#4 Church at Corinth

Remember when that slogan was popular among young people in the ’60s? They certainly could have used it with sincerity in Corinth back in a.d. 56, because the local church there was in serious trouble. Sad to say, the problems did not stay within the church family; they were known by the unbelievers outside the church.

To begin with, the church at Corinth was a defiled church. Some of its members were guilty of sexual immorality; others got drunk; still others were using the grace of God to excuse worldly living. It was also a divided church, with at least four different groups competing for leadership (1 Cor. 1:12). This meant it was a disgraced church. Instead of glorifying God, it was hindering the progress of the Gospel.

How did this happen? The members of the church permitted the sins of the city to get into the local assembly. Corinth was a polluted city, filled with every kind of vice and worldly pleasure. About the lowest accusation you could make against a man in that day would be to call him “a Corinthian.” People would know what you were talking about.

Corinth was also a proud, philosophical city, with many itinerant teachers promoting their speculations. Unfortunately, this philosophical approach was applied to the Gospel by some members of the church, and this fostered division. The congregation was made up of different “schools of thought” instead of being united behind the Gospel message.

If you want to know what Corinth was like, read Romans 1:18-32. Paul likely wrote the Roman epistle while in Corinth, and he could have looked out the window and seen the very sins that he listed!

Of course, when you have proud people, depending on human wisdom, adopting the lifestyle of the world, you are going to have problems. In order to help them solve their problems, Paul opened his letter by reminding them of their calling in Christ. He pointed out three important aspects of this calling.

Paul first attacked the serious problem of defilement in the church, yet he said nothing about the problem itself. Instead, he took the positive approach and reminded the believers of their high and holy position in Jesus Christ. In 1 Corinthians 1:1-9, he described the church that God sees; in 1 Corinthians 1:10-31, he described the church that men see. What we are in Jesus Christ positionally ought to be what we practice in daily life, but often we fail.

Note the characteristics of the church because of our holy calling in Jesus Christ.

The word church in the Greek language means “a called-out people.” Each church has two addresses: a geographic address (“at Corinth”) and a spiritual address (“in Christ Jesus”). The church is made up of saints, that is, people who have been “sanctified” or “set apart” by God. A saint is not a dead person who has been honored by men because of his or her holy life. No, Paul wrote to living saints, people who, through faith in Jesus Christ, had been set apart for God’s special enjoyment and use.

In other words, every true believer is a saint because every true believer has been set apart by God and for God.

A Christian photographer friend told me about a lovely wedding that he “covered.” The bride and groom came out of the church, heading for the limousine, when the bride suddenly left her husband and ran to a car parked across the street! The motor was running and a man was at the wheel, and off they drove, leaving the bridegroom speechless. The driver of the “get-away car” turned out to be an old boyfriend of the bride, a man who had boasted that “he could get her anytime he wanted her.” Needless to say, the husband had the marriage annulled.

When a man and woman pledge their love to each other, they are set apart for each other; and any other relationship outside of marriage is sinful. Just so, the Christian belongs completely to Jesus Christ; he is set apart for Him and Him alone. But he is also a part of a worldwide fellowship, the church, “all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 1:2). A defiled and unfaithful believer not only sins against the Lord, but he also sins against his fellow Christians.

Salvation is a gracious gift from God; but when you are saved, you are also given spiritual gifts. (Paul explained this in detail in 1 Cor. 12-14.) The Greek word translated “enriched” gives us our English word plutocrat, “a very wealthy person.” The Corinthians were especially rich in spiritual gifts (2 Cor. 8:7), but were not using these gifts in a spiritual manner. The fact that God has called us, set us apart, and enriched us ought to encourage us to live holy lives.

Paul will have a great deal to say about this truth in 1 Corinthians 15. Christians who are looking for their Saviour will want to keep their lives above reproach (1 John 2:28-3:3).

The work of God was confirmed in them (1 Cor. 1:6), but it was also confirmed to them in the Word. This is a legal term that refers to the guarantee that settles a transaction. We have the witness of the Spirit within us and the witness of the Word before us, guaranteeing that God will keep His “contract” with us and save us to the very end. This guarantee is certainly not an excuse for sin! Rather, it is the basis for a growing relat-ionship of love, trust, and obedience.

Now, in the light of these great truths, how could the people in the Corinthian assembly get involved in the sins of the world and the flesh? They were an elect people, an enriched people, and an established people. They were saints, set apart for the glory of God! Alas, their practice was not in accord with their position.

When Paul mentioned the word fellowship in 1 Corinthians 1:9, he introduced a second aspect of the Christian’s calling.

Having mentioned the problem of defilement in the church, now Paul turned to the matter of division in the church. Division has always been a problem among God’s people, and almost every New Testament epistle deals with this topic or mentions it in one way or another. Even the 12 Apostles did not always get along with each other.

In 1 Corinthians 1:13, Paul asked his readers three important questions, and these three questions are the key to this long paragraph.

One of the main reasons that cults in our day have had such an impact on the world is their unity. Disharmony is not tolerated. Though misguided, misused, and often totalitarian, such unity is attractive to many people who are tired of religious uncertainty, ambiguity, and confusion.

Few of us who have attended church for a number of years have not been in or known of a congregation where there was a split or at least serious quarreling. The problem has existed in the church from New Testament times. The Corinthian believers fell short of the Lord’s standards in many ways, and the first thing for which Paul called them to task was quarreling.

Quarrels are a part of life. We grow up in them and around them. Infants are quick to express displeasure when they are not given something they want or when something they like is taken away. Little children cry, fight, and throw tantrums because they cannot have their own ways. We argue and fight over a rattle, then a toy, then a football, then a position on the football team or in the cheerleading squad, then in business, the PTA, or politics. Friends fight, husbands and wives fight, businesses fight, cities fight, even nations fight—sometimes to the point of war. And the source of all the fighting is the same: man’s egotistic, selfish flesh.

Scripture teaches nothing more clearly than the truth that man is basically and naturally given toward sinfulness, and that the heart of his sinfulness is self-will. From birth to death the natural inclination of every person is to look out for “number one”—to be, to do, and to have what he wants. Even believers are continually tempted to fall back into lives of self-will, self-interest, and general self-centeredness.

At the heart of sin is the ego, the “I.” Even Christians are still sinners—justified, but still sinful in themselves. And when that sin is allowed to have its way in our flesh, conflict is inevitable. When two or more people are bent on having their own ways, they will soon be quarreling and arguing, because their interests, concerns, and priorities sooner or later will conflict.

There cannot possibly be harmony in a group, even a group of believers, whose desires, goals, purposes, and ideals are generated by their egos.

