1 Corinthians 5:1-2

Teaching: Paul is beginning a new section in chapter 5, one in which he will take the issues he has heard from Chloe (a member of the Corinthian church, 1 Cor. 1:11) and address them. The first is a report of sexual sin in the Church body, that of a man having relations with his own step-mother. Paul’s language expresses shock and incredulity at the fact that this is going on, as he uses the word holos (actually/completely). The term for “sexual immorality” is porneia, which is sort of an umbrella term for all sexual relations outside of biblical marriage. What’s more, the verb translated “has” (as in “has his father’s wife”) is in the present active infinitive form, which connotes an on-going action. And, as we see in verse 2, the church is doing nothing about it. So, we can see that there is a man in the church who is continuing in this sexually immoral/incestual relationship and the church accepts it as perfectly fine in their congregation.

The issue at hand? Arrogance. This relationship was plain to see amongst the church, so much so that it made its way to Paul, and yet, no one mourned what they saw, but rather welcomed it as acceptable in their body. This sort of relationship was not even acceptable to the pagan Greeks, as even they saw a moral wrong in it. So, Paul’s command is this: “Let him who has done this be removed from among you.” We will develop this further in coming posts, but for now, let’s consider this question at hand: what should the church’s response be to unrepentant sin?

The church is not a gathering of perfect people, but rather those saved and redeemed by grace in spite of their sin. But should a then church turn a blind eye to sin? The answer is no, particularly from those who profess Christ as their Lord and Savior. Sometimes sin will be subtle, other times completely outrageous, as is in this case. But a church’s response to sin must be that of Christ. And this church, not the man and woman at question, receive Paul’s admonishment because rather than responding as the Body of Christ, they responded as a body of flesh.

Takeaway: John 8 tells the well-known story of the woman at the well, caught in an adulterous lifestyle. Jesus says, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” None do, and all walk away unable to condemn her. Then, Jesus tells her this, “Neither do I condemn you; go and from now on sin no more.” The hard part of representing Christ is to be both of these things: gracious in forgiving but also clear-eyed in our calls for repentance of sin. Too often we find ourselves much more on one side of John 8:11 than the other, forgiving all and refusing to call out sin OR showing no grace and only calling out sin. Paul’s words here seem to lean more heavily on the latter, seeming to give us a justification for withholding grace, right? Well, no. First, the righteousness any of us have is that of Christ credited to us by faith -- not of our own works. So, none may boast in their own righteousness apart from Christ or in addition to Christ. But secondly, the issue at hand was the church’s acceptance of this sin – they were standing firmly on the “neither do I condemn you” side of John 8. If we consider the greater teachings of the Bible on church discipline, the church has the duty to welcome all to the Body but when one of the Body refuses sound biblical counsel and calls to repentance and restoration, there does come a time that the church must protect its flock (Matt. 18:15-17). In this case, it is the issuing of the dire consequence of expulsion to those unwilling to repent of their sin when repeatedly confronted with it. Paul’s point in these two verses is to call out what the sin is and what the church’s response to it should be. This is not an absence of grace though, but rather, a firm commitment to abiding in Christ and resisting the schemes of Satan to destroy the witness of the Church. As we will see in verse 5, Paul still has concern for this man who is persisting in this incestual relationship and is using this measure to hopefully bring him to repentance. That should be our posture in such matters, as well.