1 Corinthians 6:2
Verse
Context
Lawsuits among Believers
1If any of you has a grievance against another, how dare he go to law before the unrighteous instead of before the saints!2Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases?3Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!
Sermons
George Whitefield
George Fox
Raymond Golsworthy
T. Austin-Sparks
Richard Baxter
C.I. ScofieldSummary
Commentary
- Adam Clarke
- Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
- John Gill
- Tyndale
Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
The saints shall judge the world? - Nothing can be more evident than that the writers of the New Testament often use ὁ κοσμος, the world, to signify the Jewish people; and sometimes the Roman empire, and the Jewish state; and in the former sense it is often used by our Lord. When, says he, the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory, then shall ye sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel, Mat 19:28. It is supposed that he refers to the same subject as that mentioned here - the saints judging the world; and that St. Paul has his words in view in what he says here to the Corinthians. By judging the twelve tribes of Israel, some have imagined that having authority in the Church is merely intended; but Dr. Lightfoot contends that the words referred to the coming of our Lord to execute judgment on the Jews, and to destroy their state; and that the doctrine of the apostles, not themselves, was to judge and condemn that most disobedient people. The place before us is generally understood to imply, that the redeemed of the Lord shall be, on the great day, assessors with him in judgment; and shall give their award in the determinations of his justice. On reviewing this subject, I am fully of opinion that this cannot be the meaning of the words, and that no such assessorship as is contended for ever will take place; and that the interpretation is clogged with a multitude of absurdities. 1. The saints themselves are to appear before the judgment seat of Christ, and shall be judged by him, after which they shall reign with him; but it is never said in Scripture that they shall judge with him. 2. It would be absurd to suppose that thrones should be erected for the purpose of saints sitting on them to give their approbation in the condemnation of the wicked; of what use can such an approbation be? is it necessary to the validity of Christ's decision? and will not even the damned themselves, without this, acknowledge the justice of their doom? I therefore think with Dr. Lightfoot, that these words of the apostle refer to the prediction of Daniel, Dan 7:18, Dan 7:27, and such like prophecies, where the kingdoms of the earth are promised to the saints of the Most High; that is, that a time shall come when Christianity shall so far prevail that the civil government of the world shall be administered by Christians, which, at that time, was administered by heathens. And this is even now true of all those parts of the earth which may be considered of the greatest political consequence. They profess Christianity, and the kings and other governors are Christians in this general sense of the term.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
Do ye not know--as a truth universally recognized by Christians. Notwithstanding all your glorying in your "knowledge," ye are acting contrary to it (Co1 1:4-5; Co1 8:1). The oldest manuscripts have "Or" before "know ye not"; that is, "What! (expressing surprise) know ye not," &c. saints . . . judge--that is, "rule," including judgment: as assessors of Christ. Mat 19:28, "judging," that is, "ruling over." (Compare Psa 49:14; Dan 7:22, Dan 7:27; Rev 2:26; Rev 3:21; Rev 20:4). There is a distinction drawn by able expositors between the saints who judge or rule, and the world which is ruled by them: as there is between the elected (Mat 20:23) twelve apostles who sit on thrones judging, and the twelve tribes of Israel that are judged by them. To reign, and to be saved, are not necessarily synonymous. As Jehovah employed angels to carry the law into effect when He descended on Sinai to establish His throne in Israel, so at His coming the saints shall administer the kingdom for, and under, Him. The nations of the earth, and Israel the foremost, in the flesh, shall, in this view, be the subjects of the rule of the Lord and His saints in glorified bodies. The mistake of the Chiliasts was that they took the merely carnal view, restricting the kingdom to the terrestrial part. This part shall have place with the accession of spiritual and temporal blessings such as Christ's presence must produce. Besides this earthly glory, there shall be the heavenly glory of the saints reigning in transfigured bodies, and holding such blessed intercourse with mortal men, as angels had with men of old, and as Christ, Moses, and Elias, in glory had with Peter, James, and John, in the flesh at the transfiguration (Ti2 2:12; Pe2 1:16-18). But here the "world" seems to be the unbelieving world that is to be "condemned" (Co1 11:22), rather than the whole world, including the subject nations which are to be brought under Christ's sway; however, it may include both those to be condemned, with the bad angels, and those about to be brought into obedience to the sway of Christ with His saints. Compare Mat 25:32, Mat 25:40, "all nations," "these my brethren" on the thrones with Him. The event will decide the truth of this view. judged by you--or, before you (compare Co1 3:22). smallest matters--The weightiest of earthly questions at issue are infinitely small compared with those to be decided on the judgment-day.
John Gill Bible Commentary
Do ye 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.'' (Wisdom 3:8) and so the Jews say (a), that "the first day of the month is the beginning of judgment in the whole world, and Isaac sat on a throne, , "to judge the world":'' or this might be collected, as Dr. Lightfoot observes, out of Dan 7:18, 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 ye 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? (a) Ibid. in Lev. fol. 13. 4.
