Michael's Abbey Bible Study - 1 Corinthians Chapter 5

Chapter 4 ended with whether Paul needed to come with a rod in hand to discipline the Corinthian church or not. In this chapter he addressed a specific and abhorrent sin in the Corinthian church. The main problem was less the sin itself as the attitude of the Corinthian church towards sin. And that was one reason he would have needed to come with a rod in hand.
1 It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father's wife. The opening wording suggests this was widely known, while the syntax elsewhere indicates Paul was specifically told about it. It may have been both. Regardless, the existence of this sin in the Corinthian church was known to the entire church. And Paul was expressing his horror at the news.
In this instance the word Gentiles does not refer to non-Jews. Here it is meant to refer to non-believers. In other words, Paul was referring to the pagans, the non-Christians of Corinth.
The word for immorality is porneia in Greek. It specifically refers to sexual immorality. In Greek culture of the time this word was used when referring to prostitution, which was not looked down upon other than discussions about whether it should be done more discreetly or not. However, Jewish Greeks had used it to refer to all sexual sin and deviant sexual behavior. That is the sense that Paul uses it here.
That even the pagans don't even do this was both literal and meant to shake the Corinthians out of their crazy. Christians ought to exhibit superior morality to the pagans.
Paul uses "father's wife" exactly as it is written in Leviticus 18:7-8 in the Greek Septuagint. While some use this wording to say this was his step-mother, there is no evidence for that interpretation. The wording was deliberately chosen to match Leviticus, which considered the mother or step-mother to be incest and an abomination. But considering the language in the rest of the passage it is most likely that this was his mother.
That the man "has" his father's wife is a common euphemism for an ongoing sexual relationship in the Greek culture at this time. It means basically the same today.
Paul was quite clear that this sin is horrifying.
2 You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst. Here Paul addressed the greater problem, that the Corinthian church had become arrogant or puffed up about this. How could a church become puffed up over someone openly engaging in sexual sin? They were not just tolerating it. They were proud of how tolerant they were. "How great are we that we accept this person who does this."
Paul condemned the whole church, saying they shouldn't be proud but should be in mourning, utter anguish of their spirit for such a thing to be in their church. We have this exact situation today. Churches and entire denominations are proud of how inclusive they are. They say that sexual immorality isn't really immoral. They even allow those openly practicing sexual immorality to become pastors/priests, elders and deacons. This includes those who are in ongoing adultery while married to someone else, and fornication before marriage, not just the hot-button issue of homosexuality. Even worse, they condemn those that adhere to biblical morality just as the Corinthians condemned Paul.
To be clear, that someone has sinful desires is not the issue. Everyone has something they desire to do that is sinful. Even slipping into sin is something that can be repented of. The earthly consequences are not taken away. But the heavenly consequences are taken away for the one who repents, that is confesses and turns away from their sin. Jesus' sacrifice covers it. However, to say it is not sin and to make it a practice or identity is to contradict scripture and God. It is to set oneself outside the new covenant. It is rejecting the forgiveness of the cross by denying forgiveness is needed. Any church that tolerates this ceases to be a Christian church, and trades God and scripture for a false pagan religion that leads to destruction.
If the Corinthians had the correct attitude towards this sin, the young man would have been removed from the church entirely. Anyone who says this is too harsh does not understand the nature of sin, nor that it brings death. To tolerate this unrepentant behavior is to tolerate the man being condemned to hell, not to mention the contamination of the church by it. A church that actually believes the gospel and really cares about the man will do what it takes to get him right with God.
On the other hand, the total shunning by some is also an error. While the person in unrepentant sin absolutely should be excluded from any church activity and fellowship, that does not mean cutting them off entirely. We should be praying they get right with God and be trying to win them back to Christ when we meet them, just like we should be trying to win any unbelievers.
