ordinary christianity for the world.
Corinth, A Church Divided, 1 Corinthians 5:1-5 (Jeremiah 5; Luke 24:36-47)
Poetic Praise
Repentance
1 Corinthians 5:1-5 (Jeremiah 5; Luke 24:36-47)
This chapter begins with a difficult text. It is not difficult to understand what it says. The meaning is quite clear. The difficulty is found in ourselves because we do not want to accept what it says as being true. Nonetheless, it is the testimony of the historic churches that these verses are true and can be trusted.
The primary subject of the first four chapters of 1 Corinthians has been Paul's concern about the confusion of the foolishness of the world with the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 3:19). The leaders of the Corinthian church had grown the church into a large, wealthy, influential organization in the community. However, Paul found that they had done so by substituting the foolishness of the world for the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 4:8-16). The whole point of Paul's letter to the Corinthians was to accuse the leaders of the church of being confused and faithless, and to call them to repentance, forgiveness in Jesus Christ, and a change of belief and behavior.
Beginning with this fifth chapter Paul sets an example of their faithlessness before them. "It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife" (v. 1). There are two ways that the Greek word porneia is translated. The older versions translated it as fornication, and the newer versions translate it as sexual immorality. The problem with using sexual immorality is that the English lacks definition. What does sexual immorality mean? The term can mean different things to different people. Would Paul say that all sexual activity was okay between consenting adults, and that only the lack of consent constitutes sexual immorality? Hardly. If there is any confusion about this issue it is ours. Paul was very specific about what he said and about what he meant.
The Greek Lexicon (Thayer & Smith) defines porneia as "illicit sexual intercourse." The word licit is Latin and means permissible by law. So, illicit means not permissible by law. Paul said that it had been reported to him that people in the Corinthian church were involved in illegal sexual activity, what was not permissible by law. The point is that Paul was talking about more than some generalized idea of immorality. His point was that leaders of the Corinthian church were engaged in illicit behavior — illegal behavior between a man and his father's wife. We should also note that Paul's specificity does not annul the more general interpretation accorded to sexual immorality. It's just that Paul was being very specific by citing particular people involved in a specific relationship.
The Lexicon goes on to define porneia more generally to include adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism, intercourse with animals, sexual intercourse with close relatives (Leviticus 18), or sexual intercourse with a divorced man or woman (Mark. 10:11-12). And just to be clear the English dictionary defines adultery as "voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and a partner other than the lawful spouse."
But what law had been broken? Greece, and particularly the seaport of Corinth, were rife with such practices. Greek culture is well known for its sexual permissiveness. The civil law of Greece and of Corinth were very tolerant of such behavior. So, Paul was not talking about Greek or Roman civil law. Rather, he was talking about God's law, biblical law, the Ten Commandments, the Bible.
So far, all I have done is to define a word that Paul used in his accusation against the leaders of the Corinthian church. And it is very interesting to simply define Paul's terms and understand them as he understood them. This kind of clarification speaks volumes about our own abandonment of God's law in Twenty-First Century America. By simply defining a word, we come face to face with our own immorality. But we are not talking about our situation, we are talking about Paul's accusation of the people of Corinth. So, I will leave the application of this verse in our contemporary context to the exercise of the Holy Spirit. Lord, bring conviction upon your people.
Paul went on to say that the behavior of these church leaders was "not tolerated even among pagans" (v. 1). Matthew Henry calls it "incestuous fornication." Suffice it to say that whatever was going on was not common practice, even among the pagan Greeks. This is fascinating. We usually thing of the church of the First Century as being more holy or more perfect or more faithful than we are today. And in some ways they may have been. But here we see Paul calling the leaders of one of the more successful churches of the First Century on the carpet for gross immorality and faithlessness.
And if this particular sin weren't bad enough, Paul goes on to accuse them of being arrogant. "And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn?" (v. 2). The Greek word is phusioõ, which literally means to inflate or puff up, and is often translated as proud. The clear implication is that they were proud or arrogant with regard to their sin, when they should have been humiliated and in mourning about it — and that is greater problem here. Pride is worse than fornication because it is more subtle, more difficult to identify as sin.
The sin itself was not the main problem. All of God's people are sinners, to a person. No one is condemned because of some particular sin. Sin is the natural condition of humanity since the Fall. We are all condemned by Adam's sin. Paul says in Romans 3:10, "None is righteous, no, not one." So, in the light of Jesus Christ people are condemned, not by their sin, but by their refusal to repent of their sin, by their refusal to turn away from sin, by their refusal to acknowledge it as sin and to turn to Jesus Christ for forgiveness and salvation from the eternal consequences of sin. No, sin is not the problem. God can forgiven any sin through Jesus Christ. But God will not forgive any sin apart from Christ, and Christ demands repentance. "From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand'" (Matthew 4:17).
There is a difference between the ongoing struggle against sin by repentant Christians and the celebration of sin as a God-given right by the unfaithful. The faithful are humbled by their sin and moved to repentance, but the unfaithful are proud of their sin because they believe they have a right to it. In fact, all unrepentant sin thrives on pride. Pride is what keeps people from repentance. Pride is what keeps people from Jesus Christ, and from salvation.