Tyndale Open Study Notes
6:2-3 Someday we believers will judge the world—and even angels—as associates of the Son of Man, who is the ultimate Judge of all people (cp. Dan 7:13, 22, 27; Matt 19:28; John 5:27; Acts 17:31; Rev 3:21; 20:4). In light of this responsibility, Christians should be able to settle their disagreements over comparatively little things.
1 Corinthians 6:2
Lawsuits among Believers
1If any of you has a grievance against another, how dare he go to law before the unrighteous instead of before the saints!2Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases?3Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!
- Scripture
- Sermons
- Commentary
Marks of a True Conversion
By George Whitefield0ISA 45:23JHN 19:13ACT 12:21ACT 18:12ACT 25:6ACT 25:10ROM 14:101CO 4:51CO 6:22CO 5:10Wayne Barber explains the significance of the Bema Seat judgment in Romans 14, emphasizing that all believers will stand before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account of their lives on earth. The Bema Seat refers to a raised platform where judgments are made, and believers will be recompensed for their deeds, whether good or bad. This judgment is not for condemnation but for evaluating believers' service and works. The focus is on accountability for how Christians lived and treated others, impacting their rewards in eternity.
Epistle 250
By George Fox0Spiritual ModestyWorldly FashionsMAT 6:251CO 2:121CO 6:21TI 6:71TI 6:171PE 1:141PE 3:41JN 2:16George Fox emphasizes the importance of avoiding the vain fashions of the world, urging believers to focus on modesty and sobriety in their appearance and lifestyle. He warns that chasing after worldly trends can lead one away from a solid life in unity with God, and encourages a life that prioritizes spiritual over material concerns. Fox calls for a rejection of the spirit of the world, advocating for a focus on the hidden man of the heart and the eternal riches found in God. He reminds the faithful to live as pilgrims and strangers, valuing their heavenly inheritance over earthly possessions.
Things Which God Hath
By Raymond Golsworthy0PSA 119:18ROM 8:161CO 2:91CO 6:2EPH 1:5EPH 5:251PE 5:10REV 1:5Raymond Golsworthy preaches on the profound revelations of God's glorious design and purpose for His people, which are beyond human comprehension but are unveiled by the Holy Spirit through the Scriptures. The sermon delves into six aspects of the Christian's calling: being called to God's eternal glory, heirs of God, kings, judges of angels, the bride of Christ, and adoption as sons of God. Each aspect reveals the depth of God's love and the exalted position believers have in Christ, culminating in the importance of loving God to fully embrace and understand these divine callings.
Our Heavenly Vocation
By T. Austin-Sparks0DEU 8:3PSA 2:8PSA 91:11ZEC 4:6MAT 10:391CO 6:22TI 2:12T. Austin-Sparks delves into the biography of Jesus Christ written by the Holy Spirit, focusing on the interconnectedness of His baptism, anointing, and temptation. Drawing parallels from the Garden of Eden and Israel's history, he highlights the central question of living by Divine life or self-sufficiency. Through the three temptations faced by Jesus, the sermon emphasizes the importance of living by Divine life, the methods of fulfilling our vocation without compromising with the world, and the ultimate purpose of our vocation to reign with Christ in the Kingdom of God.
The Hallway to the Saints' Rest
By Richard Baxter0MAT 8:27MAT 25:23ROM 8:11CO 6:21CO 15:521TH 4:161TI 6:152PE 2:9REV 1:6REV 6:16Richard Baxter preaches about the pathway to Paradise, emphasizing the removal of barriers by Christ to enter Heaven. He discusses the significance of the Second Coming of Christ, the Resurrection of the Body, the Judgment, and the Coronation as key events leading to Paradise. Baxter highlights the assurance of triumph for believers, the resurrection of the body, the solemnity of judgment, and the royal coronation awaiting the faithful.
The Church and the Churches
By C.I. Scofield0ACT 7:38ACT 19:321CO 6:21CO 12:12EPH 1:22EPH 2:19EPH 5:29PHP 1:1TIT 1:5HEB 12:22C.I. Scofield delves into the significance of the word 'church' in the Acts and the Epistles, emphasizing the importance of understanding its various meanings as used by the Holy Spirit. The Greek word 'ecclesia,' translated as 'church,' signifies the 'outcalled assembly,' whether referring to the New Testament church, Israel in the wilderness, or other gatherings. The focus is on the 'church which is His body,' composed of believers baptized into Christ by the Spirit, united with Him as the Head. The sermon explores the formation of the church through the baptism with the Spirit, the relationships of the church to Christ, the world, heavenly inhabitants, and future judgments, as well as the order of the apostolic churches and unbiblical perversions that have arisen.
