Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 6:1-11
In 6:1-11 Paul covers the matter of going to secular law. As we read this portion of 1 Corinthians, we need to get into the depths of these verses and not only care for what is written in black and white, but also touch the burden in Paul’s spirit as he was writing.
The third problem this Epistle deals with is the matter of one brother going to law against another. This is not a sin like division, which is initiated by the soul, nor a gross sin like incest, which is carried out by the lustful body. This is a case of one claiming his legal rights, not willing to suffer wrong, not willing to learn the lesson of the cross.
We have pointed out that Paul in this book covers at least ten different problems. The first is the problem of division, and the second that of the gross sin of incest. Third he deals with the problem of a brother who took another brother to a secular law court. Why does Paul make this the third case he deals with and not the second or the fourth? If we would answer this question, we must look into the depths of this book.
Paul’s burden in writing this Epistle is to deal with the replacements for Christ. The Corinthian believers were replacing Christ with their Greek culture, philosophy, and wisdom. These were all good things, the leading products of society. If we do not have culture, we shall be unrestrained. If we do not have philosophy and wisdom, we shall be foolish. Every human being needs culture, wisdom, and philosophy. The problem among the believers at Corinth was that these good things were replacing Christ. Therefore, the burden in Paul’s spirit was to bring these believers back to Christ, God’s unique center.
God’s intention is to work Christ into His chosen people so that Christ may become their life and everything to them and that they may live Christ and thereby in experience become the members of Christ. In this way Christ will have the Body, the church. This vision was in Paul’s spirit as he was writing 1 Corinthians. In this Epistle Paul first deals with the problem of division. Division has its source in the soul, in particular, in the mind. For this reason, Paul deals with the philosophical mind of the Corinthian believers. Then he goes on to deal with a gross sin. This sequence indicates that if Christians live by the soul and by culture instead of Christ, the door will be opened to the lusts of the flesh.
It is common for Christians today to take various soulish things as replacements for Christ. This opens the way for the lusts of the flesh to come in. Thus, among God’s redeemed people there are the problems of the soul and of the lusts of the flesh.
Soulish things are more refined than the lusts of the flesh. Culture enables people to become refined. To be cultured is simply to be refined. The lusts of the flesh, on the contrary, are crude and gross. Nevertheless, whenever people live in the soul, the door is opened wide to the lusts of the flesh. In fact, many times the most sinful and lustful things are done by those who are the most cultured. Often those who are not as highly cultured are not as sinful in their living. It is a fact that in many cases those who are most given to the exercise of the soul are very sinful. On the one hand, they live a soulish life; on the other hand, they indulge in the lusts of the flesh. Many of today’s Christians also follow this trend.
We have seen that after dealing with the soul and the lustful flesh, Paul turns to the matter of going to secular law. This is a matter of claiming our rights and of not being willing to suffer loss. When we are soulish and fleshly, we shall always claim our rights. We shall not be willing to be wronged by anyone. For this reason, Paul makes the third dealing in this Epistle that of claiming one’s personal rights. This problem was found among the believers at Corinth.
The problem of claiming our rights is found not only in society and in the church, but also in married life. If a husband and wife live in the soul and according to their lusts, both will claim their rights. Neither will be willing to give in to the other. Only when we live in the spirit are we willing to give in and not insist on our rights. When we have a life by the mingled spirit, we shall not claim any rights for ourselves. It may seem to us that we do not have any rights to claim. The reason we claim our rights is that instead of living by the mingled spirit, we live in the soul and in the flesh. Because the soulish life was prevailing and because the door was open to the lusts of the flesh, there were lawsuits among the believers in Corinth. The sequence is that first we have a soulish life, then the lusts of the flesh, and then the claiming of our rights.
In 6:1 Paul asks, “Does any one of you, having a case against another, dare to be judged before the unrighteous and not before the saints?” The unrighteous are the unbelievers, who are unjust before God.
In verse 2 Paul continues, “Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are you unworthy of the smallest judgments?” In the coming kingdom age the overcoming saints will rule over the nations of the world (Heb. 2:5-6; Rev. 2:26-27). As co-kings with Christ, these overcoming saints will judge the world in the coming age. Since the world will be judged by the saints, they are certainly worthy of the smallest judgments. These judgments are those carried out by a number of saints judging cases among themselves, cases which are trifling compared to the ruling of the world. Here Paul seems to be saying, “If you will be able to judge great things, are you not able to judge the small things today? Why don’t you let the saints judge your cases? Why do you bring your case to unbelievers for judgment?”
