A podcast listener named Brooke has today's question. It's short and to the point. Hello, Pastor John, and thank you for this podcast. My question for you is simply, what does the Apostle Paul mean when he says that we are to judge angels in 1 Corinthians 6.3? Can you explain this text and its context?

The context of the question is whether Christians should use law courts, secular law courts, to settle matters with each other, whether they should sue each other in secular court. Let me read it to you, 1 Corinthians 6.1-3, "When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare to 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 than matters pertaining to this life?" The first commentary I glanced at on this said this, "But exactly how we shall judge angels is not revealed to us." Now that's true, but we're not left without any help in Scripture.

This is pointing to something absolutely mind-boggling when he says we will judge angels. And we would do well to reflect on it, which is what I enjoy doing, getting ready to answer this. Scholars disagree about whether the angels here are good angels or bad angels, angels who haven't fallen and are sinless, and angels who have fallen and are in the category of demons now.

But it does seem strange to me that this would be a reference here to absolutely sinless angels, since the context has to do with sorting out what is right and wrong among Christians who have sinned against each other and are going to law to get it sorted out. That's not the sort of thing you would need if you were dealing with sinless angels, it seems like.

So perhaps the reference is to judging angels, namely demonic spirits who had played a role in your life and had tempted you and battered you, and you can become a witness at their final condemnation by saying, "This is how I experienced demonic assault," so that you are a witness to their increasing guilt.

That's a possibility. But I think greater things are being pointed to in this verse, and it's the greater thing that I want to mention especially. Remember, Jesus said, "God has given him, son of man, all authority," or authority, "to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man," John 5:27.

In other words, if we have any role in judgment at all, we humans, it will be a participation in the rights and the authority of Jesus, the Son of Man, who has supreme authority as the judge of all things in this universe, because God has imparted it to him.

And that is the most stupendous thing about this text, and others like it. Whatever the specifics are, the implication is we are being elevated to a status and a role in the coming ages that surpasses our present nature like the ocean surpasses a thimble full of water. Here's what I mean.

In Revelation 3:21, Jesus says to the saints, "The one who overcomes, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat with my Father on his throne." Sit with Jesus on the throne of God who rules the universe? Try to let that sink in.

And in Revelation 2:26, Jesus gives a specific example with the promise, "The one who conquers, who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations." Paul puts it like this in 2 Timothy 2:12, "If we endure with him, we will reign with him." So the spectacular thing about being told that we will judge angels is not mainly the specific ways that that will take place, but the inexpressible greatness of the status, the position given to ordinary people like you and me, ordinary people of God to actually share in the functions of the judge of the universe.

Now I think this really sheds light on a very puzzling couple of verses in Ephesians 1. At least they used to puzzle me a lot, and I don't presume to have everything right and clear and full about them, but consider this. This is verses 22 and 23 of Ephesians 1.

It says, "And God put all things under Jesus' feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all." So the first thing he says is that all things are under the feet of Jesus. He's the absolute judge, absolute ruler over all things.

And then, as such, it says that Jesus is given as head to the church—head, that is, in the sense that the church is the rest of his body. So he's got a head and he's got a body attached to his head, so he's not whole. So now you have a head with all authority over all things, possessing a body, which is the church of millions of believers, and then he says, "This body is the fullness of him who fills all in all." Now what could that possibly mean?

That the church, as the body of the ruler of the universe, fills it all. My suggestion is that the way Jesus fills the universe is with his rule and his control and his judgment, and he does this by means of his body, who share in that rule and control and judgment, sitting on the very throne with Jesus.

So the fullness of the influence and the presence of the Son of Man filling the universe is the presence and the action and the judgment of his people, positioned perfectly in every way for their greatest joy and his greatest glory. So my answer to Brooke is that even though I may not know the specifics of how we will judge angels, the truth of this text is a breathtaking exaltation of ordinary believers that should fill us with a continual sense of wonder and awe and hope and joy and confident engagement in helping others live this way, especially believers who are in conflict with each other and are being tempted to settle that conflict with worldly means rather than Spirit-filled Christians.

Glories upon glories upon glories here, just speechless listening to you expound all of them. Thank you, Pastor John, for this answer. And Brooke, thank you for getting us here by sending us your question, we really appreciate it. And to all of you who are listening, thank you. You can stay current with our episodes on your phone or your device by subscribing to us through your preferred podcast catcher app.

And you can search our past episodes in our archive and you can send us an email of your own through our online home at desiringgod.org/askpastorjohn. Well every once in a while we get emails in the inbox that just leave me just speechless, dumbfounded, because they arrive with not only a pointed question, but with very real life hurt and pain behind the question, seeking genuine answers to alleviate very deep, core identity struggles.

Like the email we're going to field on Wednesday when we return, it's an email from a young woman who is the product of IVF. And her biological father was a donor she's never met, and she was just told about it. And now she feels like a part of her was sold as a commodity and it's having damaging effects on her search for her own identity.

You won't want to miss this one, it will have connections more broadly to really anyone who's been adopted or conceived through any form of reproductive technology. That is on Wednesday when we return. I'm your host Tony Reinke and we will see you then. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10