Paul's Plea for Purity 1 Corinthians 5:1-13
If the basic problem in the Corinthian Church was division, their most serious and pressing fault is that they are tolerating in their midst, the presence of fornication, and of a most grievous kind. A man was committing incest with his step mother. Now, last week we saw Paul assuring the congregation that if God wills it, he will come to them and render the judgments that need to be rendered. He spoke to them as a caring & concerned father. “What do you wish?” he asks in v.21 “Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?” 1Co 4:21 So, Paul threatens them with stern discipline if they do not acknowledge his God given Authority over them. This statement in v.21 becomes a transition in dealing with the issues of church discipline and instruction that follow in the rest of the letter, and that begins here in ch.5. In vs. 1-2, Paul rebukes them for their inaction, and tells them to remove the offender. In vs.3-5, he supplies the authoritative support for this action. In vs. 6-8 he offers further motivation to cleanse their house of blatant sin through an O.T. Illustration. Then, in vs.9-10, he reveals to them that they misunderstood an injunction he had previously written to them, and then, reiterates that and explains it to them in vs.11-13. So, we have; The Problem, The Pronouncement, The Precedent, The Preconception, & The Prohibition . So, we begin with...
The Problem ...vs.1-2a
“It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you ...for a man has his father's wife.” The forbidding of such an incestuous practice is clear & repeated in the O.T. Deu 22:30 says, "A man shall not take his father's wife, so that he does not uncover his father's nakedness.” Lev 18:8 says the same thing, “You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife; it is your father's nakedness.” If you know your Biblical history, you will recall that the firstborn of Jacob and Leah, Reuben, did such a deed with his father Jacob's concubine, Gen 35:22 ...Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine.” He forfeited his birthright when he did that. God shows his denouncement for such a behavior in Deu 27:20 "'Cursed be anyone who lies with his father's wife” Why? “Because”, once again, “he has uncovered his father's nakedness.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.' Now, what was the punishment for such a crime in ancient Israel? It's found in Lev 20:11 “If a man lies with his father's wife, he has uncovered his father's nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.” This was a shameful thing to the ancient Jews, and according to Josephus and Philo it was also shameful for the Gentiles in the 1st Century.
This is why Paul says that the immorality is “of a kind that is not even tolerated among pagans [or you could translate that] Gentiles or nations! Even they would be ashamed of such practices! And yet these Corinthians were 'arrogant' about it, says Paul. Now, what kind of theology promotes that kind of boasting? Its the kind that can be heard from Paul's opponents who misunderstood him, in some of his other letters. Those opponents might say something like,“But if through my lie God's truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? And why not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.” Paul says in Rom 3:7-8 . Its the kind of theology that leads Paul to ask, rhetorically,“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” Rom 6:1-2 Its the kind of theology that misunderstands what freedom in Christ means! Paul warned the Galatians of it, “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh!” Gal 5:13
Peter also warned against it, “Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.” 1Pe 2:16 So, Paul wasn't the only one hounded by this spirit of lawlessness. Peter dealt with it as well. Listen to his 2nd letter, “For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.” 2Pe 2:18-19 and so did Jude, “For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” Jud 1:4
The Corinthians were boasting in their cheap Grace!“Ought you not rather to mourn? It would be fitting with a testimony that is dead to the culture around you. So, you should mourn as if someone had died, and it was your fault that they died! You should grieve over this abominable acceptance of blatant lawlessness! They didn't understand this, but they were in serious danger. In O.T. Biblical thought, failure to deal with a blatantly sinning member invited the possibility of judgment from God on the whole group. The O.T. History records such situations in Josh 7, with the sin of Achan, who blatantly disobeyed the clear command not to take any war booty from the city they had just conquered and destroyed. Also, the incidents surrounding Ezra, Nehemiah, & Daniel show us that all 3 of these men assumed that the nation of Israel stood under the covenant, and that a breach of responsibility could jeopardize the whole group before their Covenant LORD. This is why Paul gives them...
The Pronouncement ...vs.2b-5
“Let him who has done this be removed from among you.” Let him be cut off from the assembly surgically excised like an infected gangrenous part of the body. Otherwise, the entire body will be affected!