Verse 3 says, “Do you not know that we will judge angels, not to mention things of this life?” “Things of this life” indicates that judgment over the angels by the saints will be in the future, not in this age. This probably refers to the judgment over the angels revealed in 2 Peter 2:4 and Jude 6. The angels mentioned in these verses and those referred to in Ephesians 2:2; 6:12; and Matthew 25:41 must be the evil angels. Thus we, the believers of Christ, will judge not only the human world, but also the angelic world in the future.
In verse 4 Paul says, “If then you have judgments as to things of this life, do you set them to judge who are little esteemed in the church?” This refers to the unbelievers, who are little esteemed in the church. Thus, going to law before unbelievers is condemned.
In verse 5 Paul goes on to say, “I say this to your shame. Thus there is not even one among you, no one who is wise, who will be able to discern between his brothers!” In chapter four Paul said that he was not shaming the saints. But here he says that what he writes is to their shame. He fully disagreed with brother going to law with brother, and that before unbelievers (v. 6).
In verses 7 and 8 Paul says, “Already, therefore, it is altogether a defeat for you that you have lawsuits among yourselves. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? But you wrong and defraud, and this your brothers.” When Paul says that it is already a defeat for believers to have lawsuits among themselves, he means that it is a failure, implying defect, fault, loss, and falling short (in the inheritance of the kingdom of God — v. 9). Willingness to be wronged or defrauded is willingness to suffer loss, to learn the lesson of the cross, to keep the virtue of Christ at some cost. Hence, Paul asks why the believers were not willing to be wronged, why they were not willing to learn the lesson of the cross. Instead of suffering loss, they were actually wronging others and defrauding them. To be sure, Paul’s words here are very strong.
Once again I wish to point out that the dealing here concerns claiming our rights. The claiming of rights issues from the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the flesh results from living in the soul. Thus, when we live in the soul, the lusts will come in, and when the lusts come in, we shall insist on our rights and claim them. No doubt, Paul deliberately dealt with the first three problems in a particular sequence. First he deals with division, which comes from the soulish life. Second, he deals with gross sin, which comes from the lust of the flesh. Third, he deals with the claiming of rights.
Both in the church life and in the family life we have this problem of the claiming of our rights. Two brothers may have a problem with each other, and each may claim his rights in the matter. In 6:1-11 Paul was burdened by this claiming of our personal rights. This is hidden within all of us. We all have the tendency to claim our rights in certain matters. Some may argue that they have never taken anyone to court or never brought anyone to the elders of the church. Although they may not have done such things, within them they have the intention to claim their rights. For instance, they may say to themselves, “Why did this brother treat me like that?” To say this proves that we are claiming our rights. In the sight of God to claim our rights in our heart is the same as taking a brother to the law court. This claiming of rights needs to be uprooted and thoroughly dealt with. This was Paul’s aim in writing these verses.
In verse 9 Paul asks a question related to the kingdom of God: “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?” To inherit the kingdom in the next age is a reward to the saints who seek righteousness (Matt. 5:10, 20; 6:33).
When Paul speaks of the unrighteous, to whom does he refer — to the one who wrongs others or to the one who is wronged? It seems to me that he is referring to the one who wrongs others. If we wrong a brother, we are unrighteous. Believers who are not righteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. According to the Lord’s word in Matthew, we must be absolutely righteous if we are to inherit the coming kingdom as a reward. The Lord even says that our righteousness must surpass that of the Pharisees. Because God’s kingdom is established upon righteousness, we must be righteous in order to inherit it. Therefore, we should not wrong or defraud our brother. To do this is to be unrighteous, and if we are unrighteous, we shall lose the inheritance of the kingdom.
In verses 9 and 10 Paul says, “Do not be led astray: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the avaricious, not drunkards, not revilers, not the rapacious will inherit the kingdom of God.” No sinful person or unrighteous person can have any part in the coming kingdom of God.
It is significant that in verse 9 Paul speaks of inheriting the kingdom. The word inherit implies enjoyment. To inherit a certain thing is to enjoy that thing. Thus, to inherit the coming kingdom means to enjoy the kingdom. The coming kingdom will be a joyful inheritance to the overcomers. According to Matthew, the manifestation of the kingdom will be a reward to the overcoming saints as their enjoyment with the Lord. To inherit the kingdom is not just to enter the kingdom; it is to receive the kingdom as a reward for our enjoyment. This should be an incentive for us to live an overcoming life, a life that is sinless and righteous. If we would live this kind of life, we need to have the feast of unleavened bread. Then we shall have a life without leaven, a life without sin. By living a righteous life we shall be qualified to inherit the coming kingdom.
