Should the Wicked Judge Believers?

Commentary on 1 Corinthians 6:1-11

Khen Lim




Image source: twitter.com

For many of us, learning about church problems in the wide open media is a given these days. And as a Christian, it is not something to be proud of because we just know what unbelievers will think of us. Worse, it really paints God in a bad light and we know He doesn’t deserve any of this. Every time we read of churches that fail in the public eye, we cringe.

While the Internet speaks volumes about unchecked paedophilia in Catholic churches for decades, we Protestants aren’t left untainted by bad publicity either. Learning about the recent case in Singapore involving the jailing of six leaders from City Harvest Church (CHC) can unhinge any of us. To hear that its founder is now in prison for eight years for fraudulence can send many of us cowering in shame. To also discover that his other colleagues are also in jail for anywhere between two and six years only makes things worse for us.

On the case concerning CHC, Judge See Kee Oon said he had no wish to make the church a crushing example especially to those convicted who were not seeking person gain. In his judgement, he wrote, “I have no doubt that they loved CHC and had no wish to do any harm to it, and I accept that, in using CHC’s funds for the Crossover, they believed that they were using church funds for an evangelistic purpose that was not just permitted but positively mandated by the vision and mission of CHC, and which was supported by the vast majority if not the entirety of the congregation.” 

Still the prosecution was relentless in pursuing harsher sentences of up to at least eleven, if not twelve years, complaining that the sentences were “manifestly inadequate.”

Disturbing and damaging media coverage of Pastor Kong Hee (right), his wife (left) and his colleagues at CHC (Image source: allsingaporestuff.com)

On the other hand, the church’s founder, Kong Hee, quoted Paul the Apostle in a 1,000-word treatise, which he called, ‘Can & Should Christians Appeal?’ In it, he compared himself to Paul, arguing that in successfully appealing the verdict following his arrest, the apostle was able to spread the Gospel for eight more years.

“Paul appealed not because he was defiant toward the ruling authority... (but) because the weight of the evidence was in his favour, he had a clear mission from the Lord Jesus that he still needed to fulfil and he was exercising his legal rights as a Roman citizen, a privilege that God had blessed him with.”

While all this was breaking news, many things were taking place in the Catholic sphere. As recent as a week ago, Pope Francis finally established an internal commission to be headed by Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley to hear cases of child sexual abuse, which have been rife and very damaging to the church for untold decades. For church critics, this was a welcome gesture. So, finally the lid has been taken off all the myriad cases of sexual predators acting as bishops and priests within the confines of the Catholic shroud but of course, the victims may also be similarly exposed.

(You can read more here or copy this link: http://www.cruxnow.com/church/2016/02/15/papal-commission-bishops-must-report-sex-abuse-charges/)

Image source: churchandstate.org.uk

The pope stressed that Catholic bishops have “a moral and ethical responsibility” to report suspected abuse to…wait for it…civil authorities. In other words, the Vatican’s top bloke has decided that the best thing to do with all these sexual abuse cases is to let the whole world know and deal with them. However, a year earlier, the same pope created an in-house tribunal to judge bishops who fail to protect children from sexually marauding priests. This tribunal would have the powers of a court and be part of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which is the Vatican’s ‘chief watchdog.’

(You can read more here or copy this link: http://edition.cnn.com/2015/06/10/us/pope-vatican-bishops-sex-abuse-tribunal/)  

How are all of these supposed to sound to Christians? How does the world view Christendom because of all these? Would they be a source of encouragement for unbelievers? Do they vindicate our belief in Christ? Exactly what was the pope thinking when he decided that the civil authorities would be the best judge of character for all that has been happening in the Catholic Church, which was allegedly responsible for sweeping all of them under the carpet for more than a century. Perhaps the reader might like to watch the 2015-released movie called ‘Spotlight’ based on true accounts of the Catholic Church and how they mishandled the many cases of child sexual abuse.

Paul the Apostle does have something solid to say about all of this. In his letter to the church of Corinth, he writes about his views concerning allegations of fellow believers taking one another to court to air their ‘dirty linen’ in broad daylight. And he wasn’t happy about that either. In the first eleven verses of 1 Corinthians 6, he basically outlined all we need to know about where we should stand when it comes to fellow Christian brothers and sisters taking each other to the cleaners, looking to tear chunks off each other. In all these verses, Paul highlights the following:

The Authority of Saints

Unequivocally, Scripture accords saints with the authority to judge the world. Jesus Himself had said just as much in the Gospels (Mt 19:28, Lk 22:30 et al). In the Old Testament, Daniel (7:22) also mentioned that it is the believers who will judge even the angels, particularly those who had fallen from grace (also 2 Pt 2:4, Jd 6, Rev 20:10). Paul was indeed surprised that the Corinthians were taking legal issue amongst themselves “before the ungodly…instead of before the saints” (6:1). Where they opined that Christians were too incompetent to judge such cases, he begged to differ, believing instead that the body of Christ is sufficient to judge them (6:4), having greater wisdom to know right from wrong than the wisest unbeliever. For those who thought otherwise, Paul refers to them as having no respect for God’s holy institution, the Church.

