Why Christians Should Not Sue One Another

When Christians can’t settle a matter on their own, they should consult Christians in the church to help (I Corinthians 6:4-6). Why? Because the church has everything it needs for such an endeavor. They don’t need the world to solve the church’s problems. Secular judgments cannot resolve spiritual problems.

When conflict arises in the church, we everything to solve our issues internally. We have varieties of giftedness, leadership, character, and the mind of Christ to settle conflict. John MacArthur summarizes the problem this way:

“And by settle our own disputes, we give a testimony of our resources and of our unity, harmony, and humility before the world. When we go to public court, our testimony is the opposite.” (I Corinthians, pg. 139)

Any Christian brothers who take their cases to non-Christians are causing the church to be a laughingstock in the Gentile world.

We have everything we need to settle our own disputes. And as believers, our testimony to the unbelieving world should be a demonstration of love and forgiveness and, therefore, members of the body of Christ ought to be able to settle arguments and disputes without going to court. We are called to live in unity with humility toward one another. Even more than the secular courts, the body of Christ ought to have wise and godly leaders gifted in handling matters involving conflict resolution. We ought to be able to rightly resolve their legal arguments while maintaining a positive witness.