1 Corinthians 6:4

6:1-8 Christians should not contend with one another, for they are brethren. This, if duly attended to, would prevent many law-suits, and end many quarrels and disputes. In matters of great damage to ourselves or families, we may use lawful means to right ourselves, but Christians should be of a forgiving temper. Refer the matters in dispute, rather than go to law about them. They are trifles, and may easily be settled, if you first conquer your own spirits. Bear and forbear, and the men of least skill among you may end your quarrels. It is a shame that little quarrels should grow to such a head among Christians, that they cannot be determined by the brethren. The peace of a man's own mind, and the calm of his neighbourhood, are worth more than victory. Lawsuits could not take place among brethren, unless there were faults among them.

Judgments (κριτήρια) Better, tribunals or courts, as 1 Corinthians 6:2. If you have to hold courts for the settlement of private matters. Set (καθίζετε) Seat them as judges on the tribunal. It is disputed whether καθίζετε is to be taken as imperative, set (A.V.), or as interrogative, do ye set (Rev.). The A.V. seems, on the whole, preferable. The passage is well paraphrased by Farrar. "Dare they, the destined judges of the world and of angels, go to law about mere earthly trifles, and that before the heathen? Why did they not rather set up the very humblest members of the Church to act as judges in such matters?"

{4} If then ye have {c} judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are {d} least esteemed in the church. (4) The conclusion, in which he prescribes a remedy for this wrong: that is, if they end their private affairs between themselves by chosen arbiters out of the Church: for which matter and purpose, the least of you, he says, is sufficient. Therefore he does not condemn judgment seats, but shows what is expedient for the circumstance of the time, and that without any diminishing of the right of the magistrate. For he does not speak of judgments, which are practised between the faithful and the infidels, neither of public judgments, but of controversies which may be ended by private arbiters. (c) Courts and places of judgments. (d) Even the most abject among you.

4 . judgments ] domes , Wiclif. See note on 1 Corinthians 6:2 . The meaning (2) seems the only admissible one here, inasmuch as Christians were not likely as yet to possess secular tribunals or to hold secular trials in the technical sense of the word. Secular causes they had, and as we see, they carried them before the heathen courts. set them to judge ] This passage may be taken in three ways. (1) as in our version, imperatively, set them to judge , i.e. the matter is so trivial that any person, even the most contemptible for his understanding in the Church, is quite fit to undertake the settlement of it. Or, (2) indicative, ye are setting , as though it were the heathen who were the most despised in the Church. Or (3) as a question, Is it your custom to set such persons to settle such matters? much less then should you bring them before the heathen, who in points of moral perception are infinitely below the least esteemed members of the Christian Church. Of these (1) is preferable as falling in best with the context: while (2) is open to the objection that it was not the custom of Christ or His Apostles to represent one’s fellow-men, even though they were heathen, as fit objects of contempt. least esteemed ] Literally, thought nothing of .

(4) If then ye have judgments. . . . —Better, If, however, you choose to have judgments to be given on matters of this life. The last words show that the questions which are alluded to are purely worldly and not spiritual matters. The Apostle subsequently urges that such disputes ought not to arise at all amongst Christians, and that if they do they ought to be settled by the interposition of some mutual friend. Here he says, with something of sarcasm, “The very meanest of those who are to be exalted above angels, and to be judges of spiritual existences, is of sufficient authority to settle such matters as you are bringing before legal tribunals.”

1 Corinthians 6:4 . Τοὺς ἐξουθενημένους ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ ) those who are even least esteemed in the church , any persons whatever rather than the heathen. Every one, even the least, is capable of taking on him the decision of even the greatest interests in external affairs [ and therefore is able to come to a decision, not indeed according to the ancient laws of the heathens, but on the true principles of equity.—V. g.]—Comp. 1 Corinthians 1:28 , 1 Corinthians 11:22 , and therefore καθίζετε , set ye , is the imperative. [ It was not, however, to be thought of to give way at all in that matter to the jurisdiction of heathen judges .—V. g.]

