s Supper, and to some actually denying that there would be a general resurrection of the dead. Another of the problems that this church experienced is introduced in chapter 6, and addressed in the first eleven verses. Verse 1, “Does any one of you, when he has a case against his neighbor, dare to go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? The matter of “go to law” was the matter of using civil courts to settle disputes among the brethren. Criminal action is not under consideration in this passage, it concerns civil matters. “Has a case” is a technical term that refers to a “legal process; a trial.” The “unrighteous” refers to the non-Christian and is a play on words. He is essentially saying, “Do you actually seek justice at the hands of the unjust?” Such matters should have been handled by the brethren. Finally, from verse 1, let’s focus on the word “dare.” It is “tolma” or “courage.” “It is used to denote acts in which courage was needed. In this context, the word emphasizes that the cases of litigation were so obviously sinful that the ones engaging in them must be men who recklessly flaunted the will of God.” (Willis, A Commentary on Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians”) Verses 2-4, “Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts? Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, matters of this life? If then you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, do you appoint them as judges who are of no account in the church?” Paul’s point was to ask them if it were possible that this matter of involving non-believers in their disputes was a result of their lack of knowledge. Did they not know that Christians are involved in the judging of the world? Surely then, Christians ought to be able to make judgments among themselves without involving civil authorities. Did they not understand that Christians will be involved in the judging of angels? Would that not make them qualified to judge matters among themselves? All of this being true, why would brothers and sisters, when they have a dispute among themselves related to things pertaining to this life, bring in as judge those who are counted as nothing in the church? This would refer to the unbelievers, pagans in this case, whose very standards and conduct has been set aside by those who follow the Lord. Verses 5-6, “I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not among you one wise man who will be able to decide between his brethren, but brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers?” The point of the passage is to rebuke the practice of Christians involving non-believers in their disputes, going to law against one another. Paul said that he was writing these things “to your shame.” In other words, what some of them were doing in involving the legal system of the unbelievers was so obviously wrong that his mere description of it should have humiliated the ones involved. The fact that some chose to involve the legal system in such matters intimated that they were not able to settle the matters themselves. Was there not so much as one wise man among them, steeped in the knowledge of God’s will, who could serve to settle their problems? The deplorable situation was that brother was going to law against his own brother Verses 7-8, “Actually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? On the contrary, you yourselves wrong and defraud, and that your brethren.” The truth of the matter was, and is, the very fact that brethren went to law against one another, bringing in the civil courts of the non-believers, was evidence of a significant moral flaw among them. It is better to endure the wrong, to endure the loss, rather than to take a brother to law, rather than to involve the civil legal system of the non-believers. Verse 8 serves as a contrast between what they should have been doing and what they really were doing. What they should have been doing was tolerantly suffering for Christ’s sake. What they were doing was injuring and defrauding their brethren by going to law against them, by involving the civil legal system of the non-believers. To summarize, “there are at least two evils discussed by Paul in this section: (1) going to law with one’s brother and (2) doing that before unbelievers. The mere fact that one sued his brother demonstrated a moral defect. Dragging this before unbelievers publicly exposed Christianity to criticism.” (Willis, ibid.) It has been my experience in the past that when a brother or sister involves the legal system in disputes of a non-criminal nature, in other words a civil dispute, between brethren, the welfare of the church and the reputation of Christianity is the last thing on their mind. They want their “rights,” regardless of what the bible might say. Brethren, these things ought not so to be.! Greg Litmer OH, GOD Oh God, when I
have food, help me to remember the hungry;
Contributed by Margie Kern |