Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

1 Corinthians 6:2

ἢ οὐκ οἴδατε κ. τ. λ.; “Or (is it that) you do not know?” etc. If the appeal to non-Christian tribunals is not made in insolence (τολμᾷ) towards the Church, it must be made in ignorance of its matchless prerogative. That “the saints will judge the world” is involved in the conception of the Messianic kingdom (Daniel 7:22; cf. Matthew 20:21); Israel, with its Christ, is to rule, and therefore judge, the nations (Acts 1:6, etc.: cf. Galatians 6:16). See Wis 3:7 f., where participation in this Messianic power is asserted for “the souls of the righteous” in their future state. After the manner of Jesus, the Ap. carried over to the new Israel of God the promises of dominion claimed under the Old Covenant, transforming in transferring them (2 Timothy 2:12; Revelation 20:4; Revelation 22:5, etc.). Paul reminds his readers of a truth they should have known, since it belongs to the nature of “the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9) and to the glory they look for at “the unveiling of Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:7 ff.; cf. 1 Corinthians 4:8; Romans 8:17, etc.). Cm [893] and others see here a virtual judgment of the world, lying in the faith of the saints as contrasted with its unbelief (cf. Luke 11:31; John 3:18 ff., Romans 8:3), a thought irrelevant here. 1 Corinthians 6:3, moreover, carries the judgment in question into a region far beyond that of Christian magistrates, whose appointment some prosaic interpreters see here predicted. The Ap. argues à majori ad minus, from the grand and celestial to earthly commonplace. The early Church ascribed this dignity esp. to the martyrs: τοῦ Χριστοῦ πάρεδροι … καὶ μέτοχοι τῆς κρίσεως αὐτοῦ καὶ συνδικάζοντες (Euseb., H.E., vi., 42; see Ed [894]). ἐν ὑμῖν, in consessu vestro picturing Christ and His saints in session, with “the world” brought in for trial before them. “It is absurd in itself, and quite inconsistent with the Divine idea and counsel, that any of you should now appear at their bar, who shall some day appear at yours ” (Ev [895]). κρίνεται, pr [896] tense, of faith's certainty (cf. 1 Corinthians 5:13). κριτήριον (see 1 Corinthians 6:4) signifies place rather than matter of judgment (see parls.); for the latter sense lexical warrant is wanting. The question is: “Are you unworthy of (sitting on) the smallest tribunals?” of forming courts to deal with trifling affairs of secular property? cf. our “petty sessions”. Cm [897] reads the sentence as affirmative, ἀνάξιοι as nimis digni, and τ. κριτηρ. ἐλαχ. as the heathen tribunals: “It is beneath your dignity to appear before these contemptible courts!” But this does not square with 1 Corinthians 6:4.

[893] John Chrysostom's Homiliœ († 407).

[894] T. C. Edwards' Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians.

[895] T. S. Evans in Speaker's Commentary.

[896] present tense.

[897] John Chrysostom's Homiliœ († 407).

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Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

1 Corinthians 6:2

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