Now, Vs. 3-5 have been difficult verses, historically, for translators and, subsequently, scholars, as well. The ESV does a good job of capturing the sense, “For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. 4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus, and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.” It seems that there is a continuous chain of thought in these verses. In fact, in the Greek this is one sentence, and the main focus looks like this “For I... have already judged him... as though I were present... to deliver such a one to Satan.” One writer said, “Paul imagines himself present in Corinth and tells them what he has already done in his own mind with regards to this matter. He pictures himself at the meeting of the church. He stands during the meeting and speaks a solemn word of rebuke. He directs the body to remove the sinning member from its midst. This is the final stage in church discipline.” And notice, the church is to exercise this discipline "in the name of our Lord Jesus", in other words, in the authority of the Lord Jesus! The church has no authority of its own. The only authority it has is that which has been delegated to it by Jesus Christ. This authority includes the authority to exercise discipline.
Notice, the setting of the pronouncement. It is to take place v.4 'When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus'! This follows O.T. Procedure, such as Lev 24:14 "Bring out of the camp the one who cursed, and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone ...the blasphemer.” or Num 15:35 "The man [who does not keep the Sabbath] shall be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp." In Biblical Law the entire community was involved in the judgment, which was, initially, execution. However, by the time the Jews returned from Babylon, during the days of Ezra & Nehemiah, execution was replaced by excommunication, whenever the nation applied these texts to themselves. In other words, they were to hand the offender over to Satan by banishing him back into Satan's “domain”. And, yet, even Satan's domain is under the Sovereign hand of God Almighty. As Luther said, “Satan is God's Devil.” Rejoice & be glad for that!
Still, Satan does have a real, yet limited, domain, and that domain is outside the edifying and caring environment of the church, where God does the bulk of His work. And so, rather than mainly only the destroying of his 'physical flesh', the offender is to be cast out of the environment of God's blessings & privileges, where the goal is the ruining of his 'sinful flesh, which can include his physical health, as well. So, Paul is saying, metaphorically, in v.5, what he is saying, literally, in v. 2 let the offender 'be removed from among you' & v.13, "Purge the evil person from among you." The person is to be excluded from the community of faith. Why must the offender's sinful flesh be destroyed? Paul has already told them why in ch. 3:16-17 “Do you not know” he asks rhetorically, “that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.” And he repeats that in his 2nd letter in ch. 6:16 “What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, "I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” God desires His Body ...His Temple ...His Loaf to be Holy. And, so in vs.6-8, Paul sets...
The Precedent ...vs.6-8
“Your boasting is not good.” he says. That's a bit of a euphemism for ”Your Glorying is abominable!” Paul now moves to illustrate the truths that he has been teaching, and he often brings up the foolishness of these immature believers with a rhetorical expression in the form of the question, 'Do you not know?', which he uses 10x in this letter. “Do you not know”, he says, “that a little leaven ...leavens the whole lump?” So, we see that his illustration revolves around the use of leaven. What is leaven? When bread was to be baked, a small piece of dough would be broken off and put to the side. This small piece would sit there for several days until it began to ferment and turn sour. Once it had turned sour, this piece of "leaven" would be placed into a sack of flour from which the next batch of bread would be made. It was this kind of process that caused the bread to rise when it was baked. This is the same idea as making a starter for sour dough, where friends would bring over just a little from their batch, and the process would continue almost indefinitely until the starter would go bad.