Verse 4. - If then ye have, etc. The verse implies that civil disputes might naturally occur among them. What he is here reprobating is their objectionable method of settling them. Set them to judge who are least esteemed in the Church. This implies an utter scorn of trivial quarrels about personal rights. Surely the lowliest, the most unregarded members of the Church - those of no account - have wisdom enough to decide in such small matters. Thus when there arose a murmuring between Hebrews and Hellenists about the daily distribution to widows, the apostles, thinking that they had much more important work in hand than the adjustment of such jealousies, left the whole matter in the hands of the seven deacons. Some understand "those held of no account in the Church" to mean heathens; but he is here forbidding them to bring their quarrels before the heathens. Of course, ideally, none ought to be "despised" or "held of no account" in the Church; but St. Paul is here speaking relatively, and with reference to the views of the Corinthians themselves, and not without irony. The perfect participle, "those who have been set at nought," perhaps means persons of proved inferiority of judgment. 1 Corinthians 6:4

4. judgments—that is, cases for judgment. least esteemed—literally, "those of no esteem." Any, however low in the Church, rather than the heathen (1Co 1:28). Questions of earthly property are of secondary consequence in the eyes of true Christians, and are therefore delegated to those in a secondary position in the Church.

If then ye have judgment of things pertaining to this life, that is, if you have any cause of suing or impleading one another for things that pertain to this life, be they of what nature they will, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church; rather commit the umpirage and determination of such little differences to the meanest members of your church, than go to contend before pagans and infidels: or do not employ your teachers about them, who have higher work to be employed in; but employ those who are of a lower order in the church, and whose business and concerns lie in secular affairs.

1 Corinthians 6:4-5 a . 1 Corinthians 6:4 is rendered in three diff[912] ways, as ( a ) τ . ἐξουθενημένους ἐν τ . ἐκκλησίᾳ is taken to mean the heathen iudges , the ἄδικοι of 1 Corinthians 6:1 whom the Church could not respect ( ἐν , in the eyes of; cf. 1 Corinthians 14:11 ); then τούτους καθίζετε becomes an indignant question—“Do you set up these (as your judges)?” so Mr[913], Hn[914], Tisch., W.H[915], R.V. text . The position of καθίζετε and the strain put upon its meaning speak against this view—the Cor[916] Christians did not appoint the city magistrates; also the unlikelihood of Paul’s using language calculated to excite contempt toward heathen rulers. ( b ) The prevalent construction (Vg[917], Syr., Bz[918], Cv[919], Bg[920], Ed[921], El[922], Lt[923], A.V., R.V. marg .) understands τ . ἐξουθ . ἐν τ . ἐκκλ . as the despised of the Church itself ( καυχᾶσθαι ἐν ἀνθρ ., 1 Corinthians 3:21 , 1 Corinthians 4:6 ff. implies such a counterpart); then καθίζετε’ is read as impv[924], and P. says in sarcasm, “If you have lawsuits in secular affairs, set up the lowest amongst you (for judges of these low matters)!” κριτήρια however (see note on 2, and R.V. marg .) signifies not trials , nor matters of trial , but tribunals , and is therefore an unsuitable obj[925] to ἐὰν ἔχητε : βιωτικὰ κριτήρια are the things wanting to the Church, which P. is advising them to set on foot.

Moreover, Paul would hardly speak of Christians as “despised” among their fellows, without some touch of blame for their despisers. ( c ) For these reasons, it is better, as Hf[926] suggests, to put the comma before , instead of after, ἐὰν ἔχητε , attaching τοὺς ἐξουθ . to this vb[927] and reading βιωτ . κριτ . as a nom [928] (or acc [929]) pendens to the sentence ( cf. Romans 8:3 , Hebrews 8:1 ; and Bm[930], pp. 379 ff.): we thus translate, “Well then, for secular tribunals—if you have men that are made of no account in the Church, set these on the bench!” That this prideful Church has such persons is undoubted; P. puts the fact hypothetically, as a thing one does not like to assume. μὲν οὖν throws into relief, by way of emphatic resumption, the βιωτικά … κριτήρια .— πρὸς ἐντροπὴν ὑμῖν λέγω , “Unto your shame ( lit [931] for a shame to you) I say (it)”: this relates to the foregoing sentence ( cf. 1 Corinthians 15:34 ); it is a shame the Cor[932] Church should have members looked on with utter contempt ( cf. 1 Corinthians 12:21-25 ); but since it has, it is fitting that they should be its judges in things contemptible! P. writes with anger, whereas he did not, though he might seem to do, in 1 Corinthians 4:14 . [912] difference, different, differently. [913] Meyer’s Critical and Exegetical Commentary (Eng. Trans.). [914] C. F. G.