What does Paul mean when he writes, “the saints will judge the
world …. we are to judge angels” (1 Cor. 6:2-3)? The Corinthians were inconsistent in the extreme. In the case of the
immoral brother, they should have judged but took no action at all (1 Cor.
5:1-2). In cases of petty disputes, they should have judged among themselves
but they took too much action and went to secular courts (6:1-9). In both
cases, they neglected their God-given responsibility to make their own
judgments and settle matters among themselves (cf. 5:12; 10:15; 11:13). Paul
reminds his readers that the saints [‘sanctified ones’] will judge the world1
and angels,2 but how? Like
“the men of Nineveh” who “will rise up in judgment with this generation and
condemn it, because they repented …” (Matt. 12:41); like Noah, who “prepared an
ark … by which he condemned the world …” (Heb. 11:7). The saints will judge the world and
[fallen] angels indirectly by their lives and teaching in compliance with the divine
will.
--Kevin
L. Moore
Endnotes:
1
Cf. Rev.
3:21; 20:4; Matt. 19:28;
Luke 22:30.
2 Cf. 1 Pet. 3:22; 2
Pet. 2:4.
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