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.
- How would you describe the next major problem in the church at Corinth?
- What had been the reaction of the church to this sin?
- What should the church have done?
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