1 Corinthians 5:1 It is actually reported that sexual immorality exists among you, the kind of immorality that is not permitted even among the Gentiles, so that someone is cohabiting with his father’s wife. 5:2 And you are proud! Shouldn’t you have been deeply sorrowful instead and removed the one who did this from among you? 5:3 For even though I am absent physically, I am present in spirit. And I have already judged the one who did this, just as though I were present. 5:4 When you gather together in the name of our Lord Jesus, and I am with you in spirit, along with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5:5 turn this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. (NET)
Later in this chapter, the Apostle Paul lists several sins that would result in this level of judgment: For those claiming to be Christians, being sexually immoral, greedy, idolaters, verbally abusive, a drunkard, or swindler fits in this category (vs. 9-13).
- Divisions over personalities (Paul, Peter, Apollos, Christ)
- They were suing each other before the courts of unbelievers
- Some were getting drunk at church meetings
- Some did not believe in the resurrection
- Visiting prostitutes
- Partaking of "the table of demons”
Yet Paul doesn’t suggest that for any of these sins, was a person to receive excommunication or be "delivered over to Satan..." Rather, he reserves this judgment for someone who is sinning worse than the unbelievers!
This should cause a problem in the minds of those of us who are “black and white” in our thinking. (Some of us believe there are two sides to every story, “right and wrong”). Rather, Paul here acknowledges that some sins are different and more damaging and in need of stronger, more intense response than others.
It looks to me like this. Have you ever seen Ben Hur? There is a great chariot race in this movie. Four horses abreast pulling a chariot around a huge oval. There are 10 or so of these chariots in the race. These horses have to pull together. They have to be fast, coordinated, and cooperative. It is the team that does all these things the best that wins. If one or more of the horses is out of step or pulling slightly in a different direction, they will be significantly impaired in the process, but they will still get around the track.
But what might happen to this same chariot if one horse was attached facing the other direction and was pulling them backwards? You can imagine the difficulty.
So there appears to be a level of sinning that is tolerable, just because it is part of the human condition to be growing in grace and holiness. As long as the church is still going in the right direction and making progress, Paul doesn’t proclaim a need for separation of members.
