Tuesday: Protecting the Church’s Identity
Daily Lesson for Tuesday 21st of July 2026
In 1 Corinthians 6:1-11, Paul continues his discussion on how Christians should approach issues involving people in the church.
Read 1 Corinthians 5:3,12-13 and 1 Corinthians 6:1-13. What is Paul trying to teach the Corinthians and us?
The Greek word pragma in 1 Corinthians 6:1, translated as “matter” in the New King James Version, is a generic term meaning “thing.” Here, it refers to a legal matter. It is important to remember that 1 Corinthians 6:1-11 does not refer to a criminal case. The authority of civil courts for criminal matters is affirmed in Romans 13:1-5. Paul addresses a case of litigation right after a case of sexual immorality, just as Moses did in Deuteronomy 22:22-24. This demonstrates how much Paul’s manner of dealing with problems in the church is based upon the Scriptures.
Image © Jim Howard at Goodsalt.com
The fact that the case in 1 Corinthians 6:1-11 is bracketed by passages that deal with sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 5:1-13, 1 Corinthians 6:12-20) may suggest that the “matter” in 1 Corinthians 6:1 regards sexual immorality, too. We don’t know for sure what the case is, whether a minor civil issue, such as a property dispute, or a sexual problem.
Whatever the pragma ultimately was, Paul was not happy to see church members taking it to a civil court. Could not they, as Christian brothers and sisters, have worked it out among themselves, rather than bring the issue before “the unrighteous” (1 Corinthians 6:1, NKJV)?
It is also possible, as some suppose, that the litigants of 1 Corinthians 6:1 are the father and the son of 1 Corinthians 5:1. In any case, it is unnecessary to understand the issue to understand the point. Paul cared about the church’s identity as a Christian community as seen by outsiders. Christians should not air dirty laundry in public (1 Corinthians 6:6). Neither should they use secular means for judging inside matters. In the Roman world, individuals of a higher rank of wealth or political function tended to be favored in a court. Conversely, Christians must perform a Christlike judgment and distinguish themselves from secular standards.
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Think about Paul’s catalog of vices in 1 Corinthians 5:10-11 and 1 Corinthians 6:9-10. Why does he list sexual sins along with other sins such as idolatry, thievery, greed, and extortion? |
Our identity in Christ is the foundation of the Christian life and the life of the church. God has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light to belong to Him and to reflect His glory (1 Peter 2:9). The church exists because of Christ, and every gathering should exalt Him through worship, prayer, preaching, and fellowship. As Paul declared, “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). Because Christ is building His church, “the gates of Hades will not overcome it” (Matthew 16:18). Knowing who we are in Christ gives us confidence to press on, making Him the center of our lives, just as He has made us His own (Philippians 3:12).
The believers in Corinth struggled with divisions, pride, scandals and misplaced loyalties, yet Paul reminded them that their true identity was found in Christ, not in human leaders or worldly wisdom. He urged them to remember that they were “God’s field, God’s building” (1 Corinthians 3:9), and that “no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11). Their calling was a life that was to be holy as God is. The church was to be united in Christ and display His glory (1 Corinthians 1:2, 10). Likewise, the local church today is God’s chosen instrument to proclaim Christ to the nations, with every believer faithfully serving according to the identity and purpose they have received in Him.
I like that the lesson places the topic “Protecting the Churches Identity” right after the topic “Dealing With Scandals”. In my experience, the two are often related in the way churches handle issues. Dealing with sin in the church is complicated. Our sinful nature has a way of getting in the way of The Spirit. Also, the devil likes nothing better than to bring strife and division between us that weakens our faith and destroys our witness. Sadly, when dealing with sin in the church, we often get it wrong.
On the one hand, as children of God, we should hate sin (Romans 12:9, Psalm 97:10, Hebrews 1:9). We are instructed not to entertain sin among us and to act in judgment against it (1 Corinthians 5:1-13). But as humans, we find our own sinful humanity getting in the way- we find it hard to hate sin and love the sinner, we take on an attitude of holier-than-thou, we don’t know how to season our words with salt. And even if, by God’s grace we manage somehow to overcome these hurdles in ourselves, there is no guarantee that it will be received in the same spirit. For not only do we need to get over ourselves, but the person receiving correction (and their posse) must too– they must be open to correction.
On the other hand, as followers of Christ we understand that we are all sinners saved by grace by a God who loved us and showed us mercy while we were yet in our trespass (Romans 5:8, Ephesians 2:8-9). We recognise that we are also not without sin and don’t want to be the one to through stones at others (John 8:7). We don’t want to be judgmental or hypocritical (Matthew 7:1-5). So, we coddle the sinner, maybe in sincerity because we don’t know better or, if we are honest, maybe because we are afraid of the difficulty of confronting sin. We mask our conflict avoidance in euphemisms that make us feel spiritual.
And dealing with sin in our midst gets even more complicated when it is a “public sin” or when a “private sin” comes out and has to be dealt with publicly. Paul admonishes us to protect the churches’ identity because our identity as Christians is how the world sees Christ.
