CHAPTER V
IMPURITY
IN THE CHURCH
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Summary—The Incestuous Person. The Discipline Commanded. The Old
Leaven to be Purged Out. Heinous Offenders Not to be Recognized Socially in the
Church.
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1–5. There is fornication among you. Licentiousness was one of the besetting sins of the
Gentiles at this time. Purity of life was almost unknown. So far was unchastity
from being held in disrepute that temples were everywhere dedicated to
Aphrodite (Venus), and in Corinth at the time when Paul wrote there stood one
with a thousand priestesses, harlots, a gigantic brothel in the name of
religion. It is not wonderful that time was required to cleanse the church, formed
of converts from these heathen, from impurity. As is not named among the
Gentiles. There was in the church a still worse case than the Gentiles
would condone; a man had taken, probably after the death of his father, his
father’s wife, his own step-mother. This sort of incest was condemned by Greeks
and Romans (Cicero, Oratio pro Cluentio). 2. And ye are puffed up. In
the face of such a scandal, such a disgrace upon the church of which he is a
member, ye are still puffed up, instead of being humiliated and covered with a
sense of shame. To manifest sorrow was your duty, and to take such steps that
the evil doer might be taken away from among you by means of church
discipline. The early church mourned those who fell into licentious or other
grievous sins as dead (Origen), and if they repented, received then as risen
from the dead. 3. For I verily, etc. Though absent, yet with them in
spirit, Paul judged the case as present, and commanded the church as a body to
take action by withdrawal at once from the evil doer. 4. In the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ. The solemn act of excommunication must be in the name,
that is, by the authority, of the Lord. When ye are gathered together.
The act is to be administered in full assembly. It must be the act of the whole
church. Compare 2 Cor. 2:6. And my spirit. He will be present in
spirit, since the act will be carrying out his command. With the power of
our Lord Jesus Christ. The act of excommunication for misdeeds, when
administered according to the will of the Lord, is not merely man’s decision,
but will be executed by the power of the Lord. 5. To deliver such a one unto
Satan. Not only this one, but all such persons. To deliver unto Satan is to
excommunicate; to extradite from the kingdom of God to the prince of this
world. The expression is used in 1 Tim. 1:20. For the destruction of the
flesh. Fleshly desires had caused the sin. These must be destroyed. The
humiliation of excommunication, the sense of one’s lost condition, was well
adapted to bring a repentance. Some have held that this meant to send some
painful disease miraculously. I believe that the Latin fathers and Beza are
right in understanding that it refers to the mortification of the offender,
cast out, shunned by the church as a dead body. In 2 Cor. 2:7, this person is
ordered to be restored, having repented, and no mention is made of disease. That
the spirit may be saved. This is the object of all true discipline. If
carried out, as in the early church, it was well calculated to bring to
repentance. It was effective in this instance, as we learn from 2 Cor. 2:6.
6–8. Your glorying is not good. Boasting, in such a state of affairs, was unseemly. A
little leaven, etc. As a little leaven leavens the whole mass of dough, so
one sinner suffered to go on in impurity sends a corrupting influence through
the whole church. 7. Purge out therefore the old leaven. Let the leaven
of impurity be removed, by putting out the fornicator, that the church may be
pure from the impure leaven, or influence. So, too, each one must cleanse his
own heart. For even Christ our passover, etc. At the passover, Jews were
required to put all leaven from their houses (Exod. 12:15). As we have a
Paschal Lamb, slain for us, the church should cleanse out the leaven of sin. 8.
Let us keep the feast. Let us keep feast, or festival. There is no article
in the Greek. The reference is not to the Lord’s Supper, or to Easter, as some
have supposed, so much as to a constant duty. We always have a Paschal Lamb;
hence it is always our duty to keep festival by casting out all leaven; either
the old leaven of heathen vice, or of malice and wickedness, or
any sin.
9–13. I wrote unto you in an epistle. He had written an earlier letter which has not been
preserved, probably a short one, to which reference is made. So most
commentators understand. 10. Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this
world. His direction had been misunderstood. The fornicator in the church
must be shunned as an outcast, for the sake of the discipline. This was what he
meant. He did not give directions concerning their conduct towards the heathen.
Then must ye needs, etc. As the whole heathen world were addicted to the
vices named, to apply the rule to it would require that the church have nought
whatever to do with the unconverted. 11. Now I have written unto you, etc.
He now writes and explains his meaning. Church members must not have social
intercourse with one who has been a member who is guilty of the grievous sins
named. Covetous. A greedy person, under the influence of passions, not
only greedy for gain, but for self-indulgence. The Greek word implies this. With
such a one, no, not to eat. Either at the Lord’s table, or in friendly
meals, which would imply a brotherly recognition. 12. For what have I to do,
etc. It was not Paul’s business, nor ours, to judge those without; hence
the rule just given is not one to regulate our intercourse with them. Do not
ye judge them that are within? The authority of the church is over those
who have been united with it. It can judge them. 13. Them that are without
God judgeth. The unconverted are left in the hands of God. He will judge
them according to their deeds. We are not to seek to inflict punishment on them
by shunning them, but rather to go to them in the love of Christ to try to lead
them to repentance. Therefore put away, etc. A summary order to execute
discipline upon the incestuous offender, an order that we know from the second
letter was obeyed.
Excerpt from:
The People's New Testament
by Barton
Warren Johnson
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