July 23rd
1 Corinthians, 5
(Scandal)
Sin
in the church
1: It is reported commonly that
there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named
among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife. 2: And ye are
puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might
be taken away from among you. 3: For I verily, as absent in body, but present
in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that
hath so done this deed, 4: In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are
gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 5:
To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the
spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. 6: Your glorying is not good.
Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? 7: Purge out
therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For
even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: 8: Therefore let us keep the
feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness;
but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 9: I wrote unto you in an
epistle not to company with fornicators: 10: Yet not altogether with the
fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with
idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. 11: But now I have
written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a
fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an
extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. 12: For what have I to do to judge
them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? 13: But them
that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that
wicked person.
Having dealt with division in the
church – the greatest evil that the Corinthians face, Paul now turns his
attention to the other things that need to be set in order. The first issue is
fornication in the church. This is commonly reported in other words it is
common knowledge not just among the christians but also among the common
people. Whatever did they think of this church that has such an evil that is
not addressed. Now this fornication is not the ordinary fornication but
actually gross incest. Paul says you are too proud to deal with it and instead
of mourning you have left it unchallenged. Paul says, Even though l am not
present in the flesh yet l have dealt with it in the Spirit. Paul had judged
this matter calling on the Lord to bring it to an end in Gods own way. Now he
says this is how you are to deal with this matter. When you are gathered
together in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, with me in spirit, and in the
empowering of the Holy Spirit put those who do this thing out of your
fellowship into the realm of Satan for the destruction of this fleshly thing so
that the persons might be saved in the end when Christ comes. Then he says your
boasting about how great you are is not good in this matter. Don’t you know
that a little yeast permeates the whole dough. So purge out this yeast so that
you might be like unleavened bread. Let us be like the Jews who keep the
Passover not with old leavened bread and not with the corrupting yeast of
malice and wickedness but with unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I have
written previously that you are not to have fellowship with fornicators. Now l
don’t mean by this that you do not have anything to do with fornicators
completely because you would never have anything to do with anyone in the
world. What l am saying is that if a fellow believer is living in a sin like
this, or indeed if he is covetous or an idolater or a railer or a drunkard or
an extortioner, you are not to keep his company in the same way as before, as
if fellowship with him is still perfectly acceptable. How can we possibly tell
people outside the church about their sin if we do not deal with sin in the
church. God will deal with those that are outside the Church but you are to put
away that wicked person from your church fellowship. Of course this does not mean that
this discipline is to be a permanent ban. The excommunication is for the
purpose of bringing the sinning believer to his senses and to keep holiness as
a main characteristic of the church. If the believer turns from his sin and is
restored to the Lord then he is to be restored to the Church.
Public sin needs to be dealt with publicly and private sin in private. It is never Gods intention
that believers should be permanently excluded from fellowship with himself or
of his church. Believers are to deal with each other in a spirit of grace and
love and forgiveness is to be their constant attitude to one another.
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