3 For I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present. 4 In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. The opening of this sentence is a definitive stance to serve Christ and do what is right in direct contrast to what the Corinthians were doing. This parallels Joshua 24:15b But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
Paul did not mean "present in spirit" as we do in the present day, merely meaning "thinking of you." He meant that he was literally present in spirit. It is by this that he has the authority and ability to act on this matter despite the physical distance. This is emphasized in verse 4. Paul had judged the man who committed this sin. (Yes, we are to judge right from wrong. This is detailed in the article Are We To Judge?)
This error of the Corinthian church that is condemned by Paul is exactly the same error found in most churches today. Openly practiced sexual immorality within the church is not just tolerated, but they are proud that they are showing "grace". But God's grace is only for the repentant. And God's grace turns us away from sin. His grace absolutely does not allow or condone sin. Often churches condemn sinners outside the church while they condone sin openly practiced within the church. This is the exact opposite of the attitude Christians are supposed to have. We should be trying to reach those who aren't Christians. Those in the church should know better and should be called out publicly.
Titus 2:11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing [disciplining] us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age
Hebrews 4:14-16 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
God's grace helps us in our time of need by helping to turn us away from the sin we are tempted to do.
Paul then had instructions for them to follow. And these were to be done by the church publicly, not just by a handful of church leaders in private. When they were assembled as a church, they were to publicly remove this man from the church and turn him over to Satan. In other words, he was to be excluded from the community of believers in Christ and turned out into the world, to Satan for the destruction of his flesh. The purpose is quite clear. The flesh is the worldly part of us that leads us into sin. Being kicked out of the church should have been enough of a wrench to his spirit his fleshly desires would be destroyed by the separation from the church. This would make it obvious to him that he needed to repent and correct his behavior. The emphasis of the sentence is on the purpose, to save the man's soul. It was not condemnation, but remediation.
Paul fully intended this man to be brought back in when he got right with God. This doesn't mean he would be sinless before he could return, but that he repented, literally "turned away", from his sin and sought to live righteously. Step one was admitting that it is a sin. That someone who had repented stumbled and again had to ask forgiveness did not exclude them from the church. It was the attitude that sin was not sin that was the problem, both for him and the Corinthian church. If we do not acknowledge our sin, we cannot ask for forgiveness. And without forgiveness, we cannot be reconciled with God. Without reconciliation with God we are not going to be with Him in eternity.
6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? They were so proud of their tolerance of unrepentant sin they were boasting about it. They thought that their attitude gave them a moral superiority over the judgmental people. Paul told them they had it backwards.
Here Paul was explicit as to why he had mostly been addressing the whole church, and not just the man who was the source of the problem. They had allowed themselves to be contaminated as a church. Today the failure to do church discipline as instructed in scripture has become a pandemic in churches that claim to be Christian. And it is destroying them, or has already destroyed them. They are no longer Christian. They no longer follow God. They follow themselves.
7 Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. The only way to get rid of leavening is to throw out the dough and start fresh. Likewise, they needed to throw out the unrepentant incestuous man and be a new unleavened lump of dough. Paul connected the metaphor to the unleavened bread of Passover, and that Christ is the Passover sacrifice for all. We are to do right, not because we are trying to earn salvation for the old man, but because of who we are as new men.
8 Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. The new Passover in Christ is celebrated with the new unleavened bread. The old bread is contaminated with the leaven of bad intent and sin. Malice and wickedness are the way of the pagan. Sincerity and truth are the way of the Christian. These are incompatible with each other.
The Passover requires that no leavened bread be eaten for seven days, nor could any leavening of any kind even be in the house. In like manner, we are to only eat the unleavened bread of holy living and clean the leaven out of the house of God entirely.
9 I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; By this we know that there was a letter from Paul to the Corinthian church that was not scriptural.
We are not to associate with immoral people. This does not mean don't associate with everyone who sins, or we couldn't be around anyone including ourselves. It is those who claim to be Christians who refuse to accept that their behavior is sinful or refuse to turn away from it that makes them the immoral people we shouldn't associate with.