Well, once a year, in Israel, as a part of the preparation for the Passover Feast and the following week long Festival of Unleavened Bread, each family was commanded to clean out their cupboards and remove every last trace of dough, which after a year was possibly contaminated and unhealthy to use. They did this, because God commanded it as part of His Ceremonial Law. He in His Great Wisdom was always preparing His people for the Messiah! So, in v.7, Paul utilizes this historical fact as an illustration for removing the clear and obvious influence of sin, represented by the leaven, which if not removed, would contaminate the church. He uses the same illustration when confronting the Galatian Christians who began following the Judaizers, “You were running well.” he tells them, “Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion is not from him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump.” Gal 5:7-9 A bad influence works its way into the whole body. One bad apple spoils the whole bunch! So, he tells them, “Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump because “you really are unleavened.” Be who you already are!“God has said that you, who are privileged to be in the New Covenant, are a ...new ...clean & pure batch of dough. And the fact is, is that, long ago, you should have already cleaned out your house!” Why? because “Christ, our Passover lamb, has already been sacrificed!” So, get in step with the Spirit. Do what you should have already done. Celebrate the Feast, with the consistency of its meaning
“Let us, therefore, celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, the leaven of wickedness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” v.8 This word for sincerity, means clear, unmixed, unadulterated. It literally means, “judged in the sunlight”. When a buyer was looking for a new vase in the marketplace, if he was experienced enough he would hold up the vase in the sunlight and look for the cracks that had been discreetly sealed with wax, and he would know if the vase was worth what the buyer wanted for it. He would “judge it in the sunlight” to see if it was sincere, pure, without wax! Integrity! So, Paul tells them that they should be feasting on the bread of sincerity! And he will later tell these Corinthians, that they should have sincerity [of speech]. 2Co 2:17 And he encouraged the Philippians to continue to develop sincerity [of character] Php 1:10. Even Peter utilizes this word. He says we are to have sincerity [of thinking]2Pe 3:1 This is a quality that should characterize all Christians 'sincerity' or , Integrity ...& Truth. But, somehow this Church strained at a gnat and swallowed a camel. They disassociated themselves from the world, and accepted internal sin. They misunderstood Paul's previous words in...
Their Preconception ...vs.9-10
Paul says, “I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.”vs.9-10 Notice, Paul cites a previous letter he had written to them, “I wrote to you in my letter”, and some scholars believe that portions of 2 Cor. are actually derived from his 1st letter, although there is little to no historical or manuscript evidence that 2nd Cor. is a composite letter. Still, the section of ch. 6 of 2nd Cor., which was read in our 2nd reading does seem to fit the sense.
There, Paul wrote,“Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, "I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore, go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you” 2Co 6:14-17 Can you see how they might misunderstand such words, when he uses such contrasts righteousness/lawlessness, light/darkness, believer/unbeliever, temple of God/temple of idols”, and then he tells them to go out from their midst, whereas, here, he says cast the lawless one out from your midst! It certainly has the flavor, at least, of what he may have originally written. So, he listed there in v.10, 4 examples of the people, he had previously written about, who they thought were unbelievers in the world, and this prompts him to explain what he meant. So, he clarifies to them in vs.11-13...
The Prohibition ...vs.11-13
“But now” he says, “I am writing to you not to associate with ...anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of regularly practicing “sexual immorality, greed, idolatry, or if he is a “reviler, drunkard, or swindler”. Notice, there are a lot more serious sins that are left out. This list doesn’t say anything about murder or rape or armed robbery. It is made up of sins that would have been "socially acceptable" within the city of Corinth. Christians are ...not to live like Corinthians! And Christians are ...not to live like Americans, either! Christians are to live like Christ. [pause] So, he gives a representative list of sinners that the church is to judge, by refusing to integrate with them socially. And he begins with sexual immorality, because that is the Hallmark of Corinthianism, and it is a gross form of the problem at hand. And he lists 5 more ongoing sins; the greedy person [one who has a strong desire after the possession of worldly things, and is not generous toward God], the idolater [one who performs Divine worship in the idol's Temple], the reviler [one who uses their tongue to slander or gossip], the drunkard [one who is mastered by alcohol] and the robber, one is outwardly covetous, and through 'extortion' exacts more from someone than is just & fair- like a tax collector would have been seen as.]
And then he adds this interesting phrase. He says “—not even to eat with ...such a one.” Some think this has to do with the Lord's Supper, and I would include that but I believe it has more to do with the principle of not being seen in public with a 'so called believer' who is clearly living contrary to God's standards and everyone in the community knows it. The command serves 2 purposes. 1] To bring that person to shame & repentance. In 2Th 3:14 Paul wrote, “If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed.” 2] It keeps the Church and Christ from shame. The verb Paul uses, which translates 'to eat with', 'synesthion', is also used in the Greek O.T. in Psalm 101 in v.5. Psalm 101 was our Call to Worship this morning, and in v.5 the ESV reads, “Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly I will destroy. Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart I will not endure.” But in the Septuagint the phrase 'I will not endure' is translated 'with him food is not to be shared.' Paul seems to make the connection with this particular Psalm, which speaks of purity in the house of God, when he uses that phrase. In that Psalm, we are told that “all the evildoers from the city of the LORD will be cut off.”
