Misinterpreters often take this verse out of context to claim Christians should currently judge and condemn the secular world or pursue dominance in legal systems, twisting its eschatological promise of future judgment with Christ into a license for present-day self-righteousness or vigilante justice. It neither authorizes believers to lord over unbelievers now nor excuses unresolved church conflicts by outsourcing to worldly authorities; instead, it rebukes immaturity in handling intra-church matters to maintain gospel witness.
I Corinthians 6:2
King James Version (1769)
2 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
Paul rhetorically asks the Corinthian church if they realize that saints will judge the world in the future, highlighting their elevated spiritual position in God's kingdom to shame them for failing to judge trivial matters among themselves. This underscores believers' responsibility to exercise wisdom and discernment in church disputes internally, rather than appealing to unbelieving courts, affirming their competence through Christ's empowerment for both small and eternal judgments.