WWUTT 1492 Do Not Associate with the Sexually Immoral (1 Corinthians 5:9-11)

The Scope of Paul’s Instruction in 1 Corinthians 5

In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul is addressing a very specific sin. There's sexual immorality going on in the church in Corinth, but the instructions he gives here in chapter five are not just limited to the sin of sexual immorality when we understand the text.

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Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. Back to 1 Corinthians 5. I'm gonna start reading here in verse eight, which is the verse we looked at yesterday, and go to the end of the chapter. In the Legacy Standard Bible, the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Corinth.

Therefore, let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I wrote you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people.

I did not at all mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the greedy and swindlers or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with any so-called brother, if he is a sexually immoral person, or greedy, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler, not even to eat with such a one.

For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Are you not to judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God will judge. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves. In verse nine, Paul says, I wrote you in my letter, not to associate with sexually immoral people.

What letter is that? Well, it would be whatever letter was written prior to 1 Corinthians, sometimes jokingly referred to as 0 Corinthians, or the prequel to 1 Corinthians. We call this letter 1 Corinthians, not because it's the first letter Paul wrote to the Corinthians, but because it's the first one of the two letters we have to the Corinthians in canon.

So in the New Testament, we have Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, because those are the two letters. These are the two letters we have to the Corinthians. So this is 1 Corinthians because it comes first.

What happened to that letter that Paul wrote to them before this one? Well, we don't know. It could have been lost to time, could have been lost to different lands being conquered, and people being exiled out, and those lands being resettled, and there's conflicts between people, and wars, and all this other kinds of, and they're all different number of reasons why those letters could have been lost.

And when I say those letters, I mean like the one to the Corinthians that we don't have record of, or in Colossians, Paul says that he wrote a letter to the Laodiceans. What happened to that letter? We don't know.

But he tells the Colossians, go read the letter that I wrote to the Laodiceans, and you show them this letter that I wrote to you. It's by the providence of God that these letters have been preserved, and we have them canonized, and put together for us in scripture.

I would say even it is by the, it's by God's sovereign decree, and it's by the working of the Holy Spirit. What were to happen if that unknown letter to the Corinthians were to show up, or the letter that we've never read to the Laodiceans?

What if these letters happened to be found? What would we do with them? To be frank, I don't think they should be included in canon, because the Holy Spirit did not intend for them to be. The letters that God wanted to be included in canon, in scripture, that are divinely inspired, are these that we have.

What was in the other letter to the Corinthians? We don't know. It would have been written under the authority of the apostle, and same with the letter to the Laodiceans. But they shouldn't be considered canon in the Bible, because the Holy Spirit didn't mean for them to be.

If he wanted them to be, then we would have known those letters a long time ago. I don't think they'll ever be found. I don't think we'll ever know what was in that other letter to the Corinthians. I think it's just lost to time.

It's gone. We will know when we get to glory, when we get to heaven one of these days, and we're asking, hey, what was in zero Corinthians? What was in that letter to the Laodiceans? Then we'll get to know what was written in those letters.

But on this side of heaven, we won't. And it is by the providence of God, those letters won't be known or found, nor will they ever be included in the canon of scripture that we have in the Bible. These 66 books are the books that God meant for us to have as God's word from Genesis to Revelation.

They won't be added to or taken away from. So here Paul says in verse nine, I wrote to you in my letter, in that other letter, he said even in that letter. So previously he has said to the Corinthians, do not associate with sexually immoral people.

Now this letter that Paul is writing, or let me narrow it down to the chapter. This chapter that Paul is writing in this letter, he's talking about what? What is he addressing? What's the sin that he's addressing here at the start of the chapter?

Specifically, the sin is incest. You have a man who is sleeping with his father's wife, his stepmother, basically, and the church is tolerating it. They're not even doing anything about it. For Paul goes on in verse two to say, you've become puffed up.

You should have mourned instead, so that the guy who did this thing, you would put out from your midst. He would be removed from you. He comes back to that instruction here. So he's talked about how this guy needed to be removed.

