1 Corinthians 5 - How Should the Church Deal With Sexual Immorality?

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Dealing With a Case of Incest

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?

In every New Testament letter Paul will address certain issues in the church he is writing to. In this case the second issue Paul addresses in this letter is a case of incest. (The first one being the division due to following a particular leader)

Apparently, someone was having an on-going sexual relationship (either as married or living together) with his stepmother (his father’s wife). The woman involved must not be a Christian, for she isn’t even addressed. (Guzik)

Paul is deeply grieved by this report, as this is behavior that is not even tolerated in the world. Apparently the church brushed this aside, perhaps under the auspices of grace, and didn't confront this person. Like many times in the church's history, they let is slide. But Paul wasn't going to let it slide. 

"As bad as the sin itself was, Paul was more concerned that the Corinthian Christians seemed to take the sin lightly, and they were unconcerned (have not rather mourned) about this behavior." (Guzik)

"More than anything, the Corinthian Christians probably allowed this in the name of “tolerance.” They probably said to themselves, “Look how loving we are. We accept this brother just as he is. Look how open-minded we are!” We should never underestimate what people will allow in the name of “open-mindedness.” (Guzik)

We see this attitude today in the church to be light on sin in the name of "tolerance". 

The right thing they should have done was to remove the man from the church, so he could not pollute the fellowship. In other passages in the New Testament, the model is to confront the person in their sin with the goal of their repenting. If the person does not repent, they should no longer be allowed him to be a part of the congregation. 

The key word is "repentance". We all sin and get up in destructive habitual behaviors. We need grace, but we also need to turn from we know is wrong by the power of the Holy Spirit. If someone isn't repentant and have no desire to change their behavior, the most loving thing to do is to set boundaries with them, especially if it affects other people in the body of Christ. Also, as was said, it is a bad witness to the world of what a Christian looks like. 

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.

This is an important passage. Basically Paul is saying there is a difference between people who are in the world and believers. He is saying there is a higher degree of accountability for a Christian, who is born again and has the power of the Holy Spirit living in them. They know it is sin and indulge in the behavior anyways. The non-believer may have their minds blinded to the nature of sin. 

Paul says if they want to reach people in the world, they are going to run into all kinds of sinful behavior. They shouldn't be surprised. But when a believer is caught in a sin like sexual immorality and refuses to repent again a boundary needs to be set. 

Paul says, "A little bit of yeast affects the whole batch of dough." We use the phrase, "One bad apple ruins the whole bunch!"

 Paul did not want the Corinthian Christians to expect godly behavior from ungodly people. To disassociate from sinners in a sinful world would mean we would need to go out of the world. - (Guzik)

Unfortunately, too many Christians are busy judging those outside of the church (which is God’s job only) and are neglecting purity within the church. (Guzik)

Finally, to confront a brother or sister caught in sin is really the most loving thing to do. I have had people confront (or "carefront" is a better word) me on behaviors that were not becoming of a believer when I was a young Christian. I count them as some of best friends today who helped change my life. 

Where do you think the church is too easy on sin today? In what way do we reflect the "tolerance" the world preaches? What is the difference between giving a person "grace" and "tough love"?

These aren't easy issues because we are all sinners in need of grace every day. We live by the model of "if not for the grace of God there go I". But in this case the sin was so damaging to the church and the people involved in this immorality, it needed to be judged. The hope with all church discipline is for the person to repent and be restored to the body of Christ. Unfortunately in my experience unfortunately that doesn't always happen!