1 Corinthians 7:10-17 - Married to an Unbeliever

10 But to the married I give instructions, not I, but the Lord, that the wife should not leave her husband
11 (but if she does leave, she must remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband should not divorce his wife.
12 But to the rest I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he must not divorce her.
13 And a woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he consents to live with her, she must not send her husband away.
14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband; for otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy.
15 Yet if the unbelieving one leaves, let him leave; the brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace.
16 For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, O husband, whether you will save your wife?
17 Only, as the Lord has assigned to each one, as God has called each, in this manner let him walk. And so I direct in all the churches.

Ma-Widge!

(See note 1)

V. 10 - “But to the married I give instructions, not I, but the Lord” - Paul continues the discussion of believers and marriage. You already know his opinion that it is better to be single and serve the Lord, but if temptation toward sexual immorality becomes a problem for the single Christian, then marriage is the solution (staying faithful to the spouse in that marriage is a significant part of the solution). The rest of the this chapter is about living married.

Previously (v. 6) Paul indicated his instructions were in the form of good advice. He is not telling people to stay single no-matter-what, nor is he telling everyone to get married.

“the wife should not leave her husband” - I suspect the question was posed to Paul: Now that I am a Christian and am the Lord’s should I leave my spouse? Being dedicated to the Lord, should husbands and wives separate in order to wholly serve Jesus Christ? See the discussion for 1 Cor. 7:5, above. As I said there, this dilemma may be the result of misunderstanding Christ’s teaching about marriage in heaven.

The reason this is a command not a suggestion is that Jesus clearly indicated God did not approve of divorce, (See: Matt. 5:31; 19:3-12; Mark 10:2-12).

V. 11 - “but if she does leave, she must remain unmarried” - A parenthetical insert.

“the husband should not divorce his wife” - A continuation of the command in verse 10. It is not clear to me if this command is aimed at couples where both are believers. It seems aimed at believer/non-believer marriages. It would be easy to think it is for believing couples since Paul addresses “unequally yoked” marriages in the next few verses. However, why would “believing couples” feel the need to divorce because of their faith?

V. 12-13 - “But to the rest I say, not the Lord” - Let me assume the commands in verses 10-11 are to “believer/non-believer” marriages. First, a believer is not to divorce a believing spouse (if at all possible). Especially there should be no divorce because of theological or religious reasons.

But to the rest... Remember, Christians are a minority in the world in the first century A.D. (This is probably between 35-60 A.D.) Most people in Greece have no idea what the church of Jesus Christ is all about. It is likely that a woman will have heard the Good News and given her life to Christ, but her husband has not. Ditto for a man to have heard, but the wife not so. This could create relationship problems in a household.

“if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever” - Just because you have accepted Christ as savior, that is no reason to divorce your wife who has not yet believed. If she wishes to stay with you, let it be so. Remember, Paul sees this is a command from the Lord.

V. 13 - “a woman who has an unbelieving husband” - Just because you have accepted Christ as savior, that is no reason to divorce your husband who has not yet believed. If he wishes to stay with you, let it be so. Remember, Paul sees this is a command from the Lord.

V. 14 - “the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife” - Wowsers! The wife is a child of God. (1 John 3:1) The unbelieving husband is not. This does not mean the husband is saved. “Sanctification”: The dominant meaning is separation from the secular and sinful, and setting apart for a sacred purpose. In the OT, things, places, times, people were sanctified, i.e., consecrated to holy purposes - usually only in a ceremonial and legal sense, to remind the Jews of the need for spiritual cleansing and the grace of God. In the NT, people are called to consecrate themselves to God, that is the inward cleansing work of God and Holy Spirit. We cannot be in God’s life if we are not holy (“sanctified”); we cannot live with Him in eternity if we are not pure and holy. Christ’s sacrifice did that for we who believe and accept Him as Lord and Savior.

Marriage is not a ‘man-made’ artifact. It is instituted by God. (Gen. 2:21-24) A possible meaning of this verse is the unbelieving husband should not be considered as a heathen by the church members; i.e., because the woman is saved the husband is to be treated with some respect. This sounds a little goofy, because Christians should not treat the unsaved with disdain. How can we possibly expect someone to turn to Christ if we treat that person like dirt because they are not saved?

“the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband” - The same line of reasoning applies to an unbelieving wife of a Christian man. The married couple are now set apart for each other - i.e., sanctified. I do not believe this means the unbelieving spouse is ‘saved’ - cleansed from sin and part of Christ’s body, and body of believers.

