In 1 Corinthians 6:1–11, Paul continues his discussion on how Christians should approach issues involving people 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?
The Greek word pragma in 1 Corinthians 6:1, translated as “matter” in the New King James Version, is a generic term meaning “thing.” Here, it refers to a legal matter. It is important to remember that 1 Corinthians 6:1–11 does not refer to a criminal case. The authority of civil courts for criminal matters is affirmed in Romans 13:1–5. Paul addresses a case of litigation right after a case of sexual immorality, just as Moses did in Deuteronomy 22:22–24. This demonstrates how much Paul’s manner of dealing with problems in the church is based upon the Scriptures.
The fact that the case in 1 Corinthians 6:1–11 is bracketed by passages that deal with sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 5, 1 Cor. 6:12–20) may suggest that the “matter” in 1 Corinthians 6:1 regards sexual immorality, too. We don’t know for sure what the case is, whether a minor civil issue, such as a property dispute, or a sexual problem.
Whatever the pragma ultimately was, Paul was not happy to see church members taking it to a civil court. Could not they, as Christian brothers and sisters, have worked it out among themselves, rather than bring the issue before “the unrighteous” (1 Cor. 6:1, NKJV)?
It is also possible, as some suppose, that the litigants of 1 Corinthians 6:1 are the father and the son of 1 Corinthians 5:1. In any case, it is unnecessary to understand the issue to understand the point. Paul cared about the church’s identity as a Christian community as seen by outsiders. Christians should not air dirty laundry in public (1 Cor. 6:6). Neither should they use secular means for judging inside matters. In the Roman world, individuals of a higher rank of wealth or political function tended to be favored in a court. Conversely, Christians must perform a Christlike judgment and distinguish themselves from secular standards.
Think about Paul’s catalog of vices in 1 Corinthians 5:10, 11 and 1 Corinthians 6:9, 10. Why does he list sexual sins along with other sins such as idolatry, thievery, greed, and extortion?
Supplemental EGW Notes
In every respect you are to honor God by being partakers of His divine nature that you may have the assurance of sins pardoned which would testify of the love of God. But there is not in our experience that pleasantness and joyousness that there should be. Christ says that if He is in us, our joy will be full. Let us then be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Let us not, by living inconsistent, earthly, sensual lives, heap reproach upon Christ. Let us rise above the malarious atmosphere that pervades the world, and breathe the breath of God. Let us feed upon the bread of life.
Christ declares that if we eat His flesh and drink His blood, we shall have eternal life. His word will be to us as the leaves of the tree of life if we will believe in Christ as our personal Saviour. If we eat the bread that came down from heaven, we shall have a live connection with God. We shall bring eternity into our reckoning. We shall live as in the presence of the whole heavenly host. The angels are watching and guarding us.
God loves us, but we fail to cherish that love. We are losing in spirituality. God wants us to recognize His ownership in every human being. He has His claims. They are mine, He says. I have bought them with a price. “Ye are not your own. . . . Therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” Will you do this? Will you pray in faith? Will you honor Christ by taking Him at His word?—Lift Him Up, p. 109.
I have been thinking how little we appreciate the decided declaration of the Word of God to us in regard to our relation with each other. There is that selfishness in the human heart that centers our thoughts upon ourselves; and even [in] those who seem to have a connection with God, we are pained sometimes to see how much of their thoughts are centered upon themselves, not seeing nor sensing the needs of others. We are connected together as in the great web of humanity, and in all our associations with one another we should seek to have the mind of Christ. To close the eyes to the needy and perishing, to leave sinners unwarned, and by indifference and selfishness tempt them to say, “No man careth for my soul,” is to dishonor God and bring reproach upon the cause of God. Our work is to build up one another in the most holy faith.
If there is not that perfect harmony existing between us, we should not feel that we ourselves are not at all to blame in the matter. If another’s thoughts and feelings are not in the same channel as our own, we should not feel that they are all wrong and we are right. We want to constantly keep the mind at the right point, to answer the prayer of Christ in John 17:21–23. We want to know what is the yoke Christ bids us take and the burdens we are to carry at this time, and constantly seek in kindness and love to show our brother that we have an interest in him, and bring love into our actions day by day. This is the gold tried in the fire—faith and love. If we see one in error on any point we should not pass along and say nothing, but we must try to bring him out from darkness into light. We must guard each other’s interests as we do our own. We do not value the soul as we should. We ought to be united in one great brotherhood and be in that place where we can bear with the faults of one another with all longsuffering and meekness, and seek to bear one another’s burdens. (See Ephesians 5:1, 2.)—This Day With God, p. 274.
The above quotations are taken from Ellen G. White Notes for the Sabbath School Lessons, published by Pacific Press Publishing Association. Used by permission.