1 Corinthians 5:1

Memory Verse

Everywhere it is heard among you is fornication, and such fornication which is not named among the Gentiles, so that someone to have his father’s wife (1 Corinthians 5:1).

The perversion that the Corinthian assembly was permitting in its midst was known all around because they were puffed up about it (1 Corinthians 5:2). They had an inflated sense of their own standing and knowledge because they allowed such sin in their midst. However, this is not love. Love is not puffed up (1 Corinthians 13:4). By tolerating such corruption in their midst, they were not acting in a righteous manner.

Paul rebukes them for being puffed up. They should rather mourn that such a one is removed from among them (1 Corinthians 5:2). The next time they are gathered, they are to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh (1 Corinthians 5:5). Paul is instructing them to cast the man out of the assembly, no longer permitting him to fellowship. We are to care for the well-being of other saints. When a fellow Christian is sinning, out of love, he needs to be rebuked for his actions. If he does not change his ways, we are to separate from him. This separation is not to treat him as an enemy, but as a brother, because we are seeking the best for them (2 Thessalonians 3:15). They must stop this type of conduct in order to be allowed to fellowship. This is an important stance to take because sin spreads (1 Corinthians 5:6). Bad company always corrupts useful habits (1 Corinthians 15:33).

We are to walk in love—seeking the best for other believers, imitating God as His beloved children (Ephesians 5:1–2). Thus, fornication, uncleanness, covetousness, and filthiness, which all deal with perverted sexual matters, are not to be named among the saints (Ephesians 5:3–5). Those who do such things, we are not to partake with them, for we are not to be deceived, these types of works bring wrath upon the sons of the unpersuaded (Ephesians 5:6–7). Since the grace believer is not appointed unto any wrath, he has no union with such men who work out the darkness within them (1 Thessalonians 5:9). Therefore, among the saints, these types of actions should not be permitted for the benefit of all.

However, it is equally important to note that when a saint who has been admonished in this manner changes the mind and thus ceases such activity, we are not to continue to reject them. We do not want to give Satan an opportunity because we have an ungracious spirit (2 Corinthians 2:6–7). The purpose is for restoration, not separation. Separation is for the benefit of the assembly as a whole. Thus, when the punishment results in a change of mind (repentance), the offending party should be comforted and graciously allowed to again participate in fellowship so they may spiritually mature with the saints.