“for otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy” - And I have no idea how children of Christians are ‘holy’ - again they are not saved by Christ until they commit to belief and acceptance of Him as Lord. ( I need to discuss this with a pastor... )
Ezra 9:2 indicates the children of Israel were a “holy race” - obviously that does not mean they were sinless and holy as the Lord is holy! They had been set apart to be God’s own people, and witness to the world the power and majesty of God the Father. They were to stay set apart, but they intermingled with the heathen nations who rejected God. As a result they became anathema to the Lord. Well, maybe that is a bit too strong. God was very upset with them, and disciplined them, but was not so angry as to wipe them out completely.

So maybe this verse indicates that children of Christian parents are set apart from the rest of the world in that God’s care and love He has for their parents gets reflected upon the children. They have ‘advantages’ the other children do not.

V. 15 - “Yet if the unbelieving one leaves, let him leave” - If the unbelieving spouse decides they ‘just can’t take any more of this’, and so decides to divorce or separate themselves, Paul says let them go.

“Not under bondage in such cases” - The believing husband or wife is under no obligation to stay married in this circumstance. I do not know if this statement negates verse 11 above, i.e., the wife should not remarry if the unbelieving husband wants out of the marriage, and vice versa. I suspect it does not. If the non-believing spouse walks out or demands a divorce, don’t fight it, let them go in peace. Because, “God has called us to peace.”

V. 16 - “For how do you know, O wife, whether you will save your husband?” - Showing love and compassion to the unbelieving spouse may convince them ‘there might be something to this new found faith in Jesus’. Being a loving witness for Christ may soften their hearts so they will come to Christ and also see Him as Savior and Lord!

V. 17 - “Only, as the Lord has assigned to each one” - It is possible this verse should be included in the previous section regarding marriage. Each of us had a life before we met Jesus, before we accepted and believed in Him.

“in this manner let him walk“ - That is, if you were married when you were saved stay married. If you were single when saved, stay single. Paul is not teaching that each of us is assigned a particular job or life - you were not born to be an ax murderer, nor a super-villain. You are who you are and where you are in life based on the choices you have made. You can accept or reject God’s guidance. Either way will lead to where you are now. If you have been a criminal up to the point you accepted Jesus Christ, do not continue on that evil path. You can use the skills you have obtained to help others rather than hurt and destroy.

Do not give up what you have been doing (unless it is sinful and hurts or destroys others).

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Note 1: (Reference: the movie: Princess Bride )
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1 Corinthians 7:7-9 - If Possible

7 Yet I wish that all men were even as I myself am. However, each man has his own gift from God, one in this manner, and another in that.
8 But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I.
9 But if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

Each Man Has His One Gift From God

V. 7 - “I wish that all men were even as I myself am” - From this it appears that Paul was celibate, a confirmed bachelor. His whole life was dedicated to serving the Lord - first as a zealous Pharisee, and later, finally, as a zealous apostle and teacher of the Word of Salvation in Jesus Christ our Lord. I don’t think Paul thought it was good for every person to be single and celibate. He thought it would be good for every person to be so dedicated to service for Christ that they would not need to be married.

“However, each man has his own gift from God” - This is not ‘One-Size-Fits-All’. He did not denigrate those who are married and believe in Christ. God has a wonderful plan for your life. Live that plan for Him.

V. 8 - “But I say to the unmarried” - If you can, stay single (whether unmarried or widowed) so that your work for the Lord will be unhindered by family responsibilities. Paul is not downgrading the needs of your families. He knows that when you have a family the needs - wife, husband, children, house and home - will consume part of your attention and time. These cannot be denied or ignored. As a result your attention to the work of the Lord has competition from your family. So, in Paul’s opinion - coming from a hardworking apostle - it would be better for the church if you all were single-mindedly working just like him.

V. 9 - “if they do not have self-control” - same advice as in verses 3-6, above. Immorality - sexual sin whether single or married - is unacceptable.

