Paul has been dealing with the problem of sexual immorality in the church. In today's passage he refers to an earlier letter he wrote to the Corinthians but that letter has been lost in antiquity. In that letter he gave some advice regarding associating with immoral people and he speaks of it again today, reminding them that if someone claims to be a Christian but doesn't live as if he is, they should have no dealings with him.
When we become Christians we still have to fight against our carnal natures. The man Paul has been talking about either didn't fight very hard or he tried to fight and lost. We are all going to make mistakes, but the issue Paul addresses today has to do with a Christian who falls into sin and happily remains there. The church member who is having an affair with his step-mother is apparently enjoying his sinful lifestyle and is not interested at this time in changing his lifestyle. The apostle is concerned about how such behavior can affect other church members, so he advises the church not to associate with Christians who are living in unrepentant immorality.
He begins by reminding them again not to be prideful. "Your boasting is not good." (1 Corinthians 5:6a) The Corinthian church has what we might call "the big head" about themselves. They pride themselves on their spirituality and are unwilling to deal with embarrassing matters. They would rather sweep problems under the rug than have the public know there is immorality among their members.
"Don't you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch---as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed." (1 Corinthians 5:6b-7) Paul asks, "Don't you remember you are new creatures now in Christ? You must do away with your old ways of living. Christ didn't save you so that you could go on living in sin; He saved you so you could have something better." As Passover approached, the Jews had to search their houses for any sources of yeast so they could expel it from the home. Paul is telling the Corinthians that they must search their houses (the church) for any sources of yeast (sin) so that it can be expelled.
They are not only to expel sin from their lives as much as possible but they are to expel (excommunicate) the man involved in the affair. As we discussed yesterday and the day before, the excommunication is intended to bring about sorrow and repentance in the man's heart. In the meantime, his sin can't be allowed to pollute the whole congregation. Other members might start falling into sexual immorality if they see the church leaders simply shrugging their shoulders over this man's incestuous affair.
"Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." (1 Corinthians 5:8) Passover may have been coming up soon when Paul wrote this letter. In the Bible we find yeast/leaven used as a symbol for sin and, just as unleavened bread had to be eaten at Passover, Paul wants the problem taken care of by Passover. The leaven needs to be removed from the house of God so that the church members can be of good conscience.
Now the apostle mentions a previous letter. "I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people---not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world." (1 Corinthians 5:9-10) The Corinthians may have misunderstood what Paul said in his previous letter, so he makes his point clear, "I told you not to associate with immoral people, but I didn't mean people outside the church. You would have to leave this world altogether in order to keep from ever associating with anyone immoral. You are going to encounter immoral people all the time as you go about your daily lives, plus you are going to encounter immoral people as you take the gospel to those who don't know Christ." Remember how Jesus was spitefully accused of being a "friend of sinners"? He had to associate with immoral people who didn't know God so He could bring the truth to them. He went to dinner with people who were considered outcasts by the religious elite. He healed lepers and forgave repentant tax collectors and prostitutes. But in the Bible do we find Jesus being friends with those who know God but who are living immorally? No, and the Pharisees are a good example of this. They claimed to be right with God and to know His laws inside and out, but they had a lot of self-righteousness and pride in their lives and they had very little compassion for their fellow man. Those things are immoral and in the Bible we don't find Jesus maintaining friendships with the Pharisees.
"But now I am writing to you that you must not 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." (1 Corinthians 5:11) When Paul says "a brother or sister" he means anyone who claims to belong to Christ. Just as a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough, one immoral person in the church can be a bad influence on the whole church. This doesn't mean the church can't still love and pray for the man who is to be excommunicated; in fact loving and praying for him is what they should do. But if they don't discipline him for his unrepentant attitude, the attitudes of other church members may become casual toward sexual immorality. Then the problem will just continue to grow until the church looks just like the world.
"What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. 'Expel the wicked person from among you.'" (1 Corinthians 5:12-13) Paul quotes a verse that can be found a number of places in the book of Deuteronomy. He asks, "It is my business to judge the actions of people who don't know the Lord? That's the Lord's business. Neither I nor the church is responsible for judging the world. But we are responsible for the purity of the church and we do have the authority to judge matters that involve church members. So I am advising you to put this man out of your assembly. If you don't, eventually your congregation will become indistinguishable from a gathering of people anywhere else."
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