Day 13 - 1 Corinthians 5:1-8

5 I can hardly believe the report about the sexual immorality going on among you—something that even pagans don’t do. I am told that a man in your church is living in sin with his stepmother. 2 You are so proud of yourselves, but you should be mourning in sorrow and shame. And you should remove this man from your fellowship.

3 Even though I am not with you in person, I am with you in the Spirit. And as though I were there, I have already passed judgment on this man 4 in the name of the Lord Jesus. You must call a meeting of the church. I will be present with you in spirit, and so will the power of our Lord Jesus. 5 Then you must throw this man out and hand him over to Satan so that his sinful nature will be destroyed and he himself will be saved on the day the Lord returns.

6 Your boasting about this is terrible. Don’t you realize that this sin is like a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough? 7 Get rid of the old “yeast” by removing this wicked person from among you. Then you will be like a fresh batch of dough made without yeast, which is what you really are. Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us. 8 So let us celebrate the festival, not with the old bread of wickedness and evil, but with the new bread of sincerity and truth.

Tori's Comments:

So where is the balance in the church between mercy and judgement?

I am guessing it has to do with the heart state, as much of the New Testament does. So the man's blatant boasting about his sin was basically trampling on Christ, and without a humble spirit of repentance he was just hindering the spread of God's kingdom.

Yes? No? What did y'all get from this passage?


Terrie's Comments:

How does the church boast about blatant sin?  I am wondering how this looked?  Was talk about this man having sexual relations with his mother in law overpowering their conversations which otherwise would have been filled with the Good News of Jesus Christ?  

Paul just spent the first portion of his letter to this church telling them to be unified and not to pass judgement but then he continues and has passed judgement on this situation because it is blatantly destroying the church.  

When our oldest moved out the first time we without hesitation filled her room with a boarder.  She, at that time, was involved in a lifestyle that was blatantly not living in the will of God.  We couldn't have peace in our home with a spiritual and physical war raging continually.  There was a distance put between us because she was a declared believer but her actions were following the flesh instead of the spirit.  It was not long before that distance caused her to know that she was missing out on an open relationship with us and with God.  And as this passage says we had to let her go so her sinful nature could be destroyed and she would be eternally saved.  

I truly believe this only works if the person is already a part of God's family.  If you turn your back on a family member who has not committed their life to be a follower of Jesus Christ you probably would get the opposite affect.  If you demand that someone who isn't a believer live by God's standards, which they are not convinced are the way to go yet, it will turn them away and may even harden their hearts forever.  

I am so glad that we have the Holy Spirit to guide and direct us on a situation by situation basis.  God is the only one who knows what will draw our prodigal sons and daughters back to himself.  We need to listen carefully so we are helping instead of hindering the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

Take our personal comments or leave them. We would love to hear what stood out to you about today`s passage and how it encouraged you. Tell us in the comments below!