 Previous Chapter |
 Return to Outline |
 Ask Questions |
 Next Chapter |
In these verses, Paul condemns them for taking each other to court. He suggests that suits were over trivial matters, civil suits brought on by disagreements between brothers and sisters in Christ. There were two things that seem to bother Paul very much. In the first place it bothered him that these differences ever existed between them and secondly, it bothered him that they would go before "heathen" courts to have them resolved.
To Paul, this type of action was like hanging your "dirty linen" before the world. In Corinth, the church was watched very closely by outsiders. Disagreements, like this, only brought more condemnation upon the church. If you do any witnessing at all you know that the problems in the church today is the number one reason you get for people not going to church. We harm ourselves more than Satan ever could.
Notice what Paul suggests what would be a better route. Suffer the wrong, even let yourself be defrauded. Matthew Henry says that a Christian should put up with a little injury for his peace of mind and the calm of the fellowship.
What actually was happening in Corinth was typical. Someone got their feelings hurt over some small thing and sought restitution. In the process, they committed an even greater injury. This required retaliation by the first person, and so it went on and on. What started out as a misunderstanding, ended up in court. This kind of action leaves wounds that never heal. It makes you wonder, if we cannot judge rightly in these small matters, how are we to judge the world or Angels? Paul seems to get this future duty of believers from Luke 22:30, where Jesus said to the Disciples, "You shall judge the 12 tribes of Israel." Paul says that this will be the duty of all Saints at the judgment of the lost. Peter says in 2nd. Peter 2:4, "God did not spare the Angels that sinned but cast them into Hell to be kept until the judgment." Again Paul suggests that this will be the duty of the Saints on Judgment Day. The point being that if we cannot make rational judgments of small things amongst ourselves, how are we going to judge souls and things of eternal nature?
Notice Paul's suggestion as to why they had this problem. (Verse 5) "Can it be
that there is no man among you wise enough to decide these matters?" This was a
"low blow" to those Greeks who had a very high opinion of themselves. Remember
that God had poured out His Grace in an unusual amount upon this church. Because
of their own opinions of themselves and the "so-called" enlightened culture of the
Greeks, they were given wisdom and understanding far above others to counteract
this. Yet, could there be that no one in the church was wise enough to decide
these trivial matters. Paul believed that this indicated a problem with in the
church for nothing could be gained in this kind of action between brothers, least
of all, the cause of Christ.
Pervious Evils
["Click here for I Corinthians 6:9-11"]
Again Paul speaks of the evils that were so much a part of the culture of Corinth. Evils that these believers had been a part of before accepting Christ. Fornication, idolatry, adultery, homosexuality, robbery, greed, drunkenness and revilers, these types of people will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
Why was Paul telling these people this? It seems that it would go without saying. Well, many of these believers had been involved in these sins before becoming Christians and these activities were a way of life in Corinth. So Paul was telling them as a warning. "Do not deceive yourselves." We can do that, you know. You cannot live in sin and die in Christ. This does not in any way take from the doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints. Paul was suggesting that those who continued in these sins should take a good look at their conversion.
Paul says that there should be a difference between the saved and the lost because
"Grace makes a difference". Those who had been remarkably wicked before they were
saved should now be remarkably good. They were now sanctified in the blood of
Christ and justified in His name. So, to those who never turned from their wicked
ways, Paul warns, "Do not be deceived, the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom
of God."
Christian Freedoms
["Click here for I Corinthians 6:12-20"]
There was always this disagreement amongst believers as to what was "lawful" and what was not. In these verses Paul attempts to clear this up. Disagreement on this issue goes back to Acts 15 where Barnabas and Paul were sent to Jerusalem by the church at Antioch to resolve the problem of Jews imposing Jewish tradition upon Gentile converts. The decision there as stated by James was, "We should not place a yoke upon the neck of the Gentiles which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear. But, we should ask them to abstain from food offered to idols and from unchasity or fornication."
Later, Paul resolved that the eating of food offered to idols was not condemned by God because food, in and of itself, is neither good or bad spiritually. So, some of the people at Corinth decided that if the part about food was wrong, than the part about fornication was wrong also. Does that make sense? These people were claiming for themselves what they viewed as their "freedoms" in Christ. "All things are lawful for me." Paul said this himself, but he hastened to add, "But not all things are helpful and I will not be enslaved by anything."
As Christians, we should ask the following questions about anything that is questionable.
These questions should be asked and truthfully answered before we decide if something is "lawful" or not. Christ has freed us from the "tradition" and "works" of religion, but, we must never, in the observance of that freedom, put ourselves into the power of a bodily appetite, whatever it is, for there is a time coming when these appetites will no longer be. This tells us something about Heaven.
Then Paul hits on "fornication". This was a popular religious practice in Corinth. The Temple of Diana had thousands of prostitutes and adultery and fornication was very much a part of their services. It was hard for these people to get their thinking straight concerning faithfulness to ones spouse. So Paul explained it this way.
Our bodies were made to glorify Christ. They were purchased by Christ's death on the cross. We, by faith, have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, therefore, we are Temples of God. The Temple must be kept holy and fit for His use and residence.
Previous Chapter |
Return to Outline |
Ask Questions |
Next Chapter |