by Hugh DeLong<\/p>\n
The Corinthians did not live in 21st-century America (surprise) and therefore, were not governed by our law system and the foundational concepts upon which it is based. While we struggle to maintain those concepts and apply them fairly, the Corinthians had a different system in place.<\/p>\n
They were a Roman Colony, and their judicial administration was highly stratified. On the local level, where most lawsuits were judged, they were judged by local magistrates and took place not in a courtroom but in the marketplace or a public judgment seat, as in Acts 18.12. The outcome of such disputes rested upon different bases than fairness and case law. They were driven by rhetoric, and ‘winning’ depended more upon your popularity, speaking ability, and even bribery.<\/p>\n
Why would a disciple who loves his brethren and desires their best interests to prevail, even over his own, want to have their differences judged in this way? Well, they shouldn’t! Paul then gives the classic alternative – why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?<\/p>\n
While deciding how their judicial system can be paralleled with ours is a difficult task, loving my brother is much easier to determine. Thus, the antidote to such lawsuits between brethren is to love one another. If you haven’t noticed, that phrase appears some 13 times in the NASB95 New Testament!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Hugh DeLong The Corinthians did not live in 21st-century America (surprise) and therefore, were not governed by our law system and the foundational concepts upon which it is based. While we struggle to maintain those concepts and apply them fairly, the Corinthians had a different system in place. They were a Roman Colony, and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[554,728],"class_list":["post-90065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-courts","tag-i-corinthians"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":61898,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-there-be-more-than-one-coming\/","url_meta":{"origin":90065,"position":0},"title":"Can There Be More Than One Coming?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 20, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: II Peter 3:1-14 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There is a movement that has gotten popular in various churches to state that all references to the Lord\u2019s coming refer to the destruction of Jerusalem. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is frequently called preterism, the A.D. 70 movement, or realized eschatology \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cEschatology\u201d means the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2499,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-christian-use-the-court-system\/","url_meta":{"origin":90065,"position":1},"title":"Can a Christian use the court system?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 4, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is it right for a Christian to take another Christian or non-Christian to court? If yes, please, why? Thanks. Answer: \"Does any one of you, when he has a case against his neighbor, dare to go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints? Or do you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30735,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-non-christians-subject-to-the-laws-of-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":90065,"position":2},"title":"Are Non-Christians Subject to the Laws of God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 16, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Text: II Thessalonians 1:3-10 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Without a doubt people make a mess of their lives \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0One of the hardest things about studying with people these days is the tangle they create in their families \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0You have people who have married and divorced serval times \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a02.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They have kids by multiple partners,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42336,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/our-sole-standard\/","url_meta":{"origin":90065,"position":3},"title":"Our Sole Standard","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 12, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Text: Ephesians 3:1-13 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In a discussion with a Roman Catholic, he objected to the idea of staying only with the Bible as our source of authority. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In particular, he believes that the Spirit uses sources other than the Bible to reveal God\u2019s will \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0He argued that the apostles only\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35560,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-are-the-books-opened-in-revelation-2012\/","url_meta":{"origin":90065,"position":4},"title":"What are the books opened in Revelation 20:12?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 4, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day. I have an argument with a Catholic defender on social media about Sola Scriptura. I used Revelation 20:12 that the written word will judge us in the last days. But he said that the books opened are not the Bible but the record of men's deeds. What\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7057,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/didnt-the-christians-in-troas-worship-on-the-sabbath\/","url_meta":{"origin":90065,"position":5},"title":"Didn’t the Christians in Troas worship on the Sabbath?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 14, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: You will realize that in Acts 20:7 the meeting and breaking of bread were done in the night, meaning, or if we may presume, that these people had been worshiping together on the Sabbath. Since we know that a day then started at sunset, so Paul did preach to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90065\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}