1 Corinthians 5
July 31
Reading: 1 Corinthians 5
1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife. 2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.
3 For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. 4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people-- 10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler-- not even to eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? 13 God judges those outside. "Purge the evil person from among you."
For the Corinthian church, in addition to their arrogant disparagement of Paul and their arrogant infighting, their arrogance extends to the encouragement of sexual sin in their midst. The situation that Paul is confronting in 1 Corinthians 5 is awful. Even among non-Christian pagans, their behavior would be considered reprehensible. A man in the church is having a sexual relationship with his father’s wife.
What is the Corinthian church doing about it? We discover in this chapter that they have a rather high opinion of themselves and their tolerance. The Corinthian church would fit well into modern American culture.
- They are to pass judgment upon him in the power of Christ and “deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.” (vss. 3-5) What does this mean? They are to discipline this man according to Matthew 18:15-18 by expelling him from the church so that he might possibly come to his senses and repent.
- They are to publicly kick this man out of the church. They are to do this so that the sin will not spread through the church. (vss. 7-8) They are to do this because believers are not to associate with those who call themselves believers while living in outrageous sin. (vss. 9-13) This is because such fellowship would cause the sinner to think that he need not repent.
Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 5 helps us to see that it is the responsibility of the church of Jesus Christ, under proper leadership, in the prescribed way, to judge the behavior of believers when those believers choose to live as unrepentant sinners. This does not meant that we, as individuals, are encouraged to look at others and see them as worse sinners than ourselves. (Matthew 7:1-5) It does mean that the church, properly led, must deal correctly with the sin of its members.