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1 Cor 7:1-6 - Chap. 7 - Introduction to Married Life

Chap. 7 - Outline
7:1-6 - Marry or Immorality - your choice
7:7-9 - If Possible
7:10-16 - Married to an Unbeliever
7:17-24 - As You Were
7:25-35 - Demands of Marriage
7:36-38 - Virgin Daughters
7:39-40 - Widows and Re-Marriage

Introduction:

The church in Corinth wrote to Paul for advice or guidance. What were their questions? Perhaps the Corinthian church wrote concerning marriage - were Christians to marry, or should they stay single, or if married should they separate - but it most likely was not about the subjects discussed in the early part of this letter. The following list briefly shows the subjects chapters 7-16 cover.

ch. 7 - primarily deals with marriage;
ch. 8 - ‘liberty’, or using your freedom in Christ correctly;
chs. 9-11- expound on Paul’s ministry to them;
ch. 12 - the church as a organization or body of Christ;
ch. 13 - love;
ch. 14 - prophecy and tongues;
ch. 15 - Christ’s resurrection, and
ch. 16 - closing thoughts.

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1 Corinthians 7:1-6 -Marriage

1 Now concerning the things about which you wrote, it is good for a man not to touch a woman.
2 But because of immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband.
3 The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband.
4 The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.
5 Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
6 But this I say by way of concession, not of command.

Who Has Control?

V. 1 - “Now concerning the things about which you wrote” - Paul begins to answer questions presented to him from the Corinthian church. We must infer from the letter what the questions Paul was being asked...

“it is good for a man not to touch a woman” - I do not think Paul was teaching isolation of men from women. (This is not rehashing Mosaic law: like dealing with a leper, or touching a woman during her menstrual cycle, or touching a dead body (See: Lev. 11:31, 32; 13:45; 14:2, 3; 15:19, 25,33; 21:1, 11; 22:4; Num. 5:2; 6:6.) Paul was warning against romantic or sexual involvement. Both men and women can be distracted from the Lord during a romantic encounter with the opposite sex. This is fleshed out more clearly in the following verses.

V. 2 - “because of immoralities” - Men and women are attracted to each other. This is the way God designed us (See: Gen. 2:18-25). There is nothing immoral or sinful about this mutual attraction. The problem is not in the attraction, but in the way humans meddle or pervert the plan. It is not a surprise that sex is a big business - pornography, prostitution, etc. - or that non-criminal sexual acts are prevalent in every society. It is difficult to write about this without sounding prudish, or stodgy, or puritanical. I do not mean that males simply talking with females turn into slavering louts, or that the females become harlots luring the males into sin. Paul is saying it is difficult to be single-minded, focused on the Lord’s work in some situations.

“each man is to have his own wife” - The solution: get married! Paul is teaching/preaching monogamy. We can see from the OT scripture that it was not uncommon for a man to have several wives and/or concubines - AT THE SAME TIME! 

“each woman is to have her own husband” - The solution: get married! I haven't noticed that a woman would have several husbands - at the same time - in scripture.

And I think these were not unusual situations all over the ancient world. My personal understanding is that God intended a one-man-one-woman relationship, or marriage. And like so many things we touch, it (marriage) gets marred by our sin. This discussion is not connected to divorce or remarrying.

V. 3 - “The husband must fulfill his duty to his wife and likewise also the wife to her husband” - Sexual intercourse within a marriage is neither immoral or sinful. It is as God intended. I am not sure that I see that as a “duty” that has to be done, a “chore” or “task” that must be checked off as completed. A husband shows his love to his wife by this intimate act. The wife shows her love by providing the way to keep the man’s mind from wandering into sinful thoughts or relations. Their love for each other supports them and keeps them from sexual sin.

V. 4 - “The wife does not have authority over her own body... the husband does not have authority over his own body” - This is not an authoritarian, master-slave relationship. This is to be a mutual surrendering of self to another. Our society seems to treat sex as a simple physical function - see almost any movie or TV show. (Two people meet in a bar and are strangers; the next thing you know they’ve hopped into bed for sex, hop out of bed and go about their business as if nothing special has occurred.) We try to pretend that sex is merely satisfying a physical attraction or need. We try to pretend it is not what God has intended for us.

V. 5 - “Stop depriving one another” - Addressing a problem that may have come about between married couples. This may be a result of misunderstanding Jesus’ teaching, or a misunderstanding of what it means to be spiritual and a member of the body of Christ while here on earth.

In the first instance, we know Jesus Christ taught that when the kingdom of God is fully realized there will be no marriage between man and woman. (See: Matt. 22:30; Mk. 12:23; Lk 20:34-35) Does that mean there should be no marriage now here on earth before the Lord returns in power and glory? I do not think that is what Jesus is teaching. We will be His and there will be no need for marriage in His kingdom. More than that i cannot guess.

