Having warned the church of his intention to come with the rod of spiritual discipline if the church did not repent of its current behaviour, Paul now moves on to another area of major concern in the Corinthian church. Beginning in the passage under consideration today, Paul deals with the sin of sexual immorality within the Corinthian church. It would appear that the church not only knew of this sin, but also actually gloried in it.
Please Read 1 Corinthians 5:1-8
Verse 1: It would seem that the apostle finds it incredible that such a sin of sexual immorality was present in a Christian church (as it was reported to him). Paul appears shocked by the scene in Corinth. This sin was actually occurring or had occurred in Corinth, a Christian Church! But even worse, the church actually condoned it! The sin was of such a grievous nature that even unsaved Gentiles dared not commit its type.
Existing within the church at Corinth was the sin of a man having his father’s wife. It is a sin which was outlawed in the Old Testament for Israel (Lev 18:8; 20:11; Deut 22:30; 27:20). In fact such a sin was punishable by death. Whether the man’s father still lived (See 2 Cor 7:12) and even though the woman was not the man’s actual mother (stepmother), this was sin that was being committed in Corinth.
However, the apostle may in fact be highlighting more the lack of true discipline in the Corinthian church, as verse 9 seems to point out. Certainly Christians should commit no such sin. Yet just as certainly, the Christian church should not allow such a sinner to remain in the church. Paul seems to be pointing to the Corinthian church’s failure in this respect here.
Verse 2: The Corinthians have been behaving in an arrogant manner, believing themselves to be over other Christians, yet this man remained within the church. Rather than expressing godly sorrow that such sin had been committed, the Corinthians appeared to condone the sin by allowing the man to remain in the church. It is possible that they believed this to be a way of magnifying the grace of God (cf Rom 6:1,15), a way of expressing ‘a greater understanding of God’s grace’ over that of the rest of the church.
The correct response that the Corinthian church should have taken was to have expelled the man from among them. Church discipline should have been practised by now and the man not allowed to continue in the church or his sin unchallenged and unrebuked. The church should now be expressing grief for their own sin in not exercising discipline as readily as they should have.
QUESTION: Explain why the Corinthians should have mourned because of the sin existing in the church?
Verse 3: Paul’s assessment of the man’s case is very clear in this verse. He has weighed up the man’s case, even though absent from the church for the time being and formed a conclusion or judgment suitable to the case. Though a great distance from Corinth, Paul is there in spirit (in thought) and has come to a conclusion regarding the man in question. He is guilty of the sin and must therefore face the consequences of his actions.
NOTE: INDIVIDUAL DISCOVERY QUESTION HERE: What does verse four mean by saying ‘along with my spirit’?
Verses 4,5: Paul’s instructions for the church in this matter are very clear. When the church is next gathered together, they as a church and as though Paul were present also (acting with the authority of the apostle), must expel the man. Such a sentence is able to be passed with the full authority of both the apostle and the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what the situation calls for. He must be expelled. The task, though difficult, can be done through the power of the Lord Jesus Christ.
QUESTION: Is there anything of relevance in this verse that should be kept in mind as a safeguard in the practice of church discipline? Explain.
The appeal to the Lord Jesus Christ at the beginning of the verse may very well be aimed at reminding the believers in Corinth just whom it is that they serve. They are bonded to the Lord Jesus Christ and are to submit to Him, therefore they must do, as He would have them to do - they must expel the man from among them.
The one guilty of this sin is to be handed over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh (1 Tim 1:20) in order that his spirit might be saved. This basically means that such a person is to be publicly acknowledged as not belonging to the church of Jesus Christ, as behaving as one who belongs to the Devil and is therefore publicly shown to be part of Satan’s kingdom and not God’s. This discipline was to be exercised in order that the sinner might be brought to his senses and repent (See Mt 18:15-20).
The destruction of the flesh is probably a reference to the physical consequences of sin, so that a person is given over to his sinful behaviour and eventually comes to the end result of his sin - some form of physical consequence. When this is reached, often times the elect will in fact repent and turn from their sin, realising the error of their way.
The purpose of such a delivery to Satan is to turn the sinner around before they die in order that they might be saved eternally. Certainly the church is to be kept pure from sin by such a disciplinary action - but it is still a disciplinary action, which is passed down in order to turn the sinner around and to allow true restoration to take place. The goal of such action is not the immediate happiness of the sinner, but the eternal security of the elect.
QUESTIONS: Does this passage teach a different method of discipline to that taught in Matthew 18? Explain the reasons for your answer.
Verse 6: In this verse Paul reminds the Corinthians of the foolishness of their boasting, especially given the existence of such sin in their congregation. Paul tells the Corinthians that such boasting is not a good thing, but a harmful thing for the church. They boast of their ‘spiritual eliteness,’ yet the church is being exposed to great danger through their foolishness. To demonstrate the harm being done to the church, Paul draws on an illustration taken from bread making to reinforce his point.
Apart from the harm being done to the man himself, harm is being done to the church in a way similar to how yeast is worked through a whole lump of dough. If the man is allowed to stay in the church, this form of sin will eventually work its way through the entire church, corrupting the entire church. This process of corruption the Corinthians were well aware of. An unpunished sin will allow the flesh in each member to be emboldened and rise up, with the result being that sin will find its expression throughout the church.
Verse 7: Paul now reinforces the judgment he has come to regarding this sinful man. He is to be expelled as old yeast is discarded in order to prevent the corruption of new dough, for the Corinthian church truly was new dough in Christ. They had been reborn, being no longer the old dough. They are new in Christ, being no longer the old, therefore everything old must be done away with, for all has become new. The church needed to be vigilant in removing all remains of the old. To be unleavened in the Christian sense is to be separated unto God in holiness.
Paul then uses the Passover illustration to further drive his point home. In the Passover celebration all leaven was to be removed from Jewish homes, so with Christ as the true Passover Lamb, all leaven (sin) is to be removed. Because Christ is the true Passover Lamb, all such sin has now been done away with in the Christian church and the church is to have no part in it. Therefore this man must be expelled from the congregation of the righteous.
Verse 8: Rather than celebrating the Jewish Passover, Paul is calling the Corinthian Christians to celebrate the spiritual Passover by living true spiritual lives consistent with who they are in Christ, without the leaven of sin. The ways of sin are done away with in Christ, having been replaced by new yeast, that of true Christian living according to the revealed Word of Truth.
Individual Discovery
Is what Paul directs the Corinthians in verse 9 possible? Explain your answer?
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