1 Corinthians 6:1 Commentary and Bible Study

The inspired apostle turns to what we might call the freedom heresy. This is so relevant today because it still flourishes; it makes periodic comebacks among the churches. The freedom heresy is the idea that as a saved believer I have Christian liberty, and therefore I should not be bound by all kinds of rules and regulations in the Christian life. You hear it said: I claim my Christian liberty. Yes, but there are certain rules of conduct for believers deduced from the Scripture. There are certain standards, for example to be separate from the world and worldliness. ‘No, no’, says the freedom heresy. ‘What about my Christian liberty? I am not bound by these things by any rules; that is legalism.’ Even in sound churches you get people who says, ‘Everything which would regulate conduct, and promote holiness, and keep us apart from the world, is legalism.’ They do not know what the correct definition of legalism is. So they claim their Christian liberty. The apostle Paul deals with it in this chapter in a very forceful manner. The first issue dealt with in the chapter does not seem to have a great deal to do with the freedom heresy. It is about going to law against believers. That is covered in verses 1 to 11, then verses 12 to 13 are answers to the freedom heresy, and then verses 14 to 20 are the apostle's remedy for freedom from sin, fornication in particular. The greatest clue to the meaning is in the first word, ‘dare’. ‘Are any of you so uninhibited, and so bold, as to do this thing: to enter into court cases against one another for perceived frauds, or anything of this kind, before unbelievers? Can you really be audacious enough to do this quite inappropriate thing?’ There were people among the Corinthians who were very impulsive, had to have their own way, and they leapt into this at every opportunity. Christian society in Corinth, had been badly shaken up, because when people were converted, they would leave the idol temples. Well, most of them would; some didn't. But, most of them would leave their idol temples and be unreservedly for the Lord. That meant they lost their jobs and their livings. Maybe all their lives they been expert tradespeople, craftsmen, but now they could not work because it was all a closed shop. If you wanted to work you had to belong to the trade guild, and to belong to the trade guild you had to be linked to idol worship. So people were cast on one another, and some among Christians who would take advantage of this by renting out properties and then put their rents up, and there was plenty of scope for people to cut corners and do really inappropriate things to each other. But what relates this to work the freedom heresy is that these were people who strutted through life and did whatever they wanted to, by impulse. So if somebody who was a Christian owed them something, they would immediately go to law about it. It is going to tie up with the freedom heresy, because it is the same outlook. ‘I can do what I want. I am going to stand on my rights on every issue.’