In the second instance, I suspect that people were drawing the conclusion that since we are now in Christ and Christ is in us, we should not be having sex, subjecting Christ to those physical, emotional and spiritual activities. In other words, ‘defiling’ the body of Christ with our bodies. This is taking the teaching from chapter six (1 Cor.6:15) and applying it to the marriage bed. Sexual immorality with a harlot is not in the same category as sexual intercourse with your spouse. Unmarried sex with a harlot is a sin. Sex with your lawfully wedded spouse is not. Plain and simple.

“and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control“ - If you cannot control your urges, those sexual desires lead you into sin. Sexual desire is extremely strong. I do not think it is only emotional, but far deeper because it is the way life is extended. All animals and humans (Humans are not animals, even though we eat, breathe, live, die, and procreate as animals do - we are more! God has made us so). Know that sex is important for life to go on. It doesn’t mean you will die if you don’t have sex, but the human race will die out if we don’t. Rather than trying to tamp down those natural urges, get married and enjoy them with your spouse. Rather than give in to the sexual desires and do it any time with any one, get married and avoid the sin, and the penalty of sin.

V. 6 - “But this I say by way of concession, not of command” - Paul is not telling them they must get married and must have marital intercourse. It is better for them to be married and satisfy their desires within that marriage than stay single and fall into sin. We are not ignoring that it is possible to be married and yet sin outside of marriage. He knows that sexual sin is less likely when needs are being met within the marriage.

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1 Cor. 6:9-11 - Inheritors of the Kingdom

9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals,
10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.
11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

You Are To Be Different!

V. 9-10 - “do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?” - In some ways, this paragraph seems to coming from left field! Paul was upbraiding them for not getting along and then lays this list of people who will not “inherit the kingdom”. I do not think Paul has changed directions, going off in a totally different path. The list is not exhaustive, nor is it exclusive (i.e., any sinner not on the list can inherit the kingdom). It is just a good list of ‘recognizable sins’ - those sins almost anyone can agree that the doers are not saved and therefore will not be in heaven.

“Do not be deceived” - You must not believe you can do anything you want because now you are forgiven. You are to be different. As a believer you are a new person in Christ. The righteous, the forgiven, are not to live and act like the unrighteous. You now have choice. God does not coerce you to live and act in a certain way. You are not a robot, a little human “app" that can only act one way because that is how you are programmed. Christ and the Holy Spirit will guide you, will help you, will lead you into the right path. Do not fall back into the behavior of the unrighteous.

See this list of ten... (the following are not dictionary definitions - nor is the list comprehensive)

fornicators - sexually active, but not married
idolaters - worshipping anything other than the Lord
adulterers - sexually active outside of marriage
effeminate - acting and living as if you are the opposite sex, (e.g., male prostitute)
homosexuals - sexually active with members of the same sex
thieves - robbers, stealers
covetous - greedy, desirous of others’ things
drunkards - over use of alcohol
revilers - demeanors of spiritual things, especially of God
swindlers - robbing people by trickery and deception, a thief but done cleverly.

V. 11 - “but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified” - This is the ‘punch line’. Now, as Christians, you no longer have to live like that. The unsaved, the secular world is free to act in evil ways toward each other. But you as a Christian are now different. You have no reason to be selfish, hard-hearted, stingy, grasping, always demanding your ‘rights’. You have the Holy Spirit living in you to guide and protect.

• You were dirty in your sin. Now you have been washed in the blood of Christ. You are clean. 
•  You were common and unholy, you were human. Now you are set apart, holy, made suitable for holy purposes, that is, serving the Lord Jesus Christ. Now you are sanctified.
• You were a sinner, unworthy of being in God’s presence. Now you have been declared righteous because Jesus took your sins upon Himself. You have been justified. I learned a mnemonic: Justified = Just-as-if-I’d-never sinned.
• Now you are acceptable.  

"in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God." - Does this sound incredible, amazing, maybe even impossible? Not to worry. You are not on your own. You are Jesus' own people.(See: 1 Pet 2:9-10). You were not a 'people'. Now you are God's own possession! And you have God living in you. You have been given a gift because you put your faith in Jesus - You have the Holy Spirit in you to lead you, to correct, to instruct, to counsel, to comfort, and to rejoice when you follow Him.

