Can Christians Sue Other Christians?
Can Christians ever sue other Christians? Can we ever go to court against one another?
You may be tempted to say “no.” After all, the Bible seems to be pretty straightforward on this:
Luke 12:57–59 - “And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer put you in prison. I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny.” (see also Matthew 5;25-26)
1 Corinthians 6:1–8 - When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? But you yourselves wrong and defraud—even your own brothers!
Welp. There you have it. Christians, therefore, should never go to court with one another.
But what if someone who calls himself a Christian murders or assaults your child? What if they slander your business, and you end up having to lay people off? What if they are covering up sin which needs to be exposed? What if you try to go to them to settle, they don’t even want to talk about it, and their church is unwilling to mediate? What if they are hurting people that you love and you want to warn those people?
Are the commands from Luke and 1 Corinthians really telling Christians to not go to court with another Christian, without exception?
In reality, the question of whether or not a Christian can ever take another to court is a bit tricky, because the commands that the Bible gives always occur in a particular context. Jesus says to give to everyone who asks of you (Matthew 5:42) but if someone said, “please give me money so I can buy cocaine,” we would all agree that this command cannot apply in this (rare) situation. Likewise, in Matthew 12:3-4 Jesus uses an example of King David eating the “bread of the Presence” (sacred bread that only the priests were allowed to eat). Jesus commends David for doing something that the Bible explicitly commanded David not to do. Is Jesus approving of sin? Not at all. Jesus is showing that under normal circumstances those who are not priests should not eat the bread, but in this very rare circumstance the lives of David and his companions were more important. Sabbath was made for man, not man for Sabbath (Mark 2:27).
The same is true with going to court with a fellow believer.
A few things to notice
When interpreting and applying any command in the Bible, we always have to take into account the context in which the command is given. Is the command given to one particular person or people (like the command for the nation of Israel to conquer Canaan) or to all people? Is the command for a particular period of time, but no longer binding (like circumcision and other provisions of the Mosaic Law)? Is the command absolute and universal (“do not commit adultery”) or are there exceptions? Such questions can be difficult, but they are necessary if we want to actually understand the will of God as revealed in Scripture.
Therefore, let’s consider the contexts in which these commands against lawsuits occur. Beginning again with Luke 12:
Luke 12:57–59 - “And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer put you in prison. I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny.”
Notice:
Christians should know the Bible well enough to know what is right and wrong (“judge for yourselves what is right”).
Christians should try to make peace quickly, rather than letting things fester (“make an effort to settle with him on the way”).
Christians should try to first make amends outside of court (same as above).
Christians should try to make peace before going to court because the judgment might go against them (“lest the judge...put you in prison”).
Also, it bears mentioning that the Christian in this particular example seems to be the one at fault. Notice that they are being accused and the assumption is that the judgment will go against them and they will have to pay what is owed.
Now let’s look at 1 Corinthians 6 again:
1 Corinthians 6:1–8 - When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? But you yourselves wrong and defraud—even your own brothers!
Notice:
Christians will have conflict with one another (“When one of you has a grievance against another”).
Christians should be able to sit down in rational dialogue to see who is right and who is wrong. In other words, refusing to meet or refusing to consider that you might be wrong is unbiblical and disobedient (“Can it be that there is no one among wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers…?”.
Christians should be better judges of things than non-believers (“do you not know that the saints will judge the world?...So...why do you lay [such cases] before those who have no standing in the church?”).
Christians should choose a Christian arbitrator to help settle disputes. This also assumes that some Christians will be more "wise" than others and thus better able to adjudicate disputes (“Can it be that there is no one among wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers…?”).
Christians are part of the same spiritual family (“between brothers”...“brother goes to law against brother”… “even your own brothers!”)
Christians should be willing to be defrauded on small cases related to things like money and property, etc (“Why not rather be defrauded?”).
Christians have to keep in mind how we appear to outsiders (“...and that before unbelievers?”).
Also, notice that this passage immediately follows God's instructions regarding church discipline (1 Corinthians 5:1-12). In most settings, settling disputes between believers outside of the court depends on the healthy functioning of church discipline. Where such discipline is lacking, the process will always be short-circuited.
What does the passage not address?
All these things are right and good. In most cases we should first try to make peace with another Christian. Should that fail, we are to then bring in another individual Christian as an arbitrator (in some cases we might even need to enlist the help of the corporate body of a local church as in Matthew 18:15-17). Should that fail, we are to be willing to be cheated and defrauded in most trivial, civil cases. In other words, in general, unity among Christians is more important than clinging to your rights for the sake of a few bucks.
