There appear to have been problems with Christians within the church suing each other in a court of law rather than dealing with the matter “within the family” (6:1-8). We are not told what the lawsuits might involve, but it is possible that they result from perceived insults by members of the “parties” within the church. Perhaps a member of the Paul group insulted a member of the Peter group, who responded as any good Roman would by filing a lawsuit against the offender. Imagine a typical argument in a classroom that spills over into Facebook insults, which then result in a lawsuit, a countersuit, and a major clash in a court of law.
As strange as it sounds, this is the sort of thing which happened in the Roman world. Dio Chrysostom reports that the Roman world of the late first century was filled with “lawyers innumerable, twisting judgments.” (Cited by Winter, After Paul Left Corinth, 62). These lawsuits were politically motivated, between members of the rich and elite class (or want-to-be elite). These lawsuits were an opportunity for young orators to showcase their rhetorical talents before elite citizens (judges, magistrates, jurors, etc.).
Paul’s solution to the problem is to “shame” them for suing their brothers. Shame is an important factor in first-century personal politics. Paul says twice in this letter that he desires to put the church to shame over some behaviors (here and drunkenness in chapter 11). If the lawsuits were motivated by a perceived loss of honor in the first place, Paul turns a popular expectation on its head by saying that it is a loss of honor for a Christian to take his brother to court.
This, therefore, is the “shame”: they are suing family members. Paul frequently refers to his readers as “brothers” to emphasize that the Church is a new family rather than a social club. A person is not suing some stranger who has insulted them; they are suing brothers. The Romans did not approve of intra-family lawsuits; therefore, Paul emphasizes the brotherhood of believers.
Paul does not recommend going through a private arbitrator to solve disputes, as was the right of citizens. He says that the church ought to be able to deal with such disputes within the family. There are people within the congregation, presumably, that are styling themselves as orators, and all of the citizens would be familiar with the process of arbitration. Paul is saying that the church ought to function like a family, brothers dealing with one another with “strife and discord.”
How do we “bridge the gap” and apply this sort of teaching in a modern, local church context? At the very least, the church needs to return to the truth that all members of the Body of Christ are brothers and that it is a loss of honor to treat a family member like a stranger. This alone would have a positive effect on the local church.
This post reminds me much of my own family. There is much fighting in my family, which has resulted in lawsuits and estrangement from one another. Firsthand experience here, when arguments get heated, unresolved and escalated it becomes very ugly, very fast. Paul stating that Christians should not sue one another seems to be common sense. However, there are many people in the world, then and now, who lack common sense. The topic of conflict management has become a huge phenomenon in the last twenty years. The ancient world conflict management was not a concept in all, except within the teachings of the early church. Authority and honor were the main priority in Roman culture, which is why the people in the church were so quick to sue one another than think about working the situation out among themselves. Paul stresses the fact that since Christians are redeemed and forgiven through the blood of Jesus, that Christians have no right in trying to assert their own authority over one another through the court system (Longenecker). Paul’s teachings are founded on and within the teachings of Jesus. Jesus showed mercy, forgiveness and service in his ministry, which we as Christians are called to imitate these teachings. Rather than taking one another to court, Christians should try to work out the disagreement themselves (here is our conflict management coming into play). Jesus was the inventor of conflict management, as he states in Matthew 18 that brothers should confront one another, if there is no resolution bring in a few members, then the church and finally kicking this member out of the congregation as consequence. Paul is stating just the same here in his passages in 1 Corinthians. It is always important to remember Grace and extend forgiveness to one another, just as God has done for us. However, it is important that these issues resolve themselves, so they do not divide the church and cause strife between members. Paul shows that taking another brother to court is an issue of pride (Longenecker), where neither of them are willing to swallow their pride, become humble and attempt to create community and healthy relationships with one another. One of the biggest applications to this passage to the modern church is the fact that the church members should not fight with one another. In the chance that they do, they should work together to solve this strife, remaining humble and showing Christ through the entire situation.
This situation in first corinthians throws me off, considering how immature this all seems. People jumping right to the law over personal issues just to be able to speak and show their skill in communicating. I’m sure there’s more to than that, but that’s what I have perceived from this section Paul has to address. As Christians, how do we bridge the gap to the modern church and help them come back to brotherly love in the church?
