Day By Day - 1 Corinthians 5

 
By Tom Mitchell

Personal thoughts:
This chapter covers two major issues, immorality that defiles the church and the judgement of that immorality. So, where do I start with this most challenging chapter of scripture without offending anyone or triggering any past hurts or circumstances that any individual may have been through?

My goal in this devotion is to address the severity of the sin Paul is talking about in this chapter and its consequences.

Point 1- Immorality defiles the Church.
The sexual immorality that Paul addresses in this chapter is still, to this day, considered to be one of the most heinous crimes (sins) in our society. Paul was right on target when he addressed the church in regards to this defilement within.  This offence violated even the decency of the pagan world, a clear indicator that the Corinthians had either a false notion about God’s grace or too casual an attitude about sexual morality. We can see the follow-on effect of this in our society today.
Verse 5 gives us a clear course of action to deal with this sin within the church.

“Deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”

It is clear from scripture that any sexual immorality is not acceptable in any shape or form. As Christians, we are all responsible to bring to light any such practices within the body of Christ. Paul continues to tell us in the following verses how we can purge out the old leaven. He uses the analogy from the night of the first Passover in Egypt when the Hebrews removed all the leaven from their homes. They believed that this practice stopped any possible cross contamination or infiltration of sin into the home or church.

Paul makes it very clear in these verses that it is our responsibility to be vigilant and aware of what is going on inside the church. He is also calling us to be strong and prepared to confront and address those who may be in danger of immorality.

We are all called to be accountable to one another in every area of our lives regardless of how difficult it may be. But thankfully we serve a God full of grace and forgiveness. Jesus died so that we may live and through repentance there is forgiveness of sin no matter what.


Point 2 - Immorality must be judged.
In verses 9-13, Paul makes it very clear as to whom we should not isolate ourselves from. Verse 10 says:
“Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters.”
If we were to remove ourselves from these people then there would certainly be no one to proclaim the gospel of the Lord. However, Paul makes it very clear that we are not to associate with anyone within the church who is sexually immoral, covetous, an idolater, a reviler, a drunkard or an extortioner.  Paul goes on and says that we are not even to eat with such a person. This is a pretty strong warning to us all who consider ourselves a part of God's church on how we should conduct and live our lives.

Paul concludes this chapter with another warning about how we judge those outside the church. I know for myself that I can be very judgemental of the conduct of people outside of the church. The scripture in Matthew 7:3-5 comes to mind:

 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

Paul is telling us in this latter part of the chapter that we are not responsible to be judge and jury to those outside of the church. That is God's job and His alone.

Final Thoughts:
Paul makes it very clear as to the severity of this immorality, and how it not only defiles those within the church but also those outside of the church.

Over the past few years the conduct of the church in regards to sexual immorality has been under the greatest public scrutiny than ever before. The church has certainly been blotted by what has been revealed.  As believers, we have a moral obligation to uphold and maintain the highest standards and integrity in this area in our own lives and in the life of the church.

Although this is a hard subject to talk about, my prayer is that we can all walk in true integrity of heart, and allow the Holy Spirit to guide us and strengthen us in all areas of our lives.