DOCTRINE. The saints will judge both men and angels, therefore they should not take a fellow Christian to civil court because the Church is competent to decide private disputes.

I. The saints will judge both men and angels, therefore the church is competent to decide private disputes among Christians (1 Cor. 6:2-3).

I) The saints will judge men (1 Cor. 6:2a).

II) The saints will judge angels (1 Cor. 6:3a).

III) Because the saints will judge both men and angels, the Church is competent to decide private disputes among Christians (1 Cor. 6:2b, 3b).

II. The saints should be very slow to take a fellow Christians to civil court to decide a private dispute (1 Cor. 6:1, 4-6).

I) It is a bold error to want to stand before unbelievers for judgement rather than believers (1 Cor. 6:1, 6).

II) If you have private disagreements, you should not bring them before those outside the church (1 Cor. 6:4).

III) It is a shameful thing to take private disagreements before the ungodly (1 Cor. 6:5a).

IV) The Church is furnished with those among her who have the Biblical wisdom necessary to decide private disagreements (1 Cor. 6:5b).

QUESTION 1. Does 1 Corinthians 6 mean that the Church should handle crime in-house and ignore the Civil Government altogether?

QUESTION 2. What should I do if the opposite person is a professed Christian yet apart of another local church?

QUESTION 3. Why should saints be very slow in taking a fellow Christian to civil court to decide a private dispute?

CONCLUSION. We must all appear not only before the judgement of the saints, but before the judgement seat of Christ. I ask you, how will the day go for you, friend?

There we many errors in the first century Church at Corinth that God had to correct. That is a large part of why Paul wrote this letter to them. Already in this letter Paul has corrected them concerning divisions in the church, their love for worldly wisdom, and their neglect of dealing with heinous sin in the church. Now Paul turns to another issue that needed to be corrected in the lives of these believers—they were bring lawsuits against one another on small matters and even going before unbelieving judges to settle their disputes.

What was going on in Corinth? Can imagine a body of believers today suing one another left and right over trivial disagreements? You are surely tempted to look at the Corinthians and think, “They are insane.” That is a mistake. They are more sane than you think, and you are likely more insane than you think. All they were doing was what you do. This part of their life was more like Corinth than like Christ, the same way many professed believers today have parts of their lives compartmentalized, acting more like unbelievers than believers. Consider the insight John MacArthur gives from his commentary on 1 Corinthians, concerning why the saints at Corinth would be suing one another:

“The legal situation in Corinth probably was much as it was in Athens, where litigation was a part of everyday life. It had become a form of challenge and even entertainment. One ancient writer claimed that, in a manner of speaking, every Athenian was a lawyer. When a problem arose between two parties that they could not settle between themselves, the first recourse was private arbitration. Each party was assigned a disinterested private citizen as an arbitrator, and the two arbitrators, along with a neutral third person, would attempt to resolve the problem. If they failed, the case was turned over to a court of forty, who assigned a public arbitrator to each party. Interestingly, every citizen had to serve as a public arbitrator during the sixtieth year of his life. If public arbitration failed, the case went to a jury court, composed of from several hundred to several thousand jurors. Every citizen over thirty years of age was subject to serving as a juror. Either as a party to a lawsuit, as an arbitrator, or as a juror, most citizens regularly were involved in legal proceedings of one sort or another. The Corinthian believers had been so used to arguing, disputing, and taking one another to court before they were saved that they carried those selfish attitudes and habits over into their new lives as Christians. That course not only was spiritually wrong but practically unnecessary.”

Here is a huge point we can gather just from the context concerning what is happening in Corinth: You and I need to be so very careful to constantly labor to change our thinking and our actions to conform to what God says in His Word! The Corinthians were in Christ positionally, but many of their actions were still in Corinth. Semper Reformanda! We must always reform our thinking and acting to the Word of God. “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12:1-2). Before we even dig into these verses you should ask yourself, “How much of my thinking and my actions are in truth more conformed to this world than conformed to Christ?” The entirety of the Christian life is one of repentance. We seek to think and live rightly for Jesus, and then we fail, and turn from that sin by God’s grace, and keep following Jesus. Now, what do we more specifically learn from 1 Corinthians 6:1-6?

