1 Corinthians 5 Commentary
You must purge the evil from among you. This would be an instruction in the Old Testament. Deuteronomy 13 verse 5. Paul has relied on this verse for his instruction to the Corinthians.
It isn’t a copy-paste operation because the original context involves the physical killing of the sinner. Recheck the text and see how this operation’s core remains the assembly’s holiness. The LORD won’t dwell among them without holiness in their midst.
Paul still applies the entire thought but in a version that fits the New Testament grace. The killing still happens but it’s the body that must die. The church won’t have to physically kill the sinner; satan does it. It’s his specialty. He comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Excommunication from the assembly would expose the sinner to satan’s wrath. Regardless, this passage is a hard nut to chew.
Don’t associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people. Paul isn’t talking about accidental sinners who immediately regret their waywardness and repent. To have a title in front of your name like Idolater James, or to have a descriptive title against your name is to celebrate a career of wickedness. God forbid!
The holy script consists of commands as well as descriptions, comments, or observations. Descriptions, comments, or observations have the word ‘may’ attached to them. Check the following, “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.” It is an observation and not a command, otherwise, Paul would not confess to the following: “To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless.” Chapter 4 verse 11.
We must know the difference.
We cannot keep a sexually immoral or greedy, idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler in church simply because they give big offerings. The excuse that the scripture talks about saints inheriting the wealth of the wicked isn’t strong enough to diminish the strength of God’s commands on holiness.
Let there be no circus in the church. Expel the immoral brother! Of course, the second letter has a different tone on the same subject because the bases for the ‘tones’ are different. It is a judgment on an “as-is” basis. The context becomes important. Therefore, there is no conflict in the instructions. Jesus is glorified in both – that is the core value at the center of any church action in such matters.
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