1 Need For Church Discipline Discipline Brings Unity 1 Corinthians 5:1-13
2 Need For Church Discipline Discipline Brings Unity Texts: 1 Corinthians 5:1-13, 1. It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father s wife. 2. And you are proud! Shouldn t you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this? 3. Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present. 4. When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, 5. hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord. 6. Your boasting is not good. Don t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? 7. Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth. 9. I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people 10. not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11. But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or
3 greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. 12. What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13. God will judge those outside. Expel the wicked man from among you. Introduction: I. The Corinthian church faced serious problems including but not limited to: A. division B. immorality C. legal entanglements with pagan courts II. Sin in the camp is a most serious matter. Remember Achan, Jericho, and Ai! Joshua 7:1-8:29. Commentary: 1 Corinthians 5:1, It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father s wife. I. This entire chapter deals with a member of the Corinthian church who was living a life of immorality. A. This member was committing fornication (having sexual relations) with his father s wife. B. This was even worse than what the sinful Gentiles customarily did!
4 C. The congregation by its complacency aided and abetted this man s sins. D. The fornicators and those who condoned the sins of these people were all sinners before God! E. Fornication here covers the sin of incest which is the concern of this chapter. F. This couple had an on-going relationship. Paul was not talking about a single instance of sinning. G. This passage does not clearly explain the family circumstances in this case. H. This man was having sexual relations with his father s wife, not his mother. I. Was the father dead?... separated/divorced?... continuing to live with his wife? We don t know. The Bible does not say. 1 Corinthians 5:2, And you are proud! Shouldn t you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this? I. The other church members were puffed up, prideful, complacent. A. They did not act to correct the sinner or, if unrepentant, to recognize him no longer as a faithful member of the church at Corinth. B. No condemnation is voiced regarding the woman in this case which evidently indicates that she was not a member of the church and, therefore, was not subject to apostolic authority.
5 C. As Christians we should mourn when our fellow church members sin so as to endanger their souls and bring reproach on the church. D. Sin in the camp should cause all Christians intense grief. Remember Achan? 1 Corinthians 5:3-5, Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present. When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord. I. On the basis of the facts Paul had before him in this case he directed the faithful at Corinth acting upon the authority of Jesus Christ to: A. assemble the church to adjudicate this matter. B. publicly, by the authority and power of Jesus Christ, to deliver this sinner to Satan, to throw the offender out. C. We may not understand everything that is meant by the expression deliver such a one unto Satan. II. This was designed to maintain the purity of the church within, to maintain its reputation without, and to lead the sinner to repent. A. This instruction certainly included withdrawal of Christian fellowship from the sinner. B. The destruction of the flesh could refer to this person s ceasing to live in keeping with the temptations of the flesh.
6 C. The purpose of this discipline was to lead this backslider to repentance and forgiveness. D. This wayward soul may have repented. 2 Corinthians 7:12, So even though I wrote to you, it was not on account of the one who did the wrong or of the injured party, but rather that before God you could see for yourselves how devoted to us you are. III. In the apostolic age deliverance to Satan may have carried with it certain supernatural aspects no longer present in our day. A. Ananias and Sapphira. Acts 5:1-11, Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles feet. Then Peter said, Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God. When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. Then the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him. About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land? Yes, she said, that is the price. Peter said to her, How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also. At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.
7 B. Elymas the Sorcerer. Acts 13:6-12, They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, who was an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right. You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind, and for a time you will be unable to see the light of the sun. Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord. C. Hymenaeus and Alexander. 1 Timothy 1:20, Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme. 1 Corinthians 5:6, Your boasting is not good. Don t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? I. The glorying and failure of the Corinthian Christians to deal with sin among them was not good. II. A little leaven (evil) will affect the whole lump (the entire church). III. The church was ordered to deal with this situation immediately in keeping with Christian principles.
8 1 Corinthians 5:7, Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. I. The church was directed to deal with the situation forthwith. A. The evil cancer was to be excised. It had not yet metastasized! B. The church would then be healthy again. II. If the church did as directed, the Lord would pass over their sin of tolerating this evil conduct and Christ s blood would cleanse them. 1 Corinthians 5:8, Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth. I. We keep the feast of unleavened bread (purified living) of sincerity and truth. II. We avoid the leavened bread of sin including malice and wickedness of all kinds. III. Feast here is metaphorical and refers to the Christian life and fellowship. IV. Keeping the feast of unleavened bread says our Christian living is to be on-going without interruption. 1 Corinthians 5:9, 10, I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.
9 I. Christians are not to fellowship nor tolerate fornication nor other unrepentant sins such as covetousness, idolatry and extortion in their midst, fellowship. II. We have to associate with sinners in the world. The only way to avoid doing this is to leave the world. This speaks to the depravity of the world! III. The expression, I wrote unto you in my epistle, evidently refers to another earlier letter Paul had written to the Corinthians which has not been preserved. IV. Even if we have to associate with gross sinners in the course of employment, etc., we are to be most careful that their sins do not rub off on us. 1 Corinthians 5:11, But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. I. Paraphrase: What I (Paul) meant when I wrote to you before was that you should have no fellowship with Christians who revert to persistent sinful living. 1 Corinthians 5:12, 13, What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. Expel the wicked man from among you. I. Paul said sinners outside the church would be judged by the Lord. II. Christians have a firm obligation to those within the church to hold them accountable for their actions!
10 III. We are to disfellowship (put away the wicked) unrepentant sinners within the church after the first and second admonition. IV. Nothing is said about disciplining his father s wife. She evidently was not a member of the church and, therefore, not subject to church discipline.
11 Questions 1 Corinthians 5:1-13 1. What two sins did Paul address in this chapter? 2. Paul had already passed judgment in this case even though he was not present in Corinth. Jesus said (Matthew 7:1), Do not judge. Did Paul sin by judging in this case? 3. Step by step what did Paul command the Corinthians to do in this case? 4. What is meant by the old yeast and a new batch? 5. What is the Festival of which Paul spoke?
12 6. Define: (1) malice (2) wickedness (3) immorality (4) greedy (5) swindlers (6) idolaters 7. Sinners in the church and sinners out of the church are to be dealt with differently by Christians. Explain the differences. 8. What three problems were faced by the Corinthian church? 9. Sin in the camp/church is a serious matter. What did Achan do and what happened to him? Did others suffer because of Achan s sin?
13 10. What happened to Ananias and Sapphira, Elymas, Hymenaeus and Alexander? What does this teach Christians today? 11. What does Deliver such a one unto Satan mean and how is this done? 12. What are the purposes of church discipline? 13. Are Christians free to associate with non-christian sinners? 14. When have congregations with which you are acquainted expelled wicked people from among them? What were the results of this expelling the wicked?
14 15. What repercussions, in our legal and social environment, may the church suffer for disciplining sinful members? Should this deter us?