Below is a detailed look at 1 Corinthians 6:1-11. Whether it be Bible Study, Expository Preaching or a Biblical Study, this essay will help you better grasp the Corinthian text and more specifically, lawsuits amongst Christians
. This is written by Pete Brookshaw and forms part of Pete's Bible Commentary.
1Cor 6:1 (NRSV) When
any of you has a grievance against another, do you dare to take it to court
before the unrighteous, instead of taking it before the saints?
1Cor 6:2 Do you
not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged
by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases?
1Cor 6:3 Do you
not know that we are to judge angels--to say nothing of ordinary matters?
1Cor 6:4 If you
have ordinary cases, then, do you appoint as judges those who have no standing
in the church?
1Cor 6:5 I say
this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to
decide between one believer and another,
1Cor 6:6 but a
believer goes to court against a believer--and before unbelievers at that?
1Cor 6:7 In
fact, to have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why
not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?
1Cor 6:8 But
you yourselves wrong and defraud--and believers at that.
1Cor 6:9 Do you
not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be
deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites,
1Cor 6:10
thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers--none of these will inherit
the kingdom of God.
1Cor 6:11 And this is what some of you used to be. But
you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
Introduction to 1 Corinthians 6:1-11
It seems the days of ‘going to court’ and processing a claim to
the magistrate about your next door neighbor is not just a contemporary
phenomenon. Trials and civil courts have existed for thousands of years and we
only need to look to the book of Exodus to read about Moses finding himself
swamped by the thousands upon thousands of hearings. Below we will read about
Paul and his dealings with the Corinthian church, and especially around his
comments on Christians taking other Christians to court, and also his strong
comments about sexual immorality and the Kingdom of God.
Firstly we will look at the letter that Paul wrote to the church
at Corinth and secondly we will explore the judicial process in Corinth and how
it relates to his words to the church. Thirdly, it is helpful to gain
perspective on the structure of 1 Cor 6:1-11 within some of the Corinthian
letter and then some redaction criticism will be explored. Following this is an
interesting exegetical reflection on the ten ‘sins’ or vices that Paul lists in
6:9-10. While the hope is that this specific discussion does not impinge on the
overall message of 6:1-11, the exegetical summary is nonetheless helpful for
those that wish to embark on a hermeneutic on a discussion about sexuality that
is relevant in contemporary culture. Lastly, we look briefly at the style of
writing of the Apostle Paul.
The Corinthian Church and Corinth
Paul wrote at least four letters to the Corinthian church; one of
those prior to 1 Corinthians and one following 2 Corinthians. In recent history
the integrity of 1 Corinthians has been called into question, with some arguing
the letter in fact was more than one letter, but most are agreeable to Paul
writing 1 Corinthians in whole, as one letter (Murphy-O’Connor, 1996: 253-254).
Witherington writes that, ‘Corinth was a
bustling and prosperous metropolis of perhaps seventy to eighty thousand
inhabitants in Paul’s day’ (1995: 18). It was a city with wealth, especially
following the building of the road connecting the Peloponnese and the Greek mainland
(or the Aegean Sea and the Gulf of Corinth). Actually, by the time Paul was
visiting Corinth in the 50s, the city was on its way to being the richest city
in all of Greece (Witherington, 1995: 5).
The exact purpose of 1 Corinthians is debatable, though Paul
definitely writes this letter to highlight some moral issues affecting the
Corinthian Church, and the response required from the people. How Paul learns
of the issues in Corinth, whether it be issues of sexual immorality, marriage,
lawsuits, etc, is probably through a letter from Stephanas, Fortunatus, and
Achaicus. This was a letter sent back to Paul as a response to Paul’s first
letter (prior to the 1 Corinthians text) (Neufeld, 2000: 381).
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The Judicial Process in Corinth
Before exploring Paul’s reasons for challenging the Corinthian
church regarding litigation, a brief overview of the judicial process in
Corinth is helpful. There was a three step process for civil cases, which was:
1. The plaintiff
would speak to the magistrate requesting a case to be considered. The
magistrate would then decide whether the potential case had merit and if so,
then a ‘formula’ would be created listing the case details/facts.
