When we think about the biblical teaching in 1 Corinthians 6 on lawsuits within the church, we need to address a few difficult questions that arise in our cultural environment.

The first is lawsuits with non-believers. Should a Christian, who has been wronged by an unbeliever, take him to court to receive a legal remedy?

The second is lawsuits with corporations and businesses. If a business is negligent, can the believer take that company to court?

The third is lawsuits that involve the state. If the state tries to force a believer to do something that is unbiblical or unethical, can a Christian, church, Christian university, or some other Christian entity, sue to uphold their rights?

Scripture does not directly speak to how this passage applies to these situations. However, we can summarize some biblical principles to apply when it comes to lawsuits outside the church.

The first principle is that God ordained government to maintain order and justice in society, which includes the court system. When we deal with entities or people outside the church, Scripture sanctions Christians using such God-ordained means to protect their rights.

The second is that when we use the court system for legal disputes in the world, we must always conduct ourselves in such cases as Christians. The Lord’s glory and His gospel are infinitely more important than earthly settlements. Believers should prefer to lose a case but maintain our testimony and win our opponent to the Lord than win the case but lose our gospel witness.

In the last post, we saw three principles to biblically handle church disputes. There is a fourth reason why believers must never take our disputes within the church to secular litigation: the reputation of Christ (verses 5-6).

Paul states that lawsuits among believers are shameful (verse 5). In an ancient honor-shame culture, shame could convey a subjective emotion of embarrassment – but it also carried an objective status of being dishonorable. Not only should the Corinthians feel a certain way about their actions, but they should also know their behavior moves them from a status of honorable to dishonorable because these hostile disputes brought reproach on the name of Christ. There is nothing more shameful for a believer than to bring reproach on his Lord!

One reason these lawsuits bring reproach on Christ is because of their indictment of the church. If Christians go to the world for solutions, then they are admitting that there isn’t anyone in the church with the requisite wisdom to address their problems. What does this scenario say about the gospel of Christ, our Lord, and His church? It’s shameful for believers to take legal disputes to the world because this approach says the world has more wisdom than Christ, imperiling our witness that the gospel is the wisdom of God.

It’s also shameful to take disputes to the ungodly because these legal fights undermine the family nature of the church. When one church member sues another, what must the unbelieving world think of God’s family? Who would want to be a member of a family that is dysfunctional, hostile, or selfish toward one another? No one will believe Christians love one another if we cannot resolve our disputes lovingly within the family of God.

These disputes are shameful, furthermore, because they tarnish the witness of the church before unbelievers. When we take a fellow believer outside the church to resolve a dispute, the world sees all our dirty laundry. Here, the church looks no different from the ungodly world, leading to Christ being reproached.

Finally, to handle disputes to reflect our present standing in Christ and our future hope of glory, we should understand the response to suffering (verses 7-8).

When suffering comes for Christians, the Lord expects us to respond in a certain way. No one wins when two Christians go to court; it is a complete loss for the parties and the entire church.

Paul reminds us of the biblical response to suffering with two questions that demonstrate how opposed he is to believers going to court against one another rather than handling their disputes within the church. If we had to choose between only two options – suing a brother who wronged us, or letting it go and suffering loss – it is preferable for Christians to suffer loss rather than to sue and win in court.

This mindset is completely foreign to our society. However, this path is a choice we as believers make. We have a choice to go to court and seek to redress the wrong. However, it’s better to choose to relinquish our earthly rights, claims, and possessions, allowing ourselves to be wronged or defrauded. This teaching flows right out of how Jesus taught His disciples to suffer from those who are evil and perpetrate injustice against them (Matthew 5:39-40). To suffer for Christ’s sake means to accept suffering rather than to bring reproach on His name – even though the wrong itself was not a direct attack on our faith.

This point is critical because a common objection to the application of the biblical teaching about dealing with disputes is that the church might not come to the right decision. What if the church doesn’t decide correctly, or what if the elders are mistaken in judgment?

There are two things to say about that. First, if we’re in the middle of the dispute, our ability to determine the right outcome is severely constrained. As much as we try to be dispassionate about a proper course of redress when we are wronged, we simply are not objective compared to others who are outside the situation. As such, we must trust others and not rely on our own heart for wisdom in such circumstances.

Second, it’s possible church leaders get the decision wrong – just like it’s possible a judge, mediator, or an arbitrator gets it wrong. People do make mistakes in judgment. When that happens, though, Paul says it’s better to accept the church’s judgment and be wronged then it is to reject the judgment of the church and go before unbelievers with the dispute.

Christians can suffer wrong because we have an inheritance coming that far surpasses whatever wrongs we suffer in this life. In Christ, all wrongs will ultimately be made right; and when believers suffer willingly to honor and glorify our Lord, we ultimately win – because God always honors obedience. If someone wrongs us here, but we respond in Christlike humility and grace, we win – and most importantly, Christ’s name is exalted rather than reproached.

Additionally, Christians should always be the ones suffering wrong and being defrauded rather than harming others or defrauding them. Christians should never do evil to another person. Rather, we should be even more concerned over defrauding other Christians because they are our spiritual family.

This passage emphasizes two main concepts that should shape our understanding of who believers are in Christ. The first concept is that we are a family, and we should treat one another in the body of Christ with love, respect, and deference – always seeking to do what is right with one another. The second is that we should be infinitely more concerned about honoring Christ’s name in the church and before the watching world than with guarding our earthly possessions.

These concepts cut across the grain of everything our culture stands for – a culture where wealth, possessions, riches, and power rule as gods over peoples’ hearts and minds. Responding to the Spirit’s teaching in this verse will set us apart as God’s holy people who have a different loyalty and love than anything that exists outside the church. When we resolve the dilemma of disputes in a way that puts Christ first and values brotherly love more than earthly goods, we make clear to the world the wisdom of God in the gospel – a gospel of mercy, grace, and forgiveness for even the worst of sinners.