Lawsuits among Saints and the Shame of Defrauding Brothers

Paul is astonished that believers are taking one another before secular tribunals while the church claims an eschatological destiny in which the saints will participate in judgment. The rhetorical question “Know ye not that the saints shall judge the world?” looks toward God’s future rule and exposes the absurdity of Christians being unable to settle ordinary disputes without public rivalry.

Paul is not saying courts have no legitimate function. His complaint concerns believers using litigation against one another in a way that displays greed, humiliation, and refusal to absorb wrong for the sake of the community. The deeper failure is already present before a verdict: “ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren.”