Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints?
Paul, one of the earliest Christian missionaries, wrote this letter to the church in Corinth — a busy, cosmopolitan city in ancient Greece. Some believers there were taking personal disputes against fellow Christians into Roman civil courts. Paul is incredulous: why would followers of Jesus take their conflicts before judges who don't share their values, when they have a community capable of wisdom and discernment? He isn't saying that legal courts are evil — he's questioning why public litigation between believers is the first move rather than a last resort.
Lord, forgive me for the times I've looked for shortcuts around the hard work of reconciliation. Give me the courage to have the conversations I've been avoiding, and the humility to seek peace before I seek to win. Amen.
Notice the word Paul uses: dare. Not "should you consider" or "is it advisable." Dare. There's something close to disbelief baked into that word — like he's heard the rumor and still can't quite believe it. You dragged your brother into court? The challenge here cuts deeper than legal strategy. Paul is asking what your conflict resolution says about what you actually believe. If you trust in a God who reconciles enemies, who restores what was broken — does your first response to a dispute reflect any of that? This isn't a call to be a pushover or absorb injustice in silence. It's a call to honest self-examination: before you escalate, before you lawyer up, before you go public — have you actually tried the harder, slower, more human path? The courtroom isn't always wrong. But is it really where you're supposed to start?
Why do you think Paul was so surprised that believers were suing each other — what does that reveal about his vision for what Christian community should be capable of?
Think of a current or recent conflict in your life. What was your first instinct — direct conversation, avoidance, escalation, or something else?
Are there situations where you think going outside the community is fully justified? Where do you draw that line, and what shapes where you draw it?
How does unresolved conflict between Christians affect the people around you who don't share your faith?
Is there a relationship in your life right now where you've been avoiding the harder, more direct conversation? What would one honest step toward it look like this week?
For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
1 Corinthians 3:3
And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.
Matthew 18:17
Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye.
1 Corinthians 16:1
Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:
1 Corinthians 1:2
For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.
1 Corinthians 14:33
Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
Matthew 18:15
Does any one of you, when he has a complaint (civil dispute) with another [believer], dare to go to law before unrighteous men (non-believers) instead of [placing the issue] before the saints (God's people)?
AMP
When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?
ESV
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?
NASB
Lawsuits Among Believers If any of you has a dispute with another, dare he take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the saints?
NIV
Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?
NKJV
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 !
NLT
And how dare you take each other to court! When you think you have been wronged, does it make any sense to go before a court that knows nothing of God's ways instead of a family of Christians?
MSG