The Church's Dirty Word

1 Corinthians 5:1-13

"And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you." -1 Corinthians 5:2

The church is full of sinners. We have all sinned. Are not all sins the same? The answer, bluntly is, no, they are not. Although all sins are egregious before a holy God. All sins are not of the same magnitude and not all sins afflict God and others with the same ferocity. A few things that need to be considered are, who committed the sin, who was the sin committed against, and how much damage has the sin caused? This leads us to interact with the dirtiest word in the church, discipline.

Paul has received a report that a man has become sexually active with his father's wife (his own stepmother). This is lauded by the church in some way that makes the Corinthians come off as arrogant. This is possibly because the man is affluent and the members of this church do not want to offend someone that could have negative social implications. This leads Paul to label their behavior as arrogant.

So, what should be done to this man? What form of discipline does Paul suggest is fitting with this man's sin? The answer, he is to be removed from the church. Now some may look at this and see little compassion or understanding. So, I think it is fitting to investigate the details here. One, this man's sin is well known (it came in a report to Paul). Two, it must be assumed that he is unwilling to relent from his behavior. Three, his behavior is repulsive (seen as incestuous). Finally, his behavior has negatively impacted the behavior of the church (leading Paul to call them "arrogant").

What will happen to this man once he is removed? The indication from Paul is that the man will hopefully see that his heart is indeed not focused on God and he will repent and believe. If this man is an unbeliever and he is allowed to stay in the church then he could die never knowing that he was never a believer at all. Many of our churches are filled with people that have claimed to pray a prayer and therefore believe that they are saved (mainly because that is what they have been told). The outside world looks at them and calls them "hypocrites" and I think that Jesus would agree (he had harsh words for hypocrites). The greatest gift that can be given them is a removal from fellowship and some time to honestly face themselves and God.

The reality is that we do not like discipline. Even this extreme example leaves us grasping for reasons not to be so "harsh." At the same time, Christians look at those outside of the church and throw judgment like it is theirs to wield.  Paul pulls our focus to the rightful place of our judgment, on ourselves. If we could every now and then live up to our own high standards then we would find more friends outside of our walls.

If I would allow my Christian brothers and sisters to hold me accountable then I will be a far more humble person.

A person of compassion.

A person of understanding.

A person of...discipline.