1 Corinthians 5-6
The Apostle Paul confronted the Corinthian believers regarding the practice of incest among them. It was a sexual immorality that was not even approved among pagans; yet the believers in Corinth seemed indifferent to this in their midst.
They probably thought that they were so spiritual that earthly standards no longer applied to them. There was this idea that only thespirit mattered and the body or the material was insignificant. This notion later was foundational to the teaching of Gnosticism. The Corinthians likely thought that what they did with their bodies was unimportant spiritually. This wrong understanding was applied also in the area of sex in marriage which the Apostle Paul had to address in a later chapter. We see the dangers of adhering to wrong teachings which affect the proper outworking of churchlife. In the case of the church in Corinth, it led to tolerating sin and sexual mmorality of a serious kind.
Paul was appalled at what was happening; he urged them to take immediate action and deal with the unrepentant wrongdoers. Although absent, he had made his judgement and he advised them to expel the persons involved from the congregation so that they might repent and be restored to the fellowship of the believers.
Here is a place for church discipline in order to preserve theholiness of Godʼs temple. A little leaven can spread through the whole dough; sins of one individual, uncorrected, can affect the whole congregation and incur Godʼs wrath and displeasure. The Church is the temple of God and the body of Christ; believers affect one another intheir behaviour and this is a spiritual reality. There is no place to assert the rights of individuals to live as they please; we must not overlook the responsibility of the whole congregation for the right conduct of its individual members. Paul rebuked the church in Corinth for not taking action against a serious case of immorality in her midst. Underlying this careless attitude in the church was a wrong understanding of freedom from the law and a wrong view of the importance of the body. These would be addressed in chapter six.
The Apostle Paul went on in chapter five to urge the believersin Corinth not to fellowship with so-called brethren who continued to live in immorality, greed, idolatry and drunkenness so as to purge the evil from among them.
This was not directed at not associating with such individuals among the non-believers; they needed the gospel message and the Church had to reach them through interaction and sharing the good news of salvation in Christ.
The Church has a responsibility to judge those within the Church. When the sin is clear and the perpetrator is unrepentant, expulsion, by withdrawal of fellowship and other forms of social friendship may be the most loving response. The purpose is to cause the sinner to face his sin, repent and be restored to the fellowship. At the same time, the Church continues to preserve the sacredness and holiness of her calling. It is also a clear demonstration of love for God and love for neighbour.
In chapter six, the Apostle Paul exhorts the Corinthian believers not to take their disputes to the secular courts but to settle them within the fellowship of the church. Many of these disagreements might have arisen from the dissensions and disunity mentioned earlier in the first chapter.
This does not mean that Paul did not recognise the place of the secular courts for the good of the society. Instead, Paul felt that the Church should be able to handle such disputes rather than turn them over to the pagans to arbitrate. After all, there will be an ultimate day when the saints will be seated with the Lord on the throne of judgement and participate in the judgement of created beings, including the angels. Surely they should be able to handle comparatively trivial cases in their context, especially as they boasted of their spiritual maturity and wisdom.
There is a more important principle to bear in mind. The Apostle Paul directed us to the One who carried our guilt through an unjust trial that cost Him His life at the cross. The question needs to be asked: “Did Christ secure the victory at the cross by standing on His rights, safeguarding His own interests, and insisting on His own way?” Ofcourse not. The cross ought to teach us that sacrifice and the giving up of oneʼs rights lead to the road of reconciliation and forgiveness. This is Godʼs way and believers should be willing to follow this path if they wish to live under the cross.
Disputes which were brought to the secular courts may havearisen from pride, from insisting on oneʼs rights and self-interests.Doing this did not honour the Lord but actually proved to be a spiritual defeat. Basically, even for ourselves, it is a failure to trust His perfect will and to entrust ourselves to Him who judges perfectly.
In verses 9-11, Paul warned of the danger of self-deception, “Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God?” The Corinthian believers were in danger of being presumptuous and taking Godʼs grace for granted: they deceived themselves into thinking that they could combine membership in Godʼs kingdom with habitual sexual sin, the love of money and the love of the world.
For Christians, this ought not to be. It is true that nobody can bejustified by law-observance. But that does not mean that we are free tobreak the law. It is in fact inconceivable that we should continue to sin.
The Church is comprised of redeemed sinners. Paul told the Corinthian believers that they were habitual wrongdoers in the past.Now they have been saved by the grace of God and should no longer walk in iniquity.
If we claim to be believers, we cannot be complacent about our sin. Christian freedom is not a licence to sin. Paul asked two questions to help the Corinthian believers to understand the use of freedom. The first: “Is it beneficial” No longer should we ask “whatʼs wrong with it”rather we should ask whether it has any value in developing Christian discipleship. The second: “Does it tend to enslave me? ” Something that is permissible can so take over our lives that we serve the activityrather than God.
Paul then demonstrated that what Christians do with their bodieshas spiritual significance. He reminded them that their body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Also, they do not own their own bodies; they werebought at a price. Therefore, they were to honour God with their bodies.
Our bodies have been created by God and will be resurrected by Him. Furthermore, they have been bought by Christʼs blood and are indwelt by His Spirit. Thus the belong to God three times over,by creation, redemption and indwelling. How then can we misuse ourbodies? We should instead honour God with them, by obedience andself-control. We were the slaves of sin; now we are slaves of Christ, and service to Him is the true freedom.