John Gill Commentary 1 Corinthians 6

Dare any of you, having a matter against another
, Any thing in difference, an action, cause, or suit. The apostle having dispatched the affair of the incestuous person, and blamed this church for their conduct therein: and having given them instructions what they should do, proceeds to lay before them another evil among them he had to complain of; which was, when any difference arose among them about their worldly concerns, they would

go to law before the unjust ,
and not before the saints; a method of proceeding condemned by the Jews, who would not suffer any causes of theirs to be tried before Gentiles, only before Israelites; their canon runs thus ^F21 ,

``he that tries a cause before the judges of the Gentiles, and before their tribunals, although their judgments are as the judgments of the Israelites, lo, this is an ungodly man; and it is as if he blasphemed and reproached, and lift up his hand against the law of Moses our master, as it is said, (Exodus 21:1) now these are the judgments which you shall set before them, (Mywg ynpl alw) , "and not before the Gentiles"; (twjwydh ynpl alw) , "and not before idiots", private or illiterate men.'' They looked upon such an action as bad as profaning the name of God; hence they say <sup>F23</sup> , ``we must not try a cause in the courts of the Gentiles, for they come from the strength of judgment; this is Esau an hairy man, for they have no concord nor mercy--and he that comes before thee (y"vh llxm) , "profanes the name of God", who is gracious and merciful, and honours the name of an idol--wherefore he that brings a cause before the Gentiles, is the occasion of spreading the property of judgment in the world----therefore let a cause be tried before the Israelites, for they are the secret of mercy, and not before the Gentiles, nor before idiots:'' they affirm ^F24 it to be a greater sin than murder, and that not only profanations of the name of God, but rapine and violence are comprehended in it; and that to give evidence in an Heathen court against an Israelite, deserves excommunication; for so it is said, {y} ``he that bears witness against an Israelite (Mywg lv twakreb) , "in the courts of the Gentiles", and by his testimony gets money from him, which is not according to the judgment of the Israelites, they excommunicate him until he repays it.'' Again <sup>F26</sup> ``it is forbidden to order causes in the courts of (the rest of the nations) idolaters, for they have no part in the side of our faith.''

The apostle here dissuades from this practice, of going to law before Heathen magistrates, not only from its being an imprudent, but an impudent, "daring", rash and adventurous action; and seems surprised that any should attempt it, when it must unavoidably expose their weaknesses and faults to their enemies; nor could they expect justice to be done them by men of such a character, as "unjust", who neither feared God, nor regarded men; were not only destitute of righteousness, but filled with all unrighteousness, and had not so much as the principles of common justice and equity in them; when on the contrary, from the saints, men who have the principles of grace and holiness wrought in them, and live soberly, righteously, and godly, who have the fear of God before their eyes, and upon their hearts; they might reasonably conclude, were matters brought before them, they would be adjusted according to judgment and truth, without exposing the sin and weakness of any party to the world.

FOOTNOTES:

• F21: Maimon. Hilch. Sanhedrin, c. 26. sect. 7. Vid. T. Bab. Gittin, fol. 38. 2.
• F23: R. Abraham Seba in Tzeror Hammor, fol. 80. 4.
• F24: R. Bechai in Kad Hakkemach, fol. 21. 4. apud Buxtorf, Lex. Talm. col. 1666.
• F26: Zohar in Exod. fol. 103. 3.

Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world
The apostle appeals to them concerning this matter, as a thing well known unto them, or might easily be known by them; for this was either a traditional notion among the Jews, many of whom were in this church, that good men should judge the world; as is said of the righteous in the apocryphal book: "They shall judge the nations, and have dominion over the people, and their Lord shall reign for ever." and so the Jews say ^F1 , that "the first day of the month is the beginning of judgment in the whole world, and Isaac sat on a throne, (amle Ndyml) , "to judge the world":'' or this might be collected, as Dr. Lightfoot observes, out of (Daniel 7:18Daniel 7:27) .

But the difficulty is, in what sense the apostle means the saints shall judge the world; not merely in a comparative sense, for so even will the Heathens, the men of Nineveh, and the queen of Sheba, judge and condemn the Jews; nor as assessors on the throne with Christ, for though they shall sit on the same throne with him as reigning, yet not as judging with him, all judgment is solely committed to him: nor merely as approving that judiciary sentence, that will be pronounced by him on the world; for even wicked men themselves, and devils, will be obliged to own the justice of it; but his meaning is, that in a little time the saints, Christian men, men under a profession of Christianity at least, should be governors in the world, and bear the office of civil magistracy in it; which came to pass in a few centuries after the writing of this, and has been more or less the case ever since; and will be more so in the latter day, when kings shall be nursing fathers, and queens nursing mothers to the church; and when the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High:

Upon which the apostle strongly argues,

and if the world shall be judged by you ;
if such men as you shall bear sway in it, fill up all civil offices in it, even the highest; shall sit upon the benches of judges, and on the thrones of kings, and at last have the government of the whole world; since such honour the saints shall have, and be abundantly capable of it,

are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters ?
is it too high a post, and can you be thought to be unqualified for, and unfit to have such trivial things, of little or no moment and importance, things relating to the common affairs of life, brought before you, and be tried, and judged by you?

