At the end of chapter 4, Paul told the Corinthians to imitate him, then basically told them to shape up in verse 21 – they had a choice about whether he came with a rod of discipline or with love and gentleness. He now addresses the first of three massive problems within the Corinthian church: the tolerance of sin inside the church. This is a major problem facing churches today, which we need to think through carefully as we look at chapter 5 tonight.

Following Christ in 21st Century Corinth – Week 6

presented 10 October 2018

1 Corinthians 5: 1-13

AUDIO

Lecture Handout

Handout Week 6

Lesson Notes

Dealing with a Particular Sin  (1 Corinthians 5: 1-5)

  • Verse 1 – A member of the church is sexually involved with his stepmother (violating Leviticus 18: 8)
    • “Has” implies it’s an ongoing relationship
    • That was intolerable even in pagan culture – for example Cicero wrote scathingly about a similar relationship
    • The Corinthians church was tolerating it and it was obviously pretty widely known since Paul had heard about it
    • Paul hardly seems able to believe it, “it is actually reported…”
  • Verse 2 – Paul asks how they can be so arrogant as a church when that’s going on???
    • They should be distraught about the deep sin he’s fallen into
    • He should be removed from the fellowship of the church
    • Presumably he had been spoken to by individuals and pastors/elders within the church, since disfellowship/excommunication is the end of Matthew 18: 15-17
    • Speaks to church discipline
      • Seldom practiced today in America
      • We don’t want to offend, get sued, or divide the church
      • Some have used church discipline in ways that were heavy handed and contrary to its biblical purpose of restoration and rehabilitation
      • The goal of church discipline should always be redemption, as in verse 5
  • Verses 3-5 – Deliver judgment: cast him out of the church, turn him over to Satan
    • Paul’s thoughts are with the church, his authority is clear, and here he shares his judgment on the sinful individual
    • Paul’s flesh vs. spirit references typically describe being in the church or out of the church – by turning him out, you turn him back to the life of the flesh, hoping he will repent
    • Outside the church = Satan’ realm
    • Basically turn him over to the full extent of his sin, out of the spiritual body
    • So that he might realize the error of his way and repent

Dealing with Sin in General (1 Corinthians 5: 6-13)

  • Verse 6 – Proverbial – a little leaven leavens the whole lump
    • A small amount of yeasty dough is all that’s needed to “infect” a whole new ball of dough with no yeast
    • So the church must be very careful not to tolerate any sin within
    • Sin quickly brings the church down, because sin spreads when tolerated
  • Verse 7 – Cleanse the old leaven – evoking the process of preparing a house for Passover
    • Get rid of all leaven within the church
    • Become a pure, sin-free ball of dough
    • Because that’s who we are in Christ -> our status is sin-free in Christ, which calls for us to live in light of this reality
    • This is the core of the Corinthian problem: they’re saved, new creations in Christ, but haven’t learned to live like it
    • Christ is our Passover Lamb: the flawless innocent lamb sacrificed so that His blood protects us from death
    • Christ died to protect us from sin and death, not to help us embrace sin!
  • Verse 8 – celebrate the Passover festival – live life in Christ
    • Not our old way of sin, malice, and evil
    • Live sanctified lives – the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth = purity
    • Hypocrisy undermines the spread of the gospel
  • Verses 9-10 – There was a previous, non-Scriptural letter from Paul to the church
    • He told them not to associate with sexually immoral people
    • They apparently misunderstood that he meant within the church and had instead withdrawn from cultural engagement
    • Paul’s instruction was to not associate with sinful people INSIDE the church
    • The world is full of unbelievers, and of course they won’t act like believers, of course they’ll sin
      • To avoid them, we’d have to withdraw from the world, and Paul doesn’t want the church to do that!
      • Many Christians make that mistake anyway and withdraw
      • That’s why we have vast industries with Christian versions of every kind of cultural product – we need to think carefully about when that’s appropriate and when it’s an unbiblical withdrawal from the world
      • Unbelievers will sin and promote sin and not understand our dislike of sin – that’s a given
      • So we need to stop being shocked when unbelievers sin – they don’t know any better and can’t help themselves
      • Jesus prayed for us to be in the world, not of the world in John 17: 14-15
      • Some of them were going out of the world, and the same is still true today
      • We’re to be salt and light, engaging with our culture, not escaping it
      • Yes, it’s full of sin, and we need to be careful of our weaknesses – that’s why we gather regularly to worship and encourage one another
      • But we’re not to hate the world, but love it by sharing the good news of Jesus Christ
  • Verse 11 – don’t associate with sinful Christians
    • Those “bearing the name of brother” are those calling themselves Christian
    • Paul seems skeptical about the genuineness of some professions of faith
    • All Christians will sin sometimes, but Scripture is clear that consistent, persistent sinful behavior indicates a lack of genuine faith in Jesus Christ
    • So Paul wonders where the transformed life is for them?
    • If there is unrepentant, habitual sexual immorality, greed, idolatry, viciousness toward others, addiction, or criminal behavior, something is seriously wrong!
  • Verse 12 – Very important point!
    • We don’t stand in judgment of outsiders – as we see our culture decay, the church isn’t supposed to be wringing our hands and condemning our culture
    • Our job is to keep discipline and purity within the church
    • The church in America so often gets it completely backward – we tolerate sin within while condemning unbelievers, because it’s easier
    • We  must instead identify sin within the church and confront it
      • With humility – Matthew 7: 1-5
      • Galatians 6: 1
  • Verse 13 – God deals with the unbelievers – they face horrifying condemnation and the wrath of God, we don’t need to add to that
    • Only the gospel can fix the problems of the world around us, so stop complaining and throwing rocks and start sharing the gospel!
    • Get to know unbelievers, if you have so cloistered yourself within the church you don’t know any unbelievers!
    • Purge the evil from within the church

 

Discussion Questions

  1. How should a church in today’s mobile, litigious, self-centered society handle a member known to be practicing sin?
  2. How has “the church” gotten the lessons of verses 10-13 wrong?
  3. What do verses 10-13 say about how we should interact with unbelievers? About our responsibilities to interact with believers?

Next Week

1 Corinthians 6: 1-11