No Wise Man to Judge
Notes
Transcript
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.
As you read through 1 Corinthians 6, one thing that really stands out is the number of rhetorical questions that Paul asked the church. In the KJV we have six just in the six verses of this evening’s text and another eight in the rest of the chapter. Yet, there’s one particular question that occurs more frequently than any other, and that question is, “Do you not know?” Six of the questions in this chapter begin with the same two Greek words (οὐκ οἴδατε). Look at them with me:
Verse 2 — Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?
Verse 3 — Know ye not that we shall judge angels?
Verse 9 — Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?
Verse 15 — Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ?
Verse 16 — Know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body?
Verse 19 — Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost…?
In fact, same question occurs four times in other chapters of 1 Corinthians (cf. 3:16; 5:6; 9:13, 24).
For an assembly of believers who claim to have mastered wisdom, it’s rather telling that Paul had to ask them so frequently if they knew some of the most basic teachings of the Bible. Earlier Paul addressed them as babes in Christ. He said that they were unable to bear the meat of the gospel (3:1–4).
In our study of 1 Corinthians we’ve already come upon several examples of the Corinthians’ spiritual immaturity. The most recent was the incestuous man whom the church had failed to discipline. That was an internal matter. Our present text gives us an external example. It seems that the members of the church had been suing each other in the civil courts. Ironically, though, this was only an external problem because the Corinthians had failed to follow the wisdom of Scripture for remedying internal problems.
So, let’s see what Paul wrote as he was moved by the Spirit of God.
The Problem
The Problem
Paul began by identifying the problem. That’s in verse 1. He wrote, Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?
Living in a sin-cursed world, we cannot avoid interpersonal conflicts. That’s true even in the church because we who are in the church are not yet wholly sanctified. Our sanctification will not be complete until the Lord takes us home. So, the problem in the church was not that Christians had to face complaints against other Christians. That’s part of the sanctifying process that God uses to make us more like his dear Son. That’s true even when our complaints against each other can be pursued in a civil court. In fact, the phrase translated having a matter in verse 1 is a legal term for a lawsuit. Rather, the problem is how and where we pursue our complaints against other believers. Paul’s question suggests, and his subsequent argumentation requires, that the proper venue is the church and not the civil courts. It also suggests that the Corinthians should have known this.
In verse 1 Paul expressed two concerns about Christians suing each other in the civil courts. His first concern is implied in the word unjust. Although in theory civil magistrates should protect the ministry of the gospel and the laws of the land should promote Biblical righteousness, that’s not always what happens. In fact, it’s actually rather rare. What right do we have to expect anything but injustice from courts whose purpose is to enforce the laws of the land, regardless of whether the laws of the land agree with the Law of God?
Paul’s second concern was the church’s testimony. Whenever a Christian sues another Christian in a public setting, it automatically exposes our complaints to the world. Verse 6 says, But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers. When we do this, we subject ourselves to the chastening displeasure of God. Psalm 44 says, Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us. Thou makest us a byword among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people (vv. 13–14). For the sake of our testimony, we must be willing to suffer wrong rather than give those around us a reason to blaspheme the name of our God.
Now, let’s be clear. Our text does not prohibit Christians from filing lawsuits. Just like anyone else, we have a right to seek remedy when we have been injured, as long as it does not call into question the justice of God. When an unbeliever injures us and we’ve exhausted all other possibilities, the civil courts may be our only option. But what should we do when another believer injures us? We still have the right to seek a remedy and to do so both for our good and the good of the person who has injured us, but in this case we must do so within the church itself.
Keep in mind as well that our text has civil cases in view. Criminal cases, especially those involving crimes against persons (e.g., murder, rape, kidnapping, domestic brutality, and so forth), cannot be resolved exclusively in the church. Crimes like these must be reported to the magistrate because only the magistrate has the power of the sword, i.e., the authority to inflict corporal punishment on the offender. Paul wrote, Rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil.… He is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil (Rom. 13:3–4).
Saints Shall Judge
Saints Shall Judge
Now, if believers should pursue their complaints against each other in the courts of the church, this presupposes that the church is competent to make a judgment. This doesn’t mean that church will get it right in every single case (after all, we’re still sinners), but we should be able to expect greater justice from the church than from the civil courts.
To make this point, Paul asked a series of rhetorical questions in verses 2 and 3. Please look at them with me.
The first question in verse 2 is, Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? This is the easiest question in the whole group because the Bible speaks directly to it. Daniel 7:22 says, Judgment was given to the saints of the most High. Likewise Jesus told his disciples that in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matt. 19:28). And Revelation 20:4 adds that judgment was given unto them [that sat upon the thrones]… and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
So, yes, the Corinthians should have known that the saints will judge the world. But if they already knew this, why did Paul bother asking it? It was to show the Corinthians that they were looking at everything backwards. They — believers in the Lord Jesus Christ — were taking their cases before the world to be judged, instead of rejoicing in the fact that they would one day sit in judgment over the world.
This leads to Paul’s second question in verse 2, viz., And if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? This question is as challenging as the first was easy. Why? Because the conclusion that Paul obviously wanted the Corinthians to come to doesn’t seem to follow from his assumption. The fact that Christians will someday be competent judges of the world doesn’t imply that they were fit judges when he wrote to them. Perhaps they had not yet progressed that far.