FOOTNOTES:

• F1: Ibid. in Lev. fol. 13. 4.

Know you not that we shall judge angels
Meaning not the ministers of the Gospel, and pastors of churches, called "angels", (Revelation 1:20) whose doctrines are examined, tried, and judged by the saints, according to the word of God; nor the good angels, who, were it possible that they could, or should publish a Gospel contrary to what has been preached by the apostle, would be contradicted, condemned, and accursed by him, see (Galatians 1:8Galatians 1:9) but the evil angels, the devil and his angels: and this is to be understood not of their future final judgment and condemnation at the last day, when saints will subscribe unto, and approve of the sentence pronounced upon them, and will triumph over them in their destruction; but of the judgment of them, and of their ejection out of the Gentile world, out of their oracles, idols, and idol temples, to which Christ refers, (John 12:31) and calls the judgment of this world, and the casting out of the prince of it by the ministry of his apostles; and which was now already begun, and before long would be fully accomplished.

Accordingly the Syriac version renders it, "know you not (Nnynyd akalmld) , that we are about to judge angels?" and the Arabic, "know you not that we judge angels?" from where the apostle infers very justly,

how much more things that pertain to this life ?
this animal life; to the trade and business of life; to pecuniary matters, to estates and possessions in this world, about which differences may arise between one saint and another.

If then you have judgments of things pertaining to this life ,
&c.] Not judgements relating to life and death, for these were not in the power of a Jewish sanhedrim now, and much less of a Christian community, but were wholly in the power of the Roman magistrates; but judgments relating to the common affairs of life, or what the Jews call (twnwmm ynyd) , "pecuniary judgments" ^F2 , in distinction from (twvpn ynyd) , "judgments of souls", or capital ones.

The Jews say {c},``that forty years before the destruction of the temple, capital judgments were taken from Israel; and in the days of R. Simeon ben Jochai, pecuniary judgments were taken away from Israel.'' Now this Rabbi lived many years after the times of the apostles, so that as yet the Jews had a power of exercising such judgments; and no doubt the Christians also, who as yet were very little, if at all, distinguished from the Jews by the Romans: and therefore since such judgments were within the compass of their authority, the apostle advises

to set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church ;
meaning, not those of the lowest circumstances of life, and of the meanest abilities and capacities; for in the next verse he requires a wise man for such a business;

but private persons, laymen, who were not in any office and authority in the church, in distinction from pastors, elders, and rulers, that were in office, power, and high esteem, whom he would not have troubled with cases of this nature; but should rather choose out from among the laity persons of the best judgment and capacity, to be umpires and arbitrators in such worldly matters, which do not so properly come under the notice and cognizance of spiritual guides.

The phrase, "to judge", is not in the original text, where it is only (kayizete) , "set", or "put in the chair"; but is added in the Vulgate Latin version; and to which agree both the Syriac and Arabic versions; the former reading the words, "they that are despised in the church, set for you in judgment"; and the latter, "make them to sit judges".

The Jews, as Dr. Lightfoot observes, besides their great sanhedrim of seventy one persons, and that other of twenty three in their cities of note, and their triumvirate in every synagogue, had also two sorts of benches, who judged of lesser matters;

the one was called (Nyxmwm lv Nyd tyb) , "the bench of authorized persons", experienced men, that were approved of, and had their authority from the sanhedrim; and the other was called (twjwydh lv Nyd tyb) , "the bench of idiots" ^F4 , or private persons, or (Nyxmwm Nnyav Nyd tyb) , "the bench of those who were not authorized" ^F5 , or had not their authority, from the higher courts; but being judged proper persons, were chosen by the people to arbitrate matters in difference between them; and these are the men the apostle means, at least alludes to, before whom he would have the causes brought.

FOOTNOTES:

• F2: Misn Sanhedrin, c. 1. sect. 1.
• F4: T. Bab. Bava Metzia, fol. 32. 1.
• F5: Maimon. Hilch. Ishot, c. 17. sect. 13. T. Bab. Gittin, fol. 88. 2. Gloss. in. ib.

I speak to your shame
Not that they set such persons to judge, but that they did not; and instead of doing so went to law with their brothers before the unjust:

is it so that there is not a wise man among you ?
this also the apostle speaks to their shame, who had so much gloried in their wisdom, and boasted of their parts and abilities to the contempt of others, and even of the apostle himself; and yet acted as if there was not a wise man among them capable of judging and determining trivial matters, but they must carry them before unconverted persons:

no not one that shall be able to judge between his brothers ?
for though the above mentioned benches consisted of three persons, yet the contending parties might choose one man to be an arbitrator and judge between them.

The rule with the Jews was this ^F6 ;

FOOTNOTES:

• F6: pecuniary judgments are by three, but if he is authorized or approved by the majority, (ydyxy wlypa Nd) , "he may judge alone". Says R. Nachman, as I judge pecuniary judgments alone; and so says R. Chaijah, as I judge pecuniary punishments alone. T. Bab. Sanhed. fol. 5. 1. Maimon. Hilch. Sanhed. c. 5. sect. 8.