OceanSide church of Christ
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GOING TO
LAW
Alan Highers
Question: “Does Paul teach in I Corinthians 6 that
we can never take a brother to court for any
reason?
Paul’s admonition is
not with limitations. If there
could never be an action at law between members of the church, then (a) the
innocent party could never get a divorce against the guilty party if both were
members of the church; yet, we know the Lord gives that right. This is sufficient to show that Paul’s
statement was not meant to be universal; (b) elders or members could not defend
church property against a hostile takeover, where false teachers might move in
and try to take the building.
Elders are stewards of the church and of the Lord, and they have an
obligation to preserve the facilities of the congregation. This might necessitate civil action
which would be in keeping with their duty as stewards. If this were not so, false teachers
could confiscate church property, and the church would be powerless to do
anything about it.
First Corinthians 6
must be viewed within its context.
In chapter 5, Paul discusses the immorality of the incestuous brother; he
returns to questions of immorality and misconduct in 6:12-20. In the midst of these discussions, he
speaks of a brother having a matter against another (6:1) and going to law over
the “smallest matters” (6:2). The
Gentile courts were largely heathen courts, and Paul admonishes the Corinthians
against taking these matters before unbelievers when there were those among them
who could judge these matters in some form of Christian arbitration. Given the context, I take Paul to refer
to personal differences, disputes between brethren (sometimes over insignificant
matters), attempts at revenge, misbehavior, and ill conduct among brethren, even
attempts to defraud one another (6:8), all of which could be resolved by fellow
Christians than by heathen judges.
The instruction presumes, of course, that the “matters” between them are
such that Christian “wise” men could decide (6:5).
There are some matters
beyond the jurisdiction of Christian advisors and counselors, and Paul is not
barring the use of civil courts to dispose of these matters. Paul
himself said that civil government is the minister of God (