10 I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. Verse 9 doesn't mean we don't associate with non-Christians. For us to do that we would have separate from the world entirely. That is what Paul is referring to when he says we would have to go out of the world. Unfortunately, some factions have wrongly chosen to do just that, in violation of this verse and Matthew 28:19-20, (the Great Commission.) If we separate entirely from the pagans of the world we cannot fulfill the Great Commission to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey all of His commands. That's pretty hard to do if we have no association with them. It is often how we handle adversity with a Christian attitude that makes them want to know what makes that possible and opens the door to sharing the gospel. Verses 9 and 10 is where so many who claim to be Christians and claim to be Christian churches fail. They condemn pagans when they should be reaching them, and condone Christians who should be condemned for living in unrepentant sin.
People misuse this verse to justify their lifestyle of hanging out mostly or exclusively with non-Christians. The correct term for this is pagans. People who do this don't like the term pagan. But I deliberately choose to use it because it shows the harsh reality. It is who we spend the most time with that we become like. It is the people we share the most with that we turn into. A married woman who spends all her time with bitter divorced "friends" will soon find herself to be another bitter divorced woman. A man who hangs out with pagan friends will soon emulate their pagan behavior even when they aren't around. We should associate with good Christians we want to be like the most. We should associate with pagans to win them over. But we should not associate so much they turn us into them.
11 But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler - not even to eat with such a one. We are not to fellowship with those who call themselves Christians, yet say that their sin isn't really sin. One of the excuses used today is "that's who I am" or "that is my identity."
Galatians 5:19-21 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.
None of these sins is worse than the others in the eyes of God. The earthly consequences differ, but the heavenly consequences are the same. Those who persist in the sin Christ freed them from are the problem, not those who continue to struggle with it. There is a difference between someone who practices a sin and one who falls into it and repents. The man in this chapter practiced incest. That is, he made it a practice, and he was unrepentant. Being unrepentant means one or both of two things. One, he did not accept it was sin. And two, he did not intend to turn away from his sin. Thus, he should be excluded from the fellowship.
Paul here is directly in line with the instructions of Jesus in Matthew 18:15-17 for dealing with a Christian who has sinned. (To be clear, this is to confront practiced and/or habitual sin, not a disagreement about disputable matters.) First, we confront the person one-on-one in love and with respect. If they will not repent, that is turn away from their sin, then we are to bring one or two other Christians with us. Then as a group again confront the sinning brother in love and with respect. If they still won't repent, then the group are to take this to the entire church. This is to be a public confrontation before the entire church, albeit still in love and with respect. (This should only include practicing Christians, not visitors who have not made a commitment to follow Jesus.) And if the one in sin still will not repent, then they are be excluded from the church fellowship, "let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector." This does not mean they are to be shunned entirely. But it does mean they are not to be allowed into any church activities. Gentiles and tax collectors are to be won over to Christ. And that goes for the unrepentant sinner as well. We can work with them, talk with them, meet with them, check on them, treat them with kindness, and so on. The purpose is to prevent them from contaminating the church and us, and to convince them that their sin actually is sin so they will repent and be able to return to the church. Eating a meal is a bonding experience that should be protected from contamination. But I would have no problem having coffee with this man as a way of trying to win him back to God.
Since Paul has received reports we know some did confront the incestuous man privately both one-on-one and as a group. But the church failed to do their duty. In fact, they were patting themselves on the back for being so accepting, the exact opposite of how they were supposed to act. Unfortunately, every church I've ever been a part of does the exact same thing. I personally only know of one church in the western world that actually does this right. I'm sure there are others. But it is clear they are a tiny minority.
12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? 13 But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves. We aren't to judge the pagans. That is for God to do. Those inside the church are another matter. We are to judge whether someone is sincerely pursuing holiness and falling short, or if they are practicing sin. Those are the only two choices because no one is without sin, so being sinless is not a requirement.
The Christian church must act responsibly, disciplining those in the church who practice sin, refusing to leave that life behind. We are to freely but carefully associate with those outside to win them over with the eventual goal of making them disciples of Christ. But we are not to allow the sin of the world to contaminate the church or us. Unfortunately, it appears that almost no churches in the West ever do this.

Scripture quotations taken from the NASB © The Lockman Foundation.

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