In 1 Corinthians 5, we learn of the Corinthian church's next significant issue - sexual immorality between a man and his stepmother. The Corinthians compounded the issue further by boasting about this sin rather than being dismayed and calling the man to walk worthy of the gospel. Let's read about it:
“I can hardly believe the report about the sexual immorality going on among you—something that even pagans don’t do. I am told that a man in your church is living in sin with his stepmother. 2 You are so proud of yourselves, but you should be mourning in sorrow and shame. And you should remove this man from your fellowship.”
1 Corinthians 5:1-2 NLT
This man's sin was so horrendous that it broke the Law of Moses (Leviticus 18:7-8) as well as Roman law (Gaius, Institutes 1.63), and even more importantly, it violated the gospel of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 5:7 NLT), which was Paul's concern.
Question 1. According to 1 Corinthians 5:1-2, how should Christians feel about open and blatant sin among professing Christians?
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The offense here was not simply a man stumbling into impurity or even his habitual struggles with it, but rather the open flaunting of the sin and the church's completely wrong response to it. Like the people Paul referenced when writing to the Philippians, “they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth” (Philippians 3:19 NLT).
When people glory in sin, they trample the cross of Christ. Boasting in sin is to treat the blood of Jesus as if it is of no value. Think of it: God, in the Person and body of Jesus, came in love and died to atone for and remove sin, and then the very people who claim to know Him rejoiced and boasted about the sin that crucified Christ!
Rather than rejoicing and boasting, this man's sin should have pierced the heart of the church as it did Jesus when He was on the cross. Looking at the cross should evoke tremendous hurting in our hearts because we see the price Jesus' paid to remove those sins from us.
“They will look on me whom they have pierced and mourn for him as for an only son. They will grieve bitterly for him as for a firstborn son who has died. 11 The sorrow and mourning in Jerusalem on that day will be like the great mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the valley of Megiddo.”
Zechariah 12:10-11 NLT
To live and grow in the gospel within the context of a local church is to begin to view sin as God does, with broken-hearted mourning and a determination to remove it from the body, because this is what Jesus did.
For this reason, Paul gives clear instructions on how to deal with this situation:
“Even though I am not with you in person, I am with you in the Spirit. And as though I were there, I have already passed judgment on this man4 in the name of the Lord Jesus. You must call a meeting of the church. I will be present with you in spirit, and so will the power of our Lord Jesus. 5 Then you must throw this man out and hand him over to Satan so that his sinful nature will be destroyed and he himself will be saved on the day the Lord returns.”
1 Corinthians 5:3-5 NLT
The cross of Christ tells us how serious God is about removing sin from us and displays the lengths He went to out of love. Sin broke His body, ripped apart His soul, pierced His heart, and put Him to death. The only proper response to sin is the response of the cross. We should not glory in sin but, instead, grieve it and remove it.
Again, this instruction of "putting out" does not apply to people who stumble in sin or even those who struggle mightily with sin that easily besets. Paul gave this instruction to the local church, who erroneously rejoiced and gloried in sin when they should be broken-hearted and mourning, helping restore the one caught in a sin trap.
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