But as Rev. 22 says, outside of the Holy City are the dogs, the sorcerers, and those who practice evil, etc... and God will judge them. That's not our job! Paul says,“For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?” But the church has the reputation of pointing the finger at the outside world, and condemning it in its lostness & depravity, and is quite leery at correcting the problems of hypocrisy within the church. The heathen around us seem to know this better than we do. This is why the most well known verse in the unbelieving world is Mat 7:1 "Judge not, lest you be judged!” We are not to be pointing the fingers at those who, as Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:18, “...are condemned already”. Judgment of the outside world is up to the Great Judge of the Universe. As Paul says in v.13 “God judges those outside” They may never come to saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, but that should be true, despite our Godly Testimony! So, Paul says, if someone doesn't have, an essentially, Godly testimony, and is living in gross rebellion against God, that the church is to, "Purge the evil person from among you." It is interesting how many of the particular sins mentioned in vs.9 & 11, are found in Deut followed by the formula, “So you shall purge the evil from your midst.”, the exact phrase that Paul uses here at the end of v.13. I have listed them in your outline. The idolater- Deut 13:1-5; the reviler Deut.19:16-19; the drunkard- Deut. 21:18-21, & the robber Deut. 24:7.
Once again, we see Paul using Israel as an analogy for the church. What's he saying? If God's people in O.C. Israel expelled certain sinners, then God's people in N.C. Israel [Christ] can do no less. To Summarize, as we close- In all of Paul's letters no instruction speaks more forcefully about the seriousness of sin, the holiness of God's people, and their corporate standing before him than this passage in 1 Cor 5. It is the longest text that deals with Church Discipline.
Closing
God is very concerned about 2 things. 1] God is concerned about restoring the sinner and 2] God is concerned about protecting the Church.
A] Restoring the sinner - The reason the sinning believer is to be delivered to Satan is so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” Salvation is the focus! The discipline of the sinning believer is an integral part of the salvation process. When you first came to Christ in faith, you began a process. You were saved, but you also began to be saved. You were set apart and made holy, but that holiness also began to work its way into the core of your being. Its radical, the way leaven works into the whole loaf. And this process works out in your life in a very practical ways. No, you are still not perfect, but, you are holier than you were at the start of your encounter with the Living Christ. You are moving toward a goal, and that goal is to be like Christ. You are no longer being 'conformed to this world, but” by God's Grace, 'you are being transformed by the renewing of your mind. Rom 12:2 Paul's Plea to us is Purity. Do you have a passion for that purity, because A Proof of your Pardon is your Passion for Purity. [That was our Wheel of Fortune phrase. And 4 more P's for you.] God is very concerned that you reach that goal, and God is concerned about...
B] Protecting the Church- God's Church is to be a picture of Purity. She is illustrated in Rev. 22 as “coming down out of heaven as a Bride adorned for her Bridegroom. Paul says in “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” Eph 5:25-27 For that to ever be true of us as a corporate body, we must each be striving for that, individually. So, I ask you, “Do you desire to live your life for the Glory of God?” Sin 'outside the camp' is not the big danger. Sin 'inside the camp' is! And if or when you begin to deviate from that goal, and fall into gross sin, God gives His people, the church, the authority, to exercise True Agape Love, in calling you back. As a church we cannot allow any of those who have professed faith in Christ to walk in sin. That doesn't fit with our profession. When a church tolerates blatant sin in its midst 2 things are bound to happen:
1] Its witness to J. C. becomes a laughing stock.
2] It dies a lingering pathetic death. I desire neither of those for this church.
You can't get away from influencing the world around you. The question is what kind of influence are you going to be? Old leaven or a new lump? By God's Grace it will be a new lump, because Christ our Passover has already been sacrificed. May we never condone what God condemns. May we never have, as Jer. Called it, “the Harlot's forehead”, where we no longer blush in the face of sin. But, instead, we are to continue to 'feed on the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.' This is Paul's Plea for Purity! Lets pray!
