DEALING WITH IMMORALITY IN THE CHURCH

1 Corinthians 5:1-5

Introduction: In his epistle to the Corinthians, Paul was dealing with a church that had a lot of problems. One such problem was that there was open immorality in the church and no one was addressing it. What is the church supposed to do with its members who are living in blatant immorality? We will see what the scriptures say and the reasons for it in a two blog series on DEALING WITH IMMORALITY IN THE CHURCH.

I. THE PROBLEM ADDRESSED – vs. 1, 2a
Paul immediately cites two glaring problems in the church.

A. Open Immorality In The Church – vs. 1
A man was having an illicit affair with his father’s wife (stepmother). Not only was this happening, but it was public knowledge (reported commonly). This is obvious because Paul had heard about it all the way over in Ephesus. This sin was especially heinous in light of the fact that this was not something that even the pagan unbelievers would do. In the O.T. for a man to have an affair with his stepmother was just as incestuous as with his mother. Leviticus 18:7, 8

B. The Church’s Pride Kept Them From Mourning Over This – vs. 2a
Paul had already addressed the pride of the Corinthians which caused them not to be able to have a proper view of themselves. Their pride in this case had caused them not to recognize nor be grieved over the immorality in the church. Pride is deceitful and blinds people to the truth; Satan himself was deceived by his own pride. Ezek. 28:13-18 Some also have suggested that because of the Church’s concern over being accepted by the Corinthian society, they were actually proud of the immoral actions of this man.

II. THE ACTION DEMANDED – vs. 2b-5
Paul explains to them the steps that must be taken to remedy this situation.

A. They Must Exclude The Man From Fellowship – vs. 2b-4
Nothing is said about the woman, it is assumed that she was not a believer, and therefore, the church had no authority over her. The church was to assemble with the purpose of taking care of this matter. The church is authorized and empowered to transact this kind of business. Matthew 18:15-17 And the result was to be that the man was removed from their fellowship. A number of scriptures deal with a believer avoiding other believers who live immorally. 2 Thess. 3:6 We will talk about the reason for this in our next lesson.

B. They Must Deliver Him Unto Satan For The Destruction Of The Flesh – vs. 5
The word “deliver” in our text is a judicial term and means to hand one over to the custody of another, in this case, Satan. Satan cannot harm the spirit of a believer, but if permitted, he can harm the body (flesh). Job 2:1-6 According to the construct of this text it appears that when a church must withdraw fellowship from an unruly believer it opens the way for God to permit Satan to begin to destroy the flesh of that person. Matthew 18:18 This has for its goal the correction of the unruly believer. 1 Timothy 1:20

Conclusion: This may run counter to our culture and even sometimes our own sensitivities, but there are several reasons why this must be done. We will discuss those reasons in our next blog.