6:3. Do you not know that we
shall judge angels? Paul
appears to draw on the Greek translation (LXX) of Dan. 7:22 which reads: “…
until the Ancient of days came, and he gave judgment to the saints of the Most
High; and the time came on, and the saints possessed the kingdom.” The belief
in a judgment of God on some of the angels is presupposed in 2 Peter 2:4 and
Jude 6, as well as in pre-Christian Jewish literature. Speaking of God’s
directive to Michael the archangel (see Jude 9), the author of 1 Enoch (ca. 180
b.c.) writes:
Make known to Semyaza [an angel] and the others who are with him, who
fornicated with the women, that they will die together with them in all their
defilement. And when they and all their children have battled with each other,
and when they have seen the destruction of their beloved ones, bind them for
seventy generations underneath the rocks of the ground until the day of their
judgment and of their consummation, until the eternal judgment is concluded. In
those days they will lead them into the bottom of the fire—and in torment—in
the prison (where) they will be locked up forever. And at the time when they
will burn and die, those who collaborated with them will be bound together with
them from henceforth unto the end of (all) generations (1 Enoch 10:11–14, OT Pseud
1:18).
This view is presupposed in Paul who believed that bringing minor
civil issues before a secular court was a scandal in the church and pleads with
his hearers to take care of such matters among themselves. Since they will
participate in the judgment of angels, surely they can take care of minor or
civil issues themselves. Epictetus (ca. a.d. 54–68) encourages his listeners to
worthy behavior that will result in participation with the gods in their rule.
So act [properly] toward children, so toward a wife, so toward office,
so toward wealth; and then some day you will be worthy of the banquets of the
gods. But if you do not take these things [what is inappropriate to take] even
when they are set before you, but despise them, then you will not only share
the banquets of the gods, but share also their rule (The Encheiridion of Epictetus 15, LCL).
Similarly, in Sallustius’ De
deis et mundo (Concerning the Gods
and the Universe, ca. a.d. 361–3), he claims that the pious, or religious
devotees, will share with the gods the governance of the whole universe (Deor. et mund. 21, LCL). (Lee
Martin McDonald, “1 Corinthians,” in The Bible Knowledge Background
Commentary: Acts-Philemon, ed. Craig A. Evans and Craig A. Bubeck [Colorado
Springs, Colo.: David C. Cook, 2004], 286-87)
