1 Corinthians 5:1-5
Holiness in Christ's church requires confronting sin rather than tolerating it.
1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles, that one has his father’s wife.
2 You are arrogant, and didn’t mourn instead, that he who had done this deed might be removed from among you.
3 For I most certainly, as being absent in body but present in spirit, have already, as though I were present, judged him who has done this thing.
4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, you being gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
5 are to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
Holiness in Christ's church requires confronting sin rather than tolerating it.
Paul confronts the Corinthian church for tolerating a case of sexual immorality and commands decisive church discipline for the sake of holiness and restoration.
The rebuke of factional pride in chapters 1–4 transitions into concrete moral correction in chapter 5. Paul exposes a scandalous situation within the Corinthian church that even the surrounding pagan culture would consider unacceptable. The congregation had failed to respond with grief and discipline, revealing a misunderstanding of holiness within the body of Christ. Paul insists that the church must act corporately to remove the offender from fellowship. This passage introduces Paul's extended teaching on church discipline and communal purity that continues through the next sections of the letter.
Corinth was known for moral laxity and sexual permissiveness. The church had become influenced by the surrounding culture and failed to address a case of incestuous immorality. Paul's response highlights the need for the Christian community to maintain distinct moral standards shaped by the gospel.
Purge the Evil, Keep the Feast, and Guard the Holiness of the Church
Because Christ our Passover has been sacrificed and the church is called to be a holy people, believers must not tolerate unrepentant, scandalous sin in the body but must exercise disciplined holiness for the purity of the church and the possible restoration of the sinner.