The Great Commentary of Cornelius a Lapide: the First Epistle to the Corinthians
Chapter 6. Synopsis of the Chapter
i. The Apostle passes on to the subject of lawsuits, and reproves the Corinthians for instituting proceedings before heathen judges, and he declares those proceedings to be thereupon unjust and unfair.
ii. Then (ver. 9) he declares that the unrighteous, of whom he names several kinds, shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
iii. He passes on (ver. 13) to fornication, and condemns it on many grounds, which I will collect at the end of the chapter.
Ver. 1. — Dare any of you . . . go to law? Literally, he judged, i.e., contend in judgment. Cf. 1 Sam. xii. 7 ; Ezek. xx. 35; and Jer. ii. 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 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.
Ver. 2. — If the world shall be judged by you , are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? If the saints are to judge the whole world how much more ought they to be able to act as arbiters in composing their own small differences ?
Ver. 3. — Know ye not that we shall judge angels ? Some think that angels here means priests, and they refer to Malachi ii. 7, “For he is the angel of the Lord of hosts,” spoken of the priest. But this is foreign to the mind of S. Paul, and therefore the Fathers unanimously take it literally.
Observe that, as Chrysostom, Theodoret, Ambrose, and Anselm say, it is the day of general judgment that is here spoken of.
Hence it follows (i.) that at that day not only men but angels, both good and bad, are to be judged. Chrysostom, Theophylact, Theodoret, Anselm understand this passage to refer to evil angels ; for there is one Church of angels and men, and one Head and Judge, even Christ. Such a judgment tends to display publicly the Divine righteousness, and the honour due to the angels.
It follows (2.) that this judgment is not such an one as is spoken of in S. Matt. xii. 41, where it is said that the Queen of the South and the Ninevites should rise up in the judgment and condemn that generation of Jews, but judgment in the proper sense of the word, inasmuch as it is set side by side with that by which the Corinthians judged their worldly matters. S. Paul says then that Christ and the Saints, by their power and authority, shall judge the angels as well as men : the good by a judgment of approbation, of praise and glory, and the evil by a judgment of condemnation and reprobation. They shall be judges because, when they were frail men in the body, they devoted themselves to the worship of God and perfect purity. The others shall be judged because they refused to do God’s will, though they were incorporeal and pure spirits. So Theophylact and Theodoret. Again, because the Saints were victorious over the devil in this life, they for their reward shall, before the whole world, pass judgment on his malice, pride, and foolishness, and shall exult over him as conquered, mean, and contemptible , cast away by God, and condemned to everlasting punishment.
So Christ is said to do in Col. ii. 15. And this will be to
the exquisite pride of the devils a most bitter punishment, as Francis Suarez says beautifully (pt. iii. qu. 69, disp. 57, sect. 8). Add to this that the Apostles and Apostolic men, who left all and followed Christ most closely, will be nearest to the Judge, as the leaders of His kingdom and assessors of their King. And so their sentence will be Christ’s ; and as Cardinals are associated with the Pope, so they with Christ shall judge all others.
How much more things that pertain to this life? We are competent and worthy to judge things that belong to man’s ordinary life, if only the office of judging is intrusted to us by the litigating parties, or if we are appointed to it by the Church or by the State. For if we are able to judge angels’ why not matters of this world ? For angels as far surpass worldly things as heaven is higher than earth.
Ver. 4. — Set them to judge who are least esteemed, rather than the heathen.
Ver. 5. — Is it so that there is not a wise man among you ? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren ? This is severe irony, and a tacit reproof and condemnation. Sedulius and Gregory (Mor. lib. xix. c. 21) take it a little differently, as if said seriously, as though he meant : Let those who are of lesser merit in the
Church, and who have no great gifts of power, judge in matters of worldly business, that so those who cannot do great things may be the means of supplying lesser benefits.
This judging of secular causes was afterwards intrusted amongst Christians to the presbyters and Bishops, as appears from Clement (Constit. lib. i. c. 49-51, and Ep. I to James the Lord’s brother). He says: “If brethren have any dispute let them not take it for decision before secular magistrates, but, whatever it is, let it be ended by the presbyters of the Church, and let their decision be implicitly obeyed.” This too was afterwards decreed in the civil law by the Emperor Theodosius, and confirmed by Charlemagne (xi. qu. 1, Can. Quicunque and Can. Volumus), who gave permission to any one, whether plaintiff or defendant, to appeal from the secular tribunal to the Ecclesiastical court. Hence it was that Gregory Thaumaturgus, Bishop of Neo-Caesarea, discharged among his faithful the office of judge, as is testified by Gregory of Nyssa in the life that he wrote of him ; so did S. Ambrose, as appears from Offic. lib. ii. c. 29, where he says that he had brought to nought the unjust judgments of the Emperors ; so did S. Augustine (de Opere Monach. c. 26); Synesius ( Epp . 57 and 58). But as the number of Christians and lawsuits increased, the Bishops transferred this duty to secular judges, who were, however, Christians. This they did, following the teaching and appointment of S. Peter, who thus writes to Clement, and in him to all Bishops, in the letter just cited: “Christ does not wish you to be a judge or decider of worldly affairs, lest being engrossed with the things that are seen you have no leisure for the word of God, or for severing the good from the bad according to the rule of truth.”
It may be asked, Why then does not S. Paul intrust this office of judge to the Bishop ? Ambrose replies, Because there was no such officer at Corinth as yet : “ He had not yet been appointed to rule their Church.” The Corinthians had but recently been converted by S. Paul, and were yet but few in number.
Ver. 7. — Now, therefore, there is utterly a fault among you. Fault Theophylact renders condemnation and shame. It is simpler to take it as a defect or shortcoming, as when a man is overcome by another his strength and courage are thereby diminished. Imperfection , meanness, and feebleness of mind are among you, because you are overcome by anger, avarice, and strife, and can bear nothing. It is the mark of a great mind to be raised high above all these things, to look down upon them as beneath its notice, and to care nothing for injuries. It is littleness of mind and love of gain which make you go to law before heathen tribunals, to the scandal of believers and unbelievers, who are thus led to blaspheme the faith of Christ.
Why do ye not rather take wrong? Or suffer loss, as beseems those that are but newly Christians, who are few in number, and in the first fervour of their profession of peace and perfection.