Confronting Immorality

June 23, 2024

1 Corinthians 5:1-13

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife. ² And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this? ³ For my part, even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus on the one who has been doing this. ⁴ So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, ⁵ hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.

⁶ Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? ⁷ Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. ⁸ Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

⁹ I wrote to 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 to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people. 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 person from among you.”

Read 1 Corinthians 5:1-5

1. Paul makes it clear that the Corinthian church is tolerating something that should not be tolerated in any Christian church. Why do you imagine Paul singles out this particular instance of sinfulness in the congregation?
2. Part of understanding scripture is figuring out how it applies in today’s world. Thinking about the Church generally, what does the church of today tolerate that Paul might respond to in a similar way?
3. Try to make sense of how the Corinthians would be, in Paul’s words, “proud” of this kind of behavior among believers.
4. What might Paul mean by “hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh”?
5. How can a contemporary church maintain high standards of morality among its members while simultaneously welcoming and embracing those whose morality is not yet aligned with scripture?

Read 1 Corinthians 5:6-8

1. Paul is obviously building on the idea of the Passover meal. Discuss the point Paul is making with the illustration of yeast and dough. How does that apply in the contemporary church?

Read 1 Corinthians 5:9-13

1. How do these verses build on the previous ones?
2. Paul identifies several specific sins in these verses. Do you see this as a complete list of the sins that concern him? Alternatively, do you see this as a representative list of the kinds of behaviors that are inappropriate for believers? What is the baseline for Christian conduct, behavior, morality?
3. Based on this passage, how troubled should Christians be by immorality that they see in the world outside the church?
4. Have you ever experienced church discipline being exercised in a healthy way? In an unhealthy way? What are some differences between the two?