How Should the Church Deal With Sexual Immorality Within the Body of Christ?

5 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.

Today Paul talks about a very specific sin which has been reported to him.  The NIV translates this as "sexual immorailty", which is the Greek word "porneia".  This where we get the word "pornography" today.  In a broad sense it is sexual relations outside of marriage. 

"“Porneia” so often appears first in New Testament “sin lists,” but not because the first Christians had a lot of “hang-ups” about sex. Instead, it is because the area of sex was one of the most dramatic places where the ethics of Greek culture clashed with the ethics of Jesus. Sexual immorality was an accepted fact of life for the common person in Greek culture, but it was not to be so among the followers of Jesus." (Guzik)

The specific issue is incest, a man sleeping with his father's wife.  Most likely the situation was man was sleeping with his stepmother.  Though this sin is bad enough, Paul seems more worried about how they are handling it.  They are not taking it seriously even proud of it.  Paul says that this kind of immorality is taboo even among the pagans in Corinth, yet these Christians are doing nothing to confront it.   Paul suggests that for the protection of the church, the man should be removed from the community for the time being.  The goal being the man be saved from his destructive behavior.  The goal is not to cast damnation on this man, but to discipline him so as to protect the body of Christ, and also lead him to repentance so he can be brought back in to the fellowship of his brothers and sisters.  

"Paul does not say the church should take away the sinning man’s salvation. The church does not grant salvation; it certainly cannot take it away. But there are cases, for the good of the sinner, and for the good of the church, when someone should be put out of the congregation." (Guzik)

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[c] but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.

So in what sense could the Corinthian church be boasting about tolerating this man's sin?  They could be rationalizing and "pushing it under the carpet" saying, "how tolerant they are", or how "loving they are" to permit this.  They might reason, "Since we are saved by grace why does it matter what we do?"  We call this "cheap grace".  We cheapen God's grace and Jesus' death for us by using it as a rationalization for any sinful behavior, including sexual immoraility.

Paul is not only concerned for this gentlemen, but also the body of Christ, and the affect this man's sin may have on it.  Accepting this sin as "not that bad" could create a culture in the church that everything is "just okay".  This is very much the culture we live in today.  Everyone is afraid to call anything a sin for fear of being politically incorrect.  

Then Paul makes a crucial point.  He says that the issue is about people in the body of Christ, Christians who are acting in immoral ways.  He doesn't expect them as they live in the world by completely removing themselves from society for fear of coming in contact with the "sinners" in the world around them.  Paul's words are for those in the body of Christ who would call themselves a Christian and are accountable for how they live their lives worthy of their calling in Christ. 

Do you think sexual immorality is a problem in the church today? How do most churches deal with it?  What affect does it have on that church and those around who see how the church handles it?  How can we be tough on sin without being judgmental or legalistic, realizing that we all sin and fall short of the glory of God every day?