Should Christians Sue

Message / Question

Can you comment on William P Young suing Wayne Jacobsen and Brad Cummings for $8 million in lost revenue? Doesn't 1 Corinthians 6:2-3 make it pretty clear Christians shouldn't be suing each other? Seems pretty hypocritical especially from the guy who was trying to revolutionise the concept of "God's love" for us

Response

First up, let’s clear something up, I understand that the specific matter that you mentioned was settled out of court, so the lawsuit didn’t actually go ahead.

So, let’s consider the underlying principle. Like most things, this is not quite as straight forward as you might think or even want to think! There can be little argument that The Bible teaches that the ideal way for Christians to resolve disputes with one another is by bringing the matter before church elders/leaders after personal attempts to resolve the matter have failed. That’s the essence of Paul’s teaching to the Corinthian church. There is however, a great range of opinions among theologians / Bible teachers about whether this applies to all matters and, even if it does, what should happen when church counsel is refused. For example, if those involved in the matter that you raised, took the matter to church leaders and they ruled that say, one party owed the other 4 million dollars, how would that ruling be enforced? The one asked to pay the $4mil, may simply refuse to do so and the church would have no way of making them pay. Some suggest that, when all else has failed, then the legal system is there for us and we are entitled to use it. Some also suggest that, in worldly matters, dispute may be resolved in the courts and only personal/relational matters should be kept “in house” by Christians (this is said to invoke the “render to Caesar” clause).

Put simply, there is debate on the issue, with the majority seeming to suggest that there are times when a Christian has no choice but to use the legal system.