Tort Reform In Scripture?

Does any one of you, when he has a case against his neighbor, dare to go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life? So if you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, do you appoint them as judges who are of no account in the church? (1 Corinthians 6:1-4 NASB)

Tort reform is all the rage, and I doubt means anything close to the same thing to various people.  We all see different problems in lawsuits between people, between people and businesses, between businesses, between professionals and clients/patients, and it goes on.  Medical malpractice insurance seems to drive the cost of medical care off the charts, requiring higher costs for medical insurance, and that's just one slice of a huge pie.  It seems anybody can sue anyone about anything and get punitive damages.  The problems only seem to benefit the lawyers and insurance companies.

Well, what if believers opted to be different?  What if believers opted to keep civil matters within the church, believer to believer?  Paul seems assume this is supposed to be how it works, not suggesting the church in Ancient Corinth try it.  Think about that.  He's using the Hebrew Scriptures as his basis, influenced by the teachings of Jesus from the 12 Apostles, and the understanding given to him through the Holy Spirit.  And he arrives at the assumption churches will handle civil disputes between members within the church.

We, in churches in this society, have arrived elsewhere, and in my opinion would require a huge paradigm shift in order to envision such a thing.  Between assumptions we don't need it (there are no torts between believers), and the hesitation to be bound by a non-lawyer religious group, I doubt this could ever become the norm.  In fact, I suspect that it could possibly put congregations at legal risk of being sued themselves (ironically).

Having said that, please note Paul's statement recorded in verse 5 (look it up, I didn't include it).  "I say this to your shame."  And yet I suspect many congregations would be proud, consider themselves prudent or wise, to avoid handling civil matters between congregation members within the congregation itself.  Where's the shame?  Where's the assumption that this is how it should be rather than a risky option?  Why has 'prudence' deserted the biblical form we were supposed to have?

Well, consider verses 6 through 8 (also not included, you'll just have to open a Bible).  The reason is our own sinfulness; sinfulness we refuse to acknowledge, of which we refuse to repent, sinfulness of which we seem to be proud.  How different are we from this ancient congregation to whom Paul wrote?  What would he write to us?  How large would be the book, long the letter, angry the words?  Would the accusing words of Jesus reverberate through our sanctuaries, "It will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the Day of Judgement than for you"( Matthew 11:24).

I don't know what solution would work for tort reform in our country.  But I think I see a huge place for it in our churches.  It mostly has to do with attitude and pervasive sin within our congregations rather than actual procedure.  The procedure is actually already in place in every state, typically known as rules of arbitration or some such.  The legal limits and scope of such activity is already defined, and there's no real requirement that legal code be used in lieu of Scripture for decisions, so religious 'courts' are already legal.  The only requirement is that those within churches submit themselves to the decisions of such 'courts'.

Would I be willing to submit myself to such a 'court', one basing its decisions on interpretations of Scripture rather than local, state, and federal legal code (I can't imagine they would have jurisdiction in Federal matters)?  That would require a lot of trust in my fellow believers.  It would require humility on my part.  But I can't be alone in this (duh!), so would I be willing to bring this up with others; explore the possibility of true mediation and arbitration rules?  It's a lot of work, and to what end?  Can I trust that my Master has it all figured out, and all I need to do is be obedient?  Okay, so I want tort reform within my church, so sue me!  Oh, wait...