Writing to fellow Christians, James asks, “What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. And you are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel” (James 4:1-2). The cause for all conflicts, quarrels, and fighting is selfish desire.

Tragically—though it is forbidden by God, is totally out of character with our redeemed natures, and is in complete opposition to everything our Lord prayed for and intended for His church—fighting does occur among believers, among those who are called to be one in the Lord Jesus Christ.

What the Lord laments and opposes, Satan applauds and fosters. Few things demoralize, discourage, and weaken a church as much as bickering, backbiting, and fighting among its members. And few things so effectively undermine its testimony before the world.

Quarreling is a reality in the church because selfishness and other sins are realities in the church. Because of quarreling the Father is dishonored, the Son is disgraced, His people are demoralized and discredited, and the world is turned off and confirmed in unbelief. Fractured fellowship robs Christians of joy and effectiveness, robs God of glory, and robs the world of the true testimony of the gospel. A high price for an ego trip!

Among the Corinthian church’s many sins and shortcomings, quarreling is the one that Paul chose to deal with first. In unity lies the joy of Christian ministry and the credibility of Christian testimony. In His high priestly prayer the Lord prayed repeatedly that His church would be one (John 17:11, 21-23):

(John 17:11 NIV) I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name--the name you gave me--so that they may be one as we are one.

(John 17:21-23 NIV) that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. {22} I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: {23} I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

The implication of the oneness of nature and communion with God for which He prayed for His disciples was a “fleshed out” oneness in life. Immediately after Pentecost the newly empowered believers were in perfect harmony with each other—sharing, rejoicing, worshiping, and witnessing together, “day by day continuing with one mind in the temple … praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved” (Acts 2:46-47).

Their unity bore great fruit in their ministry to each other, in their witness to the world, and in their pleasing and glorifying God.

The first need of the Corinthian church was for that sort of harmony. It is also the need of many churches today. With this discussion, Paul moves into the exhortation and instruction that occupies the rest of the epistle.

The verb means, “Has Christ been divided and different parts handed out to different people?” The very idea is grotesque and must be rejected. Paul did not preach one Christ, Apollos another, and Peter another. There is but one Saviour and one Gospel (Gal. 1:6-9). How, then, did the Corinthians create this four-way division? Why were there quarrels (“contentions”) among them?

One answer is that they were looking at the Gospel from a philosophical point of view. Corinth was a city filled with teachers and philosophers, all of whom wanted to share their “wisdom.”

Another answer is that human nature enjoys following human leaders. We tend to identify more with spiritual leaders who help us and whose ministry we understand and enjoy. Instead of emphasizing the message of the Word, the Corinthians emphasized the messenger. They got their eyes off the Lord and on the Lord’s servants, and this led to competition.

Paul will point out in 1 Corinthians 3 that there can be no competition among true servants of God. It is sinful for church members to compare ministers, or for believers to follow human leaders as disciples of men and not disciples of Jesus Christ. The “personality cults” in the church today are in direct disobedience to the Word of God. Only Jesus Christ should have the place of preeminence (Col. 1:18).

Paul used several key words in this section to emphasize the unity of the saints in Christ. He called his readers brethren, reminding them that they belonged to one family. The phrase “perfectly joined together” is a medical term that describes the unity of the human body knit together. So, they had a loving union as members of the body. They were also identified by the name of Jesus Christ.

We do not know who the people were who belonged to “the house of Chloe,” but we commend them for their courage and devotion. They did not try to hide the problems. They were burdened about them; they went to the right person with them; and they were not afraid to be mentioned by Paul. This was not the kind of “cloak and dagger” affair that we often see in churches—activities that usually make the problem worse and not better.

Paul was the minister who founded the church, so most of the members would have been converted through his ministry. Apollos followed Paul (Acts 18:24-28) and had an effective ministry. We have no record that Peter (Cephas) ever visited Corinth, unless 1 Corinthians 9:5 records it. Each of these men had a different personality and a different approach to the ministry of the Word; yet they were one (1 Cor. 3:3-8; 4:6).

In verses 10-17 he deals with four basic areas that relate to unity: the plea for doctrinal agreement, the parties that were loyal to men, the principle of oneness in Christ, and the priority of preaching.

Exhort comes from the Greek parakaleoô, the verb root of parakleôtos, the “Helper” (or Comforter) of John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7 and the “Advocate” of 1 John 2:1. The basic meaning is that of coming alongside someone in order to help. Paul wanted to come alongside his Corinthian brothers and sisters in order
to help correct their sins and shortcomings. He used the same word in writing Philemon. After noting that he had the right to order Philemon to forgive the slave Onesimus and send him back to Paul, the apostle says, “Yet for love’s sake I appeal [parakaleoô] to you” (Philem. 9; cf. 10).

Likewise he appealed to the Corinthians. He had been careful to establish his apostolic authority in the opening words of the letter. But now he appeals to them as brothers. In so doing he moderates the harshness, without minimizing the seriousness, of the rebuke. They are his brothers and each other’s brothers, and
should act in harmony as brothers.

They had all been “called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ” (1:9) and are now being lovingly exhorted by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to agree, to eliminate divisions, and to be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. Because they were one in fellowship with their Lord,
they should be one in fellowship with each other. Their unity in Jesus Christ was the basis for Paul’s appeal for unity among themselves. As in many of Paul’s letters, believers’ identity with Christ is the pad from which he launches his call to holy living.

Christ’s name represents all that He is, His character and His will. To pray “in Jesus name” is not to expect God to bow to our wishes or demands simply because we use that phrase. To pray in His name is to pray in accordance with His Word and His will. Jesus said to pray, saying, “Hallowed be Thy name.… Thy will be done” (Matt. 6:9-10). Christ’s Word, which perfectly reflects His character and His will, forms the supreme basis for all Christian behavior. What we think, say, and do is right or wrong not primarily because of its effect on us or on others but because it does or does not conform to Christ and bring honor to Him. Our behavior as believers has its most direct relationship to Jesus Christ. When we sin or complain or quarrel, we harm the church and its leaders and our fellow believers. We also put a barrier between unbelievers and the gospel. But worst of all, we bring dishonor to our Lord.

When the Ephesian elders came to Miletus to meet Paul on his way to Jerusalem, he admonished them to “be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28). He was saying to them, “Don’t lose sight of Whose you are and Whose they are. You all belong to Jesus Christ and are precious to Him. You are overseers on the Lord’s behalf.”

The emphasis in this passage, written to a local church, is on the unity of the local assembly of believers, not on the mystical unity of the universal church—as is the emphasis, for example, in Ephesians, which was a general letter without local reference. Nor is Paul talking about denominational unity. He is saying that
there should be unity within the local congregation, that you should all agree.

