1 Corinthians 5:1-13
“It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife” (1 Corinthians 5:1).
In this article, I will look at this from the perspective of a glorious and godly Church of God. If every believer is godly, sanctified, holy, having the thought of God in the heart, in mind, and understanding of God’s grace, then the whole Church will be glorious, gracious, and godly. The Lord is coming back for a glorious Church, and you need to make up your mind to be part of this glorious Church. But if anyone is of blemish character and lifestyle, you cannot be part of this glorious Church. So we need to come to this chapter with an understanding of what we ought to do and pursue to be part of this glorious church. “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:7). Here is what we ought to do: purge out all the leaven of sin and iniquities to be part of this glorious Church of Christ. And as we do this, the Church will be a gracious, godly, and glorious Church getting ready for the coming of the Lord. The world is trying to get into the church; the pollution, corruption, and lifestyle of the world want to get into the Church, and the implication of this is that as Satan controls the world, once he gets into the Church through the world, then he will control the church, So, we need to look into our lives and examine ourselves, to make sure that if there is no pollution anywhere, the church must rally around to purge ourselves from all this pollution.
1. PRESERVING CHRISTLIKE LIVING IN HIS GLORIOUS CHURCH
1 Corinthians 5:1-5
You cannot preserve what you don’t have. So you must be saved first, then be sanctified, so that the Adamic nature is gone, and then you are preserving this. Then sound doctrines come in, on how we ought to live as Christians, then you have something precious to preserve. It is when the new life is there that you have something to preserve. If you don’t have that new life and righteousness with the grace of God, you have nothing to preserve. It is when you have all these, that you can maintain your position, privilege, and relationship in the Church.
(i) The Report of Grievous Sinning in a Gifted Church
1 Corinthians 5:1-2; Ephesians 5:3-6; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Revelations 21:8; Ezekiel 16:51-52; Jeremiah 2:11-12,33.
“It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife” (1 Corinthians 5:1).
Understand that fornication is not the only sin that will take people into hell. He could have mentioned other sins fraud, love of the world, violence, fighting, divorce, evil talking, rumor-mongering, that will take people into Hell. Other sins are in the midst of some people greater than that of the world. So whatever the sin may be, don’t allow any sin in a Church. The Corinthians like many so-called Churches today are puffed because they have spiritual gifts, good music, and finances, but these will not take you to Heaven, they are supposed to have mourn, “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). They are not to puff up but are to mourn for their sins. When you misuse your body with drugs, alcohol, or other dangerous substances, you abuse the body, and the Lord will hold you guilty for that. Some belittle those who preach sound doctrines, they revile the word of God, and shall not inherit the kingdom of God. They were a gifted Church, but there is pollution in their midst, “So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:7). That you have gifts, that is not all, you must wait in holiness and righteousness for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
(ii) The Responsibility of a Godly Servant in God’s Church
1 Corinthians 5:3-4;2 Corinthians 13:2; 1 Corinthians 11:34; Titus 1:5,10-11,13; 1 Timothy 5:20-22; Jude1:22-23.
The servant of God, and the local pastor in a Church has responsibilities,and if they cannot carry out those responsibilities, then they are not fit to be a pastor in that local Church. There is a purpose why God has made you pastors and leaders in the Church which the online or social platform cannot fulfil. “For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed” (1 Corinthians 5:3). He was telling them that though he was absent in body, he is present in spirit with them as their spiritual father. And that he had judged already as though he was present with them. As a pastor, after the service, you are concerned about the lives of the members with the word of God and their preparation for heaven. And when you preach, your message must touch the lives of the members. And as the people gather for fellowship, the Lord Jesus is there with you, to hear every conversation, and Paul’s spirit was there as well with them. The believers should always have the consciousness of Christ with them and our Father in the Lord as we gather in our various church locations. “I told you before, and foretell you, as if I were present, the second time; and being absent now I write to them which heretofore have sinned, and to all other, that, if I come again, I will not spare” (2 Corinthians 13:2). As parents you should tell our children as they go to schools that your minds are there with them praying for them, and as a pastor, your heart must be with the members all the time. Even though you are not with them physically, your heart and spirit must be with the members as a pastor, not just waiting for Sunday when you will minister to them.
(iii) The Reason for Guided Separation in a Gracious Church
1 Corinthians 5:5; Isaiah 26:9-10,16; Hosea 5:15; Psalms 107:17-20; Jonah 2:1-2,7-10; Luke 15:16-24.
The reason why you throw out a rotten egg from the basket is to preserve all the remaining eggs in that basket from pollution. So when you put away someone who is rigid in his sinning, there is a reason for that. “To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus” (1 Corinthians 5:5). Paul was teaching the Corinthians and you as well that you consist of the body, soul, and spirit. And most of the time, you concentrate on the body, and many are not conscious of their souls and spirits. And you cannot contact God with the body, for we walk by faith and not by sight, we contact God with our soul and spirit. When the body feels pain, the soul will feel sorrowful, so Paul said that when the man is driven out of the church, he will fellowship the pains in his body, and then the soul will be sorrowful to lead him to repentance and restoration back to the Lord. As ministers, you cannot whip the people with a cane, but Satan can do that very well, like in the case of the Prodigal Son, who felt the hunger in his body and soul, and came back to the Father. So the discipline, rebuke, and correction is to make the people suffer shame and pain of the lack of fellowship, and that will lead them to repentance and come back to the Lord. When people are disciplined in the Church, you are not to encourage them in their sinfulness and willfulness; let them feel the pain and shame of withdrawn fellowship so that they can come back to the Lord in genuine repentance and restoration.
