1 Corinthians 5
1 Corinthians 5:1-13 (NLT)
1 I can hardly believe the report about the sexual immorality going on among you—something that even pagans don’t do. I am told that a man in your church is living in sin with his stepmother.
2 You are so proud of yourselves, but you should be mourning in sorrow and shame. And you should remove this man from your fellowship.
3 Even though I am not with you in person, I am with you in the Spirit. And as though I were there, I have already passed judgment on this man
4 in the name of the Lord Jesus. You must call a meeting of the church. I will be present with you in spirit, and so will the power of our Lord Jesus.
5 Then you must throw this man out and hand him over to Satan so that his sinful nature will be destroyed and he himself will be saved on the day the Lord returns.
6 Your boasting about this is terrible. Don’t you realize that this sin is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough?
7 Get rid of the old “yeast” by removing this wicked person from among you. Then you will be like a fresh batch of dough made without yeast, which is what you really are. Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us.
8 So let us celebrate the festival, not with the old bread of wickedness and evil, but with the new bread of sincerity and truth.
9 When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin.
10 But I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or are greedy, or cheat people, or worship idols. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that.
11 I meant that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people. Don’t even eat with such people.
12 It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning.
13 God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, “You must remove the evil person from among you.”
There is a vital aspect of community that is not as enjoyable and uplifting as celebrating our blessings and unity together in Christ, but is just as essential in preserving the status and purity of that unity. In fellowship, there is the provision and reception of supply coming from and to each one. When a member of the fellowship is unrepentant in their personal fellowship and communion with wickedness and evil, what is received from them is a corrupting supply that will degrade and disrupt any progress in the construction of a building that honors the Holy One. To compromise His gift of righteousness with blatant service and deference to His opposition is to bring that same dangerous heart as an influence to the body. The presence alone of such a member is acceptance of this disabling effect and disregards the mission to make disciples. Without discipline to the way of holiness, there is digression to the way of wickedness and total exclusion of the founding and highest Member. How much better it is to return honor to Him by giving attention to the unsavory and mournful necessity of house cleaning. It’s not the closing of doors to the lost and hurting, but the removal from the doors of those who claim to be joined in fellowship while bonding in heart with wickedness. While it may seem to be uncaring for the one who is disciplined, it is actually the answer they need in showing them and the rest of the body the gravity and unacceptable nature of their embrace of sin. Rather than basking in assumptions of spiritual ascendance, oblivious to the presence of dangerous infiltration, Paul indicates the need for mourning and shame that this could even occur at all, as loving steps are taken to both remove the corrupting influence and make way for its repentance. The practice that prompted this instruction in discipline was an extreme sexual transgression, but included towards the end of the passage is anyone who claims to be a believer “yet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people.” He doesn’t seem to be of the notion that grace accepts and absolves these behaviors apart from a repentant heart, and that they are not to remain among a body that is intent on welcoming the presence of the Holy One.