However, you’ll notice that these passages give you the general rule that will work the overwhelming majority of the time…but they are not exceptionless. Paul is not at all addressing other court-related issues such as sexual assault, murder, corruption, slander, etc.
New Testament scholar, Frank Thielman, helpfully says,
“Although some have argued that Paul is prohibiting Christians from ever going to court against another Christian, Paul seems in these verses only to be addressing disputes related to property or money (cf. “Why not rather be defrauded?” v. 7), rather than criminal cases, which fall under the jurisdiction of the state. (See Rom. 13:1–5 where Paul shows that God has established civil government for the protection and good of all people.) It is doubtful, therefore, that Paul’s intention is that this specific example should be applied in every situation, since not every situation today matches the circumstances of this specific case in Corinth, where the two parties are in the same local church (“among you,” 1 Cor. 6:5), and where the dispute is specifically related to property or money (“Why not be defrauded?” v. 7).”
Paul is not disparaging all pagan courts. In fact, he appealed to them on several occasions (Acts 16:37-39; 25:10-12). Rather, he is only giving advice for what to do regarding “normal” and non-serious disputes. The theologian Gordon Fee notes, “If it is of concern for the one who defrauded and for all others who might be so taken in, then one might seem fully justified [to go to court]. But if it is for the sake of one’s own possessions alone, then one surely needs to ask about proper motives and priorities.”
To say it another way, there is a difference between going to court due to selfish or petty motivations, and going to court to help others or to expose evil.
Reasons Christians can sue each other
With these things in mind, most scholars agree that these two texts are not forbidding all lawsuits, even among Christians.
What is being addressed in this passage is what we would call “small claims” today (it’s helpful to note that the Greek word translated as “trivial” in 1 Corinthians 6:2 means “very small” or “least important”). If someone defrauds you (cheats you in business, steals something from you), Paul says it is generally better to just turn the other cheek. However, notice that these passages do not deal at all with criminal charges, when you leverage the law to help protect other people, or when your willingness to suffer loss would also mean loss for others more vulnerable than you, etc. In fact, it might actually be righteous to go to court in certain contexts.
What if you try to make amends and the person won’t talk to you?
What if you have conflict with church leadership, so their “arbitration” is biased?
What if the issue falls under criminal law (under the authority of the state) instead of civil law?
What if the issue has nothing to do with you being defrauded?
What if the issue has caused you major and not just “trivial” harm?
What if other people are being spiritually harmed, and you’re suing out of love rather than selfishness?
What if evil needs to be exposed and the only way to do it is through legal means?
The focus of each and every passage dealing with lawsuits is not the propriety of the lawsuit itself, but the tendency of the human heart to incline toward pride, selfishness, and greed. The point is that Christians have to do what is best and most loving, even if it costs them. What is interesting is that, sometimes, suing is the very thing that is most loving.
For example, if a pastor has sexually assaulted a child, you should take legal action. If a church is hurting people and they need to be warned against evil leaders, you may have to take legal action. If the church is disobedient and refuses to arbitrate, you may have to take legal action. If the church is covering up sin and hiding behind false teaching, legal action may be the only way to expose their corruption. If the church is committing criminal action, you may have to take legal action. If the issue is not a “trivial case” but could cause serious long-term injury, you may have to take legal action.
In such cases, the particular issue and situation (as well as godly advice and an attempt to first reconcile) will dictate what one should do.
Conclusion
So can Christians sue one another?
It all depends on the context. Have you made every reasonable attempt to reconcile apart from this drastic step? Are you doing it for the sake of your own pride, greed, or vengeance? Or in order to protect others?
If you have been wronged in a minor way, you should always first try to privately make peace with the person one-on-one. If that doesn't work, then you should have an unbiased person or group of people who love Jesus and submit to Scripture judge for you (recognizing that the better that an individual understands the word of God, the better they are able to differentiate between worldly justice and wisdom, and godly justice and wisdom). If that doesn’t bring resolution, then it is better to just drop it and forgive the offender (after all, it is glory to overlook an offense according to Proverbs 19:11).
But if, on the other hand, the dispute is not regarding you being defrauded in “trivial” cases, but about helping others, exposing evil, seeking justice on major issues, or matters related to criminality, then going to court might be the most God-honoring thing. This should, however, be a last resort. Far too often we think we either have to do nothing or jump into a lawsuit. Instead, we should have humble and loving hearts that examine our own motivations and desire to find constructive and creative ways to talk to one another, to make amends, to appoint impartial third-party arbitrators, and try to keep the peace for the glory of God and the good of His Church.