- Adam Clarke
- Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
- John Gill
- Tyndale
Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
The saints shall judge the world? - Nothing can be more evident than that the writers of the New Testament often use ὁ κοσμος, the world, to signify the Jewish people; and sometimes the Roman empire, and the Jewish state; and in the former sense it is often used by our Lord. When, says he, the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory, then shall ye sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel, Mat 19:28. It is supposed that he refers to the same subject as that mentioned here - the saints judging the world; and that St. Paul has his words in view in what he says here to the Corinthians. By judging the twelve tribes of Israel, some have imagined that having authority in the Church is merely intended; but Dr. Lightfoot contends that the words referred to the coming of our Lord to execute judgment on the Jews, and to destroy their state; and that the doctrine of the apostles, not themselves, was to judge and condemn that most disobedient people. The place before us is generally understood to imply, that the redeemed of the Lord shall be, on the great day, assessors with him in judgment; and shall give their award in the determinations of his justice. On reviewing this subject, I am fully of opinion that this cannot be the meaning of the words, and that no such assessorship as is contended for ever will take place; and that the interpretation is clogged with a multitude of absurdities. 1. The saints themselves are to appear before the judgment seat of Christ, and shall be judged by him, after which they shall reign with him; but it is never said in Scripture that they shall judge with him. 2. It would be absurd to suppose that thrones should be erected for the purpose of saints sitting on them to give their approbation in the condemnation of the wicked; of what use can such an approbation be? is it necessary to the validity of Christ's decision? and will not even the damned themselves, without this, acknowledge the justice of their doom? I therefore think with Dr. Lightfoot, that these words of the apostle refer to the prediction of Daniel, Dan 7:18, Dan 7:27, and such like prophecies, where the kingdoms of the earth are promised to the saints of the Most High; that is, that a time shall come when Christianity shall so far prevail that the civil government of the world shall be administered by Christians, which, at that time, was administered by heathens. And this is even now true of all those parts of the earth which may be considered of the greatest political consequence. They profess Christianity, and the kings and other governors are Christians in this general sense of the term.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
Do ye not know--as a truth universally recognized by Christians. Notwithstanding all your glorying in your "knowledge," ye are acting contrary to it (Co1 1:4-5; Co1 8:1). The oldest manuscripts have "Or" before "know ye not"; that is, "What! (expressing surprise) know ye not," &c. saints . . . judge--that is, "rule," including judgment: as assessors of Christ. Mat 19:28, "judging," that is, "ruling over." (Compare Psa 49:14; Dan 7:22, Dan 7:27; Rev 2:26; Rev 3:21; Rev 20:4). There is a distinction drawn by able expositors between the saints who judge or rule, and the world which is ruled by them: as there is between the elected (Mat 20:23) twelve apostles who sit on thrones judging, and the twelve tribes of Israel that are judged by them. To reign, and to be saved, are not necessarily synonymous. As Jehovah employed angels to carry the law into effect when He descended on Sinai to establish His throne in Israel, so at His coming the saints shall administer the kingdom for, and under, Him. The nations of the earth, and Israel the foremost, in the flesh, shall, in this view, be the subjects of the rule of the Lord and His saints in glorified bodies. The mistake of the Chiliasts was that they took the merely carnal view, restricting the kingdom to the terrestrial part. This part shall have place with the accession of spiritual and temporal blessings such as Christ's presence must produce. Besides this earthly glory, there shall be the heavenly glory of the saints reigning in transfigured bodies, and holding such blessed intercourse with mortal men, as angels had with men of old, and as Christ, Moses, and Elias, in glory had with Peter, James, and John, in the flesh at the transfiguration (Ti2 2:12; Pe2 1:16-18). But here the "world" seems to be the unbelieving world that is to be "condemned" (Co1 11:22), rather than the whole world, including the subject nations which are to be brought under Christ's sway; however, it may include both those to be condemned, with the bad angels, and those about to be brought into obedience to the sway of Christ with His saints. Compare Mat 25:32, Mat 25:40, "all nations," "these my brethren" on the thrones with Him. The event will decide the truth of this view. judged by you--or, before you (compare Co1 3:22). smallest matters--The weightiest of earthly questions at issue are infinitely small compared with those to be decided on the judgment-day.
John Gill Bible Commentary
Do ye 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.'' (Wisdom 3:8) and so the Jews say (a), that "the first day of the month is the beginning of judgment in the whole world, and Isaac sat on a throne, , "to judge the world":'' or this might be collected, as Dr. Lightfoot observes, out of Dan 7:18, 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 ye 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? (a) Ibid. in Lev. fol. 13. 4.
Tyndale Open Study Notes
6:2-3 Someday we believers will judge the world—and even angels—as associates of the Son of Man, who is the ultimate Judge of all people (cp. Dan 7:13, 22, 27; Matt 19:28; John 5:27; Acts 17:31; Rev 3:21; 20:4). In light of this responsibility, Christians should be able to settle their disagreements over comparatively little things.