Here’s the whole chapter – in a separate window… (I Cor 5 – NIV )
Paul, in this chapter, uses the example of one immoral man among the congregation to teach them about purity IN the body.
Upon initial reading, it seemed to me a bit harsh and callous to expel this man from the fellowship of believers, a.k.a. the church, and turn him over to Satan. However, after I read it (a few times) it seems to me that the bigger fear, and hence the reason to expel him from the church is primarily two-fold.
- to bring the immoral man to repentance
- to keep the purity of the congregation
1. The expulsion serves as a “wake up” call and a consequence of this man’s immoral behavior. Paul knows that the natural consequences of his behavior AND the conviction of the Holy Spirit will eventually lead to this man’s repentence.
2. Perhaps more importantly, Paul knows that “accepting” this kind of behaviour – even in the name of love – is like the yeast that works its way through the dough. It doesn’t take long for that attitude, the pride, the “acceptability” of willful sin and immorality to quickly permeate through the body. Before too long people start thinking “well… so and so did it….” In the opening verses, Paul even says that the Corinthian church was “proud”. I believe the yeast had already begun to have it’s effect. They were proud that they were not so sinful and that they were much more “holy” than him. How dangerous it is for us to live in the land of comparison!!! That’s worth repeating… How dangerous it is for us to live in the land of comparison!!! Lest we forget that any sin is repulsive to Father God. None of us are any better than anyone else. Jesus died for Osama bin Laden and he died for me. Without Christ, we are ALL covered in sin. Without Christ, we are all putrid to the nostril of God. He is so Holy that NO SIN IS TOLERABLE… only perfection is acceptable. Only Jesus was perfect and consequently acceptable. In God’s eyes there is no varying degree of sin. There are no shades of grey, there is only black and white. We are with sin or without sin. Period… and we are ALL with sin.
This attitude of pride among believers does two things:
- It corrupts the body of believers
- It ruins the name of Jesus to the unbeliever.
1 Corinthians 5:11
But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.
NOTICE: This verse is not saying we cannot engage the world. These kinds of sins we would expect of those the world – the unbeliever. This verse is very specific to those who call themselves believers and followers of Christ and yet willfully engage in these “sins of character”. This is by no means the “out clause” or evangelizing the “undesireables” or the “I’m not comfortable with their beliefs or lifestyles“… like I said before… Jesus died or every one of us.
I think this whole chapter is not as much about the physical sin of this man, as it is about his attitude and how it was affecting the church. Think about it… this man was obviously proud of and touting his conquest of his “father’s wife” because it was reported at least enough for Paul to hear of it wherever he was at! There was no brokenness, no repentance, no changing of his way. He was arrogant! The church body wasn’t much better, they were not only accepting his living arrangements, but growing in their own pride that they weren’t “as bad” him.
The book of James tells us that “God opposes the proud.” Have you ever really thought about God OPPOSING you? Pride is the only sin in the bible that God opposes us on. That means he stands in front of us, blocking the way, getting in the way and hindering all our progress. I do NOT want to be there!
So how do we balance the “Love the sinner, hate the sin” delimma for the believer? I believe to Papa it’s all about our hearts – our attitudes. Of course we will sin. We all do. It is not my job to convict someone of their sin. It is the Holy Spirit’s job to convict people (believer and unbeliever) of sin. It is my job to encourage holiness in the life of the believer and to point the unbliever to the saving grace of Jesus Christ. It’s my job to pray for my brother to brought to repentance under the conviction of the Holy Spirit. It’s my job is to express Christ’s love to the unbeliever and to live a life worthy of the name of Christ. It’s my job is to be so in love with Jesus that the world sees Him in everything I do.
Running After Papa…