The Apostle Paul continues to chastise the Church at Corinth in Chapter 6. Verses one through eleven focuses on a specific immorality within the ranks. Members of the body of Christ were taking their petty disputes to a secular judge to be resolved. Verse six, “But instead, one brother goes to law against another -- and this in front of unbelievers!” Insulted by their selfishness, Paul exclaims as if to say, don’t you know, don’t you understand who you are? How can you think this way?
In verse seven Paul ridicules their misbehavior making clear that all the offenders amongst them were “completely defeated already” (TNIV & LB). The NASB translates Paul’s accusation to the Corinthian church by saying that the lawsuits are “already a defeat for you”. The KJV says, “Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you”. The NEB translates verse seven as “Indeed, you already fall below your standard in going to law with one another at all”. The Weymouth Bible translates that the lawsuits are a “token of your defeat”.
All moral failure is to act in contradiction to the divine love that is the guiding principle of the church. Supposed love for the Christ in them and the resulting love for others, especially the brethren should be the one overt rule of the Church. What degree of lovelessness will God tolerate in His Church? The Corinthian brethren lived or were tempted by a long ugly list of moral defeats. St. Paul confronted them with their defeatist behavior, scolds them but does not call them names and cast them out. In fact, Paul only has praise for the Corinthian membership in his greeting to them in the first nine verses of the book.
Paul asks the bigger question in verse nine. “Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the Kingdom of God?” The Church is a “now” question but this question is also eschatological. This is an impressive theological word that pertains to God’s final judgments or plans for this world. At that time when the church is dissolved into the will of God, there will be no wrongdoing. Please allow me to paraphrase the thought of St. Paul. Moral defeats are now the regrettable norm but they are incompatible with the Kingdom ethic and upon the consummation of the fully revealed Kingdom moral defeats will be no more.
The purpose of the Corinthian letter is to warn, awaken or correct the church members to their Kingdom calling. As believers, according to St. Paul, we are not to be selfish slaves to our immediate earthly temporary circumstances. Instead, as believers in the Christ, as slaves to Him, we are human centers for the expression God’s love. The difficulty for the Corinthian Church was the draw or the influence of the immediate selfish culture, the only culture they had known since birth. An abrupt radical departure required by the Kingdom ethic of love was and is humanly impossible. That love ethic is our only hope or power.
In a culture whose God’s would operate whore houses for the propagation of religion, the Christ way seemed so inconsequential. Where is the power of divine love? The people of the church had divided loyalties. Today’s Church of Jesus Christ is no different so that an impartial observer may ask of us the same question, where is the power of divine love? Does the Church really honor marriage when the divorce rate is equal to that within our secular communities? Is love for others the norm when we believers separate themselves according to skin color, societal norms, income capabilities, education, worship styles, ethical rules and doctrinal statements? Where is the divine love?
As the laity of the Church of Jesus Christ, we are not thinking about who we are two thousand years after the Church at Corinth. We too are slaves to our circumstances. When we model the selfish world, we model defeat. In contrast, Paul reminds us all about the significance of the rite of baptism. “When you are baptized you are washed; you are cleansed; you are sanctified; you are buried in the water and by this burial you get a share in Christ’s death and resurrection; you are adopted and you become sons of God; you are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, that is, you are made members of God’s people; in short, you are included in the kingdom.”* Surely St. Paul would further admonish each of us ……. trust the ultimate power and now act like it!
*J. Jeremias, “Jesus and the Message of the New Testament”, Fortress Press, 2002, p. 90. (from 1965).
