1 Corinthians 6.1-8
Paul and Sosthenes have another gripe about the Corinthians, so it merits another chapter. This one isn’t about
And there are plenty of Christians who think this passage still applies to Christians today—and use it to justify handling legal matters in-house, instead of getting police and prosecutors involved. I am not one of them, and I’ll explain why in a bit. Today’s bible passage first.
1 Corinthians 6.1-8 KWL 1 One of you, having an issue with another one of you,- has the nerve to be judged by the unjust,
- and not by the saints?
2 Didn’t you know the saints will judge the world?- And if the world instead judges you,
- aren’t you unqualified to rule in the smallest cases?
3 Didn’t you know we will judge angels?- Not just the things of daily life!
4 So, cases about the things of daily life:- When you have them,
- the people thought the worst of by the church,
- you sit before these people.
5 I say shame on you!- So there’s no one wise among you?
- —who will be able to sort you out in the midst of your family?
6 Instead, brother judges against brother,- and all this in front of unbelievers.
7 So this truly is a failing among you—- that you have judgments against one another.
- Why don’t you let yourselves be harmed instead?
- Why don’t you let yourselves be cheated instead?
8 Instead you harm and cheat.- And you do this to family.
Imperial judges, versus our judges.
Lemme first remind you of Paul and Sosthenes’s personal experience. While Paul was staying and teaching in Corinth, this happened.
Acts 18.12-17 NRSVue 12 But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal.13 They said, “This man is persuading people to worship God in ways that are contrary to the law.”14 Just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of crime or serious villainy, I would be justified in accepting the complaint of you Jews,15 but since it is a matter of questions about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves; I do not wish to be a judge of these matters.”16 And he dismissed them from the tribunal.17 Then all of them seized Sosthenes, the official of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gallio paid no attention to any of these things.
This was Lucius Junius Gallio Annaeanus, a Roman senator who was the son of famous rhetorician Lucius Annaeus Seneca Sr. (Lucius is the family name; he was also adopted by another family member, who gave him the names Junius Gallio.) He was proconsul of Achaea in the late 40s, and clearly he did not give a rip about this particular case. Probably wasn’t paid to.
Y’see, Romans didn’t actually have judges. They had governors, and one of the governors’ jobs was to judge. That’s why, whenever Jesus or Paul or anyone is on trial in the New Testament, they never stood before an actual judge, whose only job was to judge. Such people didn’t exist in the Roman Empire. Nor the kingdoms before it; nor the kingdoms after. You gotta wait till 1195 before you find the innovative English idea of justices of the peace—who judged on the king’s behalf, but still also functioned as law enforcement.
Roman governors were notoriously corrupt. Not just a little corrupt; wholly corrupt. Governors didn’t just take bribes; they expected them.
This being the Roman Empire, where they didn’t care about cruel and unusual punishments, their rulings might be harsh. If you lost, you might get sold into slavery. Or caned. Or crucified. It’s why Paul kept bringing up the fact he was Roman—the law forbade officials from punishing citizens in extreme ways, and Paul was trying to survive the system as best he could. Although you’re probably aware he eventually got beheaded anyway.
We don’t know that the Sosthenes of Corinth who got beaten, is the same Sosthenes who helped Paul write this letter. It’s likely! But it goes to show you neither of them had any trust in the local governors to rule fairly. They call ’em “people thought the worst of by the church” in verse 4—and I would even venture to say all the traits the apostles list in the next passage—the 1 Corinthians list of
Yet the Corinthians were taking each other to court. Making each other sit under these immoral Roman governors. Risking their fellow Christians’ lives and freedoms, ’cause by the whims of these governors, those lives and freedoms could be lost. Over what?
So you can see the apostles’ instructions make total sense, given the historical context. If you actually wanted justice, you’d be lucky to find it in any Roman court. Why on earth weren’t the Corinthians sorting out these matters among themselves?
Now, that was then. Do we live under a completely corrupt, unfair system? Well, I agree the American judicial system has various serious problems. Too many partisans in federal judgeships. But if I had a dispute with a fellow Christian, and we couldn’t sort it out in church—we couldn’t find some binding legal arbiter whom we might agree to sit under, and abide by—and my only recourse would be to take that person to court, would I?
Yes I would. Absolutely I would. American judges are not Roman judges.
Now would I trust the judicial system in other countries? Depends on the country. Canadian courts?—fine. Afghan courts?—nope! You gotta determine this on a country-by-country basis. And sometimes on a ruler-by-ruler basis. In the kingdom of ancient Israel, when King David ben Jesse or King Solomon ben David was the supreme court, so long that these kings followed the Law of Moses, all was well, and you’d better heed their rulings. Now, when Rehoboam ben Solomon or Jeroboam ben Nabat was king, not so much; and the less said about Ahab ben Omri, the better.
In the Roman Empire, the courts couldn’t be trusted. In the United States… well I don’t trust the current Supreme Court, but California courts and judges are fine; if my fellow Christian can’t be reasoned with in any other way, I have no qualms about hauling his fraudulent tuchus before a California judge.
Clearly I consider this passage a
Immoral Christian judges.
Problem is,
Fr’instance let’s say you hire a contractor, whom you know from church, and the contractor rips you off. You paid for quality materials; he swapped them out for shoddy materials. You paid for quality work; he put in an hour of work, but spent the rest of the time at your house chatting with your family members, using your pool, using your toilet, eating and drinking, watching TV. You’re unhappy with the work; he shrugs and says take it up with your pastor… who’s his cousin. The pastor’s no help. Take the contractor to court?—ah, but Pastor insists that’d violate 1 Corinthians 6; that’d be sin. Respectfully disagree with Pastor?—ah, but you’re not allowed to. Leave that church?—ah, but you’re not allowed to. And it gets worse from there.
I’m also reminded of the many times churches and Christian schools have tried to cover up felonies, on the grounds that they shouldn’t get the authorities involved, ’cause 1 Corinthians 6. So embezzlement gets swept under the rug. Coercion gets swept under the rug. Rape gets swept under the rug. There are massive scandals in so many churches—too many!—because evil people have taken this passage out of its historical context, and abused it.
If the criminal justice system in your homeland works, use it. Cooperate with it. Let its prosecutors go after evildoers, and purge the evil from your church.
If it doesn’t—if it consists of evildoers, same as it did in ancient Corinth—okay, you’re just gonna have to deal with these matters yourselves. That won’t be easy. But like the apostles said, we should be up to the challenge; at the End we’re gonna be judges of the world, so let’s start practicing some wise judgments right now.
