Devotional 8 November 2025

November 08, 2025 • Steve Torres

1 Corinthians 6:2.jpg

“When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? But you yourselves wrong and defraud—even your own brothers!” (1 Corinthians 6:1–8, ESV)

Paul continues to expose how the Corinthians have exchanged the Wisdom of the Spirit for the wisdom of the world. Their behavior mirrors the world’s belief that justice comes from asserting rights and winning arguments. But Paul’s concern isn’t about lawsuits in general: it’s that believers, those who share in the Spirit and the mind of Christ, are turning to unbelievers to judge spiritual matters. The church, the very temple of God, should be a place of discernment and reconciliation, not a mirror of worldly systems. Why, Paul asks, would those who are destined to judge the world turn to the very ones already judged by God for justice?

Paul mentions that believers will “judge angels,” not to spark speculation, but to reveal how absurd their actions are. Those who share in Christ’s judgment and authority should not be appealing to those who stand condemned by that judgment. If the saints will one day reign with Christ, surely they can resolve their own disputes in love and truth. To seek the world’s verdict on spiritual matters is to descend from higher wisdom to lower, from the eternal to the passing, from the Spirit to the flesh.

Yet the deeper tragedy is not that they go to court, but that they have reason to. They are defrauding and cheating one another, brothers and sisters in Christ, in direct opposition to the gospel they profess. For a church that prided itself on spiritual gifts and wisdom, this is a devastating indictment. Paul declares that “to have lawsuits at all is already a defeat for you.” The moment they turned from love to self-interest, from humility to pride, they had already lost. If a worldly judge could see that what was being done was wrong, that even the world wouldn’t tolerate what they were doing to each other, then they stand doubly condemned, just as the sexually immoral man mentioned in 1 Cor. 5:1.

The wisdom of the world says, “Protect yourself.” The Wisdom of the Spirit says, “Deny yourself.” Paul calls them to imitate Christ, who did not grasp at His rights but suffered wrong for the sake of righteousness (1 Peter 2:23; Philippians 2:5–8). To be wronged and bear it patiently is not weakness; it is the power of the cross made visible. The Corinthians sought to prove themselves right — Paul reminds them that righteousness is found in Christ alone. To live by the Spirit is to love even when wronged, to forgive even when defrauded, and to trust that God, the righteous Judge, will make all things right in His time.