As I see it, there are two ways to look at this. The first takes the verb at the beginning of verse 2 as a future, i.e., the saints will judge the world someday, but that had not yet begun when Paul wrote 1 Corinthians. In this case, Paul was simply observing that a future ability is often anticipated by a present lesser ability. For example, if a man of twenty-five can play Chopin’s Sonata #3, it would not surprise us if he were able to play the first section of Für Elise at a much younger age. So, it’s possible that the Corinthians had some ability to judge trivial matters. But in my opinion, there is a much better way to look at this, viz., that the verb at the beginning of verse 2 is not future but present (the forms of the two tenses are identical). The saints were already judging the world in Paul’s day — judging, that is, by reigning as kings under Jesus Christ. If they were already judging the world, then small matters shouldn’t have been a problem for them.
In either case, the Corinthians, though infants in spiritual things, should have been able to decide their own complaints against each other. God had honored them by making them judges of the world. There was no need to pursue lawsuits in civil court. By doing so they dishonored God before unbelieving judges.
Paul’s third and fourth are in verses 3 and 4. He asked, Know ye not that we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain to this life? In this case, we might wonder how the Corinthians could have known that Christians will judge angels. There is no other passage in the Bible that says so. Perhaps they should have inferred it from verses that describe angels as ministers or servants of the elect. Does not a man have a right to judge his servants? But even so no details are given.
This question is also interesting for another reason. Elsewhere the Bible seems to suggest that angels are lower in rank than believers. The Son of God took on the seed of Abraham, and not the nature of angels, in order to save sinful men (Heb. 2:16). Unlike the angels, we are daily being conformed to his glorious image. Angels serve the saints, but saints on the other hand are heirs of God’s riches. Yet Paul’s third question presupposes that angels are somehow greater than men. That’s what makes the fact that we will judge them such an amazing thing. But how are they greater? I believe it’s because they currently have some advantages over us. They surround God’s throne. They live above the ordinary things that we encounter every day. They don’t have to deal with sin.
This makes Paul’s question even richer in meaning. If God’s people judge angels, who are their superiors at least for the present time, then certainly we should be able to judge the ordinary and mundane things of this life. The Corinthians should have been able to settle complaints against each other.
Church Courts
Church Courts
All of the questions in verses 2 and 3 had one goal in view, and that was to teach the church the importance of proper government. This was an area in which the Corinthians failed consistently. Their failure was still evident half a century later when Clement, a pastor of the church in Rome, wrote to admonish its younger members to submit to their elders.
To figure out how church government should work, look at verse 4 with me. Paul wrote, If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church. Two considerations are going to affect how we interpret this. The first concerns the verb set, which means to seat or to appoint. In the Greek this verb can be a command (KJV: set them to judge), a question (NKJV: “do you appoint…?”) or a statement of fact (“you are appointing”). The second consideration concerns those who are least esteemed. Did Paul use this phrase to describe the civil judges of Corinth, who had become despised in the eyes of the church, or was it meant as a description of certain members of the church? These questions are not easily answered, as is evident in the fact that the translations and commentaries are all over the place.
So, I’m just going to tell you what I believe Paul meant. The least esteemed were believers in the church who were not prominent in the church’s life and ministry. They were people that no one would ever have considered for a leadership position. Paul asked the Corinthians, “Are these the kinds of people you would seat as judges to hear your cases against each other?” Of course not. No one appoints the least competent people to serve as judges, not even in insignificant matters. But Paul put it this way because he wanted the Corinthians to understand that even the least saint in the church of Jesus Christ, if his desire is to serve the Lord, is a better judge of spiritual things than the mightiest jurist with a law degree from Harvard.
That’s the way it is with spiritual things. But many that are first shall be last; and the last first (Mark 10:31). And the one who will lead must become a servant of all.
Paul’s suggestion here was in accord with the Old Testament. Moses’ father-in-law Jethro advised him to establish a system of courts. Lower courts would handle easier cases; only the more difficult ones would go to Moses (Exod. 18:21–22). Many years later, Jehoshaphat also appointed judges through the fortified cities (2 Chron. 19:5). In fact, the system he put in place continued after the Babylonian exile and was still functioning in the New Testament. Every Jewish community of the Dispersion had a court of justice known as a bet din (דין בית) or house of judgment. The Sanhedrin was its highest court. In other words, Paul sought to encourage the church’s elders to function as a church court when necessary. If they were unable to decide a matter, they could ask the elders of nearby churches for help.
The Corinthians had not done this. Apparently, they had not even considered whether anyone among them wise enough to shoulder this kind of responsibility. The elders themselves had not even thought about it. This was a shame to them. Verse 5 says, 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?
What an irony! The church that boasted of superior wisdom couldn’t find even one person wise enough to judge! Its failure to produce a wise man resulted in its turning to the unjust judges of the world for discernment in spiritual things. How ridiculous!
“Do you not know?” That’s the question Paul asked the Corinthians, who thought they had everything figured out and demanded perfect justice in a world of sin. Did they not know that this was not possible?
In demanding perfect justice in this world, they overlooked something else. They forgot that perfect justice can be found only in place, and that’s in the Lord Jesus Christ. He alone suffered the perfect justice of God for all the sins that we committed against him. Did he complain? Did he grumble? Did he seek justice against us in civil courts? No, he committeth himself to him that judgeth righteously (1 Pet. 2:23), and became sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (2 Cor. 5:21). The gospel is about perfect justice. Jesus suffered the perfect punishment for our offenses, and we who believe are credited with his perfect obedience as if it were our own. His victorious resurrection from the dead testifies that it is so.
Beyond this there is still a day of final judgment. When we stand before Jesus Christ, every wrong will be righted once and for all. And there will be no more sin. That’s what we have to look forward to. Amen.