Context No. 3210 of 4322 · 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 6:1-8: in context

1Dare any of you, having a matter against his neighbor, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? 2Don’t you know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 3Don’t you know that we will judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? 4If then you have to judge things pertaining to this life, do you set them to judge who are of no account in the assembly? 5I say this to move you to shame. Isn’t there even one wise man among you who would be able to decide between his brothers? 6But brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers! 7Therefore it is already altogether a defect in you that you have lawsuits one with another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? 8No, but you yourselves do wrong and defraud, and that against your brothers.

Paul is disturbed that believers are dragging one another before pagan courts. Do you not know that the saints will judge the world, even angels? he asks. Surely you can settle small matters among yourselves. But then he goes deeper: the very fact that you have lawsuits with one another is already a defeat. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? Instead you yourselves do wrong and defraud, and that against your own brothers.

Paul argues the Corinthians should be able to settle disputes among themselves rather than shame Christ before pagan judges. But the sharpest part of his rebuke is that the lawsuits exist at all: it is already a defeat. Why not rather suffer wrong, rather be defrauded, than war with a brother in public court? The willingness to be wronged rather than insist on our rights against a fellow believer is a mark of the gospel at work. Paul calls them to a higher way: better to absorb a loss than to fight a brother.

Am I so insistent on my rights that I would fight a fellow believer, or am I willing, for the sake of Christ, to rather be wronged?

Sources

1 Corinthians 6:7: "To have lawsuits one with another is a defect in you. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?"
Matthew 5:40: "If anyone sues you to take away your coat, let him have your cloak also."
Romans 12:18: "If it is possible, as much as it is up to you, be at peace with all men."