John wrote, "Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, because all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever" (1 John 2:15-17). The lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, these are the enemies of the gospel, the enemies of truth, and the stumbling blocks of salvation. Where pride leads sin follows.
Paul goes on, "Let him who has done this be removed from among you" (v. 2). John Gill said of this verse that the guilty parties should be removed, "not by excommunication, for that they could and ought to have done themselves; but by the immediate hand of God, inflicting some visible punishment, and taking him away by an untimely death, which the Jews call 'cutting off,' by the hand of God; and such a punishment, they say, this crime deserved." Ouch! Gill provides the traditional interpretation of this verse, which was excommunication by the church and judgment by God. The Apostle Paul called the wrath of God down upon down upon these unrepentant sinners, these leaders of the Corinthian church.
Had they repented, he would have called the mercy of God down upon them. Jesus said, "'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' For I did not come to call righteous ones, but sinners to repentance" (Matthew 9:13—LITV). Jesus didn't just come to call on sinners, He came to call sinners to repentance. Big difference! To the Pharisees Jesus said, "Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance" (Matthew 3:8). Jesus is always after our repentance.
Paul goes on, "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" (v. 3). Wait a minute! Doesn't the Bible teach that we should be nonjudgmental? Yes, we ought not judge a repentant person on the basis of their sin because God's mercy is grater than any sin. The grace of God through the propitiation of Jesus Christ trumps all sin. There is no sin so great that it cannot be forgiven by the grace and mercy of God through Jesus Christ. But...
But, on the other hand, the churches are called to judge those who are unrepentant. Jesus said, "Do not judge according to sight, but judge righteous judgment" (John 7:24). In other words, we should not evaluate things on their appearance, but on the basis of God's righteousness, on the basis of Scripture alone. We are not to judge according to our own values, our own ideas, but according to God's standards of righteousness, according to Scripture. It is not the standards of the community that are to prevail, not the standards of the government, or the standards of the press, or TV, or popular opinion, but the standards of Scripture by which Christians are to judge (or evaluate) everything.
So, Paul could say to the Romans, "We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who do such things. Do you suppose, O man — you who judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself (note the lack of repentance) — that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?" (Romans 2:2-4). God's kindness, His grace and mercy are linked to repentance. God is kind and merciful in order to allow people the time and opportunity for repentance. God does not rush to judgment, but provides ample time for repentance. But at some point the opportunity for repentance comes to an end, and judgment follows.
We confuse ourselves when we neglect the fact that Scripture treats repentant sinners differently than it treats unrepentant sinners. Repentant sinners have the protection of Jesus Christ the advocate, where unrepentant sinners face the full consequences of God's law on their own. Repentant sinners have been pardoned, unrepentant sinners have not. Judgment for repentant sinners has been suspended by the propitiation of Jesus Christ, but judgment for unrepentant sinners remains.
Paul goes on to provide these instructions to the Corinthian church, "When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 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" (vs. 4-5). Here is how the church is to respond to unrepentant sinners in their midst.
First, the church is to assemble. Worship is not the context of this situation, yet the spirit of Paul and the power of Jesus Christ are to be part of the assemblage. There is to be a church meeting. The spirit of Paul provides specific instruction, and the power of Jesus provides the ability to act or see it through. But how is the church to "deliver this man to Satan?" As you might imagine there is much disagreement about what this verse means. But the bottom line seems to be that the unrepentant person is to be censured in the presence of the gathered congregation. Such censure is an act of excommunication.
However, it must be stressed that the purpose of excommunication is always to provide an opportunity for repentance and reconciliation. Matthew Henry writes, "The great end of church-censures is the good of those who fall under them, their spiritual and eternal good. It is that their spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." Excommunication is never to be the end of church membership. Rather, it means to forbid participation in the comforts of the church, which are the Lord's Supper and fellowship.
The "destruction of the flesh" that Paul talks about pertains to what used to be called mortification, which "refers to the sinful actions that are done by the body arising from the temptations and injections of Satan or the corrupt dictates of our own sinful heart" (Christopher Love). Mortification is the process of starving the life of sin in the body, or avoiding sin. How was that done? By replacing the temptation to sin with the love of Christ. "And if Christ is in you, indeed the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness" (Romans 8:10).
So, when Paul called the Corinthian church to deliver this sinner to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, he meant that the church should withdraw the blessings and comforts of Holy Communion and fellowship in order to turn up the heat regarding the immediate consequences of sin in the hope that the abandoned sinner would repent and seek reconciliation with Christ and His people. God is always working to bring His people to repentance and reconciliation (which are the fruits of salvation). And God goes to great lengths to accomplish this purpose. Damnation, then, is the result of the willful refusal to repent, the refusal to turn away from sin, to turn away from Jesus Christ who provides forgiveness and new life.
Jesus Christ is the source of forgiveness and salvation through regeneration by the Holy Spirit. And regeneration always brings about repentance as a matter of sanctification or growth in grace. So, if there is no repentance of sin, there can be no growth in grace. When repentance is lacking, salvation must be doubted because salvation is not guaranteed, nor is it universally applied to all people.
Jesus said, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-30). Note that there is a yoke and there is learning from Christ. There is a burden, and the burden is humble repentance of sin. Christians do not celebrate sin, they turn away from it.