I don’t feel the church today has issues with bringing family issues to the law as they did in Corinth. But the church seems to forget what Jesus said in Matthew 18:15-17. This passage deals with confronting sin in the church or against your brother. The first step is to call out their sin for what it is in love, if they don’t listen, bring another friend to back you up. Jesus goes even further to say that if they don’t listen, bring it to the church and if they still don’t listen, treat them as a pagan or tax collector. That might be too far, but they refused to listen. The people of Corinth jump right to the law instead of confronting first. As Christians, we need to love first and seek reconciliation and work on these relationships with forgiveness.
From my Western Christian perspective, Roman citizens suing each other over mere insults and minor things seems immature and just all around crazy to me. However, this was a part of their culture and society, so it should be seen in that light. In many ways though, I feel like future people will look back at 2021 and think we are all crazy and immature for something common place now.
I found the Sophists to be quite interesting. According to an article I found about Sophists, “The Greek word sophistēs, formed from the noun sophia, ‘wisdom’ or ‘learning’, has the general sense ‘one who exercises wisdom or learning’” (Taylor). The Sophists were full of knowledge and great when it came to presenting this knowledge and wisdom. Much like lawyers of today, the Sophists were paid to argue and defend, being quite eloquent in their speech and knowing how best to argue their side. Sophists also were quite athletic and usually attractive looking because it helped gain credibility and a following. As much as society likes to deny it, humans are naturally drawn to more attractive people and are more willing to follow or listen to them. For this reason, Sophists took special care in their appearance.
Going back to the normality of suing among the people, the Sophists had a booming and every growing market for customers. From a Christian perspective, we should not be taking fellow believers to court over foolish, instead we should work through that problem with the person before getting anyone else involved. Matthew 18:15 says, ““If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.” We are brothers and sisters in Christ and taking a family member to court was a major deal and was shameful to do. Paul made this connection to show believers that we should not take fellow believers to court over things like thing.
Source:
Taylor, C.C.W. and Mi-Kyoung Lee, “The Sophists.” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2020/entries/sophists/
In today’s culture, I’ve seen so many cases and lawsuits put up against family members because one brother or sister did the other wrong. And even then in ancient Corinth, they did the same thing. Especially during this time period, where they were under the influence of the Greco-Roman world, where it was nearly impossible to escape some of the cultural aspects and views. Paul says whoever is involved in this lawsuit, whether the person is in right or wrong, it is shameful that they have taken their brother into court. Instead he encourages love and communication, which should happen in the church, and only in the church.
It’s important for us to understand we are to do the same. We live in a society where we are constantly looking out for ourselves, for better improvement and success. We live in a culture where it is heavily expressed that we should “do our own thing.” And in the reality of that, we may be hurting people, even ourselves. Lawsuits amongst family members are permanent damage, which is something to be avoided. Disputes on legal matters should still be handled in the church today, just like how many people go to their pastors already to discuss more personal problems, and require guidance. To bridge the gap, like said at the end of the blog- is that we can learn from the Corinthians to first talk to each other, go to the church to handle the dispute rather than going to Court. It’s damaging for the relationship when it can be healed, and also shameful.
I think Paul’s writing to the Corinthian church on the matter of lawsuits is so very relevant and necessary to the American church today. American culture in general is what I like to call “lawsuit happy”. Everyone is always looking for a way to profit from an injury or an inconvenience at the expense of another. When, in all reality, if humans were actually decent they would take care of one another. I think this is one of the things Paul is trying to communicate to the congregation in Corinth. How can you profit off your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ? I think this teaching directly correlates to how local Churches should handle it. The Church has the discernment of the Holy Spirit. We do not bring these things to a world that does not seek the Lord. It shames the church to treat each other this way. This was something that would have really been a gut punch to the people living at this time. A wake up call hopefully, to what they were doing. I think the church in America could use something like this. So often we view a lawsuit as a necessary repayment for damages, but Paul tells us in Romans 12 that we should not repay evil with evil but repay evil with good. There has to be a mindset shift in the the church that changes the focus from repayment to forgiveness.