Verses 5-6
What was to the Corinthians’ shame? It was that by going into secular courts to settle their church problems they seemed to be saying that there was no one in their church wise enough to settle these matters. Certainly they could count on the Holy Spirit to give them the wisdom and the proper spirit they needed to do this (cf. John 14:26; John 16:13).
"A church has come to a pretty pass when its members believe that they are more likely to get justice from unbelievers than from their own brothers." [Note: Ibid., p. 138.]
Clearly this church did not understand its identity as an eschatological community nor did it demonstrate much concern about its witness to the world.
"Every Jewish community throughout the Roman Empire and beyond its frontiers had its own bet-din, its own competent machinery for the administration of civil justice within its own membership; the least that could be expected of a Christian church was that it should make similar arrangements if necessary, and not wash its dirty linen in public." [Note: Bruce, 1 and 2 Corinthians, p. 59.]
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