1 Corinthians 6:3

Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? If then ye have to judge things pertaining to this life, do ye set them to judge who are of no account in the church?

Paraphrase: You who know all about judging angels in the last day, how about judging some of these petty disputes you are disgracefully airing in the courts, of the pagans? And in your practice of resolving these little earthly matters, how is it that you set the pagan judges over such trivialities, such judges being of no account at all in the church, as they are not members of it.

If the sarcastic vein is denied here, the rendering of the words "do ye set" would be imperative, that is, a command that they should choose some humble member of the congregation to be a judge of disputes. In such an interpretation, which is by no means unreasonable, the admonition would stress the rejection of value judgments of the world, letting the humble decide, instead of the mighty.

Taking the words "do ye not know" as meaning "of course, it is a fact, requires some kind of thesis on just "how" the saints are going to judge the earth. Thus, Johnson explained such judging metaphorically: "The saints shall judge the world, because of their union with the Messiah, to whom all judgment is committed."[10] Shore likewise took the judging to be figurative, "arising out of the apostle's intense realization of the unity of Christ and his Church Triumphant."[11] McGarvey wrote, "The saints will only participate as mystically united with Christ the judge."[12]

Before leaving this subject, a word with regard to Daniel 7:22 is appropriate: The passage reads:

Until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.

The judge in this place is mentioned in the first clause, being the Ancient of Days; and it was his judgment which was given to the saints, the same being a judgment upon their behalf, and not a judgment made by them. The great passage in Matthew 25:31-46 is in complete harmony with this interpretation of Daniel 7:22. In all probability, the false teachers at Corinth had indulged in some very wild speculations.

[10] S. Lewis Johnson, Jr., Wycliffe Bible Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1971), p. 604.

[11] T. Teignmouth Shore, Ellicott's Commentary on the Holy Bible (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1959), p. 303.

[12] J. W. McGarvey, op cit., p. 75.