“Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?”
My Notes
What Does 1 Corinthians 6:7 Mean?
Paul escalates his critique: the fact that Corinthian believers are suing each other at all is a complete failure ("utterly a fault" — hēttēma, meaning defeat, loss). Then he asks two devastating questions: Why not rather take wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?
The questions are counterintuitive: Paul is asking why they don't just absorb the injustice. Not because injustice is good, but because taking the loss is better than the alternative — publicly damaging the church's witness by suing a fellow believer before pagans.
The ethic here is radical: it's better to be wronged than to wrong the church's testimony. It's better to lose money than to lose the gospel's credibility. The individual's right to justice is subordinated to the community's witness. Your loss is smaller than the church's loss if you pursue your case.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Could you actually 'take wrong' — absorb an injustice — for the sake of the church's testimony?
- 2.Where is your insistence on your rights damaging something bigger than what you're fighting for?
- 3.How does Paul's ethic (the community's witness matters more than your case) challenge individualistic Christianity?
- 4.Is there a dispute right now where the gospel would be better served by you losing than by you winning?
Devotional
Why not just take the loss? Why not just let yourself be cheated?
Paul's questions sound insane from a worldly perspective. Someone wronged you. You have legal rights. The court system exists for exactly this purpose. Why would you absorb the injustice?
Because the alternative is worse. Two Christians in a pagan courtroom, airing their dirty laundry in front of the watching world, is a bigger loss than whatever money or property is at stake. You might win the case and lose the testimony. You might get your money back and cost the gospel its credibility.
Paul isn't saying injustice doesn't matter. He's saying the church's witness matters more. And when those two things conflict — your right to justice versus the church's credibility — you take the loss. Not because you deserve to be cheated. Because the gospel is worth more than what was stolen.
This is one of the hardest ethical instructions in the New Testament. It requires valuing something invisible (the church's reputation) over something visible (your money). It requires believing that the gospel's credibility has a price — and it's sometimes paid with your personal loss.
"Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?" — because the willingness to absorb loss for the sake of the gospel is itself a testimony. A community where people voluntarily take wrong rather than shame the church in court is a community that preaches without opening its mouth.
The loss is real. The testimony is worth more.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you,.... Or a "defect": a want of brotherly love, or there would be no…
There is utterly a fault - There is ALtogether a fault; or you are entirely wrong in this thing. That ye go to law ... -…
There is utterly a fault among you - There is a most manifest defect among you,
1. Of peaceableness;
2. Of brotherly…
Here the apostle reproves them for going to law with one another before heathen judges for little matters; and therein…
Why do ye not rather take wrong? Cf. St Mat 5:38-42.
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture