I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? – 1 Corinthians 6:5

Today's Scripture Reading (February 14, 2021): 1 Corinthians 6

In "Great Expectations," Charles Dickens writes, "Heaven knows we need never be ashamed of our tears, for they are rain upon the blinding dust of earth, overlying our hard hearts. I was better after I had cried, than before--more sorry, more aware of my own ingratitude, more gentle." Our shame motivates us to action. When we are humiliated, we will do things to change the place where we find ourselves. And our tears are often the evidence that the change has reached the level of our hearts. Tears are useful because they are part of our actions and our desire to change something in the world that exists around us.

Paul openly says that he is trying to shame the Corinthians. Is it possible that no one within the community is wise enough to judge a conflict between believers? Or maybe it is a matter of trust. How is it that two Christians would rather take their disputes to a stranger than to a believer, a follower of Christ? For Paul, the situation didn't make sense.

Paul is not talking about a conflict between two strangers. For that, there are judges who can intervene. This is also not about a violation of the law. Again, those should be taken before a judge. What this is about is a conflict between two people within the church. This is about a disagreement between people who should have been brothers and sisters, loving and existing in a relationship characterized by forgiveness. Paul says these conflicts should be taken before a trusted Christian friend or church leader and not to a judge. So, Paul's question is, why are you taking your friends and spiritual family to court.

The problem is that there isn't a great answer. We need to be committed to other solutions when things divide us from within the family. Because if we don't, if we insist on taking each other to court, then the church will divide, weaken, and fall.

And division was precisely what Paul was seeing taking place in Corinth, and the reason that he wanted the Corinthians to feel shame. And whether the tears fell in Corinth as a result of the shame, or not, he needed the Corinthians to be "more sorry, more aware of [their] own ingratitude, and more gentle."

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 7