If the basic problem in the Corinthian Church was division, their most serious and pressing fault is that they are tolerating in their midst, the presence of fornication, and of a most grievous kind. A man was committing incest with his step mother. Now, last week we saw Paul assuring the congregation that if God wills it, he will come to them and render the judgments that need to be rendered. He spoke to them as a caring & concerned father. “What do you wish?” he asks in v.21 “Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?” 1Co 4:21 So, Paul threatens them with stern discipline if they do not acknowledge his God given Authority over them. This statement in v.21 becomes a transition in dealing with the issues of church discipline and instruction that follow in the rest of the letter, and that begins here in ch.5. In vs. 1-2, Paul rebukes them for their inaction, and tells them to remove the offender. In vs.3-5, he supplies the authoritative support for this action. In vs. 6-8 he offers further motivation to cleanse their house of blatant sin through an O.T. Illustration. Then, in vs.9-10, he reveals to them that they misunderstood an injunction he had previously written to them, and then, reiterates that and explains it to them in vs.11-13. So, we have; The Problem, The Pronouncement, The Precedent, The Preconception, & The Prohibition . So, we begin with...
The Problem ...vs.1-2a
“It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you ...for a man has his father's wife.” The forbidding of such an incestuous practice is clear & repeated in the O.T. Deu 22:30 says, "A man shall not take his father's wife, so that he does not uncover his father's nakedness.” Lev 18:8 says the same thing, “You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife; it is your father's nakedness.” If you know your Biblical history, you will recall that the firstborn of Jacob and Leah, Reuben, did such a deed with his father Jacob's concubine, Gen 35:22 ...Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine.” He forfeited his birthright when he did that. God shows his denouncement for such a behavior in Deu 27:20 "'Cursed be anyone who lies with his father's wife” Why? “Because”, once again, “he has uncovered his father's nakedness.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.' Now, what was the punishment for such a crime in ancient Israel? It's found in Lev 20:11 “If a man lies with his father's wife, he has uncovered his father's nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.” This was a shameful thing to the ancient Jews, and according to Josephus and Philo it was also shameful for the Gentiles in the 1st Century.
This is why Paul says that the immorality is “of a kind that is not even tolerated among pagans [or you could translate that] Gentiles or nations! Even they would be ashamed of such practices! And yet these Corinthians were 'arrogant' about it, says Paul. Now, what kind of theology promotes that kind of boasting? Its the kind that can be heard from Paul's opponents who misunderstood him, in some of his other letters. Those opponents might say something like,“But if through my lie God's truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? And why not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.” Paul says in Rom 3:7-8 . Its the kind of theology that leads Paul to ask, rhetorically,“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” Rom 6:1-2 Its the kind of theology that misunderstands what freedom in Christ means! Paul warned the Galatians of it, “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh!” Gal 5:13
Peter also warned against it, “Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.” 1Pe 2:16 So, Paul wasn't the only one hounded by this spirit of lawlessness. Peter dealt with it as well. Listen to his 2nd letter, “For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.” 2Pe 2:18-19 and so did Jude, “For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” Jud 1:4
The Corinthians were boasting in their cheap Grace!“Ought you not rather to mourn? It would be fitting with a testimony that is dead to the culture around you. So, you should mourn as if someone had died, and it was your fault that they died! You should grieve over this abominable acceptance of blatant lawlessness! They didn't understand this, but they were in serious danger. In O.T. Biblical thought, failure to deal with a blatantly sinning member invited the possibility of judgment from God on the whole group. The O.T. History records such situations in Josh 7, with the sin of Achan, who blatantly disobeyed the clear command not to take any war booty from the city they had just conquered and destroyed. Also, the incidents surrounding Ezra, Nehemiah, & Daniel show us that all 3 of these men assumed that the nation of Israel stood under the covenant, and that a breach of responsibility could jeopardize the whole group before their Covenant LORD. This is why Paul gives them...
The Pronouncement ...vs.2b-5
“Let him who has done this be removed from among you.” Let him be cut off from the assembly surgically excised like an infected gangrenous part of the body. Otherwise, the entire body will be affected!
