If it is our duty to discern who is and who isn’t covenant family, then why do we breach that boundary for personal disputes?
Corinth was easily the most cosmopolitan city in Greece; sailors from the whole known world passed through there, and a broad mixture of them stayed. If there was one place in the Roman Empire where the sense of tribal identity would be difficult, it was here in Corinth. Then again, Paul had stayed longer in Corinth than almost anywhere he traveled. It was a real challenge to bring the Hebrew mindset of Christ to such a strange mixture of folks. They were slow to absorb it.
Thus, Paul confronts them on the matter of taking each other to court before pagan magistrates. Do they wish to be judged by pagan standards? Why have they not already appointed judges for petty matters within the church? Taking it outside the church is a failure before anyone can state their case. It’s better to suffer financial losses than to win on false terms that reject Christ as Lord. It is tantamount to cheating, defrauding Christ Himself.
Using the pagan court system against your brothers and sisters is making peace with the world. Paul rattles off a list of repulsive sins to highlight the issue here. If you leave all of that behind, what does it say when you then go back to it? What does it say about the work of Christ on the Cross, and the power of His Spirit living in you?
There is a sense in which no material object can be forbidden believers. A tool is a tool. If you can find a way to bless the Lord’s name with it, then don’t fret about physical objects being sacred or profane. But by the same token, any material thing can become a trap, a means to enslave you. Paul cites the example of food. Jesus Himself said that food itself could not defile you. God gave us a stomach to process food, and then food to put in it. It serves the purpose of keeping us alive in this world to serve Him, but at some point, all of this would go away, both food and stomachs.
However, sex was in a different class. Without discussing the finer points of modern medical knowledge, Paul knew from Scripture that sexual experience changed us permanently. Food passes through and out the other end, but sex affects your body forever. More to the point, it involves another soul, and changes them forever, too. It’s not just a fleshly appetite like eating; it leaves an eternal mark. One mistake is permanent.
Two bodies merged in sexual union is noted in God’s Presence. You are now one flesh in His eyes. If you dilute that by pursuing other sex partners, you have poked God in the eye. He’s not going to ignore that. At the very least, it trashes one of the single greatest divine blessings that you could ever have. This is the one form of self-abuse that can destroy everything else.
God owns you. Don’t act contemptuous of His claims on your life.
