Does 1 Corinthians 6:1–2 forbid believers to go to the world’s courts and ask the courts to divorce them?

This text is from a transcript of a talk by David Gooding, entitled ‘The Christian Philosophy of Man’ (1994).

When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? (1 Corinthians 6:1–2)

It is a very sad thing, in terms of witness to the world, if two Christian people have to admit that the grace of Christ in one or other of them, or both, has not proved to be sufficient, and that they must divorce. That surely is a sad testimony.

On the other hand, we should remember that when you get married you can't get married simply as a private concern, nor as a thing that concerns the church; you have to get it registered with the State.

Consider this kind of example. I was hearing just recently of a good woman who married a gentleman, and a few weeks or months after they were married he told her that he wasn't a believer. He had only pretended to be a believer to get her. Now what should she do?

Furthermore, in such cases a man could go to the modern courts and complain that his wife, being a Christian, had tortured him mentally by her narrow views; and such are the liberal judges of this time that they might well decide in his favour, grant him a divorce, and give him custody of the children. Would it be a Christian thing to put up with that, and see the children consigned by the State to this ungodly deceiver and unprincipled man, and brought up in the world?

Would you think that's a Christian duty? Or would you think that the wife now should have a right to go as a Christian to the courts and explain the truth and, if not justify herself, try to keep hold of the children?

You say, 'That's a special case. That's a case where one of the people concerned is not a believer and openly admits it.'

I mentioned it to illustrate the point that, when it comes to practicalities, some of these questions are far more involved than it looks on the surface.