Now, Vs. 3-5 have been difficult verses, historically, for translators and, subsequently, scholars, as well. The ESV does a good job of capturing the sense, “For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. 4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus, and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.” It seems that there is a continuous chain of thought in these verses. In fact, in the Greek this is one sentence, and the main focus looks like this “For I... have already judged him... as though I were present... to deliver such a one to Satan.” One writer said, “Paul imagines himself present in Corinth and tells them what he has already done in his own mind with regards to this matter. He pictures himself at the meeting of the church. He stands during the meeting and speaks a solemn word of rebuke. He directs the body to remove the sinning member from its midst. This is the final stage in church discipline.” And notice, the church is to exercise this discipline "in the name of our Lord Jesus", in other words, in the authority of the Lord Jesus! The church has no authority of its own. The only authority it has is that which has been delegated to it by Jesus Christ. This authority includes the authority to exercise discipline.
Notice, the setting of the pronouncement. It is to take place v.4 'When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus'! This follows O.T. Procedure, such as Lev 24:14 "Bring out of the camp the one who cursed, and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone ...the blasphemer.” or Num 15:35 "The man [who does not keep the Sabbath] shall be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp." In Biblical Law the entire community was involved in the judgment, which was, initially, execution. However, by the time the Jews returned from Babylon, during the days of Ezra & Nehemiah, execution was replaced by excommunication, whenever the nation applied these texts to themselves. In other words, they were to hand the offender over to Satan by banishing him back into Satan's “domain”. And, yet, even Satan's domain is under the Sovereign hand of God Almighty. As Luther said, “Satan is God's Devil.” Rejoice & be glad for that!
Still, Satan does have a real, yet limited, domain, and that domain is outside the edifying and caring environment of the church, where God does the bulk of His work. And so, rather than mainly only the destroying of his 'physical flesh', the offender is to be cast out of the environment of God's blessings & privileges, where the goal is the ruining of his 'sinful flesh, which can include his physical health, as well. So, Paul is saying, metaphorically, in v.5, what he is saying, literally, in v. 2 let the offender 'be removed from among you' & v.13, "Purge the evil person from among you." The person is to be excluded from the community of faith. Why must the offender's sinful flesh be destroyed? Paul has already told them why in ch. 3:16-17 “Do you not know” he asks rhetorically, “that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.” And he repeats that in his 2nd letter in ch. 6:16 “What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, "I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” God desires His Body ...His Temple ...His Loaf to be Holy. And, so in vs.6-8, Paul sets...
The Precedent ...vs.6-8
“Your boasting is not good.” he says. That's a bit of a euphemism for ”Your Glorying is abominable!” Paul now moves to illustrate the truths that he has been teaching, and he often brings up the foolishness of these immature believers with a rhetorical expression in the form of the question, 'Do you not know?', which he uses 10x in this letter. “Do you not know”, he says, “that a little leaven ...leavens the whole lump?” So, we see that his illustration revolves around the use of leaven. What is leaven? When bread was to be baked, a small piece of dough would be broken off and put to the side. This small piece would sit there for several days until it began to ferment and turn sour. Once it had turned sour, this piece of "leaven" would be placed into a sack of flour from which the next batch of bread would be made. It was this kind of process that caused the bread to rise when it was baked. This is the same idea as making a starter for sour dough, where friends would bring over just a little from their batch, and the process would continue almost indefinitely until the starter would go bad.