In verse 11 Paul continues, “And these things 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.” Here washing, sanctifying, and justifying are not by the blood in an objective way, as in 1 John 1:7, Hebrews 10:29, and Romans 3:24-25. These are the subjective washing of regeneration as in Titus 3:5, the subjective sanctifying by the Spirit as in 1 Peter 1:2, and the subjective justifying in the Spirit as in this verse. All these items of God’s salvation were accomplished in us in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that is, in the Person of the Lord, in organic union with the Lord through faith, and in the Spirit of God, that is, in the power and realization of the Holy Spirit. First, we are washed from sinful things; second, we are sanctified, separated unto God; and third, we are justified, accepted, by God.
It is not easy to understand how we can be washed in the Lord’s name. If Paul had said that we were washed, sanctified, and justified in the precious blood of Christ, this would be much easier to understand. But what does it mean to be washed in the Lord’s name and also in the Spirit? Furthermore, Paul uses the past tense and says that the Corinthians were washed, sanctified, and justified. We may find it hard to believe that certain of the Corinthians had actually been washed, sanctified, and justified.
At the time a person believes in the Lord Jesus and receives Him, he is washed in the blood and also sanctified and justified by the blood. However, this washing, sanctifying, and justifying are all objective; they are not subjective. We also need to experience a subjective washing, sanctifying, and justifying. We did experience these things immediately after we were saved, but only for a short period of time. For at least a few days, we lived a clean, pure, sanctified, and justified life. The objective washing, sanctifying, and justifying are all in the blood of Christ. But when we live a life that is clean, sanctified, and justified, we experience something subjective regarding these things. This subjective experience is not in the blood; it is in the name of the Lord Jesus and in the Spirit.
I have the assurance that every genuinely saved one has had some subjective experience of being washed, sanctified, and justified. After you were saved, did you not have a living, at least for a period of time, which was clean and pure? Were you not holy, sanctified, separated unto the Lord? Did you not live in a way which was justified and which could not be touched by anything unrighteous? However, in most cases believers do not live this way very long. It usually lasts only a few days. If you recall your experience after you were saved, you will realize that you did have a subjective washing, sanctifying, and justifying in the name of the Lord and in the Spirit.
In the New Testament “in the name of the Lord” actually means in the Lord Himself, for the name denotes the Person. If a person with a certain name does not exist, then the name is vain. But when we call a living person by name, that person responds. In like manner, when we say, “Lord Jesus,” we experience the Person of the Lord. The Lord is a living Person, not merely a name. Therefore, whenever we call on the name of the Lord Jesus, we call on the Person of the Lord. He is real, living, present, and available. Whenever we call on Him, He responds. We can testify that the Lord Jesus is real, living, and present. Whenever we call on Him, He comes to us.
At the time we were saved, we probably called on the Lord’s name spontaneously and unconsciously, without being taught to do this. In this name, which is the reality of the living Person of Christ, we were washed, sanctified, and justified. However, when we no longer called on the Lord, the subjective experience of the washing, sanctifying, and justifying was no longer ours.
According to verse 11, we are washed, sanctified, and justified not only in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, but also in the Spirit of our God. The name is the Person, and the Person is the Spirit. We cannot separate the name of the Lord from His Spirit, for the Spirit is His Person. According to chapters fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen of the Gospel of John, the name cannot be separated from the Spirit. The reason for this is that the name is the Person, and the Person is the Spirit. When we call, “O Lord Jesus,” the Lord comes. But when He comes to us, He is the Spirit. Paul certainly experienced this. He knew that when he called on the Lord’s name, the Lord came to him as the Spirit. In the name and in the Spirit he experienced the subjective washing, sanctifying, and justifying. This also is our experience when we call on the Lord’s name and contact the Spirit, who is the Person denoted by this name.
It requires much experience to understand Paul’s word in verse 11. Many years ago I did not know how to apply this word, because I was not enlightened regarding the significance of calling on the name of the Lord Jesus. I did not see the connection between the name of the Lord, the Person of the Lord, and the Spirit. I did not realize that when we call on the name of the Lord, the Person comes and that this Person is the Spirit. But by experience we know that when we call on the name of the Lord, we get the Person of the Lord and that the Person of the Lord is the Spirit. Furthermore, if we continue to call on the name of the Lord, enjoying His name and His Spirit, we are daily washed, sanctified, and justified. Then, we become qualified and prepared to inherit the coming kingdom.
Thus far we have seen that in these chapters the soul is dealt with, that the lusts of the flesh are dealt with, and that the claiming of rights is also dealt with. Now we should be saints who are subjectively washed, sanctified, and justified and are prepared to inherit the coming kingdom.
