The Corinthians were wrong in two ways. First, they were unfaithful, and second, they were expounding God’s laws with a show of respect but in reality attributing their authority to idols.

Paul says that Christians should not submit their disputes to outside arbitration. For how can it be anything other than absurd for a man who disagrees with his friend to choose their mutual enemy as their reconciler? How can you avoid feeling shame when a pagan sits in judgment on a Christian? And if it is not right to go to law before pagans about private matters, how can we submit other things of greater importance to them for a decision? Note too how Paul speaks. He calls the pagans not unbelievers but unrighteous, and the Christians he calls saints, using the appropriate description in order to deter them from getting involved with the secular courts.

This proves that there were no Christian judges at that time, because Paul refers to them all as unrighteous.

Paul did not want them to be judged by outsiders because he did not want the shortcomings of those who had been taught propriety and righteousness to become a scandal to those outside the church.

The saints will judge this world because the unbelief of the world will be condemned by the example of their faith.

It is a disgrace for Christians to be judged by outsiders over trivial matters, when we shall judge them in far more important things.

The twelve apostles will judge the twelve tribes of Israel, if they have not believed and for that reason rejected Christ. The other saints, that is to say, the Gentiles, will judge those who have not abandoned idols and believed in the true God.

Angels are to be judged by us in the same way as the world is to be judged.

Some people say that Paul was thinking of corrupt priests when he said this, but that cannot be right. He is really talking about the demons.

Paul is not talking here about real angels but about the priests and teachers of the people who will be judged by the saints because of their false teaching about Christ.

By angels here, Paul means demons who once were angels.

Who can conceive of such a miracle? Who can mentally grasp such great glory? . . . All participate with Christ in judgment who do not oppose his commands, for with the devoted they too will share in his decisions.

The lowest person in the church is preferable in judgment to an unbeliever.

Therefore the apostle wished wise, holy, and faithful persons who were well established in the various places to be judges of such matters, and not persons who, in preaching, traveled about here and there. . . . If wise judges were lacking, he wished even the lowly and contemptible to be appointed so that the affairs of Christians might not be brought to the public eye.

Paul attacks the Corinthians because, although they are right in the middle of Greece, they have no truly wise people in their midst, even though many had gone to preach wisdom to them.

Paul meant that they were so unmanageable and thoughtless that they might choose inexperienced brothers as judges. There must, he said, be some people in the church wise enough to judge such cases, and they should be allowed to do so. He said this, incidentally, because at that time there was no official leader in their church.

We have rulers of the church to whom we should take our disputes, so that we will not be summoned before the law courts of unbelievers.

There is a double sin here. First, they were taking each other to court, and secondly, they were going to court before unbelievers.

When brothers go to law against each other, there is no need for a mediator to show understanding and discernment. Brotherly feeling and relationship contribute greatly toward the settlement of such quarrels. To take such a quarrel before unbelievers merely makes everything that much worse and prevents a happy resolution of the problem.

This in no way contradicts Romans [13], where Paul tells people to respect the magistrates. He is not telling us to resist secular authorities, but rather we should not appeal to them.

A Christian ought not to engage in litigation at all, but if the matter is too serious to be disregarded he should bring the case to the church, so as not to incur an immediate penalty and personal downfall.

In this manner we shall save our adversary also, even against his will, from evil consequences, and we ourselves will not violate the commandment of God, being as his ministers neither contentious nor avaricious, steadily intent upon the manifestation of truth and never overstepping the appointed limits of zeal.

The just man handles everything with restraint, demonstrating the remarkable degree of his own good sense and teaching not only those present at the time but also everyone in the future never to settle our differences with our relatives by feuding.

By saying all this Paul is showing that the Corinthians were doing the exact opposite.

Paul is rebuking the people whose wrongful behavior has started the quarrels. Not only are they liable to be charged for the fraud which they have committed; they also share in the fault of those who, compelled by their injurious or fraudulent actions, call upon unbelievers to pass judgment.

Here there may be as many as four crimes involved. The first is not knowing how to bear being wronged. The second is to do wrong. The third is to reserve settlement of the matter to the unrighteous. And the fourth is that this kind of thing is being done to a fellow believer.

Do not be deceived, my brothers. Corrupters of houses will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Let no one say: I was young. Before I got married, I slept with prostitutes. Why did you not get married instead?

Paul indicates that they are not sinning unknowingly, and so it is that much harder to excuse them.

The kingdom of God must be purified of all sin and immorality, so that God may reign in it.

Paul did not say this because the Corinthians did not know it already. He was rather reawakening their reverence for the divine commandment and bringing them closer to readiness for the kingdom of heaven.

Paul does not confine his accusations to a short list of types of sin but condemns all equally. He is not so much getting at particular sins as making a general admonition that will secretly convict anyone who may have such things on his conscience.

If someone says that he does not want the kingdom of God, only eternal rest, he should not deceive himself. For there are only two places, and not a third. If a person does not deserve to reign with Christ, then he will most assuredly perish with the devil.

The Corinthians had received all the benefits of purity in their baptism, which is the foundation of the truth of the gospel. In baptism the believer is washed clean from all sins and is made righteous in the name of the Lord, and through the Spirit of God he is adopted as God’s child. With these words, Paul is reminding them how great and how special is the grace which they have received in the true tradition. But afterward, by thinking which is contrary to this baptismal rule of faith, they had stripped themselves of these benefits. For this reason he is trying to bring them back to their original way of thinking, so that they can recover what they had once received.

The Corinthians were not to bother about the sins they committed before baptism. All that should concern them now was that they should not sin again in the future.

Paul says this to make the Corinthians feel ashamed of themselves. He asks them to think about the great evils from which God had delivered them. But God did not limit his salvation to mere deliverance. He greatly extended the benefit by making them clean, by going on to make them holy and finally by making them righteous in his sight. Even bare deliverance from our sins would have been a great gift, but God has gone on from that to fill us with countless blessings.

Paul says that they have been changed for the better, not so as to lose concupiscence altogether, a condition never realized in this life, but so as to not obey the desire to sin.

Those that corrupt families shall not inherit the kingdom of God [1 Cor 6:9–10]. If, then, those who do this as respects the flesh have suffered death, how much more shall this be true of anyone who corrupts by wicked doctrine the faith of God, for which Jesus Christ was crucified! Anyone becoming defiled [in this way], shall go away into everlasting fire, and so shall everyone who listens unto him.