Well, once a year, in Israel, as a part of the preparation for the Passover Feast and the following week long Festival of Unleavened Bread, each family was commanded to clean out their cupboards and remove every last trace of dough, which after a year was possibly contaminated and unhealthy to use. They did this, because God commanded it as part of His Ceremonial Law. He in His Great Wisdom was always preparing His people for the Messiah! So, in v.7, Paul utilizes this historical fact as an illustration for removing the clear and obvious influence of sin, represented by the leaven, which if not removed, would contaminate the church. He uses the same illustration when confronting the Galatian Christians who began following the Judaizers, “You were running well.” he tells them, “Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion is not from him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump.” Gal 5:7-9 A bad influence works its way into the whole body. One bad apple spoils the whole bunch! So, he tells them, “Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump because “you really are unleavened.” Be who you already are!“God has said that you, who are privileged to be in the New Covenant, are a ...new ...clean & pure batch of dough. And the fact is, is that, long ago, you should have already cleaned out your house!” Why? because “Christ, our Passover lamb, has already been sacrificed!” So, get in step with the Spirit. Do what you should have already done. Celebrate the Feast, with the consistency of its meaning
“Let us, therefore, celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, the leaven of wickedness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” v.8 This word for sincerity, means clear, unmixed, unadulterated. It literally means, “judged in the sunlight”. When a buyer was looking for a new vase in the marketplace, if he was experienced enough he would hold up the vase in the sunlight and look for the cracks that had been discreetly sealed with wax, and he would know if the vase was worth what the buyer wanted for it. He would “judge it in the sunlight” to see if it was sincere, pure, without wax! Integrity! So, Paul tells them that they should be feasting on the bread of sincerity! And he will later tell these Corinthians, that they should have sincerity [of speech]. 2Co 2:17 And he encouraged the Philippians to continue to develop sincerity [of character] Php 1:10. Even Peter utilizes this word. He says we are to have sincerity [of thinking]2Pe 3:1 This is a quality that should characterize all Christians 'sincerity' or , Integrity ...& Truth. But, somehow this Church strained at a gnat and swallowed a camel. They disassociated themselves from the world, and accepted internal sin. They misunderstood Paul's previous words in...
Their Preconception ...vs.9-10
Paul says, “I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.”vs.9-10 Notice, Paul cites a previous letter he had written to them, “I wrote to you in my letter”, and some scholars believe that portions of 2 Cor. are actually derived from his 1st letter, although there is little to no historical or manuscript evidence that 2nd Cor. is a composite letter. Still, the section of ch. 6 of 2nd Cor., which was read in our 2nd reading does seem to fit the sense.
There, Paul wrote,“Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, "I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore, go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you” 2Co 6:14-17 Can you see how they might misunderstand such words, when he uses such contrasts righteousness/lawlessness, light/darkness, believer/unbeliever, temple of God/temple of idols”, and then he tells them to go out from their midst, whereas, here, he says cast the lawless one out from your midst! It certainly has the flavor, at least, of what he may have originally written. So, he listed there in v.10, 4 examples of the people, he had previously written about, who they thought were unbelievers in the world, and this prompts him to explain what he meant. So, he clarifies to them in vs.11-13...
The Prohibition ...vs.11-13
“But now” he says, “I am writing to you not to associate with ...anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of regularly practicing “sexual immorality, greed, idolatry, or if he is a “reviler, drunkard, or swindler”. Notice, there are a lot more serious sins that are left out. This list doesn’t say anything about murder or rape or armed robbery. It is made up of sins that would have been "socially acceptable" within the city of Corinth. Christians are ...not to live like Corinthians! And Christians are ...not to live like Americans, either! Christians are to live like Christ. [pause] So, he gives a representative list of sinners that the church is to judge, by refusing to integrate with them socially. And he begins with sexual immorality, because that is the Hallmark of Corinthianism, and it is a gross form of the problem at hand. And he lists 5 more ongoing sins; the greedy person [one who has a strong desire after the possession of worldly things, and is not generous toward God], the idolater [one who performs Divine worship in the idol's Temple], the reviler [one who uses their tongue to slander or gossip], the drunkard [one who is mastered by alcohol] and the robber, one is outwardly covetous, and through 'extortion' exacts more from someone than is just & fair- like a tax collector would have been seen as.]
And then he adds this interesting phrase. He says “—not even to eat with ...such a one.” Some think this has to do with the Lord's Supper, and I would include that but I believe it has more to do with the principle of not being seen in public with a 'so called believer' who is clearly living contrary to God's standards and everyone in the community knows it. The command serves 2 purposes. 1] To bring that person to shame & repentance. In 2Th 3:14 Paul wrote, “If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed.” 2] It keeps the Church and Christ from shame. The verb Paul uses, which translates 'to eat with', 'synesthion', is also used in the Greek O.T. in Psalm 101 in v.5. Psalm 101 was our Call to Worship this morning, and in v.5 the ESV reads, “Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly I will destroy. Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart I will not endure.” But in the Septuagint the phrase 'I will not endure' is translated 'with him food is not to be shared.' Paul seems to make the connection with this particular Psalm, which speaks of purity in the house of God, when he uses that phrase. In that Psalm, we are told that “all the evildoers from the city of the LORD will be cut off.”
