I Corinthians 6 · The Lantern

Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?

One passage, accordingly, I shall in the briefest terms advert to, so as not to leave the topic unexplained. For in the first Epistle to the Corinthians the divine apostle says: "Dare any of you, having a matter against the other, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? Know ye not that the saints shall judge the world?" and so on.

"Dare any one of you, having a matter against his brother, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?" Here also he again makes his complaint upon acknowledged grounds; for in that other place he says, "It is actually reported that there is fornication among you." And in this place, "Dare any one of you?" From the very first outset giving signs of his anger, a…

After rebuking the Corinthians for failing to judge, the Apostle now rebukes them for other failings in matters of judgment. First, in regard to the judges before whom they present their grievances; secondly, in regard to the grievances themselves (v. 7).

Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?

I am greatly grieved for Valens, who was once a presbyter among you, because he so little understands the place that was given him [in the Church]. I exhort you, therefore, that ye abstain from covetousness, and that ye be chaste and truthful. "Abstain from every form of evil." For if a man cannot govern himself in such matters, how shall he enjoin them on others?

Then, since it seemed easily open to contempt, I mean our being judged by those who were within, and especially at that time, (for they were not perhaps competent to comprehend a point, nor were they such as the heathen judges, well skilled in laws and rhetoric, inasmuch as the greater part of them were uneducated men,) mark how he makes them worthy of credit, first calling the…

Then when he says, Do you not know, he gives a reason against this policy, inasmuch as it detracts from the full power of the saints. First, in regard to the power they have over worldly affairs; secondly, in regard to the power they have over other-worldly things, i.e., over angels (v. 3).

Do you not know that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?

If then you 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 brothers?

Paul attacks the Corinthians because, although they are right in the middle of Greece, they have no truly wise people in their midst, even though many had gone to preach wisdom to them.

"But this I say to move you to shame." These are the words of one exposing their objection as being an idle pretext: and therefore he adds, "Is it so that there is not a wise man among you, no not even one?" Is the scarcity, says he, so great? so great the want of sensible persons among you? And what he subjoins strikes even still harder.

Then when he says, I say this, he explains in what sense he meant the foregoing. For someone who could believe that literally the least esteemed were to be chosen judges. But he excludes this, saying: I say this to your shame.

But brother goes to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers.

Now therefore there is already a defeat among you, because you go to law one with another. Why do you not rather take wrong? why do you not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?

And how shall one "judge" the apostate "angels," who has become himself an apostate from that forgetfulness of injuries, which is according to the Gospel? "Why do ye not rather suffer wrong?" he says; "why are ye not rather defrauded?

A Christian ought not to engage in litigation at all, but if the matter is too serious to be disregarded he should bring the case to the church, so as not to incur an immediate penalty and personal downfall.

After rebuking the Corinthians for bringing their lawsuits before unbelieving judges, the Apostle now rebukes them for the judgments themselves. In regard to this he does three things: first, he states how they sinned in regard to judgments; secondly, he clarifies what he had said (v. 9).

No, you do wrong, and defraud, and that your brothers.

Paul is rebuking the people whose wrongful behavior has started the quarrels. Not only are they liable to be charged for the fraud which they have committed; they also share in the fault of those who, compelled by their injurious or fraudulent actions, call upon unbelievers to pass judgment.

"Nay, ye yourselves do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren." Again, it is a twofold crime, perhaps even threefold or fourfold. One, not to know how to bear being wronged. Another, actually to do wrong. A third, to commit the settlement of these matters even unto the unjust. And yet a fourth, that it should be so done to a brother.

Then when he says, But you yourselves, he rebukes them for something altogether illicit. First, he accuses them of obvious injustice, when he says: But you yourselves wrong, namely, by speaking openly against the justice of others either in court or outside: "Do not delight in what pleases the unjust" (Sir 9:12).

Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,

Do not err, my brethren. Those that corrupt families shall not inherit the kingdom of God. If, then, those who do this as respects the flesh have suffered death, how much more shall this be the case with any one who corrupts by wicked doctrine the faith of God, for which Jesus Christ was crucified!

The Apostle set alongside these vile, dishonorable, and criminal deeds those transgressions which we most often acknowledge as insignificant. What then does he say?

Then when he says, Do you not know, he clarifies what he had said: first, as to what is altogether unlawful; secondly as to what is unlawful but not expedient (v. 12). In regard to the first he does two things: first, he presents a question; secondly, he answers it (v. 9b).

