1 Corinthians 6:1-11

(1 Corinthians 6:1-11)

Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church. I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren? But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers. 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? Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren.  Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,  Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.  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.

 

The apostle Paul heard frustrating and pathetic stories from the pioneer church. It was shocking from the news that the members of the church broke up with "what affiliation, what affiliation", to the story that they incest with their stepmother. Not only that, but Paul was told that he couldn't resolve the quarrel between the saints because of small things in daily life, so he took it to the courts of the world and became a laugh. The apostle Paul wrote down with his father's heart that he would teach the Corinthians, and in this part it seemed as if he was yelling. He criticizes the person who caused the problem in public, saying he would be ashamed of it.

 

The reason that made the apostle Paul so angry is that even if a problem arises in the church, he goes over it without hesitation or because he cannot correct the problem because he is obsessed with compassionateness, and eventually raises his work to a greater extent. However, it was something else that made the apostle Paul more angry. At the time, criminal proceedings under Roman colonization were usually fair and objective, but not as much as civil proceedings. Judges and jurors took it for granted to expect some kind of price, and those at the top of the social and economic circles used this civil suit as a means of justifying their interests and controlling people.

 

The wealthy had sued the poor who belonged to the lower classes and manipulated them at will. In a society where such an unjust system prevails, believers leaned on the system and filed a lawsuit. It was that a saint in a position of wealthy and superiority would dominate his fellow Christian brothers of the poor and low class for his own advantage. The apostle Paul believed that the church should be different, and he was very sorry that the church followed the logic of the world.

 

So the apostle Paul said, "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." Although not a few of the saints used to use, manipulate, and compete with others according to their greed like the people of the world in the past, but now they have become holy saints by the washing of the Holy Spirit. So, the church is different from the world. This is because even if a quarrel arises, it is more worthy of the Gospel to lose money than to go to the courts of the world to win. Christians are those who take up their cross, deny themselves, and follow Christ. Those who are willing to give up their rights for the sake of the gospel are Christians.

 

The Apostle Paul said, "Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived."
『Nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God 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. All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient』
Among the members of the Corinthian Church, there were such fornicators, but the former ones were those who died and were newly born in the Holy Spirit. It is not beneficial to practice such fornication while saying that you are born again in the Holy Spirit.