That seems to be an impossible standard. Yet the Lord Himself commanded His followers to “be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48), and what could be more humanly impossible than that? In the name and power of Christ that standard is possible. So is this one. God does not give His standards on the basis of human ability but on the basis of divine provision. He does not accommodate them to human limitations, much less to human inclinations and desires. No matter how impossible the idea may seem, all believers in a local church are to be in agreement about the things of God.

In the Greek, that you all agree is literally, “that you all speak the same thing,” as in the King James Version. Nothing is more confusing to new Christians, or to unbelievers who are considering the claims of Christ, than to hear supposedly mature and informed Christians tell conflicting things about the gospel, the Bible, or Christian living. And few things are more devastating to a church than everyone having his own ideas and interpretations about the faith, or of the congregation being divided into various factions, each with its own views.

For a local church to be spiritually healthy harmonious, and effective, there must, above all, be doctrinal unity. The teaching of the church should not be a smorgasbord from which members can pick and choose. Nor should there be various groups, each with its own distinctives and leaders. Even if the groups get
along with each other and tolerate each other’s views, doctrinal confusion and spiritual weakness are inevitable.

Unfortunately some churches today have just that sort of doctrinal and ethical selectivity. They often have unity on a social and organizational level—but doctrinally, ethically, and spiritually they are confused and confusing. They hold to no certainties, including the certainties and absolutes of Scripture. They have no lasting or binding commitments. One does not make permanent commitments to temporary beliefs. Many people, of course, including some professing Christians, do not want absolutes in doctrine or ethics, simply because absolute truths and standards demand absolute acceptance and obedience.

As far as God’s truth is concerned, there cannot be two conflicting views that are right. Obviously, we cannot know dogmatically what is not fully or clearly revealed (Deut. 29:29). But God is not confused or self-contradictory. He does not disagree with Himself and His Word does not disagree with itself. Consequently Paul insists that the Corinthians, and all believers, have doctrinal unity—not just any doctrinal unity, but unity that is clearly and completely based on God’s Word. He appeals to them in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is, there must be agreement in Him, in His will, in His Word.

Many of the factions in the Corinthian church, as in some parts of the church today, had unity within their own groups but not unity with other believers in Jesus Christ. Paul’s call for agreement was not agreement on just any basis but agreement in God’s revealed truth, given by and consummated in Jesus Christ and completed through the teaching of His apostles. “Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained” (Phil. 3:15-16). The standard was the apostolic doctrine which Paul personally had related to them and exemplified among them (v. 17), just as the teaching he had given the Corinthians was as “an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God” and “in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (1 Cor. 1:1; 2:4).

The word divisions translates the Greek schismata from which we get schism. In the physical sense the meaning is” to tear or rip,” that is, to separate, as in Matthew 9:16 (“tear”). Metaphorically it means to have a difference of opinion, a division of judgment, a dissension. Once when Jesus was preaching in Jerusalem the people listening to Him could not agree on who He was. Some thought He was the great prophet, some that He was the Christ, and some that He was just an ordinary man making extraordinary claims. Consequently, John reports, “There arose a division [schisma] in the multitude because of Him” (John 7:43). Still today there are divisions because of disagreements as to who Christ is, even among those who go by His name.

The most serious divisions a church can have are those involving doctrine. In closing his letter to the Romans Paul warned, “Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them” (Rom. 16:17). Those who teach
anything contrary to Scripture are not serving Christ but themselves and their own interests. In matters on which Scripture is not explicit there is room for difference of opinion. But in the clear teachings of the Bible there is no room for difference, because to differ with Scripture is to differ with God. On those things
a church must agree.

I believe there are even some things, though not specifically taught in Scripture, about which the church should be of one mind when the elders and ministers have come to agreement on it. Otherwise there will be confusion in the local church and often division and factions. Members will tend to line up with the teachers and leaders with whom they agree, and they will soon become like the Corinthians, who were of Paul, Apollos, Peter, or Christ (1 Cor. 1:12). There was no doctrinal disagreement among those teachers; the division was one of personality or style preference on the part of the Corinthians—a popularity contest. Because Paul ranked them with the other factions, we know that even those claiming to be loyal only to Christ were really loyal only to their own opinions.

I also believe there must be agreement in the decision-making process of the local church leadership and that their decisions should be accepted and followed by other church members, especially by those, such as teachers, who are in positions of responsibility and influence. These decisions do not, of course, have
the same authority as Scripture. But if they are consistent with what Scripture teaches and are sought in prayer, they should be followed by everyone in the church for the sake of harmony and unity. A good word for those who seek unity in the leadership of the church’s life and practice is found in Philippians 1:27,
where Paul exhorts believers to stand “firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.”

Obviously the key to unity in doctrine and decisions is having godly leaders who are united themselves in the will of the Spirit. Men who are not close to the Lord and well-taught in His Word cannot possibly recognize or agree on sound doctrine or make sound decisions. Without knowing God’s Word they cannot perceive error, even when they want to. The only sure way to identify a counterfeit bill is to compare it with one known to be genuine. Only Scripture-taught, Spirit-led men are able to guide a church into the unity of truth and protect it from error. If a church does not have that kind of men, no form of leadership will work spiritually. Such men are God’s men and they represent Jesus Christ. Christ rules the church through them, and their decisions should be agreed with and followed. Such men are able to lead the church in the unity of
faith and practice which the New Testament consistently demands (cf. Heb. 13:7). They are able to guide a congregation in being complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. But if they are not united, the people will not be either.

Made complete is the Greek katartizoô, used in classical Greek as well as in the New Testament to speak of mending such things as nets, bones, dislocated joints, broken utensils, and torn garments. The basic meaning is to put back together, to make one again something that was broken or separated. Christians
are to be made complete (“perfectly joined together,” KJV), both internally (in the same mind) and externally (in the same judgment). In our individual minds and among ourselves we are to be one in beliefs, standards, attitudes, and principles of spiritual living.

The epistles have nothing to say about the role of the congregation in church government, but a great deal to say about the role of its leadership. “We request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, and that you esteem
them very highly in love because of their work” (1 Thess. 5:12-13). Only when its leadership is right can a congregation be right. They will never be perfect or infallible, but godly men are Christ’s instruments for leading and shepherding His people. They have the right to lead the congregation and to make decisions
for them in the Lord, and they are to be respected, loved, and followed in the Lord. “Obey your leaders,” we read in Hebrews, “and submit to them; for they keep watch over your souls, as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you” (13:17).

God’s people are to follow not quibble with and question, godly leaders who are one in mind as to God’s Word and will. In God’s order a congregation is to be under the rule of its leaders just as children are to be under the rule of their parents. That is God’s way.

