1 Corinthians 5:1, 2 says...
Today's verses are 1 Corinthians 5:1, 2, which read,
v.1 - It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles that someone has his father's wife.
Paul has received the report of something else that has been happening within the church of Corinth. Along with the sin of pride that causes divisions is the sin of immorality and as we will see the sin of not dealing with it in regards to the life of the church.
Immorality is "illicit sexual activity" which would include adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism, bestiality, and the like. The word "porneia" has its base in the word meaning "to sell" and relates to selling our bodies to something other than God's rule of lawful relationships. You can see that this is where we get our word pornography. There is nothing good in the Bible said about this word or anything related to it.
Apparently what is happening with one of the members of the church is this kind of activity and Paul names it when he says "that someone has his father's wife." So the son of his natural father has a relationship with the woman who is not his natural mother. We don't know if the father got a divorce and was remarried because of it or if his first wife died, the son's mother, and he remarried. The signification of saying it was his father's wife and not his mother tells us that this man is having an active relationship with what would be his stepmother at the time that she is his father's wife. I am sorry to lay all that out there but that is why this must have even made the Gentiles "blush" who were experts at paganism.
v.2 - You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst.
Paul is exposing this blatant sin but he is also exposing another and that is the church is not doing anything about it. Rather they are doing something by not doing anything and really they are actively supporting it with their arrogance about it. They should mourning that this is happening but they are using it as a badge of honor in some way of saying "we have arrived or this doesn't matter or it won't affect us." They are condoning that a wrong in God's word is okay now to be a right.
Paul is saying that their response should be mourning over this sin and that they should have this person removed from the body of believers. The church term here that we are familiar with is excommunication. That is a scary word but it contains the full weight of the how the Scripture says that should happen when necessary within the body of believers. It involves a process that focuses on the truth found in the Word and reconciliation to that truth.
As much as these Christians were condoning a wrong and in reality making it a right and arrogantly boasting about it, we can be also guilty of sin by not following God's instruction on how to remove unrepentant, ongoing sin within the church among its members. We can be arrogant in the process of that also. Rather, we should not be arrogant but humbly mournful over this situation at hand. We are to come to that person with tears because they are in direct opposition to God's word that has huge consequences that this person you love will go through if they don't follow God's way.
And then factor in that the one who committing this sin is having an affect on the whole of the body of Christ, but more of that tomorrow as Paul continues to focus on the sin and the church's non response to it.
"Lord, it seems that You know what is happening in our world and in many of the churches of our land. The sin is not only what we see written in Your word but also the sin of us who may not participate but we play down what Your word says. Lord, I fear for our response both in the positive and the negative to this development. Lord, may we be humbly mournful so that we can respond with Your love and correction so those affected with see You and Your way rather than our compliance or our sinful responses in return. Amen."
Pastor Adam
v.1 - It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles that someone has his father's wife.
Paul has received the report of something else that has been happening within the church of Corinth. Along with the sin of pride that causes divisions is the sin of immorality and as we will see the sin of not dealing with it in regards to the life of the church.
Immorality is "illicit sexual activity" which would include adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism, bestiality, and the like. The word "porneia" has its base in the word meaning "to sell" and relates to selling our bodies to something other than God's rule of lawful relationships. You can see that this is where we get our word pornography. There is nothing good in the Bible said about this word or anything related to it.
Apparently what is happening with one of the members of the church is this kind of activity and Paul names it when he says "that someone has his father's wife." So the son of his natural father has a relationship with the woman who is not his natural mother. We don't know if the father got a divorce and was remarried because of it or if his first wife died, the son's mother, and he remarried. The signification of saying it was his father's wife and not his mother tells us that this man is having an active relationship with what would be his stepmother at the time that she is his father's wife. I am sorry to lay all that out there but that is why this must have even made the Gentiles "blush" who were experts at paganism.
v.2 - You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst.
Paul is exposing this blatant sin but he is also exposing another and that is the church is not doing anything about it. Rather they are doing something by not doing anything and really they are actively supporting it with their arrogance about it. They should mourning that this is happening but they are using it as a badge of honor in some way of saying "we have arrived or this doesn't matter or it won't affect us." They are condoning that a wrong in God's word is okay now to be a right.
Paul is saying that their response should be mourning over this sin and that they should have this person removed from the body of believers. The church term here that we are familiar with is excommunication. That is a scary word but it contains the full weight of the how the Scripture says that should happen when necessary within the body of believers. It involves a process that focuses on the truth found in the Word and reconciliation to that truth.
As much as these Christians were condoning a wrong and in reality making it a right and arrogantly boasting about it, we can be also guilty of sin by not following God's instruction on how to remove unrepentant, ongoing sin within the church among its members. We can be arrogant in the process of that also. Rather, we should not be arrogant but humbly mournful over this situation at hand. We are to come to that person with tears because they are in direct opposition to God's word that has huge consequences that this person you love will go through if they don't follow God's way.
And then factor in that the one who committing this sin is having an affect on the whole of the body of Christ, but more of that tomorrow as Paul continues to focus on the sin and the church's non response to it.
"Lord, it seems that You know what is happening in our world and in many of the churches of our land. The sin is not only what we see written in Your word but also the sin of us who may not participate but we play down what Your word says. Lord, I fear for our response both in the positive and the negative to this development. Lord, may we be humbly mournful so that we can respond with Your love and correction so those affected with see You and Your way rather than our compliance or our sinful responses in return. Amen."
Pastor Adam
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