Nor thieves, nor greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

And such were some of you: but you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

[The apostle], foreseeing the wicked speeches of unbelievers, has particularized the works which he terms carnal; and he explains himself, lest any room for doubt be left to those who do dishonestly pervert his meaning, thus saying in the Epistle to the Galatians: "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are adulteries, fornications, uncleanness, luxuriousness, idolatrie…

The Corinthians were not to bother about the sins they committed before baptism. All that should concern them now was that they should not sin again in the future.

Then when he says, And such were some of you, he shows how they escaped from the above-mentioned danger. First, he reminds them of their past state, saying: And such were some of you, namely, fornicators and idolaters, etc.

All things are lawful to me, but all things are not beneficial: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

No doubt, if any one is unwilling to follow the Gospel itself, it is in his power [to reject it], but it is not expedient. For it is in man's power to disobey God, and to forfeit what is good; but [such conduct] brings no small amount of injury and mischief.

Now that we are no longer under the law, we have the freedom to make choices, but we need to realize that some choices are right and others wrong.

Then when he says, all things are lawful, he clarifies what he had said about forbidding lawsuits, and shows in what sense he rejects them, namely, he does not reject them as altogether unlawful, but as not expedient and as harmful. In regard to this he does two things: first, he states his proposition; secondly, he assigns a reason (v. 13).

Foods for the belly, and the belly for foods: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.

And God has both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.

In the same manner, therefore, as Christ did rise in the substance of flesh, and pointed out to His disciples the mark of the nails and the opening in His side (now these are the tokens of that flesh which rose from the dead), so "shall He also," it is said, "raise us up by His own power." And again to the Romans he says, "But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the…

Having now sufficiently condemned the glutton, he uses also the hope of things to come to divert us from this wickedness: saying, "And God both raised up the Lord, and will raise up us also through His power." Do you perceive again his Apostolical wisdom? For he is always establishing the credibility of the Resurrection from Christ, and especially now.

Then when he says, and God raised the Lord, he indicates the end of the above-mentioned ordination. First, he indicates what God had done in regard to the Lord, saying: And God raised the Lord, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ, from the dead, from whom Christ Himself petitions in Ps 41 (v.

Do you not know that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of a prostitute? God forbid.

Those, therefore, who are consecrated to God must never live mortally. "Nor," as Paul says, "is it meet to make the members of Christ the members of an harlot; nor must the temple of God be made the temple of base affections." Remember the four and twenty thousand that were rejected for fornication.

You are all members of Christ because you have been united to him by being born again of the Spirit. You have the hope that you will rise again, just as he rose.

Then when he says, Do you not know, he presents a second reason, which is taken from the human body's affinity to Christ, namely: the fornicating man's members are the prostitute's members, but a man's members are Christ's members. Therefore, by fornicating, Christ's members become the prostitute's members, which is unbecoming.

What? do you not know that he which is joined to a prostitute is one body? for two, he says, shall be one flesh.

But he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit.

The Apostle says that the righteous man is one with Christ, but he is distinct from Christ: "And he who cleaves to the Lord is one spirit with Him." Is it not true that one of them has a lower nature, transient and fleeting, while the nature of Christ is more divine and glorious and blessed? And notwithstanding this, are they no longer two?

See how by the very names of the harlot and of Christ he continues and intensifies the accusation. He says that "he who is joined to the Lord" becomes nothing other than "spirit," since he does nothing carnal — that is, he becomes spiritual. For union with the Lord grants him the sanctification of the Spirit.

Secondly he proves the minor saying: But he who is united to the Lord, namely, by faith and charity, is one spirit with him, namely, because he is united to Him in a spiritual, not a bodily, unity.

Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is without the body; but he that commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.

What? do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own?

For you are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

And again, to the Philippians he says: "But our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus, who shall transfigure the body of our humiliation conformable to the body of His glory, even as He is able (ita ut possit) according to the working of His own power." What, then, is this "body of humiliation" which the Lord shall transfigure, [so…

Mark, accordingly, how he secures his ground. For having said, "Ye are not your own," he adds not, "But are under compulsion;" but, "Ye were bought with a price." Why sayest thou this? Surely on another ground, one might say perhaps, you should have persuaded men, pointing out that we have a Master.

Secondly, he mentions the dignity our bodies have from the redemption of Christ, saying: You are not your own but Jesus Christ's, as it says in Rom (14:8): "Whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's"; "Those who live no longer live for themselves" (2 Cor 5:15).

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