DOCTRINE. The saints will judge both men and angels, therefore they should not take a fellow Christian to civil court because the Church is competent to decide private disputes.

I am going to labor to show you, first, the foundational truth of this passage, then, second, the direction we are given as to how to and how not to act when it comes to private disagreements or disputes. In the next sermon, Lord willing, I will labor to show you the exhortation given concerning Christlikeness. Now, first, look at the foundational truth of this text, in verses 2-3:

I. THE SAINTS WILL JUDGE BOTH MEN AND ANGELS, THEREFORE THE CHURCH IS COMPETENT TO DECIDE PRIVATE DISPUTES AMONG CHRISTIANS. “Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life!” (1 Cor. 6:2-3). Consider the three points we can glean from these 2 verses:

I) The saints will judge men. “Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world?” (1 Cor. 6:2a). Consider Matthew Poole’s, who gives us a few different ways this can be interpreted, Biblically: “The saints in the day of judgment shall judge the world, approving the sentence of Christ pronounced against the world, and as being assessors with Christ, which indeed is what Christ said of the apostles, Matthew 19:28, Luke 22:39. Others think, that the phrase only signifieth a great honour and dignity, to which the saints shall be advanced. A late learned and very critical author hath another notion of the saints' judging the world here spoken of, interpreting it of a time when the secular judgment of the world should be given to the saints, which was prophesied by Daniel, Daniel 7:18, 27, and therefore might be known by them. If this be the sense, it is either a prophecy of God's giving the government of the world into the hands of Christians, (which fell out after this in Constantine's time), or else it signifies such a time towards the end of the world, as those that expect a fifth monarchy speak of, when those that are true saints, in the strictest sense, shall have the government of the world” (Matthew Poole, English Annotations on the Holy Bible, Kindle Locations 211248-211256). Either way you take this, the truth is firm—the saints will judge men. But that is not all he says. He says also,

II) The saints will judge angels. “Do you not know that we are to judge angels?” (1 Cor. 6:3a). Consider Poole again: “That the saints shall judge angels, is here so plainly asserted, as a thing within their knowledge, that none can doubt it; but how, or when, or what angels, is not so easily determined. The best interpreters understand it of the evil angels, that is, the devils, whom the saints shall judge at the last day, agreeing with the Judge of the whole earth in the sentence which he shall then give against the evil angels, confining them to the bottomless pit, who, while this world lasteth, have a greater liberty as princes of the air, to rove abroad in the air, and to work mightily in the children of disobedience. Others understand the judging of angels here mentioned, of the spoiling of the devils of the kingdom that they exercise in the world, in the places where the gospel hath not prevailed, by lying oracles, and seducing men to idolatry, and the worshipping of devils: in which sense Christ said: Now shall the prince of this world be cast out, Joshua 12:31. From hence the apostle argues the competency of their brethren to judge of and to determine those little matters which were in difference between them, being but things concerning this life, and so of far less consequence than the judging of the world and the evil angels at the last day.” (Matthew Poole, English Annotations on the Holy Bible, Kindle Locations 211263-211272). You can take one view or another, but the truth Paul is getting at is the same—the saints will judge angels. Paul’s point in speaking of the saints judging both men and angels is being made here in order to get us to the conclusion that I am highlighting in the next point:

III) Because the saints will judge both men and angels, the Church is competent to decide private disputes among Christians. “And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? . . . How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life!” (1 Cor. 6:2b, 3b). See how glorious the Church of Jesus Christ is! She has not only been forgiven, reconciled, and adopted; the Church has also been fully furnished with the Word of God and the Spirit of God to judge righteously for the glory of God. Now for the direction given in this text. This is verse 1, as well as verses 4-6:

II. THE SAINTS SHOULD BE VERY SLOW TO TAKE A FELLOW CHRISTIAN TO CIVIL COURT TO DECIDE A PRIVATE DISPUTE. “When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?” . . . So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers?” (1 Cor. 6:1, 4-6). Now consider each of the four things we should learn from these verses:

I) It is a bold error to want to stand before unbelievers for judgement rather than believers. “When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? . . . but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers?” (1 Cor. 6:1, 6).