Yet again our sinful nature often gets in the way; sometimes we become more concerned with saving face than in dealing with the sin problem that is hurting our identity in Christ in the first place. We push things under the rug or protect the powerful at the expense of the vulnerable. Most painfully, we use scripture to sugar-coat avoidance or injustice. This isn’t new. In Jesus time, a woman was caught in the very act of adultery and the decision to stone her was supported by the quoting of scripture. Yet where was the man she was caught with? This was not a genuine pursuit of justice.
In 1 Corinthians 5:1-13, Paul was emphasising the importance of being able to solve disputes within the church in a goldy manner. It is a real shame on us when we cannot do that, and we bring the name of Christ under disrepute. I am saddened at the level of litigation that has crept into our churches. Granted, this is more of a problem in some regions/local churches than others, but it is still worrying. Cancers tend to spread rather than remain isolated. Our inability as members to resolve disputes as brothers and sisters and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit is an indictment against us.
Yet, how many vulnerable people have had Paul’s words thrown at them when they have tried to seek justice in the church and failed to get it. “It is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated?“ Is the failure on the part of the person who has resorted to going to court or on the church that has failed to resolve things in a just way?
The lesson points out that Paul here was referring to civil rather than criminal disputes. But I have seen the church deal with issues that are criminal (sexual abuse, fraud, theft etc.) in the same way as they deal with those that are civil. Sadly, what guides how these issues are dealt with is sometimes not the Spirit, but issues of power based on gender, social and economic status, etc. Many victims that remain silent do so, not because of a sincere letting things go for the sake of Christ, but because they feel powerless to do otherwise. Power structures, which sadly exist in the church, keep the vulnerable docile through hierarchical control, spiritual manipulation, and the pretext of protecting the church’s reputation. Members who may rightly question decisions made by those in authority are painted as being in rebellion against God. The victims become the offenders, and the social weight of the church is brought to bear against them.
The church is growing around the world, and we thank God for that. But The World also has a way of growing inside the church, and we seek God’s wisdom and mercy for that.
Well said sis Joycelyn and when we sit and keep our mouths closed nothing changes and that is so sad.
The question at the end of today’s lesson is a fair one, really, and I implore us to read and re-read the text in 1 Corinthians 6 slowly—word by word, and with comprehension, like receiving a medical drip. It may look so obvious, and what can easily distract us is the list of shame (1 Corinthians 6:9–10). One of the greatest mistakes modern readers make is reading 1 Corinthians as a theology book. It is not. It is a pastoral letter written to resolve very specific problems inside one of the most morally chaotic cities in the Roman Empire. I am stating this because I know this list can easily distract many modern readers, who then become lost here—and, in effect, we lose the interpretation and become distracted.
Reading it again, Paul is actually asking this question: “If you represent a new family, with its own guidelines, culture, and identity, why then are you submitting your reasoning to the mechanisms and cultures from which you were transplanted? Do you realize that you are now a different breed, elevated into a new people—in spirit, in practice, and in culture?”
The phrase is intentionally placed after ” Then follows the list—fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, effeminates, thieves, the covetous, drunkards, revilers, and extortioners. In other words, the ἐκκλησία (ekklesia) inherits from a culture, and the culture prepared for their inheritance is the Kingdom of God, purchased for the ἐκκλησία through the blood of Christ. Within that culture are the guiding principles The culture—and how they embody it—is the identifier; .
Paul’s concern is that blending with the ways of the world—competition, demeaning others, shaming, and pride—will ultimately destroy the true identity of what the ἐκκλησία represents. I think, as a church today, this is so evident and present, and this call echoes to us far more loudly than we may realize.
Most of us who comment in this forum probably believe that the Church serves a useful purpose. It gives us a collective presence that is both encouraging and serves as a vehicle to spread the Gospel in ways beyond the scope of the individual. However, we cannot deny that the Church is far from perfect. When I feel tempted to dwell on this imperfection, I remind myself that the Church and its leaders are made up from people like myself. I admit a wry smile to myself as I see my past students taking leadership positions in the Church, and I remember what they used to get up to in class! Some of them were model students and some were what we Australians call “ratbags”.
My point is that in spite of our idea of how Christianity should work, in the real world we have to deal with people across a broad spectrum of personalities and character.
There is nothing new about that. In Moses’ time, the Israelites encoded their civil law, mainly recorded in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Here you will read how disputes were to be resolved. Some of what was written then is still valid today. One significant factor in this was that there was no separation of church and state in Moses’ time.
The societal change that had occurred at the time of Paul’s writing was that church and state were separate entities. Paul’s strong admonition was to sort our their civil differences themselves rather than going to the state courts.
Which brings us back to the present. It would be nice if we could sort out our disputes ourselves, but as anyone who reads the church news knows, we are involved in court cases. And in some of those court cases, the Church has been taken to court by members, and deservedly so.
I worked for the Seventh-day Adventist Church for over 40 years and I have observed both the best and worst of administrative decisions in that time. And in some cases, there has been the need to seek redress through the court system.
Paul has given us an ideal and we should work towards it. But in the complexity of today’s society, we sometimes need help. Our prayer should be that the result will ultimately be to the glory of God.
