Lesson for May 15, 2022
The Book of I Corinthians
Chapter 5:1-13
Verse 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.” This chapter deals with a particular sin that had come to the attention of Paul and was known by the congregation in Corinth. This church had a lot of issues that Paul had to deal with as their spiritual father. Paul was addressing the entire church when he bought this charge before them because they had failed to deal with the problem themslves. Paul laid out the principle for dealing with this situation. (Matthew 18:15-17)
Verse 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.” The Greek word for arrogant is “phusioo,” which means to be proud of something or someone. This church had become so carnal that they were apparently “bragging” about this hideous sin. The Greek word for mourn is “pentheo,” which means sorrow or grief. These carnal believers exhibited no sorrow for the ones involved in the sin or the fact that they were not dealing with it as they should. It seems that the father, the son, and the stepmother, were still involved with the church.
Verses 3-5
“For I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present. In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” Delivering one over to Satan was Paul’s way of saying that this believer should be confronted and not allowed to be a part of the congregation. Paul anticipated that this believer would possibly die “the sin unto death,” and Satan was to be used as an agent for “the sin unto death” in this case, also in I Timothy 1:19-20. It is impossible for Satan to do anything to a believer unless God permits it and there have been certain times when God did permit it. (II Corinthians 12:6-7)
God has a purpose for the life of every believer, but a believer can leave this life before that purpose is completed through divine discipline. The flesh here does not refer to the sin nature but to the human body. Once the human body dies, the soul and the spirit enter into the presence of the Lord. The day of the Lord here refers to the Rapture. The word ‘saved’ means to be delivered. At the point of the Rapture, a believer who has died “the sin unto death” will still receive a resurrection body. It was better in this case to take this carnal believer home to Heaven than to leave him here to do further damage to the church.
Verse 6
“Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?” When you find leaven in the Scripture it always refers to sin or something evil, either an evil principle or a sinful act. The leaven of Herod was worldliness in Mark 8:15; the leaven of the Sadducees was rationalism in Matthew 16:6; the leaven of the Pharisees was religion and ritualism in Mark 8:15 and Luke 12:1; the leaven of the Galatians was legalism in Galatians 5:9; and the leaven of the Corinthians was immorality in I Corinthians 5. The evil was boasting about what this carnal believer was doing instead of condemning it.
Verse 7
“Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the feast not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
Clean out the old leaven (sin of arrogance) so that you may be a new lump (in fellowship with God) is the meaning here. These believers were in Christ, positionally (unleavened). However, they were out of fellowship with God, experientially (leaven). Paul used an analogy that they would understand – Christ the Passover Lamb. The Passover Feast was a celebration of Christ’s work on the Cross. Then came the Feast of Unleavened Bread which represented the sinlessness of Christ. They needed to clean out the old leaven (sin) of arrogance, malice, and wickedness. Celebrate the feastmeant to get back in fellowship with God and celebrate Christ’s work on the Cross.
The Feast of the Passover and the Feast of the Unleavened Bread began when the nation of Israel was in captivity in Egypt, according to Exodus 13. The Jews had been slaves to Pharoah for 430 years, so God chose Moses as His representative to demand Pharoah to release them. After many attempts by Moses and his brother Aaron to convince Pharoah to release God’s people and after many curses that God placed on the Egyptians, he would still not let them go. Therefore, God told Moses to have the Israelites smear the blood of a lamb on their doorposts so that the angel of death, who God was going to send to take the lives of all the firstborn in Egypt, would “pass over” their house and not take the lives of any of the firstborn of the Israelites. After this happened, Pharoah told the Israelites to leave immediately. As the Israelites had not prepared bread and did not have time to add leaven and let the bread rise, they took it as dough (flat). This is the origin of the Feast of the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
The Greek word for malice is “kakia,” which means badness in quality or evil. The Greek word for wickedness is “poneria,” which means depraved. The Greek word for sincerity is “eilikrinia,” which means morally pure. The Greek word for truth is “aletheia,” which refers to Bible doctrine. Paul was giving them a contrast to illustrate his point – the leaven (sin) of malice and wickedness versus the unleavened bread (fellowship with God) of sincerity and truth. The principle that Paul was driving home was to Rebound, forget the past, and move forward in your spiritual life. (Philippians 3:11-14)
Verses 9-11
“I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one.” The confusion of the believers in Corinth was clarified by Paul. Apparently, they understood Paul to mean the physical separation from immoral unbelievers. In reality, he meant physical separation from immoral believers as well. Paul lists six categories of persons (believers or unbelievers) as examples of those from whom believers should separate themselves.
These six categories don’t cover all the areas of sin, but they cover some of the areas where an immoral person might have a negative influence in the life of a believer:
- Immorality – unethical, unprincipled or depraved people
- Covetous – people who are motivated by all categories of lust
- Idolater – people involved in religion or anyone or thing they choose to worship
- Reviler – people who criticize and malign others
- Drunkard – people who are frequently intoxicated
- Swindler – people engaged in dishonest business practices
Verses 12-13
“For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves.” Paul was saying that the principle of judging believers within the local church means those in authority, like the pastor and deacons, may at times have to remove someone who is disrupting the congregation. In this case, “judging” means to decide or settle authoritatively, or to assess and reach a conclusion regarding this person disrupting the congregation.
The issue in Corinth was a believer disrupting the church by their immoral lifestyle. Once more Paul gives them the command to take this person and excommunicate him. Separation from certain people is commanded throughout the Bible, both believers and unbelievers who seek to influence us in a negative way.
There are two categories of separation from people: 1) Mental separation 2) Physical separation.
Mental separation emphasizes the integrity, honor, and doctrinal application of an advancing believer who is residing inside God’s power system, the Divine Dynasphere. Spiritually maturing believers should have enough doctrine in their souls to mentally separate themselves from any negative influence from those with whom they must interact, like coworkers, friends, and family. If believers are unable to separate themselves mentally, they must separate themselves physically.
The ability to mentally separate ourselves from someone requires knowledge of a lot of accurate Bible doctrine. With this doctrine, we will be able to apply Divine Viewpoint Thinking to any relationship and handle it without becoming involved in another person’s Human Viewpoint Thinking. If we determine a relationship is an unhealthy one and interfering with our ability to obey the principles and doctrines in God’s Word, then we should separate ourselves from that individual.
Physical separation means avoiding personal contact with a person under any reasonable circumstance. This may mean the severing of all relations with certain people. Physical separation is sometimes needed to maintain one’s priorities and stay in fellowship with God. True mental separation is impossible without the filling of the Holy Spirit and proper application of Bible doctrine. (II Timothy 3:5; II Thessalonians 3:6-14; Romans 16:17-18; I John 2:15-17)
Perhaps you have heard the phrases, “Eat the fish and spit out the bones or eat the meat and spit out the bones.” This is the scriptural principle of separation.
I Thessalonians 5:21-22, “But examine everything; hold firmly to that which is good, abstain from every form of evil.”