II) If you have private disagreements, you should not bring them before those outside the church. “So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church?” (1 Cor. 6:4). Use this truth for examination. Do you bring your cases of conscience or disputes to those outside of the Church or to the saints? Do you look for those in the world to help you understand what is right and good or wise or do you look to those who are mastered by Christ and the Word of God? When you have a disagreement, do you search for someone who agrees with you or do you search for the truth?

III) It is a shameful thing to take private disagreements before the ungodly. “I say this to your shame” (1 Cor. 6:5a).

IV) The Church is furnished with those among her who have the Biblical wisdom necessary to decide private disagreements. “Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers” (1 Cor. 6:5b).

QUESTION 1. Does 1 Corinthians 6 mean that the Church should handle crime in-house and ignore the Civil Government altogether? ANSWER. Absolutely not. If someone commits a crime, especially if it is either crystal clear or particularly heinous, we call the authorities immediately. Paul is speaking here not of public crimes but of private disagreements.

QUESTION 2. What should I do if the opposite person is a professed Christian yet apart of another local church? ANSWER. First, you should reach out to your pastors so that they can talk to the other persons’ pastors to see if they can all get together in order to decide the disagreement.

QUESTION 3. Why should saints be very slow in taking a fellow Christian to civil court to decide a private dispute? ANSWER 1. Principally, because Christ forbids it. ANSWER 2. Reasonably, because the Church is competent to decide disputes. ANSWER 3. Gloriously, because going before the Church, rather than a Civil Court, will do most good for you and your neighbor; it will preserve the purity of the Church; and it will result in glorifying God. Consider each of those with me: (i) Going before the Church rather than a Civil Court to decide disputes will do the most good to you and your neighbor because the civil court may have an unrighteous judge who shows partiality or who does not base what he decrees on God’s Law. (ii) Going before the Church rather than a Civil Court to decide disputes will protect the purity of the Church because airing the dirty laundry of the visible Church in front of those outside the Church only gives the wicked more excuses to blaspheme God. Calvin rightly said, “The ungodly, at the instigation of Satan, are always eagerly on the watch for opportunities of finding occasion of [evil-speaking] against the doctrine of godliness.” (iii) Going before the Church rather than a Civil Court to decide disputes will result in glorifying God because it shows that the Lord Jesus has equipped His Church, with His Word and Spirit, to be able to settle disputes righteously. It shows how marvelously He has furnished His Church by His grace! Jesus has given the church everything we need to live for His glory. He has given us the Scriptures and He has given us Himself by giving us the Holy Spirit. Use this truth to spur you on to devote yourself to studying the Scriptures. Do you know the Scriptures so well that you can confidently render sound judgements in disagreements? Labor to master and be mastered by the Scriptures. Use this truth also to stir you up to worship. See how wonderfully God has furnished the Church. Praise His name for equipping us.

CONCLUSION. We must all appear not only before the judgement of the saints, but before the judgement seat of Christ. I ask you, how will the day go for you, friend? The glorious news of the gospel is plainly found in 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” On the cross, God the Father treated Christ like a sinner in place of all those who would believe, so that we would be forgiven and counted righteous. This is the heart of the good news: Christ in my place. If you would be united to Christ by repentance and faith, “You [must turn] to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come” (1 Thess. 1:9-10). All who draw near to God through the Lord Jesus, by trusting in what He has done and submitting to Him as Lord, will be preserved forever by His never-ending and never-dying mercy. “He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25).