Guides
May a Christian fight this fight?
You may carry this question yourself, or have it aimed at you like a weapon. It deserves an honest answer, not a quick one.
1 Corinthians 6:1-11 rebukes believers dragging “trivial cases” against each other before pagan courts, culminating in “To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong?” (1 Cor 6:7). Faithful interpreters read its reach differently:
- The mainstream evangelical reading holds that Paul addresses trivial disputes between two reconciliation-minded believers, and does not forbid divorce proceedings, protection from abuse, restraining orders, or matters involving a child's safety. The further a situation is from what Paul addressed, the more it becomes a matter of wisdom rather than prohibition.
- The stricter reading, held in parts of the Anabaptist tradition, takes the passage as a broad caution: avoid litigation nearly always, defend if sued but do not counter-sue, and seek the church's counsel first. Faithful Christians hold this position and it deserves respect. Even this tradition permits defending yourself.
Three things complete the picture, whichever reading you hold closest:
- Family court is not “suing your brother” in the 1 Corinthians sense. Marriage is a civil institution licensed by the state; its dissolution runs through the state's courts by law, not by your choice. The process in Matthew 18, going privately, then with witnesses, then to the church, presupposes a cooperative other party who wants to repent. When one party refuses good faith, that path is closed by their choice, not yours.
- Civil courts are a God-ordained instrument. “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God” (Romans 13:1). Using the court God ordained, honestly and without vengeance, is submission to that order, not rebellion against 1 Corinthians 6.
- Paul himself used a hostile legal system in self-defense. Facing false accusations before Festus, he did not absorb them quietly: “I appeal to Caesar” (Acts 25:11). A believer invoking lawful process against dishonest accusations stands in that precedent.
Matthew 5:25 says, “Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court.” That is live counsel. Settle what can honestly be settled, and settle it early, before positions harden and fees compound. Matthew 5:38-42 (turn the other cheek) teaches absorbing personal insult without retaliation. Both passages also get weaponized to shame a spouse out of lawful self-protection. Jesus was not instructing anyone to surrender their children's safety or submit to ongoing harm. A verse quoted at you to gain leverage in a lawsuit is being used as a tactic, and you are allowed to name it as one.
“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” Matthew 10:16
Jesus assumes His people will face wolves, and He commands both shrewdness and innocence. Naïveté is not a virtue here, and neither is becoming a wolf. What matters is how you litigate and why. Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8).