The Grass is always Greener…?

Paul’s sarcasm was unmistakable in 1 Cor 6:5-6 but that’s only because the Corinthians made fools of themselves. For a people who prided themselves on eloquence and wisdom, it didn’t make sense to Paul that they would end up dependent on ‘outside help.’ One would have assumed that they would easily find someone in their midst to judge the disputes. And to that, Paul was sure that such a person existed; yet the failure to utilise this advantage clearly undermines their apparent lack of wisdom.

Pope Francis’ decision to use civil authorities can certainly be viewed with the same scrutiny. Why resort to outsiders who are not likely to understand the intricacies of the church and therefore risk bringing shame to God? An act of such is unthinkable, for it amounts to waging war against one another right before a bunch of unbelieving lawyers in a worldly courtyard.

Every one of us loses

When a case involving fellow brothers and sisters in Christ is laundered in the open court scrutinised by the public and the media alike, the damage inflicted on the church is untold. Its witness and reputation will tarnish. Unbelievers will have a field day mocking the faith and vindicating their opposition against the church. Similarly, every believer who contests such lawsuits from either side of the fence will lose out. Nobody wins anything. Only the unbelievers enjoy mocking our poor show.

No matter what decision the public court reaches, these injuries (and more) can be permanent and in the aftermath of such a shameful debacle, Paul asks if we really did learn anything about the principles of love (Jm 2:8) or how we are supposed to serve each other (Gal 5:13) or how we are to work harmoniously in unity for the glory of God (1 Cor 12:22-26, Eph 4:16). In the end, it doesn’t look like we understand anything about turning the other cheek (Mt 5:39) let alone learn about willing ourselves into submissiveness (Mt 5:40). Tragically, the Corinthians are showing us that while we call ourselves brothers and sisters in Christ, we are still embroiled in cheating and wronging one another.

Unbelievers make the worst judges

As the Corinthians essentially surrender themselves to the world to judge them, they have unwittingly allowed unbelievers to not only wield the hammer that would crush them but also exert their sinful influences as well. Paul makes a distinction between a believer and one who isn’t by emphasising that the wicked are not destined to inherit the Kingdom of God where instead, we are (6:9-10). In his letter to the Romans (2:5-10), Paul iterates that the wicked will face divine judgement, the very same wicked who are the unbelievers, who are the ones whom the Corinthians have resorted to hear and decide on their legal disputes.

Paul emphasises the repugnance of wicked lifestyles, using them as a reminder that while the Corinthians were once upon a time like them, they are no longer the same. By dying to self and being reborn in Christ, they have become Christians who no longer pursue such sinful activities. They are, therefore, different to the unbelievers and should not be counting on them to judge their cases. In the verses 9-10, Paul expounds on a comprehensive list exemplifying the lifestyles of the unbelievers as a way to jolt the Corinthians out of their slumber. They include sexual perversion, idolatries, adulteries, male prostitution, homosexuality, thieveries, greed, corruption, and slander and swindling. Therefore, for the Corinthians to resort to the wicked for their legal disputes is complete folly.

Believers are set apart to God

In the last verse, Paul identifies the Corinthians through the image of being born again by reminding them that in their faith to Christ, they now have a new identity. And it is this new identity that they are washed and cleansed of their sins through faith in Christ (Acts 9:17-18). They are sanctified and in their relationship with God, they are now set apart from the world (Jn 17:19, 1 Cor 1:9 et al). They are justified and declared innocent before God (Gal 2:16, Rom 3:24, 28 et al). And all of these blessings have been showered upon all believers in the Name of Lord Jesus Christ as they call upon His Name and cling on to His promise of salvation.

Making sense of the world

Understanding Paul’s teachings become grossly academic if we fail to see how they work in the real world but that appears to be the endemic issue today as Christians throughout appear to seriously struggle with how they must deal with their issues. Everyday Christians are taking their legal grievances through the public courts against fellow Christians and the shame perpetuates, snowballing at every turn. Cynics become even more cynical as they sneer at our behaviour and rhetorically burying us with snide remarks like, “and they call themselves Christians.”

It doesn’t help that Vatican’s top honcho resorts to civil action and (quite surprisingly) not understand that he might have a better solution right under his nose. Similarly Protestant churches might want to reconsider how they might arbitrate the grievances of their own people. If the Muslims can have their Sharia courts, why are we deprived of our own church courts to deal fairly and righteously in the eyes of God?