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Scripture Reading : 1 Corinthians 6:7

Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated?

The Corinthian Christians were evidently troubled with a variety of evils. Besides a party spirit and immorality on the part of some, there were personal quarrels that led to lawsuits. Paul sharply admonishes them for this, saying that the elders should be able to judge such matters, and if not, it would be better for the offended party to take wrong or suffer himself to be defrauded.

Go to law

Christians going to law against Christians is not unknown today. Sometimes one Christian will take another Christian in the same congregation¹ into court about one thing or another. The story is told of a Christian loudly berating one of the elders in the congregation where he attended. Seems the elder sold cars and sold him a bad one, so he took the elder to court. This offended man not only apparently caused a terrible scene in the congregation, but also tried to turn the elders against each other. How sad. Such trifling things should not even cause a ripple among God's people, to say nothing of causing an awful storm.

Lack of confidence in the saints

If one Christian goes to law against another Christian, especially in the same congregation, without taking it before the elders, shows that he lacks confidence in the Lord and the Lord’s people. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:2, "Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?" Then he goes on in verse 3, "Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?" If wise Christians are not able to properly judge a matter, what can we expect from unbelievers? The Christian has the Word of God² and the Spirit of God³ to help in matters of judgment—shall we sidestep this for the judgment of men who know neither Christ nor His Word? Have any of us failed in the past in such matters? Let us not do so again, but rather let us show that we have confidence in the Lord and His people. Certainly if we put our trust in the Lord He will reward us in eternity, if not here. An offended Christian should always be willing to listen to the judgment of Christians.

Bad example of going to law

William Harrison held a Gospel meeting several years ago at a congregation experiencing internal dissension. He later wrote:

About half of the congregation was saying that their preacher was preaching things contrary to the Scriptures and the other half did not believe he was. There was a definite decision to separate, but the question arose during the Gospel meeting regarding which group should have the church property. They both insisted it should be theirs and while the meeting was in progress, it was dragged into court. It was still going on when the meeting ended (the meeting accomplished very little), so, I kept in touch with one of the elders and learned that for several weeks lawyers argued the case before a judge. The elder regularly mailed a copy of the local newspaper which, much to the shame of the Christians there, week after week carried on the front page an account of the proceedings. The judge himself reprimanded them, saying that such things should be settled by the congregation and not brought before a court. The judge ruled that the property was to be sold and the money divided equally between each group. When it was over the entire congregation had lost much more than property in that area.

Inconsistent to go to law

When a Christian goes to law against another Christian it gives ungodly judges and others occasion to inwardly glory over the inconsistency of followers of Christ. Christianity is professedly a religion of love, and to fight in this way for our rights belies this truth. How often we seem to forget that if we truly received our rights, we would all be in hell. To fight against fellow Christians is to fight against Christ and ourselves, for we are all one in Christ Jesus. As we noticed before, the different parts of our own bodies never fight against each other.

Rather take wrong

Our verse (1 Corinthians 6:7) says that rather than go to law against one another, we should take wrong and suffer ourselves to be defrauded. A Christian's life consists of doing good and suffering evil. Let each of us be careful never to wrong or defraud another Christian. It is not right to go to law when our fellow Christians mistreat us, but it certainly is wrong when we mistreat or defraud one another.

To law with unbelievers

One might ask, "Is it wrong to go to law with an unbeliever?" If it is at all possible, even this should be avoided; but there might be cases of rank injustice where it might be justifiable. For instance, the story is told of a man who was not a Christian. He left his wife and little girl, going off with another woman and resolutely refusing to support them. The wife was a member of the church of our Lord and though she was in poor health and without a job, she refused to take her husband to court. Probably most of us would agree that a man such as this should be compelled to provide for his wife and child. Here was a case where Christians certainly could not try the case, and even if they could, they would be unable to compel obedience.

Footnotes:

¹ For more information on the church, see God’s Church in A Religion Library section of StudyJesus.com.

² For more information on the Word of God, see God’s Word in A Religion Library section of StudyJesus.com.

³ For more information on the Spirit of God, see God the Spirit in A Religion Library section of StudyJesus.com.