Click here to read today's passage on Bible Gateway.
Sin in the Church
"I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one." 1 Corinthians 5:9–11
Today's reading is a pretty long one and full of a bunch of different things, so if you have any questions, make sure you ask them in the comments.
Today's passage is a pretty important one in the area of what is usually called "church discipline". It's a difficult topic and one we've touched on before (in Matthew 18:15-20 for example). I'm not going to super in-depth here, but give a few principles from the passage. The situation that Paul is responding to appears to be that there is a man in the Corinthian church that is having a sexual relationship with his step-mother. Not only is the church not condemning this, but it seems that they are taking pride in that fact that they feel the Christian freedom and liberty to allow it! In response, Paul writes some important thoughts:
1. What is church discipline?
Church discipline is when someone is put out of fellowship. Those in the church are not to associate or even eat with those who persist in habitual, obvious sin and refuse to repent of it (see the verses above). This is the case of the man mentioned in chapter 5 - the instruction is to put him out of fellowship.
2. Why do church discipline?
There are a few different reasons, but none of them is "to be mean and judgmental". The reason Paul gives here is that these obvious and unrepentant sins can affect the entire congregation. There are a variety of ways such sin can wreak havoc on spiritually immature believers and even on those who are mature. This is where Paul says "a little leaven leavens the whole batch". A little sin can go a long way in polluting an entire church. This is the "big picture" reason for church discipline in a church-wide sense. But there is of course the person that is actually committing the sin, which leads us to...
3. What is the goal of church discipline?
The goal of church discipline, as I said, is not judgement. It is not shunning just to be jerks. The goal is RESTORATION. This is what Paul means when he writes "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." The goal is that by being put out of fellowship, cut off from the body, that the sinner will realize the error of their ways and seek repentance, confession, and restoration. This is actually what ends up happening in this particular case, as we'll see in 2 Corinthians. We NEED to get this straight, because it's the whole point: church discipline is not punishment. It isn't like paying a fine or being grounded. It's an intervention by way of being cut off from (presumably) everyone you love and care for, and the very place that you worship God.
As I said above, this is just a really quick overview of some of the principles in the passage - I encourage you to read it closely and notice these things in it. There is so much more that can and needs to be said on this topic, but unfortunately not now. Again - if you have any questions or thoughts about another part of today's reading, be sure to put them in the comments!
Sin in the Church
"I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one." 1 Corinthians 5:9–11
Today's reading is a pretty long one and full of a bunch of different things, so if you have any questions, make sure you ask them in the comments.
Today's passage is a pretty important one in the area of what is usually called "church discipline". It's a difficult topic and one we've touched on before (in Matthew 18:15-20 for example). I'm not going to super in-depth here, but give a few principles from the passage. The situation that Paul is responding to appears to be that there is a man in the Corinthian church that is having a sexual relationship with his step-mother. Not only is the church not condemning this, but it seems that they are taking pride in that fact that they feel the Christian freedom and liberty to allow it! In response, Paul writes some important thoughts:
1. What is church discipline?
Church discipline is when someone is put out of fellowship. Those in the church are not to associate or even eat with those who persist in habitual, obvious sin and refuse to repent of it (see the verses above). This is the case of the man mentioned in chapter 5 - the instruction is to put him out of fellowship.
2. Why do church discipline?
There are a few different reasons, but none of them is "to be mean and judgmental". The reason Paul gives here is that these obvious and unrepentant sins can affect the entire congregation. There are a variety of ways such sin can wreak havoc on spiritually immature believers and even on those who are mature. This is where Paul says "a little leaven leavens the whole batch". A little sin can go a long way in polluting an entire church. This is the "big picture" reason for church discipline in a church-wide sense. But there is of course the person that is actually committing the sin, which leads us to...
3. What is the goal of church discipline?
The goal of church discipline, as I said, is not judgement. It is not shunning just to be jerks. The goal is RESTORATION. This is what Paul means when he writes "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." The goal is that by being put out of fellowship, cut off from the body, that the sinner will realize the error of their ways and seek repentance, confession, and restoration. This is actually what ends up happening in this particular case, as we'll see in 2 Corinthians. We NEED to get this straight, because it's the whole point: church discipline is not punishment. It isn't like paying a fine or being grounded. It's an intervention by way of being cut off from (presumably) everyone you love and care for, and the very place that you worship God.
As I said above, this is just a really quick overview of some of the principles in the passage - I encourage you to read it closely and notice these things in it. There is so much more that can and needs to be said on this topic, but unfortunately not now. Again - if you have any questions or thoughts about another part of today's reading, be sure to put them in the comments!
RSS Feed
