I was in a conversation with a person recently who had a dilemma. They were owed some money and the person who owed them money was, technically anyway, although they never attend, a member of the church. They said to me, "I know Christians are not supposed to sue Christian, but what I am supposed to do?" I was able to help them find a different solution to try first. However, the outcome of that conversation is not as important as the questions it raises.
1 Corinthians 6:1 says, "When any of you has a grievance against another, do you dare to take it to court before the unrighteous, instead of taking it before the saints?" I would like to look at three conditions that existed in the Corinthian church that do not exist today.
The first issue I see is that Paul assumes in the Corinthian church a level of fellowship that does not exist in many of our churches today. The idea that a merely nominal and inactive church member could avoid financial responsibility under this verse is, quite frankly, repugnant This situation only works when we have a highly level of fellowship and community. I truly wish that were the case.
The second issue has to do with accountability and authority of the church. The assumption here is that the church had authority and that church members were accountable to it. Disputes would be brought to the church or to a group of leaders and they would decide what was just and order the party in the wrong to make it right. If they refused to obey the church they would be expelled from the church. This would mean the the restrictions of this verse would no longer apply and the parties could take the matter to the secular courts. I doubt that most of us really want a church that has that kind of authority or want to live in that level of accountability. I wish that we did.
The third and final issue is the fact that in this context the secular courts were steeped in paganism and hostile to Christianity. This, thankfully, is no longer the case.
It would be my sincere hope that fellow believers would have the degree of fellowship with each other and faith in the church that they could bring their disputes before the community of faith and mutually abide by its decision. However, I do not think that this verse, if all else fails, prevents Christians from utilizing the secular justice system in order to protect themselves even from one another.
Monday, June 24, 2013
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
2013 Doctrine Series #7 – Crucifixion
In my article from May on Justification I talked about how what Jesus did on the cross, by sacrificing himself, by shedding his blood, made a way for our sins to be forgiven. This time I want to talk more about the Crucifixion itself.
In 2004 the Mel Gibson movie “The Passion of Christ” was released. The movie was enthusiastically received by some and rejected by others. There were some political and theological objections that were raised against the movie but I will not get into those here. The greatest objections, however, were raised to the graphic violence depicted in the movie. In my mind the graphic nature of the movie was its real strength. The Crucifixion was a violent event, in many ways it was the most violent event in all of history. Since we now live in a visual society rather than a verbal society we needed something like this movie to help us understand the reality of the Crucifixion.
In the gospels the authors simply state that Jesus was crucified. They did not need to describe crucifixion because everyone who was part of the original audience of the gospels understood exactly what crucifixion was. Most of them would have even witnessed a crucifixion firsthand.
Crucifixion was the most violent, painful, and inhumane form of execution ever devised by humankind. It was how the Roman Empire dealt with those who rebelled and made political trouble. Crucifixions were done publically so that all could see what happened to those who dared to resist Roman rule. The condemned were nailed to a cross through the wrists and the feet and left hanging there until they died.
The Cross is the center of the Christian faith. In the cross we see the breadth of God’s love meet the depth of human need. In the cross we see how bad we are and how good God is. In the cross we see how much God loves us and how much God hates our sin. In the cross God says “yes” to us while saying “no” to our sin. In a world whose creed has become “I’m OK; you’re OK,” the cross tells us no uncertain terms that we are not in fact “OK!” If people cannot accept this – because they cannot accept the fact of their own sin and need for forgiveness – it has always been that way. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:18, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
When I look at the cross, or when I receive Holy Communion, I am reminded how much God loves me, even though I don’t deserve it. However, it also reminds me that the cross does not have the last word. Next time we will talk about the Resurrection.
In 2004 the Mel Gibson movie “The Passion of Christ” was released. The movie was enthusiastically received by some and rejected by others. There were some political and theological objections that were raised against the movie but I will not get into those here. The greatest objections, however, were raised to the graphic violence depicted in the movie. In my mind the graphic nature of the movie was its real strength. The Crucifixion was a violent event, in many ways it was the most violent event in all of history. Since we now live in a visual society rather than a verbal society we needed something like this movie to help us understand the reality of the Crucifixion.
In the gospels the authors simply state that Jesus was crucified. They did not need to describe crucifixion because everyone who was part of the original audience of the gospels understood exactly what crucifixion was. Most of them would have even witnessed a crucifixion firsthand.
Crucifixion was the most violent, painful, and inhumane form of execution ever devised by humankind. It was how the Roman Empire dealt with those who rebelled and made political trouble. Crucifixions were done publically so that all could see what happened to those who dared to resist Roman rule. The condemned were nailed to a cross through the wrists and the feet and left hanging there until they died.
The Cross is the center of the Christian faith. In the cross we see the breadth of God’s love meet the depth of human need. In the cross we see how bad we are and how good God is. In the cross we see how much God loves us and how much God hates our sin. In the cross God says “yes” to us while saying “no” to our sin. In a world whose creed has become “I’m OK; you’re OK,” the cross tells us no uncertain terms that we are not in fact “OK!” If people cannot accept this – because they cannot accept the fact of their own sin and need for forgiveness – it has always been that way. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:18, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
When I look at the cross, or when I receive Holy Communion, I am reminded how much God loves me, even though I don’t deserve it. However, it also reminds me that the cross does not have the last word. Next time we will talk about the Resurrection.
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