Being of the same mind and … the same judgment rules out grudging or hypocritical unity. Unity must be genuine. We are not simply to speak the same thing, while keeping our disagreements and objections to ourselves, making a pretense of unity. Unity that is not of the same mind and judgment is not true unity. Hypocrites will add to a congregation’s size but they will take away from its effectiveness. A member who strongly disagrees with his church leadership and policy not to mention doctrine, cannot be happy or productive in His own Christian life or be of any positive service to the congregation.

It is not that believers are to be carbon copies of each other. God has made us individual and unique. But we are to be of the same opinion in regard to Christian doctrine, standards, and basic life-style. The apostles themselves were different from one another in personality temperament, ability and gifts; but they were of
one mind in doctrine and church policy. When differences of understanding and interpretation arose, the first order of business was to reconcile those differences. Ego had no place, only the will of God.

When, for example, the Judaizing controversy became serious in Antioch, “the brethren determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders concerning this issue” (Acts 15:2). At what has come to be called the Jerusalem Council the issue was discussed, prayed about, and settled; and the decision was put in letter form to be circulated among the churches involved (vv. 6-30). It was not an arbitrary ruling made by a group of influential and persuasive men. It was a decision made by godly apostles and elders in accordance with God’s revealed will and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Those leaders were able to say of their decision, “For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us” (v. 28). We can he sure that many of the Judaizers were not convinced or pleased, for the problem continued to plague the early church for many years. But for faithful believers the issue was settled and “they rejoiced because of its encouragement” (v. 31). That is why the qualifications for elders are spiritual (1 Tim. 3:1ff.; Titus 1:5ff.).

Ministeral elders should make decisions on the basis of unanimous agreement. Not even a three-fourths vote should carry a motion. No decision should be made without total one-mindedness, no matter how long that takes. Because the Holy Spirit has but one will, and because a church must be in complete harmony with
His will, the leaders must be in complete harmony with each other in that will. The congregation then is to submit to the elders because it has confidence that the elders’ decisions are made under the Spirit’s direction and power. Because they believe the elders are one in the Spirit, the congregation is then determined
to be one with the elders. There may be struggle in coming to this kind of unity as there was in Corinth—but it is here mandated by the Spirit Himself through Paul.

Unity has always been God’s way for His people and a source of blessing to them. “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity” (Ps. 133:1). At the end of the great discourse on Christian liberty in his letter to the Romans, Paul prayed, “Now may the God who gives perseverance
and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus; that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God” (15:5-7). Since Christ is of one mind about
us we should be of one mind with and about each other. Luke reports that shortly after Pentecost “the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul” (Acts 4:32). Paul encouraged the Philippians to make his” joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united inspirit, intent on one purpose (2:2). Among God’s wonderful gifts to His people are oneness in mind, love, accord, voice, purpose, and spirit.

The purpose of unity first of all is to glorify God. Unity will always bless a congregation and be a joy to its leaders (Heb. 13:17), but its primary aim is God’s glory. Just as Christ accepted us to the glory of God, we accept each other and the rule of our leaders to His glory. We should always, therefore, be “diligent
to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3).

The source of unity is the Lord Himself. We are called to preserve it and we are able to destroy it, but we are not able to create it. The unity of the church is already established by the Holy Spirit. We can only keep it or harm it. It is kept by doing “nothing from selfishness or empty conceit,” but with humility counting
others better than ourselves (Phil. 2:3). If an issue arises that we feel needs attention, we should carefully and lovingly present our views to those involved or to those in authority but without pride or contention. Vanity and self-will are almost always the causes of divisions and factions in a congregation—and in every other group. We keep unity by not insisting on our own way, by avoiding squabbles and bickering, and by putting the interests of our Lord and of His people above all else.

Paul had ministered in Corinth for a year and a half. He then sent Apollos to be the second minister. Apparently a group of Jews in the church had been saved under Peter’s (Cephas’s) ministry. Parties soon developed in the names of each of those men. Paul learned of the factions through Chloe, probably a prominent person in the Corinthian church who had written or come to visit Paul in Ephesus. The first two groups each had their favorite former minister, the third had a strong loyalty to Peter, and the fourth, probably the most pious and self-righteous, seemed to think they had a special claim on Christ. They had the right name but it is clear from Paul’s accusation that they did not have the right spirit. Perhaps like some “Christ only” groups today they felt they had no need for human instructors—despite the Lord’s specific provision for and appointment of human preachers, teachers, and other leaders in His church (1 Cor. 1:1; 12:28; Eph. 4:11; 2 Tim. 1:11; etc.).

Each group was vocal in its opinions and had its own shibboleth, its own slogan of identity and implied superiority “I am of Paul,” “I of Apollos,” “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ.” These were the great teachers of the early years, around whom people gathered and through whom they were given the saving message. People clung to the man who had evangelized and taught them, and then pitted their group against the groups loyal to the other leaders. Often, as with the Corinthian church, leaders about whom such factions center are not responsible for the division. Many times they are not even aware of it. When, however, leaders do know of and even encourage groups that have a special loyalty to them, those leaders are doubly guilty. They not only participate in factionalism but allow it to center on themselves.

The inevitable result of such party spirit is contention, quarrels, wrangling, and disputes—a divided church. It is natural to have special affection for the person who led us to Christ, for a minister who has fed us from the Word for many years, for a capable Sunday school teacher, or for an elder or deacon who has counseled and consoled us. But such affection becomes misguided and carnal when it is allowed to segregate us from others in the church or to decrease our loyalty to the other leaders. It then becomes a self-centered, self-willed exclusiveness that is the antithesis of unity.

Spirituality produces humility and unity; carnality produces pride and division. The only cure for quarreling and division is renewed spirituality. In my experience the most effective means of correcting a contentious, factious person is to share with him selected Scripture passages on carnality and its evidences, to confront him directly with the cause of his sin.

The central principle of Paul’s argument is that believers are one in Christ and should never do anything that disrupts or destroys that unity. No human leader, no matter how gifted and effective, should have the loyalty that belongs only to the Lord. Paul began his letter by establishing his authority as an apostle. But he wanted no part of the faction named for him. He had never been crucified for anyone. No one was ever baptized in his name. His authority had been delegated to him and was not his own, and his purpose was to bring men to Christ, not to himself.

A Christian church that is divided is a contradiction. “One who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him” (1 Cor. 6:17). “For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit” (12:12-13). “We, who are many are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another” (Rom. 12:5). “There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all” (Eph. 4:4-6). To be divided in Christ’s Body is a violation of our redeemed nature and is in direct opposition to our Lord’s will. In His longest recorded prayer, Jesus interceded for those who were His and who would be His. Included was His beautiful appeal for their unity, “that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also maybe in Us; that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me. And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given to them; that they may be one, just as We are one” (John 17:21-22).

