Seven Ways to Uphold Truth in the Body (1 Corinthians 5:1-13) – News had gotten back to Paul that someone in the Corinthian congregation was having sexual relations with his father’s wife (mother or step-mother). The church not only tolerated this behavior, but boasted about how gracious and loving and forgiving they were. Paul had some hard words for the congregation. He gave us some great insight into how to uphold truth in the body:
- Reject the World’s Values (1 Corinthians 5:1)
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.
A remember of the church at Corinth had been having sexual relations with his father’s wife. He had adopted the world’s values and even a kind of immorality that would have looked down upon by the majority of lost people. We must not use the same methods of evaluating out behavior and morality as the world. We are called to be distinct.
- Prioritize Truth over Tolerance (1 Corinthians 5:2)
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 talked about the church being arrogant and boasting about this man in their midst. They were likely proud of the fact that they could be so loving and gracious and look past this sin. The problem is that real love is based on truth. We must celebrate truth and not tolerance.
- Do Not Enable Others to Do Wrong (1 Corinthians 5:3-5)
3 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.
4 In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus,
5 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.
Paul told the church that he had cast judgment on this man and that they should put him out so that he might realize the error of his ways. By continuing to let him reap the benefits of a walk with God without repentance was only enabling him to continue to live in darkness. We do others a disservice by allowing them to have the benefits of Christian community without the responsibility of choosing to uphold God’s standards.
- Remove Poor Influences (1 Corinthians 5:6-7)
6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?
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.
Paul not only told the Corinthians that it would be better for this man if they stopped enabling them, but it would also be wise for them to remove his influence from them. We must realize that people who refuse to give up their sin will eventually start to drag others down. We must remove sin from our midst to keep it from spreading like a cancer.
- Live with Integrity and Purity (1 Corinthians 5:8)
8 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.
Paul encouraged the Corinthians not to live like the wicked, but to walk in sincerity and truth. We can have an positive influence by modeling the lifestyle that God has called us to. One of the best ways to uphold truth is not just to speak it, but to live it out for all to see.
- Welcome the Lost (1 Corinthians 5:9-10)
9 I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people ;
10 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.
The Corinthians church had taken the idea of associating with “immoral” people as those who did not know Christ. He meant those who were believers, but refused to walk in truth. We must interact with a lost world, so that they have the opportunity to encounter and see what a walk with Christ looks like.
- Discipline the Rebellious (1 Corinthians 5:11-13)
11 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.
12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders ? Do you not judge those who are within the church
13 But those who are outside, God judges. REMOVE THE WICKED MAN FROM AMONG YOURSELVES .
Paul made it very clear that the Corinthians were to kick this man out from among them. We have to discipline believers who are rebellious. If we allow the Church to look like the world and lose our distinctiveness then we mar the testimony of Christ.
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