2. The
magistrate would then assign a judge that both parties agreed upon.
3. The judge
would hear the case and pass down a ruling.
(see Witherington, 1995: 162)
With this process in mind, the question to ponder is why Paul was
so forthright to the Corinthian church about not going to secular courtrooms. Many of the issues of litigation in the church of
Corinth were due to the fact that certain members of the congregation were
making judgments and acting on the basis of the wisdom of the world rather than
the wisdom of God. For them, the wisdom of the world was equated with
“knowledge” (gnosis), a kind of philosophic wisdom referred to as Gnosticism,
which governed their attitude and actions.
Even more frustrating to Paul, was
the fact that some Corinthian Christians were wealthy and were exploiting the
judicial process. The reason a wealthy person could exploit the system, was
that they were able to utilise a lawyer with great oratory skills that gave
them an unfair advantage. The advantage came, because, the cases were not so
much judged on merit, but more on the social standing of the lawyer and
plaintiff/defendant. Garnsey (cited in Witherington, 1995: 163) says, ‘The
principal criterion of legal privilege in the eyes of the Romans was dignitas or honor derived from power, style of life, and wealth’. Understandably
then, Paul’s tone and rhetorical expression is quite forthright, like 6:2, ‘are
you incompetent to try trivial cases?’ As Hering says, ‘Paul expects the
believers in Corinth to settle such embarrassingly small squabbles outside of
the civil courts’ (2010: 1) and not take attempt to squander money from other
Christians. Does this enter Paul’s mind when he mentions ‘the greedy’ as one of
the list of sins in 6:10?
Structure of Passage
Without delving into the entire structure of 1 Corinthians, we see
that chapter 5 and chapter 6 are closely linked. W. Deming
argues for unity between 1 Cor 5 and 6, and writes, ‘there has been a single
case of sexual misconduct that has resulted in the Corinthians’ engaging in
legal actions in secular courts’ (cited in Soards, 1999: 125). More preferably
is that chapters 5 and 6 are closely linked, with the former referring to case
about incest, and 6:1-11 referring to a case about property (Witherington,
1995: 164). Interestingly though, is that 6:12-20 refers once again to sexual
immorality, and thus 6:1-11 is somewhat sandwiched in between this ongoing
topic.
A structure we might use to highlight these passages
is as follows:
5:1 – 6:20 – Problems with sexual immorality and law
suits
1. The
case about incest (5:1-5)
2. Purity
of the community (5:6-8)
3. Differentiation
from world ways (5:9-13)
4. Christians
and Legal Cases (6:1-8)
5. Kingdom
expectations (6:9-11)
6. Challenge
to flee from sexual immorality
(adapted from Interpreter’s Bible, 1953: 12)
Redaction Criticism
In 1Cor 6:2-3 Paul makes apocalyptic claims that one day the
saints (those who are justified and sanctified) will judge the world. Soards
mentions that Paul is adapting Jewish apocalyptic material; material that
outlines the day of final judgment (1999: 122). The verse is most likely
derived from Daniel 7:22,
but also from other sources such as Wisdom of Solomon (3:8),
Jubilees 24:29, Enoch 38:5, 95:3 (Orr, 1976: 194; Barrett, 1971: 136). While
Jesus refers to Christians judging others in the end alongside the twelve
tribes of Israel, Paul would not have had access to Matthew’s complete gospel,
as the first letter to the Corinthians was produced around 55AD and the Gospel
of Matthew most likely in the 60s. This being said, Paul’s theology on Christian
judgment does correlate well with those particular words of Jesus (see also
Luke 22:30) (Soards, 1999: 125). The point of the verse though, is that since
Christians will one day judge the world, why then would you litigate amongst
judges on earth, who are from pagan courtrooms?
