6:1
Paul has just instructed them that they must take care of matters within the church, ensuring proper discipline is exercised. Conversely it is not their responsibility to manage the world! Now we get a further development of that, we are not to get the world to settle matters within the church. As with the previous commands, this is another area where there have been numerous failures within the church. Now, I think it is fair to take this as referring only to civil matters, not matters which are cases of law breaking. Ie if someone commits violence, burglary etc then it is right and proper that they face the legal consequences. Paul is talking about cases which are a matter of dispute between two believers.
6:2
This going to court is another example of having a lack of understanding of what the church is and what the kingdom is. Paul’s instruction obviously has a lot of common sense behind it, but it is also built on fundamental theological truths. We will judge the world. “But I thought Christ will judge the world ...” Yes He will, but on the last day it will be those who follow faithfully follow Christ who will be shown to have been right. At the moment the world thinks it sits in judgement upon us, at present this is particularly true with regard to sexual morality and identity. But on the last day, God’s wisdom will be shown to be the true wisdom. Notice that Paul describes these civil lawsuits as trivial. At the time they seem oh so important to us, but we need to get things in perspective. Having an eternal perspective can help us to see the present more clearly.
No comments:
Post a Comment