You need to have the confidence to do that with the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. I can remove him from where I am. Now I've already judged this man, Paul says to the Corinthians. So they need to be confident in the Lord by the instructions that's been given to them and the instructions that Paul has already given to them.

Verse nine, I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people. So they've heard this before, and yet they're puffed up with pride and not following the instructions that has been given to them.

So then Paul goes on to talk about, you are not considering our Passover lamb who has been sacrificed for us, Jesus Christ, how he is the fulfillment of everything we had read about in Exodus, in Exodus chapter 12, the Passover lamb, the feast of unleavened bread.

Christ is our Passover lamb who's been sacrificed to us. This has already been taught to the Corinthians when the apostles were there, when Paul was there, and when he was teaching them, he's already told them this.

And he talks about how the feast of unleavened bread, even this was a type or a shadow as to how we were to be without leaven. We are to be holy and we're to celebrate the feast that we are given in Christ for our Passover lamb has been sacrificed for our sins.

God has passed over former sins as it says in Romans chapter three. So we have been forgiven. We must celebrate with Christ. So do not celebrate with the old leaven because just as the feast of unleavened bread meant that they weren't to have any leaven for seven days.

And we're supposed to be celebrating this feast every day, every day of the week, we're to be living lives of holiness. So do not feast with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

So this man needs to be put out from your midst as you celebrate the feast together as a church, as you desire Christ church to be pure and holy, this man who's doing this evil thing must be removed. So again, the sin very specifically was incest, but Paul is not just talking about here only dealing with this man in the church or anybody else who's practicing incest.

So the specific occasion that is brought about this instruction that Paul is reminding them of and giving to them again is a man who's committed incest in their church. That's the specific occasion for him to be writing about this again, but he's not limiting these instructions to just that sin.

He starts the chapter by saying, it is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you and sexual immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles that someone has his father's wife.

Now, I don't think that this is the only sexual immorality that was going on in this church. And we'll talk about that more when we get to chapter six, there were other occasions of sexual immorality.

This is the worst one though. And I think it's the worst one because it's the one that Paul specifically singles out and names the dude, like we don't know his name, but Paul is naming the guy. Everybody in the church in Corinth knows who this is and they know exactly what it is that he's done.

He's sleeping with his father's wife. He's committing incest with his stepmother. So we have an exact occasion of a sin that's going on that needs to be dealt with that the church is not dealing with.

If they're not dealing with this guy's sin, then they're not dealing with other occasions of sexual immorality that are going on in the church, which are probably not as bad as this one. But this is the one Paul singles out.

And the reason why he singles it out is because this is a sin that's so bad, even the Gentiles know it's bad. This is a sexual immorality of such a kind that does not exist even among the Gentiles. A man is sleeping with his father's wife and you've become puffed up and you've not mourned instead so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst.

So Paul is writing to them again, the same instruction that he had for them before, an instruction that they're not following because now there's this man in the church who's committing sexual immorality and you're not doing anything about it.

So he says in verse nine, I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people. So even though this is the occasion for bringing up this instruction again, a man is committing incest.

Paul is not writing only dealing with that sin. He's reminding them of other sins that they should also be dealing with that they are not. I wrote you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people, that's broad.

That's not just talking about incest, that's any kind of sexual immorality. So Paul has said this before, they're not dealing with any of it because they won't deal with this guy, this one particular sin, this specific occasion and the sin that he's committing.

Separation from the World and Fellowship with a So-Called Brother

So Paul goes on to explain himself in verse 10. I did not at all mean with the sexually immoral people of this world or with the greedy and swindlers or with idolaters for then you would have to go out of the world.

I wonder if, and I'm just speculating here, but I wonder if the church in Corinth would have responded to Paul saying, don't associate with sexually immoral people. I wonder if the response then has been, well, we're not.

We're not associating with sexually immoral people. Do you see us walking around with the prostitutes in Corinth or with the, there was a priestess prostitutes in the temple or with any of these guys and some of the wicked awful things that they do in the bath houses.

