1 Corinthians 6:2

ἤ. This word (which is not in the rec. text) gives a life to the sentence. ‘Dare you, in spite of your Christian profession, carry your complaints before heathen tribunals? Or is it that you are ignorant &c.’ It occurs again in 1 Corinthians 6:9; 1 Corinthians 6:16; 1 Corinthians 6:19, in each case to introduce a new argument.

οἱ ἅγιοι τὸν κόσμον κρινοῦσιν. I.e. at Christ’s second coming. See Matthew 19:28; Luke 22:30, and Daniel 7:22.

ἐν ὑμῖν. Before you, i.e. in your presence. Cf. Xen. Cyr. iii. 3, 56 (ed. Dind.) καὶ ταῦτα�, and iv. 5, 18 καὶ ἐν πᾶσι τὴν ὀργὴν ἔλεγε. It is very difficult, however, in most passages, as in this, to decide between the renderings before or among.

κριτηρίων. See note on ch. 1 Corinthians 4:1. The termination might lead us to the conclusion that (1) the place of trial, the tribunal itself was meant. Cf. δικαστήριον and James 2:6. But (2) κριτήριον is thought to have come to mean the cause before the tribunal. It also means (3), like our word tribunal, the persons before whom the cause is brought. See Polyb. IX. 33, 12, XVI. 27, 2. In Plato, Theaet. 178 B, it has the sense (4) of the means whereby a conclusion is formed (whence our English word criterion). Here, if we do not accept (2), which is the rendering of A.V., we must either translate Are ye unworthy to preside over the most unimportant tribunals? or Are ye unworthy to hold trials of the most insignificant kind? (2) has no authority in its favour, but it seems almost to be required here by ἐλαχίστων. Meyer’s citations in favour of (2) do not bear out his conclusion. Two of them are cited above under (3).