We read of another failure in the churches in 1 Corinthians 6:6. “Brother goes to law with brother, and this before unbelievers.” Paul fully disagreed with this and regarded it as a defeat (vv. 4-7).
Going to secular law and filing a lawsuit against a brother is a matter of claiming our rights and of not being willing to suffer loss. When we are soulish and fleshly, we shall always claim our rights. We shall not be willing to be wronged by anyone. Only when we live in the spirit are we willing to give in and not insist on our rights. When we live a life by the mingled spirit, we shall not claim any rights for ourselves. The reason we claim our rights is that instead of living by the mingled spirit, we live in the soul and in the flesh. Because the soulish life was prevailing and because the door was opened through the lusts of the flesh, there were lawsuits among the believers in Corinth. The sequence is that first we have a soulish preference, then the lust of the flesh, and then the claiming of our rights.
The Corinthian believers also had the great failure of questioning Paul’s apostleship and even charging the apostle with being crafty in making gain with guile (1 Cor. 9:1-3; 2 Cor. 12:16). In 1 Corinthians 9:1 Paul vindicates his apostleship. He asks, “Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?” Paul’s apostleship gives him authority to deal with all the problems in Corinth, serious problems concerning the church life and its fellowship. His handling of them is based not only on his teaching but also on the authority inherent in his apostleship. To deal with the situation, Paul must take this standing and make this matter clear to the Corinthian believers. They had questioned his apostleship and were in a chaotic situation, mostly due to the foolishness of their worldly wisdom, self-confidence, and pride.
In verse 3 Paul says, “My defense to those who examine me is this.” The Corinthians were actually examining Paul; they were investigating him to determine whether or not he was an apostle. What a shame this was to them! This is just like children examining their father to see if he is a genuine father.
In 2 Corinthians 12:16 Paul says, “I did not burden you, but being crafty I took you with guile.” This is what some Corinthians charged against the apostle. They said he was crafty in making gain, indemnifying himself by sending Titus to receive the collection for the poor saints. Although Paul did not burden the Corinthians, some of them were saying that he was crafty and took them with guile. They said that Paul would not come himself but used Titus as a cover to indemnify himself while he hid behind the scene. They were accusing Paul of being the one who actually collected the money through Titus. In their judgment, that was Paul’s craftiness. Therefore, Paul sent more than one person with Titus to collect the money. He did this in order to silence the defaming tongues. However, even though Paul acted carefully and with forethought, some of the Corinthians still defamed him.
We learn from Paul’s experience that even though the saints may be honest, Satan is nonetheless crouching among them. Satan uses money to damage the situation between the ministering ones and the saints. This was the reason some of the Corinthians criticized Paul, accusing him of being crafty in money matters. Those who criticized Paul might have been greedy and lovers of money. This might have been the reason they accused Paul of being crafty.
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