1 Corinthians 6:1

Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?

Read Chapter 6 Verse 2

Ambrosiaster

AD 400

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. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.

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Clement Of Alexandria

AD 215

For in the first Epistle to the Corinthians the divine apostle says: "Dare any of you, having a matter against the other, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? Know ye not that the saints shall judge the world? "

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Cornelius a Lapide

AD 1637

SYNOPSIS OF THE CHAPTER i. The Apostle passes on to the subject of lawsuits and trials, and reproves the Corinthians for instituting proceedings before the heathen Judges , and he declares those proceedings to be thereupon unjust and unfair. ii. Then (ver9) he declares that the unrighteous, of whom he names several kinds, shall not inherit the kingdom of God. iii. He passes on (ver13) to fornication, and condemns it on many grounds, which I will collect at the end of the chapter.

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Cornelius a Lapide

AD 1637

Dare any of you . . . go to law? Literally, be judged, i.e, contend in judgment. Cf. 1 Samuel 12:7; Ezekiel 20:35; and Jeremiah 2:35. The Apostle is not censuring those who were dragged before the heathen tribunals, but those who dragged their brethren before them, or who appeared before them by the consent of both parties. Before the unjust. The saints here is a name for the faithful, and the unjust, therefore, are Gentile unbelievers. So Chrysostom, Theophylact, Anselm. The heathen are so called as lacking the faith by which the just man lives, and as being therefore unjust, and as often committing injustice strictly so called. In other words, since these unjust men are the Judges , justice is not to be looked for from them. As they pervert the faith, so do they justice.

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Cyprian of Carthage

AD 258

In the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians: "Dares any of you, having a matter against other, to discuss it among the unrighteous, and not among the saints? Know ye not that the saints shall judge this world? "

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George Leo Haydock

AD 1849

Go to law before the unjust. St. Paul here dissuades the new Christians from carrying their differences and causes about their temporal concerns before judges who were infidels, especially seeing the saints and the elect shall one day judge, that is, condemn all the wicked, and even the apostate angels, by approving the sentence which Christ shall pronounce against them at the day of judgment. (Witham) It was not unusual in the primitive ages, and even under Christian emperors, for the Catholics to refer their disputes to the bishop, and to abide by his decision, as Possidius informs us, in the life of St. Augustine. (Estius)

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John Chrysostom

AD 407

Here also he again makes his complaint upon acknowledged grounds; for in that other place he says, It is actually reported that there is fornication among you. And in this place, Dare any one of you? From the very first outset giving signs of his anger, and implying that the thing spoken of comes of a daring and lawless spirit. Now wherefore did he bring in by the way that discourse about covetousness and about the duty of not going to law without the Church? In fulfilment of his own rule. For it is a custom with him to set to right things as they fall in his way; just as when speaking about the tables which they used in common, he launched out into the discourse about the mysteries. So here, you see, since he had made mention of covetous brethren, burning with anxiety to correct those in sin, he brooks not exactly to observe order; but he again corrects the sin which had been introduced out of the regular course, and so returns to the former subject. Let us hear then what he als... Read More

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John Chrysostom

AD 407

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.

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Tertullian of Carthage

AD 220

And she will have to go forth (from her house) by a gate wreathed with laurel, and hung with lanterns, as from some new consistory of public lusts; she will have to sit with her husband ofttimes in club meetings, oft-times in taverns; and, wont as she was formerly to minister to the "saints "will sometimes have to minister to the "unjust.". Chiding them likewise because "brethren "were not "judged at the bar of the saints: "

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The Apostolic Constitutions

AD 375

It is therefore a noble encomium for a Christian to have no contest with any one;

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