The church in Corinth had a big problem. There was a man who had been sleeping with his mom, or more likely step mom. Everybody in the church apparently knew about it, but no one said anything. This sin between two people began to infect the whole church. Sin that is not dealt with often does that. It begins in one or two people, but as godly people refuse to react in a godly way the blessing of God is removed and the whole body suffers. A lot of these two chapters deals with Paul explaining how the Corinthians should react and why. Bottom line: When you see open sin in the church and do nothing because you don't want to rock the boat or be confrontational or cause an issue, the whole body ends up suffering greatly. The greater act of love is to make someone mad, but help to save their soul.
5:2 - ...Shouldn't you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this? - Paul says it should deeply hurt you and not just deeply offend you. Offense for the sake of Christ is okay, but it should go deeper and it should be like a death, because left unchecked it will end in death for someone. Paul says to kick the person out of the church. Right away some will balk at that, but godly wisdom knows best. The intent is to get the person's attention and therefore help them change. To let this exist in the church is absolutely unloving, unwise and wrong.
5:5 - ... for the destruction of the flesh SO THAT his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord. - This is about saving the soul even though you have to offend the person to do it.
5:6 - ... a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough. - The truth often missed here is that when you leave open sin in the church (we are not talking about going on a witch hunt) it infects and diseases the whole body. If you cannot obey God in confronting open sin you are led to the sin of disobedience. One open act of adultery, drunkenness, greed, etc left unaddressed in the church can devastate a church. Love the body enough to confront the individual.
5:9-11 - Paul has some incredibly strong directions for how we should or should not engage those who are sexually immoral and yet call themselves a Christian. He says not to associate with them and not to even eat with them. The heart of this command is not to unnecessarily hurt the other person, but to help them see the cost if their lifestyle in an effort to help save them. when we rely on human wisdom here we say it doesn't make sense and it won't work, but Paul has already expressed earlier in this letter that God's wisdom can be trusted.
6:1-6 - Paul deals with disputes among Christians ans says when we attack each other, sue each other, fight out in the open with each other we trash the good name of our Lord. His counsel is not to cover it up, but to go to godly men and women and ask them to help us settle the matter. The truth is most of us don't want godly counsel in a fight, because we know we will have a part in the guilt. We want to be justified more than we want to be righteous many times.
6:7 - ... Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? - I love this verse. At the end of the day we want justice not because we are just, but because we don't want to be the one that pays the price.
6:9 - ... Don't be deceived.... - Satan uses deception to lead us to sin. Paul says that people who walk in sexual immorality and other such sins WILL NOT inherit the kingdom of heaven. It doesn't matter how much money they give, how often they go to church or read their Bibles. Open sin leads to a closed door when it comes to salvation.
6:11 - WASHED...SANCTIFIED...JUSTIFIED - You were cleaned up, set apart and God took care of all of your debts.
6:13 - the body is not meant for sexual immorality
6:18 - Flee from sexual immorality. - You have to run away from it like it can kill you in an instant, because IT CAN. You don't get close or linger near it. At the first sign in your head or heart of a temptation or a thought or a feeling you need to confess it to God and run the other way. It is better to overreact when it comes to protecting against sexual sin than to take the risk. So what if they think you are nuts. God will be honored by how sincerely you love Him and desire to remain pure for Him.
6:19-20 - ... You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. - You were purchased. you were a slave to sin and therefore to death. They owned you. Jesus Christ bought you. He has since freed you, but not so you can become a slave again. At the end of the day, if you will not restrain yourself, Paul appeals to the fact that you are still a slave only this time to Jesus. Do not hurt yourself. Honor God with what you do with your body.
Love, Michael
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