Paul raises the stakes. He has said the saints will judge the world; now he says they will judge angels. If they are fit for that, he asks, how much more are they fit to decide everyday matters? The first question names something astonishing. The second makes the point: the disputes they were taking to court were small by comparison. Barnes says that if Christians "will be qualified to see the justice of even the sentence which is pronounced on fallen angels," they ought to be able to settle the minor differences that arise in the church.

No reply from the Corinthians is recorded. The answer is meant to be obvious: if they will judge angels, they can certainly judge "things that pertain to this life." Paul draws out the consequence at once: "If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church" (1 Corinthians 6:4).

The commentators differ on which angels are meant and when this judging happens. Barnes thinks the reference is probably to fallen angels, since Scripture gives no account of holy angels being put on trial. Gill also takes it of evil angels, "the devil and his angels," but he does not place it at the last day. He reads it of their being driven out of the Gentile world, out of "their oracles, idols, and idol temples," through the preaching of the apostles, something he says had "already begun." Gill explains "things that pertain to this life" as everyday business: trade, money, and possessions.

Paul's argument moves from greater to lesser. Believers will have a share in judgment that reaches even to angels, so matters of property and business should not be beyond them. The question shows how highly God regards His people. He intends to give them a dignity far beyond what the Corinthians were living up to.

That high calling was meant to change ordinary life. Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary puts it simply: "Christians should not contend with one another, for they are brethren." What God will one day entrust to His people should make them humble and peaceable now, not quick to sue.