Tuesday · Jul 21
Protecting the Church
In 1 Corinthians 6:1–11 , Paul continues to talk about how Christians should solve problems with other members in the church.
Read 1 Corinthians 5:3, 12, 13 and 1 Corinthians 6:1–13 . What is Paul trying to teach the Corinthians and us?
In 1 Corinthians 6:1 , Paul uses a word that is written as “complaint” in the WE Bible. “Complaint” comes from the word ‘pragma’ in the Greek language. In 1 Corinthians 6:1 , Paul uses ‘pragma’ or complaint to talk about going to court. We must understand that 1 Corinthians 6:1–11 isn’t talking against criminal courts. The Bible respects the power of courts of law to punish criminals ( Romans 13:1–5 ). Paul talks about a court of law right after he talks about sex sins. Moses did the same thing in Deuteronomy 22:22–24 . So, we can see that Paul follows the Bible to solve problems in the church.
We don’t know for sure what the problem in court is about. The problem may be a sex sin. Whatever the “pragma” was, Paul was not happy to see church members taking other church members to court. The judges in these courts of the land were not Christians ( 1 Corinthians 6:1 ). As Christian brothers and sisters, why couldn’t the church members solve their problems on their own?
Maybe the church members who went to court are the father and son in 1 Corinthians 5:1 . Again, we don’t know for sure. We don’t need to know that information to understand Paul’s teaching. Paul cared about the church and what people outside the church thought about it. Christians shouldn’t share problems in the church with the public ( 1 Corinthians 6:6 ). Christians shouldn’t use the courts to judge or solve problems inside the church. In the Kingdom of Rome, judges showed more favor in court to people who were important or rich. So, the church must not go to the courts to solve their problems. They must use the Bible.
Think about Paul’s list of sins in 1 Corinthians 5:10, 11 and in 1 Corinthians 6:9, 10 . Why does Paul include sex sins on the same list with worshiping statues, stealing, cheating, and being selfish?