The apostle continued to deal with the general subject of discipline in the church that he began in 5:1. He proceeded to point out some other glaring instances of inconsistency that had their roots in the Corinthians' lax view of sin. Rather than looking to unsaved judges to solve their internal conflicts, they should have exercised discipline among themselves in these cases.
"In this section Paul is dealing with a problem which specially affected the Greeks. The Jews did not ordinarily go to law in the public law-courts at all; they settled things before the elders of the village or the elders of the Synagogue; to them justice was far more a thing to be settled in a family spirit than in a legal spirit. . . . The Greeks were in fact famous, or notorious, for their love of going to law."125
". . . the congregation's root problem lies in its lack of theological depth. It shames itself by not understanding itself as an eschatological community (Do you not know that we are to judge angels?') and as a community redeemed by Christ."126
"Paul has not finished with the theme of church discipline in regard to sexual life; see vi. 12 and chapter vii; but in v. 12 f. he had spoken of judgement [sic], and this brings to his mind another feature of Corinthian life of which he had heard . . ."127
The failure of the two men who were suing each other was another evidence that the Corinthian church was not functioning properly. It indicated how lacking in true wisdom these Christians were. Paul argued with a series of rhetorical questions in this pericope.
6:1 Again Paul used a rhetorical question to make a point (cf. 3:16; 4:21). The answer was self-evident to him.
In view of the context the "neighbor"(NASB) must be a fellow Christian. The "unrighteous"or "ungodly"(NIV) contrasts with the "saints"and refers to an unbeliever (v. 6). When people had disputes with each other in Corinth and wanted official arbitration, they went to the bema(judgment seat) in the center of town.
"The phrase translated has a dispute' is a technical term for a lawsuit, or legal action; and the verb krino(judge') in the middle voice can carry the sense of going to law,' or bringing something for judgment,' as it does here."128
"He does not mean that Christian courts ought to be instituted, but that Christian disputants should submit to Christian arbitration."129
6:2 The earlier revelation that the saints will have a part in judging unbelievers in the future may be Daniel 7:18, 22, and 27. This judgment will evidently take place just after the Lord returns to earth at His second coming to set up His millennial kingdom. We will be with Him then (1 Thess. 4:17).
Since the Lord will delegate the authority to judge unbelievers to Christians in the future, Paul concluded that we are competent to settle disputes among ourselves now. In the light of future eschatological judgment, any decisions that believers must make in church courts now are relatively trifling.130Obviously some cases involving Christians arguing with one another are more difficult to sort out than some of those involving unbelievers. Paul's point was that Christians are generally competent to settle disputes between people. After all, we have the help and wisdom of the indwelling Holy Spirit available to us.
Earlier Paul wrote that the Corinthians were judging him (cf. 4:3-5, 7), which was inappropriate in view of God's final judgment. Now they were judging in the courts, which was inappropriate since the saints will participate in eschatological judging.
6:3 Evidently God had not revealed the fact that believers will play a role in judging angels earlier in Scripture. He apparently revealed that for the first time here through Paul (cf. Jude 6).
6:4 The first part of this verse seems to refer to the disputes and judicial procedures the Christians should have used with one another rather than to the heathen law courts. The context seems to argue for this interpretation. Paul was speaking here of Christians resolving their differences in the church rather than in the civil law courts.
The second part of the verse is capable of two interpretations. Paul may have been speaking ironically, as the next verse may imply (cf. 4:8). If so, he may have meant that the Corinthians should select the least qualified people in the church to settle these disputes. His meaning in this case was that any Christian was capable of settling disputes among his brethren. He did not mean that the Corinthians should really choose as judges the most feebleminded Christians in the church. The statement is ironical. This is the interpretation of the NIV.131
On the other hand he may have been asking a question rather than making an ironical statement. This is how the NASB translators have taken Paul's words. In this case he was asking if the Corinthians chose as judges in their church disputes the members who had the fewest qualifications to arbitrate. The obvious answer would be no. They would choose the best qualified brethren. This interpretation understands Paul as advocating the choice of the best qualified in the church forthrightly rather ironically. This seems to me to be a better interpretation.132
A third possibility is that Paul really advocated the selection of the least qualified in the church for these judicial functions. He was not speaking ironically. The main argument against this view is its improbability. Why choose less qualified people for any job when better qualified people are available?
6:5-6 What was to the Corinthians' shame? It was that by going into secular courts to settle their church problems they seemed to be saying that there was no one in their church wise enough to settle these matters. Certainly they could count on the Holy Spirit to give them the wisdom they needed to do this (cf. John 14:26; 16:13).
"A church has come to a pretty pass when its members believe that they are more likely to get justice from unbelieversthan from their own brothers."133
Clearly this church did not understand its identity as an eschatological community nor did it demonstrate much concern about its witness to the world.
"Every Jewish community throughout the Roman Empire and beyond its frontiers had its own bet-din, its own competent machinery for the administration of civil justice within its own membership; the least that could be expected of a Christian church was that it should make similar arrangements if necessary, and not wash its dirty linen in public."134
This passage does not deal with how Christians should respond when pagans defraud or sue us. We should participate in public litigation only as a last resort.
