106 1 Corinthians 5 - Dealing with Immorality - a podcast by Dr David Petts - Pentecostal preacher, former AoG Bible College Principal

Talk 8: Dealing with Immorality (5:1-13)

Chapters 1-4 have dealt with divisions in the church.

Now in Chapters 5-6 Paul turns to the serious matter of immorality.

The two chapters may be divided into four main sections:

          Sexual immorality must be put out of the church (5:1-13)

          Christians have a responsibility to judge (6:1-8)

          Sexual immorality is not compatible with the Kingdom of God (6:9-12)

          Six reasons why a Christian should avoid sexual immorality (6:13-20).

In this talk we shall deal only with chapter 5.

1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father's wife.

2 And you are proud! Shouldn't you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this?

3 Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present.

4 When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present,

5 hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.

6 Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough?

7 Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast--as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.

9 I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people--

10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.

11 But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.

12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?

13 God will judge those outside. "Expel the wicked man from among you."

 

Sexual Immorality must be put out of the Church

Today I think the best way to deal with this passage is to work through it verse by verse

1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father's wife.

actually

The Greek holos could also mean everywhere

          sexual immorality

porneia strictly means prostitution, but in the NT it means any form of sex outside marriage.

          does not occur

There is no verb in the Greek here. Thus Paul need not be taken to imply that such things did not happen among the pagans.  They clearly did! He probably means that the Gentiles condemned these things too. Cf. ESV …is not tolerated

          a man has his father’s wife

The verb has is a present infinitive in the Greek. This indicates not a singular incident, but marriage or concubinage.  Barrett translates is living with.

Note that his father’s wife does not necessarily mean his mother. Paul does not use the word for incest, so the woman was possibly the man’s step-mother. (This was forbidden in Leviticus 18:8). He does not use the word for adultery, so the father was probably dead or divorced

 

2 And you are proud! Shouldn't you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this?

you are proud

Perhaps they were proud of their tolerance! (Cf v 6)

          filled with grief

The word used is that referring to mourning for the dead. The immoral person should have been so excluded from their company that it would have been as though he were as one dead to them

3 Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present.

          with you in spirit

Paul does not just mean that he would be thinking of them! It could be that in some mystical way he was to be present in spirit though absent in body. This is a difficult concept, but compare Ezekiel 8. 

Alternatively, spirit in this context could be taken as an aspect of Paul’s personality.  He will make his contribution as the Corinthians reflect on what they remember of his convictions etc.

However, I find Fee’s explanation more compelling. The believer in the new age has received the Spirit and has become ‘one spirit with the Lord’ (6:17). Paul also speaks of ‘my spirit’ in ways that seem ambiguous.

Compare 14:14-15 where speaking in tongues is described as ‘my spirit’ praying, but is clearly enabled by the Holy Spirit.  Fee argues that we might translate this ‘My S/spirit prays’. 

So here in 5:3 he is saying When you and my S/spirit are assembled together..... In short, Paul is able to be present with them because his spirit is united with the omnipresent Spirit of God.

4 When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present,

          the name of....... the power of.......

Note the connection between the name and power of the Lord

5 hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature (the flesh) may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.

          hand ... over to Satan

Compare 1 Timothy 1:20 (Hymenaeus and Alexander). The suggestion seems to be that those who sin seriously can be handed over to the one to whom they have already in a measure given themselves. The sinner is thus confirmed in his sin. A physical affliction is suggested in order to produce spiritual good. Compare Job and Paul, though not because of sin.

Compare also Hebrews 12:5-11.  The purpose is corrective and ultimately redemptive.  In effect, the church withdraws its protective fellowship from the offender.  To be put out of the church is in a very real sense to be in the hands of Satan. To be truly in the church is to be out of Satan’s hands.

6 Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough?

          your boasting

The form of pride may well have been subtle rather than open (cf v2)

          yeast

If the yeast is not got rid of, it will only spread.

Paul’s concern is not only for the offender, but for the purity of the church

7 Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast - as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

          without yeast - as you really are

For seven days before the Passover the Jews would clean out the house and get rid of the old yeast.

So when the Passover Lamb was sacrificed, there was no yeast left.

Paul reasons that, since Christ our Passover Lamb has already been sacrificed then the Corinthians must already be without yeast. (Yeast here is a symbol for sin). In effect he is saying, You are without yeast, so be without yeast!  

This is often the exhortation of Paul. The fundamental structure of Paul’s ethical thought is that an imperative (a command) is based upon an indicative (a statement of fact).  This underlies his teaching in Romans 6. A Christian’s state does not always conform to his status, but it is only when he understands that he is holy (in God’s sight) that he can obey the command to be holy (cf. 1 Peter 1:16, 2:9).

8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.

          the Festival

In the context this is clearly a reference to the Jewish Passover which for Christians is superseded by the Lord’s Supper or communion.

 

 

In verses 9-13 Paul clears up a misunderstanding arising from his previous letter. He had told them not to keep company with the sexually immoral. Now he clarifies the matter. Christians must mix with non-Christians even though they may be immoral, otherwise it would mean being taken right out of the world altogether!  It is the so-called Christian who is immoral who must be excluded (although of course the repentant sinner would be welcomed back).

9 I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people--

10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.

11 But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.

v11    Do not even eat

This  would include, but not be confined to, the Lord’s Supper

12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?

13 God will judge those outside. "Expel the wicked man from among you."

           expel

The verb is plural, indicating the church’s collective responsibility to judge.

And as we shall see in the next chapter, Paul goes on to make it clear that:

Christians have a responsibility to judge (6:1-8)

          Sexual immorality is not compatible with the Kingdom of God (6:9-12)

And he concludes by giving us

          Six reasons why a Christian should avoid sexual immorality (6:13-20).

 

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