Article from the East Main Messenger, dated 7/6/2025.
It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from you.
1 Corinthians 5:1-2
The apostle now begins to address the second problem within the church at Corinth. He had received a report, probably from Chloe’s people (1 Cor. 1:11), that the Corinthian disciples had arrogantly kept fellowship with a brother whom they knew to be guilty of fornication (5:1a).
This man had had carnal relations with “his father’s wife” (1 Cor. 5:1b). This same term was used in the Old Testament in a way that was distinct from one’s biological “mother” (Lev. 18:7-8), which leads us to conclude that “his father’s wife” likely refers to the man’s stepmother. This Christian was therefore guilty of incest (cf. Lev. 18:6-18), as well as adultery if his father was still alive (Rom. 7:2-3). Since Paul did not call for fellowship to be withdrawn from the woman also, it is safe to conclude that she was not a Christian (cf. 5:9-13).
With this in mind, notice that Paul says that this Christian’s debauchery was so atrocious that it was thought to be vile by even pagan idolaters (1 Cor. 5:1a). The fact that Paul brings up the views of those outside of Christ hints that this Christian’s sin was known and disapproved of by the lost souls in the city whom the church at Corinth was charged to reach with the gospel (cf. Mk. 16:15), thus harming the cause of Christ by besmirching the reputation of the church and making it harder for the Corinthians to convert and save souls from hell (cf. 1 Cor. 10:31-33; Matt. 5:16; 1 Pet. 2:12). No wonder the apostle tells the church that they should been in mourning and needed to remove this sinner from their midst (1 Cor. 5:2)!
Paul continues, “For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing” (1 Cor. 5:3). Even though Paul was not physically present among the church at Corinth so as to verify for himself the report he had received about this brother’s sin (cf. Matt. 18:16), he still knew the truth of the matter due to the miraculous spiritual gifts which he had been given by the Holy Spirit (cf. 1 Cor. 12:4-11). One of those spiritual gifts was “the ability to distinguish between spirits” (1 Cor. 12:10), i.e., the ability to know what was in men’s hearts and minds. Jesus had this gift (John 2:24-25; cf. 1:48; 6:61, 64; Matt. 9:4), as did Peter (Acts 5:1-11). The prophet Elisha was also shown to have this gift in that he knew about his servant’s duplicitous misdeeds even though he was not physically present to personally witness them (2 Kings 5:15-27). Along these lines, remember that Paul was writing 1 Corinthians under inspiration by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 2:9-16; 14:37; Eph. 3:3-5; 2 Pet. 1:19-21), which meant that God himself had verified to Paul that the reports about this brother’s fornication were true.
Thus, Paul knew that the church at Corinth needed to discipline their sinning brother by withdrawing fellowship from him. He commands, “When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan…” (1 Cor. 5:4-5a). When the church assembled together in Jesus’ name by coming together to worship (cf. Col. 3:16-17), they were to withdraw all fellowship from their erring brother (“deliver this man to Satan” – cf. 1 Tim. 1:20). This brother had already allowed Satan to rule in his heart, so by withdrawing fellowship from him and casting him from their midst the church would be putting him back into the kingdom which Satan reigned (Col. 1:13a; John 12:31; 2 Cor. 4:4; 1 John 5:19). They would do this “with the power of our Lord Jesus,” i.e., divine authority (cf. Acts 4:7; Matt. 21:23; Col. 3:17). Paul would know that they did this as if he were there via the aforementioned spiritual gifts (“my spirit is present”).
Church discipline is a needed study these days. We will continue our study of it next week, Lord willing.
— Jon
To read Jon’s series on 1 Corinthians from the beginning and many other articles, visit https://predenominationalchristianity.com.