Dear Maurice, Paul in addressing the question of injustice meted out to church members within the Church and by the Church; poses these questions to the oppressed Believer – “Why not rather be wronged ? Why not rather be cheated ?” .1 Corinthians 6:7 NIV. Behold the beauty of suffering for the sake of Christ. Yea, the Charisma of the Spirit, in the face of oppression; even the oppression of by very own brethren in Christ.
Even as I have typed the words above, I recall an incident , that occurred with myself and an Assistant Publishing Director when I worked as a Colporteur. Even now I tremble inwardly at the injustice perpetuated toward me by that man. Make absolutely no mistake about it. The persons who have the potential to hurt you the most are your very own brothers and sisters in Jesus.
Perhaps you may now begin to understand why I am so “captivated” by Paul’s recommendation to the oppressed brother or sister in Christ who is being unjustly treated by his very own brethren.
The apostle Paul did not distinguish between the types of issues that must be handled by the church and those that must be dealt by the courts. He was clear on the fact that the church was solely responsible for handling issues pertaining to her members 1 Cor. 6:1-13
Romans 13:1-5 is about the individual follower of Christ and his or her responsibilities to the laws of the government.
I’m not sure that would be likely as the church had limited power to enforce criminal acts. For example, if a member murdered someone, could the church punish them? All they could do was kick them out. The nation of Israel did not have power to crucify Jesus and the same would be true of the church in Corinth.
Even the act of kicking a member out as you mentioned was enough authority for the curch in the way of discipline. So it was possible for the church to handle its isues without the courts.
Yes, I agree the church is able to handle “its” issues. However you said the church was “solely” responsible for handling issues and shouldn’t distinguish between them. Should a church follow that today, there could be big problems. For example if a child was abused at church, not involving the police would be wrong. I don’t think that’s what Paul was talking about in I Corinthians 6.
Lest you think this doesn’t happen, it certainly has in the past. The church has covered up some situations to protect its reputation. That is wrong.
If you are sticking to the Bible, it is evident and still stands that Paul emphasized the church”s need to address her issues without the courts. He also did not discriminate between the kinds of issues that must be handled by the church and those that must be taken to the courts.
Your arguement rests on the fact that
some offenses are too grievous for the church to deal with, and as such, she must put the Bible aside and seek the intervention of the courts.
The word of God says sin is the transgression of the law not the transgression of some serious laws. It still stands that all sins are judged the same in the sight of God.
I believe that what Christina is saying is that certain offenses are not just sins but also crimes. Crimes must be reported to and dealt with by the civic authorities as well as the church. The church doesn’t have the authority to enforce civil laws and penalties.
Sadly, the Corinthian church was a mess and in the midst of that mess Paul was compelled to deliver a message about how to deal with certain individuals that were flaunting their unrighteousness. The pagan religions were centered around idolatry, and sexuality. Into that mess comes Paul with a message of sanctification and righteousness. We can only imagine how much Paul had to restrain himself from knocking heads together. Here was a man so dedicated to the purity of Judaism that he persecuted the fledgling Christian church, even to the point of death for it’s adherents.
The devil is very religious, and he doesn’t care if we are religious, so long as we are religious on his terms instead of God’s.
If not for the behavior of the Christians in India, that nation could have been a majority Christian nation instead of Hindu. Mahatma Gandhi’s most famous quote regarding Christians and their faith is:”I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”He also famously stated, “If it weren’t for Christians, I’d be a Christian,” and remarked, “I believe in the teachings of Christ, but you on the other side of the world do not”. While he deeply revered Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount, he felt that those who practiced institutional Christianity often failed to live up to Christ’s message.
As Christians we can be Christianity’s best or worst advertisement for the cause of Christ. I pray that today and everyday that we realize that we wear His name, the Name above all names. It’s not a game. By the grace of God, we must change our practices, or our profession. If the world can’t see Jesus in us why would they want what we profess?
Well said Tim.
Sin is sin, but is there a scale for it? Perhaps, if there is a gradation of sin, it is connected to ethics, morals, and the number of people affected by it: love for money may be at the top of the list, followed by sex-related offenses. Whatever corrupts the character is difficult to deal with; thus, the advice is to stay away from it.
How do we protect the identity of the church. By each member keeping each one’s slate clean. Of course, it is not as easy as that. Because everyone has sinned, and fallen short of the glory of God. So we deal with what we have. Use Matthew 18 as a guide. As before when all is said and done, and the one or ones that have sinned, been forgiven, by all means drop the looking at them with a jaundice eye. You wouldn’t look at others that way. Do you not remember what Christ said, I do, “I do not I condemn you, go and sin no more.” I am sure this was also the attitude of Paul. Let’s see what he said about neither do I condemn rather I tell you how to go and sin no more.
1 Corinthians 10:11-12
11. All these things are recorded as examples and warnings to us so we won’t do the same things they did, especially since we are living at the end of that age. You have more light than they did and are now part of God’s people.
12. But don’t become overly confident and think of yourselves as standing so firm that you can’t fall or that you can do anything you want and it won’t affect your salvation.
1Corinthians 10:8-13.