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1 Cor. 6:1-8 - Rules for harmonious living

1 Corinthians Chapter 6
6:1-8 - Going to Court vs. Handling Disputes Internally 
6:9-11 - Inheritors of the Kingdo 
6:12-13 - All Things Lawful
6:14-20 - In the Body of Christ
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This is a continuation of the discussion in the previous chapter: 

1 Corinthians 6:1-8 - Going to Court

1 Does any one of you, when he has a case against his neighbor, dare to go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints?
2 Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts?
3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life?
4 So if you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, do you appoint them as judges who are of no account in the church?
5 I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not among you one wise man who will be able to decide between his brethren,
6 but brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers?
7 Actually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?
8 On the contrary, you yourselves wrong and defraud. You do this even to your brethren. (NASB)

Don't Go To Court If Possible

V. 1 - “Does any one of you... dare to go to law” - The question is: Are you going to take a fellow Christian to court over a dispute? The “neighbor” in this verse and the “brother” (vss. 6, 8) is someone in the same church as you, believes in the same Lord Jesus Christ as you. Are you willing (if not eager to do so) to take your dispute with another Christian and air that out to the non-believing world? Why would you show the world that Christians cannot get along? Why would you want the world to know you cannot work out differences face-to-face?

This train of thought places the church on a different plane than non-believers. We tend to think of the law as a moral influence or force in the world. Indeed, some of our laws are based on Biblical principles (murder, rape, theft, etc.). Many of societies laws are rules devised to bring some sort of order to society, and may not be moral at all.

“before the unrighteous and not before the saints?” - Going to court in the secular world (the unrighteous world) rather than asking for help and decisions from fellow believers (the saints). Paul is not saying the court system is immoral, or evil. It is not Christian; it is not operated on Biblical principles. Our court system has decoupled itself from Scripture and God.

Don’t take your disputes and differences into the secular system. Is this concept a command? I don’t think so, but is sound advice for the church.

V. 2 - “Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world?” - Whoa! How does this correlate with Jesus and God the Father judging the universe at the Great White Throne judgement (See: Rev. 20). John sees people on thrones who have the authority to judge (Rev. 20:4) - it doesn’t say what they are judging. Later in the chapter, all will come before God, where it will be revealed whether they are in the Lamb’s Book of Life. (Rev. 20:11-15). Christians, involved in judgements at the end times are listed in several New Testament verses. (See: Mat. 19:28; Jude 14, 15; 1 Thes. 3:13). They (believers) have already been judged and approved by the Lord. (Mat. 25:31-41). We cannot supplant the Lord and His power and authority to judge all creation. On view has us there to nod our heads in agreement. Another view is that we will have the mind of Christ; we are resurrected in our new minds and bodies and will be able to reflect the judgment of Christ on the world and unbelievers. Remember, God has the final authority.

“are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts?” - Being led by Jesus Christ, and empowered by the Holy Spirit, following the precepts of the Lord, we are (should be...) more than competent to make judgments on ‘legal’ or ‘disputes’ between members of the church. 

V. 3 - “Do you not know that we will judge angels?” - See Rev. 20:4-15. (See notes on verse 2, above.) I don’t understand how we will judge angels. It is pointed out that Jesus was ‘a little lower than angels (see: Heb. 2:7, 9) when he was born as a human. He returned to his position, greater than the angels when he was raised from the dead to be seated at the right hand of God the Father. We can extrapolate we too will be greater than the angels, because we will be just like Him. (See: 1 John2:1-3).

“How much more matters of this life?” - So, if we will judge angels, spiritual beings, how big a deal is it to make judgements on our physical lives? One commentary (I looked at several to try to get a better understanding) noted the Greek word used here is not about issuing a verdict of guilty or innocent, but indicates a relative value decision. That is, we will acknowledge that what was done or said does not comport with God’s standards, and thereby agree with Jesus’ judgement. We will applaud Jesus’ righteous decisions, but will not make or execute any such decision. We will be ‘like Him’ (1 John 3:3), but will not be Him. Only God is God. 

There is also the aspect of this being about civil matters, not legal or moral matters. This is about disagreements between individuals, not criminal issues. Matters of conflict within the church body should never be aired in public civil courts.

V. 4 - “do you appoint them as judges who are of no account in the church?” - Are you really going take personal disagreements between Christian church members (a.k.a. - brothers) to secular civil courts? Are you really going to air out your dirty laundry before non-believers? Whether it is as trivial as arguing about padded church pews, or musical instruments in the worship leaders, or more seriously - immoral behavior in the church body - are these things you want to broadcast to the world?

V. 5-6 - “Is it so, that there is not among you one wise man” - Is there no one you can trust in the church to help you resolve these issues? Not one person? Not the pastor/preacher, nor a teacher, nor an elder or deacon, the guy in the back row - no one in the family of believers can help?