When the Lord’s people quarrel and dispute and fight, they reflect against the Lord before the world, they weaken His church, and worst of all they grieve and put to shame the One who bought them—who died to make them one in Him. The Father is one, the Son is one, the Spirit is one, and the church is one.

Crispus was the leader of the synagogue in Corinth when Paul first ministered there and was converted under the apostle’s preaching. His conversion led to that of many others in the city (Acts 18:8). Since the letter to the Romans was written from Corinth, this Gaius was probably the Corinthian “host” to whom Paul refers in Romans 16:23. The apostle was grateful that he had personally baptized only those two and a few others.

Jesus did not baptize anyone personally (John 4:2). To have been baptized by the Lord Himself would have brought almost irresistible temptation to pride and would have tended to set such people apart, whether they wanted to be or not. As an apostle, Paul faced a similar danger. But he also had another: the danger of creating his own cult; and so he declared, I thank God … that no man should say you were baptized in my name.

As already mentioned, it is not wrong to have special affection for certain persons, such as the one who baptized us, especially if we were converted under his ministry. But it is quite wrong to take special pride in that fact or pride in any close relationship to a Christian leader. Paul was not flattered that a group in Corinth was claiming special allegiance to him. He was distraught and ashamed at the idea, as he had already said: “Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” (1:13). “How could you even think of showing a loyalty to me,” he was saying, “that belongs only to the Lord Jesus Christ?” He wanted no cult built around himself or around any other church leader.

Paul was not certain of the exact number he had baptized in Corinth. Now I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other. This comment gives an interesting insight into the inspiration of Scripture. As an apostle writing the Word of God, Paul made no errors; but he was not omniscient. God protected His apostles from error in order to protect His Word from error. But Paul did not know everything about God or even about himself, and was careful never to make such a claim. He knew what God revealed—things he had no way of knowing on his own. What he could know on his own, he was prone to forget. He was one of us.

Another reason for Paul’s baptizing so few converts was that his primary calling lay elsewhere. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, that the cross of Christ should not be made void. He was not sent to start a cult of people baptized by him. Jesus had personally commissioned him: “For this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you; delivering you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me” (Acts 26:16-18). His calling was to preach the gospel and bring men to oneness in Christ, not in baptizing to create a faction around himself.

As we each have the right priority in our lives, we too will be determined to serve the Lord in truth and in unity not living in the carnality and confusion of dissension and division.

The mention of the cross in 1 Corinthians 1:17 introduced this long section on the power of the Gospel versus the weakness of man’s wisdom. It is interesting to see how Paul approached this problem of division in the church. First, he pointed to the unity of Christ: there is one Saviour and one body. Then he reminded them of their baptism, a picture of their spiritual baptism into Christ’s body (1 Cor. 12:13). Then he took them to the cross.

Crucifixion was not only a horrible death; it was a shameful death. It was illegal to crucify a Roman citizen. Crucifixion was never mentioned in polite society, any more than we today would discuss over dinner the gas chamber or the electric chair.

The key word in this paragraph is wisdom; it is used eight times. The key idea that Paul expressed is that we dare not mix man’s wisdom with God’s revealed message. The entire section on wisdom (1 Cor. 1:17-2:16) presents a number of contrasts between the revealed Word of God and the wisdom of men.

God’s wisdom is revealed primarily in the cross of Jesus Christ, but not everybody sees this. Paul pointed out that there are three different attitudes toward the cross.

Some stumble at the cross (v. 23a). This was the attitude of the Jews, because their emphasis is on miraculous signs and the cross appears to be weakness. Jewish history is filled with miraculous events, from the Exodus out of Egypt to the days of Elijah and Elisha. When Jesus was ministering on earth, the Jewish leaders repeatedly asked Him to perform a sign from heaven; but He refused.

The Jewish nation did not understand their own sacred Scriptures. They looked for a Messiah who would come like a mighty conqueror and defeat all their enemies. He would then set up His kingdom and return the glory to Israel. The question of the Apostles in Acts 1:6 shows how strong this hope was among the Jews.

At the same time, their scribes noticed in the Old Testament that the Messiah would suffer and die. Passages like Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 pointed toward a different kind of Messiah, and the scholars could not reconcile these two seemingly contradictory prophetic images. They did not understand that their Messiah had to suffer and die before He could enter into His glory (see Luke 24:13-35), and that the future messianic kingdom was to be preceded by the age of the church.

Because the Jews were looking for power and great glory, they stumbled at the weakness of the cross. How could anybody put faith in an unemployed carpenter from Nazareth who died the shameful death of a common criminal? But the Gospel of Jesus Christ is “the power of God unto salvation” (Rom. 1:16). Rather than a testimony of weakness, the cross is a tremendous instrument of power! After all, the “weakness of God [in the cross] is stronger than men” (1 Cor. 1:25).

Some laugh at the cross (v. 23b). This was the response of the Greeks. To them, the cross was foolishness. The Greeks emphasized wisdom; we still study the profound writings of the Greek philosophers. But they saw no wisdom in the cross, for they looked at the cross from a human point of view. Had they seen it from God’s viewpoint, they would have discerned the wisdom of God’s great plan of salvation.

Paul called on three men to bear witness: the wise (the expert), the scribe (the interpreter and writer), and the disputer (the philosopher and debater). He asked them one question: Through your studies into man’s wisdom, have you come to know God in a personal way? They all must answer no! The fact that they laugh at the cross and consider it foolishness is evidence that they are perishing.

Paul quoted Isaiah 29:14 in 1 Corinthians 1:19, proving that God has written a big “0—Failure!”—over the wisdom of men. In his address on Mars’ Hill, Paul dared to tell the philosophers that Greek and Roman history were but “times of this ignorance” (Acts 17:30). He was not suggesting that they knew nothing, because Paul knew too well that the Greek thinkers had made some achievements. However, their wisdom did not enable them to find God and experience salvation.

Some believe and experience the power and the wisdom of the cross (v. 24). Paul did not alter his message when he turned from a Jewish audience to a Greek one: he preached Christ crucified. “The foolishness of preaching” (1 Cor. 1:21) does not mean that the act of preaching is foolish, but rather the content of the message. The New International Version states it, “Through the foolishness of what was preached,” and this is correct.

Those who have been called by God’s grace, and who have responded by faith (see 2 Thes. 2:13-14), realize that Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom. Not the Christ of the manger, or the temple, or the marketplace—but the Christ of the cross. It is in the death of Christ that God has revealed the foolishness of man’s wisdom and the weakness of man’s power.

We are called into fellowship because of our union with Jesus Christ: He died for us; we were baptized in His name; we are identified with His cross. What a wonderful basis for spiritual unity!

