1 Corinthians Week 11

Day 1 

READ 

1 Corinthians 5:12-13 

¹² It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning. ¹³ God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, “You must remove the evil person from among you.” 

By “outsiders” Paul referred to those outside the local church assembly. On the other hand he emphasized it was their duty to judge (evaluate) those inside the church. He said nothing about judging motives. He was concerned they go by actions. Because a person who called himself a believer was living in sin, Paul said he should be removed from their midst. 

REFLECT 

Does it comfort you to know that it is not your responsibility to judge those outside the church? 

RESPOND 

With a friend consider a passage where Paul suggested those in the church should contact those outside the church. The passage is 1 Timothy 3:6-7 that tells about qualifications for selecting church leaders. Such candidates should be well spoken of in the community.  

Day 2 

READ 

1 Corinthians 6:1-3 

¹ When one of you has a dispute with another believer, how dare you file a lawsuit and ask a secular court to decide the matter instead of taking it to other believers! ² Don’t you realize that someday we believers will judge the world? And since you are going to judge the world, can’t you decide even these little things among yourselves? ³ Don’t you realize that we will judge angels? So you should surely be able to resolve ordinary disputes in this life. 

Paul wrote to the Corinthian believers about how to solve differences of opinion among their members. When there was open sin the person involved should be expelled from the church group. 1 Corinthians 6 has to do with differences of opinion that some were taking to court to have resolved. Paul considered their problems to be “ordinary disputes” in contrast to what believers would be doing in eternity. See Jude 1:6 for angels being judged.  

REFLECT 

Do you know of situations that would have been better settled inside your church rather than on the outside? 

RESPOND 

Pray for Christian organizations that sometimes may have the right to sue but decide not to because of the bad publicity it would produce. They choose rather to suffer loss. 

Day 3 

READ 

1 Corinthians 6:4-6 

⁴ If you have legal disputes about such matters, why go to outside judges who are not respected by the church? ⁵ I am saying this to shame you. Isn’t there anyone in all the church who is wise enough to decide these issues? ⁶ But instead, one believer sues another—right in front of unbelievers! 

Paul was concerned about the testimony of the church in the community. Permitting judges who are not Christ-followers to decide a dispute between believers would harm the church’s testimony. Paul was horrified at the idea that believers would take a case to be settled by unbelievers.  

REFLECT 

Have you seen this kind of thing occurring in your local assembly? What was the impression of others about this? 

RESPOND 

Discuss with a Christian friend what your action will be if you ever face such a situation as Paul described. Will you go to court before unbelievers or ask those in your local church to act as judges over the matter? 

Day 4 

READ 

1 Corinthians 6:7-8 

⁷ Even to have such lawsuits with one another is a defeat for you. Why not just accept the injustice and leave it at that? Why not let yourselves be cheated? ⁸ Instead, you yourselves are the ones who do wrong and cheat even your fellow believers. 

Paul urged the believers in Corinth—and all believers by inspiration of the Scriptures—to accept being cheated rather than going before those outside the church. Paul said that they themselves were cheaters if they took fellow believers to a court outside the church. No one likes to accept an injustice, but Paul said it should be done for the sake of the testimony of the church. 

REFLECT 

Have you thought about these matters before? Have Paul’s instructions been helpful to you in deciding what you would do if such an occasion arose in your life? 

RESPOND 

Visit with a friend about what Jesus said as recorded in John 13:34-35. Would those in your community say this is true of your church fellowship? 

Day 5 

READ 

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 

⁹ Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, ¹⁰ or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. ¹¹ Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 

Paul described the kinds of habitual sins that would cause one not to be able to be in God’s kingdom. The Roman Empire and the city of Corinth were known for all kinds of immorality and corruption. One author says that 14 of the first 15 Roman emperors of the empire were homosexual or bisexual. Some of these Corinthian believers were like those mentioned in Paul’s list, but their lives had been changed by believing in Jesus as Savior.  

REFLECT 

Think about the changes Jesus has made in your life after you received Him as Savior. Share your testimony with others. 

RESPOND 

Visit with a friend about the change that Paul said had occurred in the lives of the Corinthians after they received Jesus as Savior. Discuss how this is a different message than one normally hears from society today.