Do you see us doing any of that? Of course not. So we're not associating with sexually immoral people. I just kind of wonder if the Corinthians were popping their collars and puffing themselves up. They were full of pride because we don't associate with sexually immoral people.

We're not hanging out with these worldly people over here. Look at how worldly we are. And how would Paul know that the Corinthians are behaving in that way? Probably because Chloe's people told him that.

So Chloe's people, which Paul mentioned back in chapter one, who have come to Paul with this report of the things that are going on in the church in Corinth, they've also brought him a letter or questions from the Corinthians, which we'll talk about later.

But Chloe's people would have said to Paul, we've confronted the church about these things. We've told them about this stuff. We've reminded them of what you said in your letter. And some of the elders have even read the previous letter before the congregation, the people aren't following it.

So Paul already knows their response would be to pop their collars and say, we're not associating with sexually immoral people. We're not walking around with these worldly people out here. So Paul has to say to them, I did not at all mean with the sexually immoral people of the world.

I'm saying have nothing to do with sexually immoral people in your midst, within your own church. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves is the Old Testament command he's gonna get to here in verse 13.

I did not at all mean the sexually immoral people of the world are with the greedy and swindlers or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out from the world. Now it's true that we should not be hanging out with those people or developing friendships with those people, having relationships with those who would cause us to compromise the holiness or the Christ-like ethical values that we're supposed to have.

We are told, or Paul will say rather to the Corinthians in his next letter, in 2 Corinthians chapter six, he will say to them, do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. Now I'm quoting that to you from the ESV cause I'm just doing that off the top of my head.

Let me read it to you from the legacy standard Bible in 2 Corinthians chapter six, starting in verse 14. Okay, it's worded exactly the same. Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness or what fellowship has light with darkness or what harmony has Christ with Belial or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever or what agreement has a sanctuary of God with idols.

Remember, we're the house of God as Paul's talked about with the Corinthians here in 1 Corinthians. We as the church are the house of the Lord. We're the building of God that is being built up for we are a sanctuary of the living God.

Paul says, just as God said, I will dwell in them and walk among them and I will be their God and they shall be my people. So that's 2 Corinthians chapter six, verses 14 through 16. Bad company corrupts good character.

If we hang out with immoral people, we will be led into immorality. So it's important that we be holy and that our associations be holy. So what then does Paul mean in 1 Corinthians chapter five that he doesn't mean, I know that's confusing wording.

What does he mean in 1 Corinthians five that he doesn't mean not to associate with the sexually immoral people of this world? Do you get the point? I don't think I worded that well. I could word that a little bit better.

So what does Paul mean here in 1 Corinthians 5 .10? There you go. There's the way to word that question. Well, as Christians, we need to be in the world because we need to share the gospel with the world.

We need to tell them to turn from their sin to the Lord Jesus Christ and so live. The world will not, they will not know the gospel if we don't tell them the gospel. As Paul's point in Romans chapter 10, how will they know unless they have heard?

How will they have heard unless somebody goes to them and preaches to them? So we do need to have associations in the world for the purpose of sharing the gospel with them, not united with them in such a way that they would lead us into immorality.

We're partnering with them in their own immoral nature and behavior. That's not what Paul is talking about here. We do have those associations for the purpose of sharing the gospel with them. But we know in those associations, they aren't brothers and sisters in the Lord.

They're lost. The association necessitates sharing the gospel with them. That's the nature of that association with the people who are worldly. Not that we would follow along in their ways, but rather that we would tell them to turn from their ways, to repent and follow the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul says, I did not at all mean the sexually immoral people of this world or with the greedy and swindlers or with idolaters for then you would have to go out of the world. We know worldly people are like that.

We know they're sexually immoral. We know they're greedy and swindlers and idolaters because that's the way we were when we were worldly. Paul will get to that when we get to chapter six. You once were just like these, but you've been washed.

Such were some of you. You were just like these people in the world. But now having heard the gospel, you've been cleansed. You've been washed from your unrighteousness and you've been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God.