But as Rev. 22 says, outside of the Holy City are the dogs, the sorcerers, and those who practice evil, etc... and God will judge them. That's not our job! Paul says,“For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?” But the church has the reputation of pointing the finger at the outside world, and condemning it in its lostness & depravity, and is quite leery at correcting the problems of hypocrisy within the church. The heathen around us seem to know this better than we do. This is why the most well known verse in the unbelieving world is Mat 7:1 "Judge not, lest you be judged!” We are not to be pointing the fingers at those who, as Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:18, “...are condemned already”. Judgment of the outside world is up to the Great Judge of the Universe. As Paul says in v.13 “God judges those outside” They may never come to saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, but that should be true, despite our Godly Testimony! So, Paul says, if someone doesn't have, an essentially, Godly testimony, and is living in gross rebellion against God, that the church is to, "Purge the evil person from among you." It is interesting how many of the particular sins mentioned in vs.9 & 11, are found in Deut followed by the formula, “So you shall purge the evil from your midst.”, the exact phrase that Paul uses here at the end of v.13. I have listed them in your outline. The idolater- Deut 13:1-5; the reviler Deut.19:16-19; the drunkard- Deut. 21:18-21, & the robber Deut. 24:7.
Once again, we see Paul using Israel as an analogy for the church. What's he saying? If God's people in O.C. Israel expelled certain sinners, then God's people in N.C. Israel [Christ] can do no less. To Summarize, as we close- In all of Paul's letters no instruction speaks more forcefully about the seriousness of sin, the holiness of God's people, and their corporate standing before him than this passage in 1 Cor 5. It is the longest text that deals with Church Discipline.
Closing
God is very concerned about 2 things. 1] God is concerned about restoring the sinner and 2] God is concerned about protecting the Church.
A] Restoring the sinner - The reason the sinning believer is to be delivered to Satan is so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” Salvation is the focus! The discipline of the sinning believer is an integral part of the salvation process. When you first came to Christ in faith, you began a process. You were saved, but you also began to be saved. You were set apart and made holy, but that holiness also began to work its way into the core of your being. Its radical, the way leaven works into the whole loaf. And this process works out in your life in a very practical ways. No, you are still not perfect, but, you are holier than you were at the start of your encounter with the Living Christ. You are moving toward a goal, and that goal is to be like Christ. You are no longer being 'conformed to this world, but” by God's Grace, 'you are being transformed by the renewing of your mind. Rom 12:2 Paul's Plea to us is Purity. Do you have a passion for that purity, because A Proof of your Pardon is your Passion for Purity. [That was our Wheel of Fortune phrase. And 4 more P's for you.] God is very concerned that you reach that goal, and God is concerned about...
B] Protecting the Church- God's Church is to be a picture of Purity. She is illustrated in Rev. 22 as “coming down out of heaven as a Bride adorned for her Bridegroom. Paul says in “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” Eph 5:25-27 For that to ever be true of us as a corporate body, we must each be striving for that, individually. So, I ask you, “Do you desire to live your life for the Glory of God?” Sin 'outside the camp' is not the big danger. Sin 'inside the camp' is! And if or when you begin to deviate from that goal, and fall into gross sin, God gives His people, the church, the authority, to exercise True Agape Love, in calling you back. As a church we cannot allow any of those who have professed faith in Christ to walk in sin. That doesn't fit with our profession. When a church tolerates blatant sin in its midst 2 things are bound to happen:
1] Its witness to J. C. becomes a laughing stock.
2] It dies a lingering pathetic death. I desire neither of those for this church.
You can't get away from influencing the world around you. The question is what kind of influence are you going to be? Old leaven or a new lump? By God's Grace it will be a new lump, because Christ our Passover has already been sacrificed. May we never condone what God condemns. May we never have, as Jer. Called it, “the Harlot's forehead”, where we no longer blush in the face of sin. But, instead, we are to continue to 'feed on the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.' This is Paul's Plea for Purity! Lets pray!