Year 2, Day 74: 1 Corinthians 5

Self-Ignorance

When I read the first few verses of 1 Corinthians 5, I heard Jesus’ words from Luke 6:41 – or Matthew 7:3 if you prefer.  Why do we as human beings see the speck in our brother’s eye so clearly but we are so inherently blind to the log in our own eye?  Forget the part about judging other people – which I know is actually the thrust of Jesus’ words.  Why are we so quick to be ignorant of our own sinfulness?

I think there is an inherent trap to humanity.  Because we live and breathe every second of our life, we experience the small changes.  Thus, the small things add up in our mind to explain – or should I say rationalize – away the parts of us that God finds objectionable.  Because we are there for the infinitesimally small steps in the wrong direction we don’t see how far we actually go down the wrong path without even noticing it!

In my mind, stepping into sin is kind of like watching grass grow.  If I were to lie down out in my lawn and watch a single blade of grass for an entire week, I don’t actually think I would ever once have a moment where I could say for certain that I saw the blade of grass actually get any bigger.  However, a week from now I will be starting up the lawn mower to cut the grass – so it must have grown!  I just can’t see it because it happens in such small increments.

In truth, I actually see the growth of the grass when I don’t look at the grass for a few days and then return to it.  The same thing is happening here in 1 Corinthians.  The Corinthians have slowly slid deeper into sin every day and they don’t recognize it.  They are even boasting about their greatness.  But Paul – who has stepped away from the Corinthians for a while – can see their life from a more pure perspective.  Thank God that Paul was there to put some perspective on life. 

I can learn that lesson.  I need to step back and place some value on the perspective of people who are outside my immediate life and can see the fruit for good or bad of my daily steps in life.

Expel It

So how are we to deal with this sin once it is revealed?  Get rid of it!  Expel it from our life!  Toss it aside!  Do not hold onto it any longer.  As Paul indicates in the next series of verses, a little leaven will eventually leaven the whole dough.  A little sin in our own life will eventually taint every aspect of our life.  A little unchecked sin in the community will eventually infect the whole community.  Again I am reminded of a difficult passage from Jesus when He gives the harsh advice that if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off!  (See Mark 9:43, Matthew 5:30, or Matthew 18:8)  I’m not advocating self-mutilation, but I am advocating taking a strong position against dealing with sin in our presence.

But then Paul says something really neat in the last paragraph of this chapter.  It is a lesson that I have completely missed until this day.  So take what I am about to say with a bit of a grain of salt because I’m literally fleshing this thought out as I’m having it for the first time.  It’s a teaching that has been clearly always present, but I’ve just missed it for all these years.

Differences From Within and Without

In 1 Corinthians 5:9-13 Paul makes a genuine distinction between dealing with people outside the faith and dealing with people inside the faith.  Paul clearly tells us that we are to avoid the sexually immoral, but then he comes back and tells us that he’s not talking about the sexually immoral outside the church.  If we step back and speak very plainly about this, Paul is saying that we should not be afraid of having dealings with the sexually immoral outside the church and we should avoid at all costs dealing with the sexually immoral who are inside the church!

At first, you might be thinking that this doesn’t make any sense at all.  After all, isn’t dealing with sin, confessing sin, repenting of sin, and receiving forgiveness from sin what our relationship with God is all about?  This is absolutely correct.  But those aren’t the people within the church about whom Paul is talking.  Paul is talking about the sinner within the church who is not interested in dealing with their sin.  This is a very dangerous person.  Anyone who thinks that they can abide in God’s presence and not deal with their sin is setting a horrible precedent and is actually teaching rebellion among us!

We expect sin from the person outside of the faith.  Of course that sin can influence us and corrupt it if we are not careful.  But we expect it.  We can anticipate it and know going into the encounter that we are going to need to fight against it.  But we don’t expect to have rebellion against God within our midst.  We should not be about allowing rebellion within our body – literally or figuratively as the body of Christ.  This is why Paul can say that we can have dealings with the sinners who are outside of the church but we should have no dealings with anyone who thinks that sin is acceptable while one is also professing to be a Christian.

Again, let me be clear.  I’m not talking about the Christian who confesses their sinful behavior, struggles against it, and resists it.  We should be supportive of those people and embrace their struggle with them.  We should join them in that pattern, for that I the pattern of the believer!  I’m talking about the rebellious ones in our midst who have the gall to look at what God calls sinful behavior and deem it as acceptable instead.  Those are the ones against whom Paul says we should have no dealings.

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