Does 1 Corinthians 6:1-8 Apply to Social Media?

Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? If then you have judgments concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge? I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren? But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers!

Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated? No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren!

I have been wrestling with this question over the last year or so, especially since I post blog articles once a week.

What is Paul’s point?

Paul is chiding the Corinthians for taking their personal grievances against one another before heathen courts. That part is easy, but what is his reason for condemning this? The stated reason in the text is that even the least respected people in their own fellowship should be arbitrated between believing brothers. To me, the unstated but obvious reason is that taking our internal differences before the lost is simply not their business and damages the cause of Christ. They do not have the values or worldview to judge appropriately.

What are the limitations?

The most common argument is that this principle only applies within the local church and has no regulative principle beyond it. Others would argue that this is just about who judges and not about who is privy to information about the conflict between believers.

There was only one local congregation in Corinth and court battles between people in different cities were almost unheard of in Ancient Near Eastern times. I find it highly unlikely that Paul would have not included other churches if there had been other churches in view.

Our present context is unprecedented.

Paul’s objection to who is judging is clearly the primary issue in the passage. However, that does take us quite quickly to the subject of airing our grievances on social media.

The internet has changed communication so profoundly that we do not often really comprehend it. Religious leaders used to communicate with their constituencies through publications sent to a finite mailing list—there were newspapers like the Sword of the Lord, magazines like Faith for the Family, and newsletters like the Blueprint that Archer Weniger published. These all had a specifically targeted audience.

Today anyone can post anything on a blog, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, or a host of other sites that is immediately searchable and available to every other person on the entire planet. The average human being today has more reach than the major TV networks, newspapers, or other outlets did forty years ago.

The nature of the internet should impact our judgment regarding confrontation. There are times when I might need to confront a brother in Christ, but Is this communication something I want the entire world to see? Would I want to send this to my brother’s local newspaper, CNN, or Fox news? Am I including people in this conversation that really have no business being there?

“But it’s really about the judge, not the notoriety”, some might say. Most of the time when we post online we are appealing to the judge of public opinion. That judge is rarely sufficiently informed, qualified, or just in the judgment it renders.

The internet has created a mob mentality. In recent years, internet mobs have sought to cancel their political opponents. Believers communicate with one another privately, not as mobs. That private conversation provides more accountability and reasonable communication between disagreeing parties.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful. (Proverbs 27:6)

I was “wounded” this way by a friend about a year ago for something I wrote online. He, in particular, is quite skilled in making words sting.  But I needed it.  It sent me down this path of considering the importance of 1 Corinthians 6 on media communications.  It was faithful communication.

There are times when very public communication is warranted. These are the times when we want everyone—including the lost world—to know where we stand. Usually, those are 1 Corinthians 5:9-13 situations but would also include situations in which the gospel is compromised (Galatians 1:6-10, 2:11-14).

There is a need for a thorough ethical theology of Christians and the internet. It sounds like a good dissertation subject. I have more meditation to do on this.