(1 Corinthians 3:1-9 NIV) Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly--mere infants in Christ. {2} I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. {3} You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? {4} For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men? {5} What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe--as the Lord has assigned to each his task. {6} I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. {7} So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. {8} The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. {9} For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.

Paul already explained that there are two kinds of people in the world—natural (unsaved) and spiritual (saved). But now he explained that there are two kinds of saved people: mature and immature (carnal). A Christian matures by allowing the Spirit to teach him and direct him by feeding on the Word. The immature Christian lives for the things of the flesh (carnal means “flesh”) and has little interest in the things of the Spirit. Of course, some believers are immature because they have been saved only a short time, but that is not what Paul is discussing here.

Paul was the “spiritual father” who brought this family into being (1 Cor. 4:15). During the eighteen months he ministered in Corinth, Paul had tried to feed his spiritual children and help them mature in the faith. Just as in a human family, everybody helps the new baby grow and mature, so in the family of God we must encourage spiritual maturity.

What are the marks of maturity? For one thing, you can tell the mature person by his diet. As children grow, they learn to eat different food. They graduate (to use Paul’s words) from milk to meat.

What is the difference? The usual answer is that “milk” represents the easy things in the Word, while “meat” represents the hard doctrines.

The Word of God is our spiritual food: milk (1 Peter 2:2), bread (Matt. 4:4), meat (Heb. 5:11-14), and even honey (Ps. 119:103). Just as the physical man needs a balanced diet if his body is to be healthy, so the inner man needs a balanced diet of spiritual food. The baby begins with milk, but as he grows and his teeth develop, he needs solid food.

It is not difficult to determine a believer’s spiritual maturity, or immaturity, if you discover what kind of “diet” he enjoys. The immature believer knows little about the present ministry of Christ in heaven. He knows the facts about our Lord’s life and ministry on earth, but not the truths about His present ministry in heaven. He lives on “Bible stories” and not Bible doctrines. He has no understanding of 1 Corinthians 2:6-7.

I have always been grateful for congregations that wanted to be enlightened and edified, not entertained. It is important that we preach the Gospel to the lost; but it is also important that we interpret the Gospel to the saved. The entire New Testament is an interpretation and application of the Gospel. Paul did not write Romans, for example, to tell the Romans how to be saved—for they were already saints. He wrote to explain to them what was really involved in their salvation. It was an explanation of the “deep things of God” and how they applied to daily life.

There is another way to determine maturity: the mature Christian practices love and seeks to get along with others. Children like to disagree and fuss. And children like to identify with heroes, whether sports heroes or Hollywood heroes. The “babes” in Corinth were fighting over which preacher was the greatest—Paul, Apollos, or Peter. It sounded like children on the playground: “My father can fight better than your father! My father makes more money than your father!”

When immature Christians, without spiritual discernment, get into places of leadership in the church, the results will be disastrous. The work of the minister is to help the church grow spiritually and mature in the Lord. This is done by the steady, balanced ministry of the Word. Ephesians 4:1-16 explains how this is done: It is necessary for each member of the body to make his own contribution. God gives spiritual gifts to His people, and then He gives these gifted people to the various churches to build up the saints. As the believers grow, they build the church.

Paul will have more to say about spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12-14, but this should be said now: A mature Christian uses his gifts as tools to build with, while an immature believer uses gifts as toys to play with or trophies to boast about. Many of the members of the Corinthian church enjoyed “showing off” their gifts, but they were not interested in serving one another and edifying the church.

What is the ministry all about? It involves loving, feeding, and disciplining God’s family so that His children mature in the faith and become more like Jesus Christ.

(1 Corinthians 5:1-12 NIV) It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father's wife. {2} And you are proud! Shouldn't you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this? {3} Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present. {4} When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, {5} hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord. {6} Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? {7} Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast--as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. {8} Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth. {9} I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people-- {10} 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. {11} But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. {12} What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?

The church at Corinth was not only a divided church, but it was also a disgraced church. There was sin in the assembly and, sad to say, everybody knew about it. But the church was slow to do anything about it.

No church is perfect, but human imperfection must never be an excuse for sin. Just as parents must discipline their children in love, so local churches must exercise discipline over the members of the assembly. Church discipline is not a group of “pious policemen” out to catch a criminal. Rather, it is a group of brokenhearted brothers and sisters seeking to restore an erring member of the family.

The city of Corinth in Paul’s day was like much of western society today. People were strongly intent on having their own ways. In no regard were they more intent than in regard to fulfilling physical lust. Sexual permissiveness was rampant; and then, as now the church was not unaffected.

All of 1 Corinthians 5 is devoted to the problem of immorality in the church, much of it specifically to sexual immorality As serious as the immorality itself was the church’s tolerance of it. Probably because of their philosophical orientation and their love of human wisdom they rationalized the immoral behavior of their fellow believers. In any case they were not inclined to take corrective measures. Even those who were not involved in immorality had become arrogant about the matter (v. 2), possibly citing their “freedom in Christ,” as do many believers today. Apparently there were many who arrogantly flaunted their vice in the church.

The chapter is not directed at the believers, or “so-called” believers (v. 11), who were committing the sins but at the rest of the church who stood by doing nothing about it—in fact, arrogantly refusing to do anything about it.

From 1:10 through 4:21 Paul has been dealing with the more philosophical and psychological types of sin, the sins of intellect and attitude. The division in the church was primarily caused by party spirit, seen in its numerous exclusive groups, with each group considering itself to have the inside track on spirituality.

Chapter 5, however, focuses primarily on sins of the flesh. But those sins are not unrelated to those of the mind or heart, because all sin is related. Sin in one area always makes us more susceptible to sin in other areas. In our own day the rise in sexual sins and sins of violence closely parallel the rise in humanistic education and amoral philosophy, and correspond to an increase in pride and self-satisfaction, and a decreased concern for the things of God.

Paul’s thrust in this chapter is for discipline of persistently sinning church members. He presents the need, the method, the reason, and the sphere of the discipline that should be imposed.

“What will this sin do to the church?” is certainly an important consideration. Christians are “called to be saints” (1 Cor. 1:2), and this means holy living to the glory of God. If a Christian loves his church, he will not stand by and permit sin to weaken it and perhaps ruin its testimony.

How should we respond? Paul gave three specific instructions for the church to follow.

The first things the Corinthians needed to see was the need for discipline. Because they apparently had rationalized or minimized the immorality in their midst, they saw no need for discipline. Paul’s first step was to show them that the immorality was immorality and that it was serious and should not be tolerated—something they already should have known.

This is the word used for mourning over the dead, which is perhaps the deepest and most painful kind of personal sorrow possible. Instead of mourning, the people at Corinth were puffed up. They were boasting of the fact that their church was so “open-minded” or “tolerant” that even fornicators could be members in good standing!

