6:5,6
The Corinthians were very proud of themselves, thinking themselves wise and advanced in Christian things. In reality they were nowhere at all, very much immature, and this was shown up by their actions. Their willingness to take a civil dispute to court was a sign of their immaturity, for it showed that no one in the church was able to settle the dispute. So does this mean Christians should absolutely never seek legal advice or go to a court to decide a matter? I think that might be taking things too far, applying too legalistic (forgive the pun) approach to these verses. There are two key points. First is the pride of the Corinthians, they needed taking down a peg or two, and that was what Paul was doing. Demonstrating that they were not quite as clever as they thought they were. The second is the attitude. There may be cases where there is uncertainty about the legalities of a matter, and the two parties are genuinely looking for a legal assessment, not just out to get as much as they can for themselves. In such cases it may well be right to use civil legal authorities. It is a matter of the heart.
No comments:
Post a Comment