Paul’s reference to the saints judging angels (v. 3),
interestingly is not sourced from Old Testament Scriptures. The Jewish
apocalyptic sources explain that some angels rebelled against God, and were
thus cast out of heaven, including Satan (Orr, 1976: 194), and Paul assumedly
has that in mind. Orr writes that Paul elevates the saints to the work of
judgment of the world and of angels, because, ‘the church is the habitation of
the Spirit’ (1976: 194). While vague, the point seems to be, that because Paul
believes strongly that believers, have Christ ‘in them’, and Christ works
‘through them’, they have the privilege of judgment at the end times. While,
exegetically, judging angels is difficult to comprehend, the message Paul is
really trying to communicate is that if we will have this privilege of judging
angels one day, then surely Christians can be decisive on trivial cases, and
work them out amongst themselves.
The Ten Vices
In 6:9-10, Paul lists ten vices, five of which relate to sexual
issues, and the others of thievery, drunkenness, slandering, swindling and
greediness. The inspiration behind the mentioned vices is important, as it adds
or subtracts validity to the significance of the response of the Corinthian
people to Paul’s ‘catalogue of vices’. Some argue (Weiss, Lietzmann, Conzelmann
and Scroggs) that the vices listed in 6:9-10, ‘are not of individual contextual
significance in this epistle, but should be regarded as a generalized form
reflecting stereotypical ethical material drawn from Stoic, Cynic, or satirical
sources…’ (Thiselton, 2000: 441). C.H. Dodd provides are more sound approach
when he argues, conversely, that Paul’s ethics flow from a response to the
gospel (: 442). When we take Dodd’s approach, the list from Paul becomes not
merely some memorized verse from Stoic Philosophy, or irrelevant vices from a
Greco-Roman background, but rather, they become behaviours and morals relevant
to the Christian Corinthian people.
From an overview of the culture of Corinth, we see
this place as a place of rampant sexual activity, a place in fact known, for
its, ‘elegant and expensive women’ (Achtemeier, 2001: 329). This letter to the
Corinthian church is in fact a challenge to the ethical behaviours of the
church that are coinciding too closely with these worldly activities in
Corinth. More specifically, the verses in 6:9-10 are once again challenging the
morality of the Corinthian church; and we see similar challenges in preceding
verses such as 5:1, 5:9, etc. To say then, as mentioned previous, that Paul is
just grabbing material from Stoic and other sources, undermines the value of what
Paul is actually saying. He is rebuking and challenging the Corinthian church
about issues that relate to them, and so is writing intentionally to them, and
listing vices that are relevant to these problems.
The vices are important to explore, because immediately preceding
6:9-10, is the statement that, ‘wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of
God’. Wrongdoers (NRSV), is the Greek word αδικοι
which is an adjective that Paul uses, which others denote as wicked (NIV),
unrighteous (KJV) or people who do evil (NJB). So Paul is clearly writing, that
those who partake in the vices listed, are ‘wrongdoers’ (clearly not as harsh
as NIV’s ‘wicked’), and that in consequence of this, will not inherit the
kingdom of God. We find similar lists of vices from Paul (Rom 1:29-31, Gal
5:19-21), but we understand Paul is writing to the Corinthian church, and
through this list is highlighting specific issues of morality within the Corinthian
church.
Two of the sins listed require further exegetical comment, because
of the contemporary discussion that surrounds them. Of interest are the two
words that NRSV render, ‘male prostitutes and sodomites’, which in Greek are μαλακοι
(malakoi) and αρσενοκοιται (arsenokoitai) respectively. The former is defined vaguely
as ‘soft ones’, or as Thiselton notes, ‘In hellenistic literature of the Roman
period it may mean effeminate when
applied to men’ (2000: 448). Some authors argue for a definition related to
pederasty
(Witherington, 1995 : 166), Scroggs argues specifically for a call boy who
prostitutes his services to an older male, and Barrett defines it as, ‘the
passive...partner...in male homosexual relations’ (cited in Thiselton, 2000:
449). There is less ambiguity on the latter of the two vices, (αρσενοκοιται),
which is clearly, the act of the sexual relationship between two males.
