While
sharing concerning “lawsuits” within the church of Corinth, Paul
the apostle asked the church members, “Know
you not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain
to this life?”,
and in chapter six and verse four of First
Corinthians, Paul tells the church members to “set
them to judge who are least esteemed”
where we read:
If
then you have judgments of things pertaining to this life,
set
them to judge who are least esteemed in the church.
The
verse begins, “If
then you have judgments of things pertaining to this life,”
Paul began
with the words, “If then you have”
which means
“in case the church members” “judgments”
or “tribunals” “of things
pertaining to this life”
which is all one Greek word “biōtikos”
and refers to “the present existence and the affairs of this life”.
Paul began to share what to do when there were cases of “present
day affairs” with each other in the church.
The
verse continues, “set
them to judge who are least esteemed in the church.”
Paul added
the words, “set them” which
means “make to sit down, appoint, confer and settle down the people
within the church”“to judge”
which means
“separate, put asunder, to pick out, select, choose, approve,
esteem, prefer, be of opinion about, deem, determine, resolve and
decree concerning” “who are least
esteemed”
or “the ones that are contemptible, despised and set at nought”
“in the church”
or “who are church members in Corinth”. Paul told the church
members to “appoint” the people within the church who are the
most “despised and contemptible” to be the “judges”
over their
controversial “matters”.
When
we consider these words from Paul, we notice how he promotes the
extreme to demonstrate how the church of Corinth should be able to
“judge”
themselves when they have “issues” one against another. Rather
than going to the “worldly judges”
for evaluation, the church who represents Jesus Christ should be able
to “judge”
themselves, and even the “lowliest” among them would make a
better “judge”
than the world. Jesus Christ came into the world to save “sinners”,
and those who are redeemed from their sins become His “church”.
That affiliation gives a special position for evaluating others who
are in the church, and when we understand the value of the “eternal”
versus the
temporary perspective, we realize the least within the church will
give a better “judgment”
than those in the world.
Next
time Paul questions the church members, “is
not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge
between his brethren?”,
so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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