1 Corinthians 5
Your browser doesn't support HTML5 audio
1 Corinthians 5
Reports Of Sexual Sin (5:1-6:20)
Reports Of Sexual Sin — Discipline (5:1-8)
1 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.
1 A man has his father’s wife: This was the case Paul had heard of all the way in Ephesus! Not even pagans would tolerate that kind of behavior. This may have been a remarriage after divorce (or death). Or it may have been a concurrent relationship.
1 Sexual immorality among you:
Greek word: porneia.
Views on sex (Note: most agree fidelity in marriage is good, so much of this discussion has to do with sex outside of marriage.)John S. Feinberg and Paul D. Feinberg, Ethics for a Brave New World (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1993), 153.:
Natural Impulse View: Sex is a natural impulse or instinct that humans should pursue and enjoy to maximize pleausure.
Contraceptives make this more possible.
Analogy: like good food should be enjoyed in a variety of settings.
Thus, greater human happiness is attained if people can take whatever pleasure they can get from sex without the burden of moral guilt, as long as they do not satisfy their sexual urges by using a partner involuntarily, hurtfully or deceitfully.
Argument: Mankind has been restricted by ideas like Christianity, and we must return to the “wild.”
Objections:
Is it really always best to attempt to maximize pleasure? Ex: Debt.
Is what is wild or natural always good? Ex: We form societies, with rules, for a reason.
Is
The Affection View: If intimacy (not necessarily love) is present, a feeling of closeness and care, then you should enter into the relationship, including sexually.
If intimacy fades, the relationship can end.
If intimacy increases, they sleep together, live together, and marry one another.
You just click, have good vibes, etc.
Objections:
Feelings of intimacy are too fickle to be trusted.
Sex involves lives that are totally and completely shared.
Sex can commit an infatuated couple to one another unnecessarily.
Marriage is not unique at all. Nothing special in it.
The Abstinence View: Marriage, with complete faithfulness to your partner, or else total abstinence.
Sex is natural. Sex is enjoyable. Sex is helped by intimacy. But it should not be used merely for physical gratification, but for the expression of deep love and affection.
Argument:
Scripture
Develops a solid family unit
Disease
Pregnancy
Sexual immorality defined: All sexual activity outside of heterosexual marriage.
Biblical definition.
“If I could push a button right now…”
Ireland: Escape from “shame-guilt” culture!
2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.
2 You are arrogant:
Other translations: inflated with pride (HCSB), proud (NIV), proud of yourselves (NLT), or puffed up (NKJV).
Somehow the Corinthian church was proud of their tolerant behavior. It is not difficult to imagine how this sounded.
We are grace-filled! We are not legalists!
We are advanced! We are pro-love!
Jesus ate with tax-collectors and sinners! We don’t want to come across as sin-sniffers!
2 Let him who has done this be removed:
The man, not the woman, was to be removed, suggesting the woman was never there in the first place. In all likelihood, she was not a believer.
Paul does not feel a need to discipline her.
There should have been a grief-stricken (mourn) removal.
3 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. 4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 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.
Motives of church discipline:
To obey the Lord.
To love in difficult situations.
To clarify the gospel — community life created by the gospel.
To show the difference between following Christ and not following Christ.
What calls for church discipline? 2 things...
1 Any believer who teaches contrary to the apostolic fundamentals, thereby causing division.
Romans 16:17–18 (ESV) — 17 I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. 18 For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.
2 Any believer who persists in moral and ethical deviations from biblical Christian standards.
This passage, amongst others.
Our church culture:
Ongoing, undealt with, or unrepentant sexual rebellion (pornography, prostitution).
Cohabitation.
Homosexual practice.
Abandonment.
Divisive in doctrine.
5 So that his spirit may be saved:
Why conduct church discipline? Restoration.
Matthew 18:15 (ESV) — 15 “…If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.”
This man, and anyone under church separation, was to be treated as a nonbeliever.
The elders must be ready to be misunderstood.
6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump:
Why conduct church discipline? To benefit the local congregation.
Without it, the leaven would hinder the entire lump.
Why conduct church discipline? To deter others from sin.
1 Timothy 5:20 (ESV) — 20 As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear.
A major reason church discipline is often hindered is because of our cultural esteem of individuality over community. We see ourselves as morally autonomous, rather than members of one another.
The next generation believes in community, and this is good.
Practical considerations:
1 If division comes from biblical church discipline, that division is not carnal, but likely healthy.
2 It is not judging in the wrong sense (Matthew 7:1-2), but judging in the right sense (1 Corinthians 5:1-4).
3 Though we are all sinners, there is a difference between a repentant sinner and a persistent, rebellious sinner.
4 Though it might seem unloving, it is not unloving to protect the sinner and the church.
5 Though society might tell us people actually need therapy and do not sin but make poor choices, the Bible teaches humanity is responsible for personal sin.
Calvary Monterey and church discipline:
Process:
Warning / Correction / Rebuke / Admonition / Excommunication
Matthew 18:15-20
1 The offended approached the offender.
2 The offended returns with another witness or two.
3 The church leadership gets involved.
By meeting with the offended.
By meeting with the offender.
By meeting with both.
By asking the offender to depart.
In our litigious society, and because our church is mid-sized, we will communicate with those in the sphere of relationship with the resistant offender.
Reports Of Sexual Sin — Separation (5:9-13)
9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 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. 11 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.
9 In my letter: Remember, Paul had already corresponded with the Corinthian church.
1 The church founded; first visit.
2 The first letter (referred to in 1 C. 5:9).
3 The second letter: 1 Corinthians.
4 The painful visit.
5 The third letter: severe in tone (2 C. 2:4; 7:8).
6 The fourth letter: 2 Corinthians.
7 The third visit.
10 Since then you would need to go out of the world: Paul did not advocate monasticism. He did not believe it possible to separate from the world.
12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? 13 God judges those outside. [loose quote of Deuteronomy 22:24, 24:7] “Purge the evil person from among you.”
12 What have I to do with judging outsiders?:
Response: “What a nonbeliever does with their life is not my business. Though I might care as a fellow citizen, my truest citizenship is in heaven in the church, and I would not expect a non-believer to submit to Jesus. But for my friends who have decided to follow Jesus, I support them in their pursuit of obedience to him, including in their sex lives.”
12 Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?:
There is wrong judgement: a hyper-critical spirit.
Matthew 7:1 (ESV) — 1 “Judge not, that you be not judged.
This isn’t lack of discernment (context — speck, dogs / sermon — holy living).
Q: Who are you to judge?
A: A Christian, with a Bible, and a brain, and a heart, who knows where this folly is going!
This is a lack of hyper-critical spirit towards other believers.