The sin in question was a form of incest: a professed Christian (and a member of the church) was living with his stepmother in a permanent alliance. This kind of sin was condemned by the Old Testament Law (Lev. 18:6-8; 20:11) as well as by the laws of the Gentile nations. Paul shamed the church by saying, “Even the unsaved Gentiles don’t practice this kind of sin!”

The present tense has indicates that the sinful activity had been going on for some time and was still going on. It was not a one-time or short-term affair but was continuous and open.

A church that does not mourn over sin, especially sin within its own fellowship, is on the edge of spiritual disaster. When we cease to be shocked by sin we lose a strong defense against it. Alexander Pope wrote:

Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face, We first endure, then pity then embrace.

That was the pattern followed by the church in Corinth. She arrogantly followed her own feelings and rationalizations rather than God’s Word, and found herself ignoring, and perhaps even justifying, flagrant sin in her midst.

The church at Thyatira in many ways was a model church. It was strong in “love and faith and service and perseverance” and was growing in good deeds. But it was tolerating “the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray, so that they commit acts of immorality” (Rev. 2:19-20). Someone in the church, claiming to speak for God, was actually leading the believers into immoral practices. Though rebuked, she refused to repent. Consequently she, and all who participated in immorality with her, became subject to God’s severe judgment.

The punishment was to be a warning to all Christians and a reminder of God’s righteous standards for His people and of His knowing their minds and hearts (vv. 21-23). God takes the purity of His church seriously, and He commands His children to take it equally seriously.

Whenever sin is not repented of and cleansed, it increases and spreads its infection. When Paul wrote his next epistle to the church at Corinth he was still deeply concerned about its spiritual and moral condition. “I am afraid that when I come again my God may humiliate me before you, and I may mourn over many of those who have sinned in the past and not repented of the impurity, immorality and sensuality which they have practiced” (2 Cor. 12:21). Because the Corinthians refused to mourn, they caused Paul to mourn and the Holy Spirit to grieve (Eph. 4:30).

Christians are not to tolerate sin within the church any more than they are to tolerate it within their own lives. “But do not let immorality or any impurity or greed even be named among you, as is proper among saints.… And do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them” (Eph. 5:3, 11).

It is the responsibility of all church members, not simply the minister and other leaders, to expose sinful practices in the fellowship. Without being self-righteous or prying, we are required to be continually on the lookout for any sort of immorality or sin that threatens the purity of our Lord’s body, the church. We must recognize the need for identifying and cleansing sin within the church. When it is found we should be in spiritual mourning until it is cleansed.

While it is true that the Christian life is a feast (1 Cor. 5:8), there are times when it becomes a funeral. Whenever a Christian brother or sister sins, it is time for the family to mourn and to seek to help the fallen believer (Gal. 6:1-2). The offending brother in Corinth was “dead” as far as the things of the Lord were concerned. He was out of fellowship with the Lord and with those in the church who were living separated lives.

While Christians are not to judge one another’s motives (Matt. 7:1-5) or ministries (1 Cor. 4:5), we are certainly expected to be honest about each other’s conduct. We should never ‘enjoy’ having to initiate church discipline; but since it is commanded in the Scriptures, we must obey God and set personal feelings aside.

Paul described here an official church meeting at which the offender was dealt with according to divine instructions. Public sin must be publicly judged and condemned.

And if your brother sins, go and reprove him in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. And if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax-gatherer. (Matt. 18:15-17)

Discipline is not inconsistent with love. It is lack of discipline, in fact, that is inconsistent with love. “Those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives” (Heb. 12:6). The Lord disciplines his children because he loves them, and we will discipline our brothers and sisters in the Lord if we truly love Him and truly love them.

The sin was not to be “swept under the rug”; for, after all, it was known far and wide even among the unsaved who were outside the church.

The church was to gather together and expel the offender. Note the strong words that Paul used to instruct them: “taken away from among you” (1 Cor. 5:2), “deliver such an one unto Satan” (1 Cor. 5:5), “purge out” (1 Cor. 5:7), and “put away” (1 Cor. 5:13). Paul did not suggest that they handle the offender gently. Of course, we assume that first the spiritual leaders of the church sought to restore the man personally.

This was to be done by the authority of Jesus Christ—in His name—and not simply on the authority of the local church. Church membership is a serious thing and must not be treated carelessly or lightly.

Discipline sometimes must be severe because the consequences of not disciplining are much worse. Sin is a spiritual malignancy and it will not long stay isolated. Unless removed it will spread its infection until the whole fellowship of believers is diseased.

The Corinthians could not face that truth, although they had been taught it long before. Their pride caused them to be forgetful and neglectful, and Paul tells them, Your boasting is not good. “Look where your arrogance and your boasting have brought you. Because you still love human wisdom and human recognition and the things of this world, you are completely blinded to the blatant sin that will destroy your church if you don’t remove it.” Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? In a more modern figure he was saying, “Don’t you know that one rotten apple can spoil the whole barrel?”

God diagnoses spiritual health only by the standards of His righteousness. We can be highly gifted, highly blessed, highly successful, and highly respected—and also be highly sinful. That was the condition of the Corinthian church. The believers there had been under the ministry of Paul, Apollos, and Peter. They were “enriched in [Christ], in all speech and all knowledge,” the “testimony concerning Christ was confirmed” in them, and they were “not lacking in any gift” (1:5-7). Yet they were proud, arrogant, boastful, and immoral—even tolerant of sins, including a sin that pagans condemned.

Similarly, the scribes and the Pharisees of Jesus’ day were quite satisfied with themselves. They loved “the place of honor at banquets,” the “respectful greetings in the market place,” and “being called by men, Rabbi” (Matt. 23:6-7). They thought they deserved such recognition.

But Jesus pronounced on them a long series of “woes,” in which He pointed out sin after sin of which they were guilty. He characterized them as blind and hypocritical. Their unchecked pride completely blinded them to the most obvious of spiritual principles, and their arrogance caused them to live lives of continuous pretense. “You serpents, you brood of vipers,” Jesus said, “how shall you escape the sentence of hell?” (vv. 13-33). But such pride is less offensive in the case of spiritual hypocrites like the Jews to whom our Lord spoke than it is in the assembly of believers.

The image here is that of the Passover supper (Ex. 12). Jesus is the Lamb of God who shed His blood to deliver us from sin (John 1:29; 1 Peter 1:18-25). The Jews in Egypt were delivered from death by the application of the blood of the lamb. Following the application of the blood, the Jewish families ate the Passover supper. One of the requirements was that no yeast (leaven) be found anywhere in their dwellings. Even the bread at the feast was to be unleavened.