So we're no longer to be walking in those sins, but we still have associations in this world because now we've become ambassadors for Christ that we would take the gospel to the world. So Paul says, again, we know people in this world are gonna be sexually immoral, that they're gonna be greedy, swindlers and idolaters.

You can't make judgments about them. They're already judged. Jesus says that in John 3, 18, that he did not come to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. Those who do not believe are condemned already because they do not believe in the name of the only son of God.

So the world is already under condemnation. They're already under judgment if they do not repent and come to Christ. So what sort of judgments are we supposed to be making? Verse 11, but now I am writing to you.

So Paul previously said, don't associate with sexually immoral people. Now he's gonna get really specific so that they understand what he means. Verse 11, now I am writing to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is a sexually immoral person or greedy or an idolater or a reviler or a drunkard or a swindler, not even to eat with such a one because to show such fellowship with him is to give him permission for him to do what it is that he's doing and still consider himself part of the body of Christ.

As long as you continue to have fellowship with this man who is doing so wickedly, then he's gonna continue in that wickedness and think that he's still saved, that he can still be part of the body as long as you're still in fellowship with him, but you're to not even eat with such a one.

Don't be in fellowship with a man who calls himself a brother and yet is guilty of a sin as serious as sexual immorality or greed or idolatry or reviling, hating other people in the body of Christ or is a drunkard, he's given himself over to other things, not filled with the spirit, but filled with wine which leads to drunkenness or a swindler, he's cheating people in order to benefit himself.

He's lying to other people, he's committed to lies, not even to eat with such a one. Don't have any association with him that he may know that he's done so wickedly that he would be removed from the presence of the Lord.

As Paul had said to the Corinthians previously in verse five, deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. But as long as they continue to allow him to indulge in this sin and think that he can still be part of the body of Christ, then they damn this man.

They do not help or love this man that he may know his sin and repent of it. These are the judgments that should be made within the body. We can't judge anybody in the world because they're not in the church anyway.

They're not in the church to be judged and cast out of the church. They're already turned over to Satan and are living in judgment if they don't repent and become part of the body of Christ. So those who are outside, God is gonna judge.

And in fact, he already has. They are under condemnation now because they're not in Christ Jesus. We, who are we supposed to judge? The wicked man from among yourselves, remove him. Again, that he may know that he has done wickedly so that he would repent of his sin and come back to Christ.

And also that we would celebrate the feast not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. We have church discipline that's being, Paul is encouraging the church in Corinth to exercise church discipline.

That's what it is that he's talking about here. Now, I've previously said to you that I believe that this discipline that Paul is calling the church in Corinth to exercise here in chapter five is more of a two-step discipline.

Whereas the discipline that we read about in Matthew chapter 18, verses 15 through 20 is a four-step discipline. We read about another kind of discipline in Titus chapter three, that's a three-step discipline.

So there's more to church discipline than just the manner that Jesus gave in Matthew chapter 18, verses 15 through 20. Jesus is giving another manner through the apostle here in first Corinthians five, and also in Titus chapter three.

And that's what we're gonna talk about tomorrow. But in the meantime, may we understand the call that is upon the church of Jesus Christ to be holy, that we would hold one another accountable to the standard of righteousness that we have been given in Christ Jesus our Lord, that none of us go astray or wrong our brothers in this, but we love one another enough to rebuke each other of sin where we need to be rebuked and called to righteousness as we are called to be righteous.

Church Discipline and Holiness in Christ’s Church

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the conviction that you have put upon our hearts, that we would know our sin and turn to Jesus Christ and walk in righteousness. May we never become comfortable with sin, that we would ignore the conviction that the Holy Spirit gives us and think that we can continue in this sin and we will be just fine in it.

May we mourn over our sin, may we mourn over sin in our midst in the church, that we would confront that sin and do as God has called us to do that your bride may be purified and presented before you as holy on the day of the Lord.

May we not become lazy in these things, but labor in them diligently because we love God and we love each other. It's in Jesus name we pray, amen.

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