WE SHALL JUDGE ANGELS

WE SHALL JUDGE ANGELS

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

1Corinthians [NLT] 6:1-8 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! 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? Don’t you realize that we will judge angels? So you should surely be able to resolve ordinary disputes in this life [KJV “judgments of things pertaining to this life”]. If you have legal disputes about such matters, why go to outside judges who are not respected by the church? I am saying this to shame you. Isn’t there anyone in all the church who is wise enough to decide these issues? But instead, one believer sues another—right in front of unbelievers! 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? Instead, you yourselves are the ones who do wrong and cheat even your fellow believers.

  So much of this series has required many hours of reading Scripture in context, search, reading essays and commentaries, and to ponder that I had originally decided to leave out today’s passing fact about angels. Paul’s exhortation isn’t even about angels. He just uses the truth about our eventually judging angels to reinforce his main point having to do with a fellowship issue among believers in Corinth. An unspiritual practice that not only is poor testimony in the local church and community at large observing . . . but also that a saint’s affection for winning does effect their present and future standing with the Lord.

  Please note several interesting points revealed in the passage.

·         Paul acknowledges brethren do have disputes that necessitate decisive corporate judgment.

·         Paul judges his brethren.

·         Paul judges his brethren as wrong-hearted and wrong-headed.

·         Paul explains exactly who is qualified to judge.

·         Secular judgment does not take into consideration present or eternal spiritual matters.

·         Paul did not say “Judge not!”

·         Paul sanctions, yea encourages, judging one another.

·         Winning can very much be spelled “losing”.

·         Angels also have free will.

  So we see the here that the saintly case of responsibility is not entirely about those “angels watching over me”.

EBB4