Leaven is a picture of sin. It is small but powerful; it works secretly; it “puffs up” the dough; it spreads. The sinning church member in Corinth was like a piece of yeast: he was defiling the entire loaf of bread (the congregation). It was like a cancer in the body that needed to be removed by drastic surgery.

The church must purge itself of “old leaven”—the things that belong to the “old life” before we trusted Christ. We must also get rid of malice and wickedness (there was a great deal of hard feelings between members of the Corinthian church) and replace them with sincerity and truth. As a loaf of bread (1 Cor. 10:17), the local church must be as pure as possible.

However, the church must not judge and condemn those who are outside the faith. That judgment is future, and God will take care of it. In 1 Corinthians 5:9-13, Paul emphasized once again the importance of separation from the world. Christians are not to be isolated, but separated. We cannot avoid contact with sinners, but we can avoid contamination by sinners.

If a professed Christian is guilty of the sins named here, the church must deal with him. Individual members are not to “company” with him (1 Cor. 5:9—“get mixed up with, associate intimately”). They are not to eat with him, which could refer to private hospitality or more likely the public observance of the Lord’s Supper (see 1 Cor. 11:23-34).

I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters; for then you would have to go out of the world. But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he should be an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves. (5:9-13)

The discipline God commands His church to take against the unrepentant is to be of a certain kind and should be exercised within certain bounds. These verses indicate some types of offenses that require discipline and give further explanation as to how the discipline is to be carried out.

In a previous letter (see Introduction) Paul had commanded the Corinthian Christians not to associate with immoral people. Associate with translates sunanamignumi, which literally means “to mix up with.” In this compound form it is more intense and means “to keep intimate, close company with.”

Faithful believers are not to keep close company with any fellow believers who persistently practice serious sins such as those mentioned here. If the offenders will not listen to the counsel and warning of two or three other believers and not even of the whole church, they are to be put out of the fellowship. They should not be allowed to participate in any activities of the church—worship services, Sunday school, Bible studies, or even social events until they are ready to repent and make things right with God and the church.

Obviously, and most importantly, they should not be allowed to have any leadership role. They should be totally cut off both from individual and corporate fellowship with other Christians, including that of eating together (v. 11; cf. 2 Thess. 3:6-15). The pain of such isolation will cause the person to realize what his sin has done and what it has caused him to miss…and will lead the person to repentance.

A church that does not discipline a sinning member is like a person who has good reason to believe he has cancer but who refuses to go to a doctor—because he either does not want to face the problem or does not want to face the treatment. If he waits too long his whole body will be permeated with the disease
and it will be too late for treatment to do any good. No church is healthy enough to resist contamination from persistent sin in its midst, any more than the healthiest and most nutritious bushel of apples can withstand contamination from even a single bad one. The only solution in both cases is separation.

The Corinthians had misinterpreted Paul’s previous advice about associating with immoral people. I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters; for then you would have to go out of the world, he explained. Apparently the church had
stopped having contact with unbelievers instead of with unrepentant believers. The apostle pointed out that to do so is impossible without leaving the planet. Besides, sin outside the church is not nearly as dangerous to the church as sin within its own membership. Perhaps their wrong response also reflected their wanting to tolerate sin in the church. And their treatment of the unsaved in the world may have indicated their spiritual arrogance.

It is the world to whom we are to witness, to whom we are called to bring the gospel. We are not to conform to the world (Rom. 12:2), but we must be in the world and have contact with unsaved people or we could never evangelize them. In His high priestly prayer, the Lord prayed, “I do not ask Thee to take them out
of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.… As Thou didst send Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world” (John 17:15, 18). We are to “be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom [we] appear as lights in the
world” (Phil. 2:15). God intends us to be in the world so we can be its salt and light (Matt. 5:13-16) and His witnesses to it (Acts 1:8).

It is the so-called [onomazoô, “to bear the name of”] brother who is a threat to the spiritual welfare of a church and with whom we are not to associate. Discipline is to be administered to any who professes to be a Christian. Since we cannot tell the difference, tares must be treated like wheat. Anyone who carries the name of Christ is subject to discipline.

Paul makes it clear that excommunication is not limited only to cases of extreme sin such as that of the incestuous brother who was living with his stepmother. It should be applied to any professing believer who is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler.

Although true believers are recipients of a new nature—the divine nature, the life of God in their inner person, a new holy self—the flesh is still present and offers the potential for all kinds of sinning. The believer who refuses to appropriate the resources of his new life and yields to the flesh will fall into habitual patterns of evil such as those mentioned here. The Greek terms used here to identify the sins are substantives, indicating patterns of behavior.

Can believers develop such patterns of sin? The answer is yes. In salvation the penalty of sin is paid and the dominion of sin is broken, So that subjection to it is not necessary, but voluntary. Believers who choose sin will develop sinful patterns unless they repent. In 6:9-11 Paul says such unbelievers do not enter the
kingdom and he assures the Corinthians that they are not like those people anymore. Yet in 6:8 he says that they are acting like them. The point is that in unbelievers there is an unbroken pattern of sinning that cannot be restrained.

Paul’s thought, as we combine this text with 6:9-11, is that believers can act like unbelievers, those who are shut out of the kingdom. We cannot always tell wheat from tares, or know whether a so-called brother is genuine. Such acts of sin make a believer indistinguishable from a nonbeliever to the world, to the
church, and even to himself. All assurance is forfeited (cf. 2 Pet. 1:5-10; 1 John 2:5).

The Corinthian church had members who practiced all of those sins. An immoral member is the primary subject of 1 Corinthians 5. That some were covetous is implied in 10:24; and some were involved in idolatry (10:21-22). Apparently many of them were revilers, or slanderers, running down members of other parties (3:3-4) and likely to despise Timothy when he came to minister to them (16:11). They had drunkards (11:21) and they had swindlers (6:8). The whole epistle reminds us of the sinning capability of believers. All offenders were to be put out of the congregation unless they repented and changed. The rest of the believers were to withdraw from them in any social setting that implied acceptance, and were not even to eat with such a one. We have no responsibility for judging outsiders. We are to witness to outsiders, but not judge them. We cannot chasten them, and no remedial steps will alter the sin of the ungodly Those who are outside, God judges. But we do have a responsibility to judge those who are within the church. We must
remove the wicked man from among [our]selves.

Discipline is difficult, painful, and often heartrending. It is not that we should not love the offenders, but that we should love Christ, His church, and His Word even more. Our love to the offenders is not to be sentimental tolerance but correcting love (cf. Prov. 27:6).

It is not that everyone in the church must be perfect, for that is impossible. Everyone falls into sin and has imperfections and shortcomings. The church is in some ways a hospital for those