“but brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers?” - Rather than work it out inside the church family, you go to those who do not accept or believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and ask them to make a judgement. Now the whole world, people who have no respect for God, knows you cannot live in harmony with likeminded believers! The dirty secret is out - your “faith” has not made you a better person than before. You are as petty and vindictive as any heathen. Paul is chastising them for a couple of things: that they cannot resolve disputes, and that they are appealing to non-believers. 

V. 7 - “Actually, then, it is already a defeat for you” - What a victory for Satan! You have just shown the world that ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory’ is a fraudulent concept. You do not have the ‘peace of Christ’ in you. You do not have the love and forgiveness that Jesus promised. Your actions, taking issues to civil court, have indicated the church of Christ is bogus. Why should anyone bother with all that church stuff if they end up no different than before? No one needs extra baggage.

But that is not the way it should be.

“Why not rather be wronged?” - It is better for you to suffer a little, than to damage the image of the church. This is not telling them to put on a bag over their head, and be blindfolded so as not to see what is happening. Also, Paul is not telling them to be punching bags, to be victims to every person’s schemes.

No. We Christians should first talk to each other, especially if there is a problem between two. Work it out between you. If you can’t work it out with each other. Go to your church leaders. Lay out the problem to them. Look back at verse 5, above, “Is there not one wise man among you?” Find a wise leader, pastor, elder, deacon - tell them. Tell both sides, viewpoints. Perhaps you won’t like the ruling. On the other hand, it might go in your favor and the other person is not pleased. Either result is better than going into civil court. Going to court shows the world that Christians cannot get along and fight with each other.

This is not a New Testament ‘invention’, i.e., taking a dispute or problem to a religious leader to decide. When Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt, the people began to quarrel with God and each other (Surprise! Surprise!). They were camped in the wilderness at the mount of God, and Moses’ father-in-law (Jethro) noticed how overwhelmed Moses was. Moses was being besieged by people bringing their disputes with each other. They wanted him to ask God for a ruling. So, we have 2-3 million cantankerous people needing disputes settled. The advice given to Moses was to appoint leaders - leaders of tens (10s), fifties (50s), hundreds (100s), and thousands (1000s) - who would make decisions on these disputes. A dispute would be resolved in the lowest ‘court’ possible (the 10s). If that didn’t work, they went to the next higher level. A dispute might eventually make its way to Moses, but it had been heard many times with many opportunities to end the dispute. (See: Exo. 18:13-26)

The ‘judges’ in the book of Judges were not just military leaders. They also governed the people and made decisions about issues that came up. During the time of the kings, the famous dispute is the two mothers disagreeing about a baby. (See: 1 Ki. 3:16-26) The leaders of the synagogues also had the duty of resolving differences.

Jesus did teach something similar. (See: Matt. 18:15-17)… Interesting observation: Jesus is directing His comments to the ‘church’, the body of His believers, not the synagogue or the nation of Israel. He is guiding those who believe in Him to new relationships with other believers. Why do I thing this is 'interesting'? Jesus is calling His followers the 'church', but this was well before Jesus was arrested, tried, executed, and resurrected. It was well before the apostles were given the Holy Spirit at Pentecost to preach and lead people to salvation. Jesus was foretelling that His family of believers would be the church.

V. 8 - “You yourselves wrong and defraud. You do this even to your brethren” - Paul accuses them to treating people in wrong ways and defrauding others, especially fellow Christians. Perhaps this is the point, even more than not going to civil court against a brother in Christ. Not that as good Christian you will never have a dispute with another Christian, but that you will resolve it by being kind, forgiving, and loving each other. You have a good example to follow, for you have been forgiven by God, even though you do not deserve it. But even before you get to the point of conflict, as followers of Jesus you should not be treating other people in ways that cause offense. Here are some teachings with respect to living with others:

Be kind to each other. (Eph. 4:32; Titus 2:5, 3:2)

Forgive each other (Eph. 4:32; Col. 3:13)

Love one another. (John 13:34, 35; 15:12, 17; Rom. 12:10; 13:8; Gal. 5:13; Eph. 4:2)

Live at peace with each other (1 Thes. 5:13).

Remember, love covers a multitude of sins (1 Pet. 4:8).

This is a theme repeated throughout this letter. Paul accuses them of acting like unbelievers in 1 Cor 3:3, etc.

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