2. PURGING OUT CONTAGIOUS LEAVEN FROM A GODLY CHURCH
1 Corinthians 5:6-8
A little corruption when allowed will spread to destroy the whole Church, that is why you need to purge the Church. The Corinthians were glorying in this evil, so Paul had to write to them and ask them to purge out that old leaven so that it does not spread fast into the Church to destroy them. Paul put great value on repentance more than restoration. “Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Corinthians 5:8). When people have sinned and awaiting Church discipline, what they do is run away before they are disciplined. And people will go to them to bring them back to the Church without genuine repentance. You need to understand that coming to Church does not take you to heaven, there must be genuine repentance, restoration, and restitution.
(i) Preventing the Polluting Spread of a Little Leaven
1 Corinthians 5:6-7a; Galatians 5:7-9; 2 Timothy 2:17-18; Ecclesiastes 10:1; Song 2:15; James 3:5-6.
A little leaven if you excuse, permit, protect, and nurse will affect many, many people, it has a ripple effect in the church. “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump” (Galatians 5:9). People who encourage the little leaven, disobedience, iniquity, and immorality are not of God. A little leaven will spoil the whole church, so you need to prevent the spread of that little leaven.
(ii) Partaking of the Passover Sacrifice of Our Liberating Lamb
1 Corinthians 5:7b; Exodus 12:13,15,27; John 1:29; Acts 8:32-35; 1 Peter 1:14-19; 1 John 3:5-10.
He is the One that liberates you, and you want to partake of everything that He offers you. Like in the Old Testament, before the blood can avail for them, they need to search their house and purge that house of any leaven in the house. Likewise, before the Blood of Jesus will avail for you, you must purge yourself of all the old and little leaven. You cannot keep all the defilements and corrupting things there and expect the blood of Jesus to avail. You must not hide nor conceal any evil in your house and hearts. Purge out all those leavens. All the pornography, and evil pictures, purge them so that Christ’s blood will cleanse and purge your life.
(iii) Preserving the Pure Standard of His Lofty Life
1 Corinthians 5:8; 2 Corinthians 1:12; Philippians 1:9-10; Titus 2:7-8; Ephesians 4:21-24; 1 Peter 1:22-23.
After you have been restored, you must preserve that holy life, and keep away from that old leaven, “Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Corinthians 5:8). There will be no malice, wickedness, insincerity in your heart; there will be no revenge when you are fully restored to the Lord. Your life will be transparent and holy and you will live above reproach. “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently” (1 Peter 1:22). Your love is not lust, but coming out of a pure heart and fervently. There is cleansing in the heart, and there is nothing that will hinder your fellowship with God—that you are genuinely born again.
3. PUTTING AWAY CORRUPTIVE LIBERTINES FROM TRULY GOSPEL CHURCHES
1 Corinthians 5:9-13
People who think that they are at liberty to corrupt or pollute the Church, you need to put them away so that the Church will be glorious. If you have the privilege of bringing in, then you must have the power and possibility of taking out, cast out, or push out of the Church. As a pastor, you must know the people that are bringing evil in the Church, and then you push them out.
(i) The Command to Separate from the Pollution of Contaminants
1 Corinthians 5:9-11; 15:33-34; Romans 16:17; 2 Corinthians 6:14,17; Ephesians 5:11; 2
Thessalonians 3:6,14.
“I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators” (1 Corinthians 5:9). Don’t company with them. And you are not to resign from your job or school because the sinners are there with you (1 Corinthians 5:10). You are to cut off all relationships and association with that person who will influence you to do evil. You must be vigilant and watchful that you have the power to separate from all those contaminants and corrupters of the word of God. You are commanded to separate from anything that will pollute and defile our lifestyle of holiness and righteousness.
(ii) The Commitment to Submit to the Precept of Christ
1 Corinthians 5:12-13; Matthew 16:6,12; 18:17; 7:24-25; Revelations 2:24-26.
You cannot go out and judge the people on the street or in another church, “For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within?” (1 Corinthians 5:12). You cannot correct another person’s wife or family, but you have the power to correct your own family and congregation as a pastor. We will all get to heaven together as we correct and judge ourselves as members of the same family of God.
(iii) The Concern of Saints for the Purity of His Church
1 Corinthians 1:2; 14:33; 2 Corinthians 1:1; Ephesians 5:3,25-27; 1 Timothy 3:15; 5:22; Hebrews 2:11-12; Matthew 5:8.
“Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours” (1 Corinthians1:2). This is your calling and commitment that all the members are called to be saints and sanctified. Temptations might come, but then you remember that you are a saint and bride of Christ awaiting His coming. Fornication, evil, and pornography must not be once named among you as you have given your life to Jesus, and to be ready for His coming. So you want to make sure that sins or fornication must not be once named among you. “That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:26-27). Every local church must be a glorious Church, and when you are like that, you have a glorious heart and mind, this is when the whole Church will be glorious, and this was why Jesus gave Himself to the Church to make us glorious. “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:” (Hebrews 12:14). He wants you to be holy and sanctified to see the glory. The position will not get you ready for the kingdom when the fighting, pollution, immorality, and evils are there. It is the purging of all those evil things and sanctification that will get us ready for the kingdom of God. “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).