The apostle now addressed the two men involved in the lawsuit but wrote with the whole church in view.
6:7 By hauling one another into court the Corinthians were intent on winning damages for themselves. Evidently a business or property dispute was the root of this case (cf. v. 10). Paul reminded them that they had already lost before the judge gave his verdict. The shame of people who professed to love one another and put the welfare of others before their own suing each other was a defeat in itself. This defeat was far more serious than any damages they may have had to pay. It would be better to suffer the wrong or the cheating than to fight back in such an unchristian way (Matt. 5:39-40; 1 Pet. 2:19-24).
"It is possible that this use of meth heauton["with your own selves"] for met allelon["with one another"] is deliberate, in order to show that in bringing a suit against a fellow-Christian they were bringing a suit against themselves, so close was the relationship."135
Christians should be willing to give to one another rather than trying to get from one another. In other words, there should be no going to court with one another at all. Nevertheless if the Corinthians insisted on going to court, it should be a court of believers in the church, not unbelievers outside the church.
6:8 An even more shocking condition was that some of the Christians in Corinth were more than the victims of wrong and fraud. They were the perpetrators of these things (cf. Matt. 5:39-41).
6:9-10 Who are the "unrighteous"(NASB) or "wicked"(NIV) in view? Paul previously used this word (Gr. adikos) of the unsaved in verse l (cf. v. 6 where he called them unbelievers). However he also used it of the Corinthian Christians in verse 8: "you yourselves wrong [adikeo]."Christians as well as unbelievers have been guilty of unrighteous conduct, even all the offenses listed in these verses.136Therefore what Paul said about the unrighteous in this verse seems to apply to anyone who is unrighteous in his or her behavior whether saved or unsaved. It does not apply just to the unrighteous in their standing before God, namely unbelievers.137
What will be true of the unrighteous? They will "not inherit the kingdom of God."Elsewhere Paul used this expression to describe the consequences of the behavior of unbelievers when he compared it to the behavior of believers (cf. Gal. 5:21; Eph. 5:5).138That appears to be its meaning here too. Paul was contrasting what the Corinthians did before their conversion with their conduct after conversion (v. 11). He did not mean that Christians are incapable of practicing these sins, but they typically characterize unbelievers.
Paul warned his readers about being deceived on this subject (v. 9). Probably many of them failed to see that how Christians choose to live here and now will affect our eternal reward. Many Christians today fail to see this too. The fact that we are eternally secure should not lead us to conclude that it does not matter how we live now even though we will all end up in heaven.139
The meanings of most of these sins are clear, but a few require some comment. "Effeminate"(NASB) or "male prostitutes"(NIV; Gr. malakoi) refers to the passive role in a homosexual union whereas "homosexuals"refers to the active role.140
"We can scarcely realize how riddled the ancient world was with it [homosexuality]. Even so great a man as Socrates practised [sic] it; Plato's dialogue The Symposiumis always said to be one of the greatest works on love in the world, but its subject is not natural but unnatural love. Fourteen out of the first fifteen Roman Emperors practised unnatural vice."141
Note the seriousness of the sin of covetousness or greed (cf. 5:10-11; 6:8). Greed may manifest itself in a desire for what one should not have (Exod. 20:17; Rom. 7:7) or in an excessive desire for what one may legitimately have (Eph. 5:5; Col. 3:5).
"The universality of wine drinking was of course due to the inadequate water-supplies. But normally the Greeks were sober people, for their drink was three parts of wine mixed with two of water."142
"The order of the ten kinds of offenders is unstudied. He enumerates sins which were prevalent at Corinth just as they occur to him."143
6:11 Some of the Corinthian Christians had been fornicators and had practiced the other sins Paul cited before they trusted in Christ. However the blood of Christ had cleansed them, and God had set them apart to a life of holiness. The Lord had declared them righteous through union with Christ by faith (cf. 1:30) and through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit who indwelt them. He had made them saints. Consequently they needed to live like saints.
"The quite unconscious Trinitarianism of the concluding words should be noted: the Lord Jesus Christ, the Spirit, our God. Trinitarian theology, at least in its New Testament form, did not arise out of speculation, but out of the fact that when Christians spoke of what God had done for them and in them they often found themselves obliged to use threefold language of this kind."144
This verse does not support the idea that once a person has experienced eternal salvation he will live a life free of gross sin. Normally this is the consequence of conversion thanks to the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. However believers can grieve and quench the Holy Spirit's ministry in their lives. In this letter we have seen that not only were some of the Corinthian saints fornicators before their conversion, but one of them had continued in or returned to that sin (5:1).
Paul's point in this whole section (vv. 1-11) was that genuine Christians should not continue in or return to the sinful practices that mark unbelievers. We should become what we are because of what Jesus Christ has done for us. This appeal runs throughout the New Testament and is latent in every exhortation to pursue godliness. It is especially strong in this epistle. Rather than assuming that believers will not continually practice sin, the inspired writers constantly warned us of that possibility.