V. P. Furnish has his own opinion:
Exactly
how Paul is using the two terms remains in dispute...Is he thinking of all
kinds of homosexual relationships, or only of pederasty? Or only of male
prostitution? For this reason, and also because one is dealing only with a
list, 1 Cor 6:9 can be of little help in ascertaining Paul’s attitude towards
homosexual practice (cited in Thiselton, 2000: 449).
Furnish’s supposition that we can know little of Paul’s attitude
toward homosexual practice based on 1 Cor 6:9 is implausible. Paul clearly
lists the sexual relationship between two males as an act that consequently
will not inherit the kingdom of God. There is no doubt that vagueness remains on
the definition of μαλακοι, but we are still left
with the strong impression that Paul believes God does not look favourably upon
active homosexuality in the Corinthian context.
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Style
Some stylistic methods of Paul have been alluded to already, and
when we glance at 6:1-11, we are no doubt struck by Paul’s use of a diatribe
style and consistent rhetorical questions. ‘The
rhetorical expression in 1 Cor. 6:1-11 are to be taken as particular kinds of
speech acts designed to challenge the behaviour of the Corinthians [that are] not
in accord with Paul’s code of expected social behaviour’ (Neufeld, 2000: 375).
Conclusion
While the days of entering courtrooms still exists
today, we have seen Paul’s reaction to parts of the litigation process in
relation to Christians wishing to sue other Christians. We gained firstly an
insight into the wealthy aspects of first century Corinth, and the culture to
which Paul writes his letter. By looking at the judicial process of the day, we
saw the manipulation of the courts to have cases benefit those of a higher
socio-economic, and this was the circumstances wealthy Corinthian Christians
were involved in. We see within the structure of 6:1-11, a piece sandwiched
between two stories/examples of sexual immorality. The discussion also delves
deeper into the list of ten sins that Paul writes from 6:9-10, and explores the
exegetical nuances of Paul’s writing about the topic. No doubt, the
contemporary issues and questions that arise from Paul’s letter to the church
at Corinth would be interesting to explore, whether it be controversial topics
like homosexuality, or whether Christians, in any circumstances should sue
other Christians today. Hopefully then, the exegetical foundation is set, for
the possibility of developing a sound, challenging hermeneutic for the church
today.
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This bible study essay was written by Pete Brookshaw (copyright, 2010). This forms part of Pete's Bible Commentary. CLICK HERE.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Achtemeier, Paul J. & Green, Joel B.
& Thompson, Marianne Meye. (2001). Introducing
the New Testament: Its
Literature and Theology. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
Barrett, C. K. (1971). A Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians. (pp.
134-143). London: A & C Black.
Buttrick, George Arthur, et. al. (1953). The Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 10. Nashville: Abingdon Press.
Conzelmann, Hans (1975). 1 Corinthians: A commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians. Philadelphia: Fortress Press.
Hering, James (2010). Paul and the Issue of Litigation in 1 Corinthians 6. Erskine
Theological Seminary.
Neufeld, Dietmar. (2000). Acts of Admonition and Rebuke: A Speech Act
Approach to 1 Corinthians 6:1-11.
Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden.
Orr, William F. & Walther, James Arthur
(1976). 1 Corinthians: The Anchor Bible.
(pp. 192 – 204). Garden City, New York:
Doubleday & Company.
Prior, David. (1985). The Message of 1 Corinthians. (The Bible Speaks Today). England:
Inter-Varsity Press.
Soards, Marion L. (1999). New International Biblical Commentary: 1
Corinthians. Peabody, Massachusetts;
Hendrickson Publishers.
Thiselton,
Anthony C. (2000). The First Epistle to
the Corinthians: A Commentary on the Greek Text. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing
Company.
Witherington
III, Ben. (1995). Conflict &
Community in Corinth: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on 1 and 2 Corinthians. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B.
Eerdmans Publishing Company.
αρσενοκοιται
(arsenokoitai) – Scroggs interprets αρσενοκοιται as an idiom which is derived
from the LXX,
namely Lev 18:22 and Lev 20:13.
He interprets that Paul’s declaration in 1 Cor 6:10 is therefore condemning
Homosexual activity in relation to what Lev 18:22 and 20:13 says (Soards, 1999:
126).
