Such Were Some of You
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1 Corinthians 6:1-11
1 Corinthians 6:1-11
1 Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? 2 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 3 Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?
This is a continuation of Paul’s thoughts in 1 Corinthians 5 about God giving us the authority to judge ourselves
Paul is in shock here:
Dare you go before unrighteous people to settle disputes?
You guys are supposed to be judging angels and you think the World is better at handling matters than the church?
The Greeks were a litigious culture
Naturally they wanted to gravitate back to their culture of figuring out matters in their courts
Where the Jewish people were the opposite they settled matters within their own selves
Athenian laws and courts played a major role in the life of Greek citizens
3 mutually known
40 (public arbitrators over the age of 60)
If no agreement could be made there then “juries”
Comprised of 201(small matter) 401-6,000 men over the age of 30 were used to settle matters
Jury duty came from
So every man was in some degree a lawyer in Greek city
That’s why greeks argue so much
They spent a great deal of time either deciding or listening to law cases
The pop culture was creeping into the Church and Paul is appalled:
Paul was expressing his shock that these Corinthians would trust the unbelievers to settle their disputes more than the believers.
Paul really believed that salvation was a life-changing encounter where Christ Himself indwelt the believer
20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
When he says this he means it
According to 1 Corinthians 2:16 he gives every Christian the mind of Christ and access to the wisdom of God that no unbeliever has
Why do we go to the World for an easy answer to difficult questions?
I’m just smart enough to know better than this
In our society somehow wealth is attributed to wisdom
I’m not saying they can’t coexist
But be careful that you’re not influenced by the wrong spirit in what seems to be the right advice
4 If then you have judgments concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge? 5 I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren? 6 But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers!
7 Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated? 8 No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren!
Plato even said that “good will always choose to suffer wrong rather than to do wrong” and he was a pedophile
In a literal sense to this if Christians truly have the love of Christ within their hearts, they will prefer to suffer insult and loss rather than try to inflict them on someone else
We’re to arrange ourselves according to the spirit of love rather than vengeance
9 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 homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.
Now he’s really hammering the point home:
You want these people to judge you?
You want to get wisdom from people practicing all this?
This is who you want speaking into your life?
This gives us a peak behind the curtain at human nature when it’s left to it’s own desires
Where we had escaped for some time as a nation but somewhere took a back seat to culture and we’re seeing a resurgence again
The unrighteous is the preface to this text: that the character not the act is what he’s pointing out and you’ll see why
The naughty list:
Neither fornicators: Male prostitutes, again among gentiles, the thought of chastity was practically unknown,
Idolaters: the greatest building in Corinth was the Temple of Aphrodite (you can still see the pillars today), the goddess of love, where idolatry and immorality flourished side by side
a bit of a sneak peak in what has become of some affirming churches today
I love this quote “Idolatry is a grim example of what happens when we try and make religion easier. An idol did not begin by being a god; it began by being a symbol of god……but very soon, people began to worship not the god behind the idol but worship the idol itself”
It’s a warning that we worship the true God rather than the symbol behind Him
Ministry can become an idol
Worship can become and idol
Evangelism can become the idol
If the Focus on God is lost
The works become the idol
Adulterer: any sex or acts of sex outside the sanction of the marriage union
Homosexuals: in the amplified and KJV is effeminate. Having qualities or characteristics more often associated with women than men. 2. Characterized by weakness and excessive refinement.” The Latin word from which we obtain “effeminate” is “EFFEMINARE,” and it means “make feminine.”
this word in the greek is mal-a-koss: or a catamite
in this context, is a male taking the female role in a sexual relationship with another male.
Scripture plainly states such conduct as being against nature (Romans 1:26-27).
There’s an argument among communities that when this and verses like it in the new testament Paul is referring to pedophilia, which he is but also the the idea of becoming effeminate and taking on the role of a female in a male to male relationship
These were very common relationships between philosophers and leaders
very bisexual fluid world they lived in
One of Platos greatest of all literary works was based on his own sexual encounters with boys
Some groups want to argue that homosexuality is not mentioned in the new testament
But those people have clearly not read Romans 1
Sodomites- you get the idea
Nor thieves:
Theft was a big deal in ancient times
Houses were easy to break into
public baths and public gyms were the target of thieves
To show how serious the problem was- there were three thefts punishable by death
one was theft to the value of about two months work
two was theft from baths or gymnasiums
Three was theft at night
Nor covetous:
The greeks defined it as:
“The spirit which is always reaching after more and grabbing that to which it has no right”
if it’s something you don’t have the right to, you’ll do the wrong things to achieve it
Nor drunkards:
drinking in excess and out of control
Letting it rule you
Having to have it
Revilers:
one who assails or uses abusive language
Extortionists:
Someone who is aggressively greedy
No people operating within the character of all those things will inherit the Kingdom of God
11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
Paul placed an emphasis on the word “were.”
He was contrasting their previous condition with their current righteous position in Christ
Praise God!
You can literally see all these acts taking place within the church throughout all the letters of Corinthians
The sins of Christians don’t make them sinners any more than the righteous acts of sinners make them righteous
Sin is a very deadly thing that even Christians should avoid at all costs, but it does not determine our standing with the Lord
Those who are born again are not “in” the flesh even though they may walk “after” the flesh
9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
Righteousness vs. Holiness
Righteousness/Justification is the marriage contract we enter into when we take on Jesus as our saviour
Holiness/Sanctification is our reaction to the contract
We all have a propensity towards sin and that’s why we need a savior
I was born this way:
Yeah we all were in one way or another
That’s why we must be born again
As leaders we bring people to Christ and love them enough to not let them still live in their sin