1 Corinthians 5
It is interesting that Paul does not write this privately to the pastor or the elders, but to the entire church.
1 It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father's wife.
2 You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst.
People were committing gross sin in the church and no one was confronting them. There was a feeling that a brother should be accepted no matter what he does or how he lives.
Paul doesn’t mince his words but tells them that they should have mourned that such a thing was done in the church and that they should have dealt with it by removing the person who did it.
The church is like a body. If a part becomes infected then it has to be treated, but if it becomes gangrenous then it has to be cut off. Otherwise the entire body will die.
We must take sin seriously. However, we must first apply this to ourselves, and only then to others.
3 For I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present.
4 In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus,
5 {I have decided} to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
The goal is to save the person, not to punish the person. Discipline may be the method, but it is not the goal.
The method is to deliver such a person to Satan for the destruction of his flesh. When a person is in a church, he is protected. Satan cannot touch him without God’s permission. But when a person is put out of the church Satan is allowed to mess with him. It is like taking the chicken from the hen house and letting the fox know about it. The person will find life so difficult that he will be willing to repent and come back into the church – similar to what happened to the prodigal son.
Verse 5 makes no sense if a person cannot lose their salvation.
6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump {of dough?} 7 Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are {in fact} unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.
8 Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Instead of doing such a thing, the Corinthians were boasting about what a wonderful church they had and how it was established by the great apostles of the day (as we saw in Chapters 1 to 4.
They didn’t realize how much spiritual damage one infected member could do.
They didn’t realize the cost that Christ had to pay to redeem each member of the church.
They didn’t value the church enough to keep it spotless.
Instead of being honest about the true state of matters they were willing to tolerate people who wanted to do wrong even if the wrong was against each other. For them, all was okay if you were a ‘brother’.
Fortunately, some sensible and brave soul told Paul about it.
Truth helps you to understand the true state of matters. Sincerity helps you to want to fix the problems for the benefit of the entire church. On the other hand, wickedness, and the resulting malice, can destroy the church.
9 I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people;
10 I {did} not at all {mean} with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world.
11 But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler – not even to eat with such a one.
12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within {the church?}
13 But those who are outside, God judges. REMOVE THE WICKED MAN FROM AMONG YOURSELVES.
Paul knew that there were ungodly people in the church at Corinth. So he told the Corinthians not to associate with ungodly people. But they misunderstood him and thought that he was referring to the ungodly people outside the church.
God judges those who are outside the church. So we don’t really need to spend anytime judging them. We can associate with them as long as they don’t pull us into wrongdoing.
So then, should we judge those outside the church who abort their babies or practice homosexuality?
We are however commanded to not associate with ungodly people in the church – unless they have repented. In fact, we are commanded to remove such people from the church, and not to even eat with them!
Now look at the list:
- Immoral people: this includes fornicators, adulterers, child molesters, homosexuals, and the like.
- Covetous people: these are people who are envious or jealous of you because you have something that they want but don’t have.
- Idolaters: these are people who put other things or people before God. People who spend a lot of time watching sports and find no time for God belong to this category, don’t you think?
- Revilers: these are people who lash out at others with their tongue.
- Drunkards: these are people who can’t control their alcohol intake and drink to the point of getting intoxicated.
- Swindlers: these are people who unrighteously take from others including their friends, enemies, neighbors, strangers, corporations, the place they work at, churches, or the government.
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