First Corinthians chapter 5. Please read the scripture text first.
Forgive, then Forget… …the Rules?
There has always been a tug of war between two religious impulses. One impulse is the need to uphold moral standards. The other impulse is to obey God’s call to forgive sins. There is an everlasting tug of war between these two impulses. We see an example in chapter 5 of First Corinthians.
The Apostle Paul wrestled with a real-world case of the tricky interplay between forgiveness and morality. A man has been living with his father’s wife. Paul did not use the word ‘mother’ so we might presume a step-mother. A new woman came into a family and the son wooed her away from the father. It appears the community decided to allow this relationship to continue.
The Corinthian church knew their community was founded on love and forgiveness. But is tolerance, or immediate forgiveness the proper response to this arrangement? It may not be biologically incestuous, but it is socially and emotionally incestuous. Paul is concerned that forgiveness and love have been misinterpreted.
Paul notes that even the pagans would look down on this arrangement. That means these new Christians have the idea that in Christ, believers are free to ignore accepted social structures. God will forgive, right?
They are even proud of their newfound liberality. Paul is outraged that they are arrogant about it. The Greek word means ‘puffed up’. There is freedom in Christ, but that can be twisted into an arrogant disregard. Paul wades into the swamp to straighten things out.
Paul makes it clear the offending party must leave the church. BE CAREFUL! Yes, this is a judgment. Yes, the history of the church is sadly littered with over-zealous judgment. All too often those judgments appear to say “We who are getting it right will have nothing to do with you who are doing it all wrong.” But Paul is not pretending that everybody else is pure and blameless!
That’s why he used the analogy of yeast. See in verse 6 he quotes the proverb “a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough.”
Yeast acts on the whole loaf. Paul is saying that the church does not endorse moral relativism. The body of Christ is not a club for anything-goes libertines. By use of the leaven analogy he is saying the whole loaf- the whole body- will be affected by this out-of-bounds relationship. Keeping the body healthy means neutralizing a threat to health. Separation is necessary to guard against more boundary violations. Not letting the leaven “puff things up” is another way of saying “Let’s be honest.”
Paul said separation from the offending party was called for. Paul was quick to add he did not want Christians to retreat from the bad, bad world.
For the sake of upholding standards of purity the church has often erred by too much separation from the world. The desire to be holy- to live right, to uphold high standards can be seen in everything from closed monasteries, to Christian communes, to those subcultures such as Amish or Mennonite groups that remain aloof from the customs and people around them.
Sometimes these groups can offer a powerful witness of goodness to the world. An Amish group made a public statement of forgiveness when a mass shooter attacked Amish school children. Perhaps this kind of solidarity is only possible because those groups maintain strict discipline inside their communities.
Then again, they can seem so distant and disdaining that they don’t set a good example of God’s loving embrace of the whole troubled world. The tug of war will always be with us. Paul’s goal is the health of the church for the sake of the world, and for the hope of repentance and renewal for every offender. You and me, too.
“Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not realize that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4)
Forgive, then Forget… …the Rules?
There has always been a tug of war between two religious impulses. One impulse is the need to uphold moral standards. The other impulse is to obey God’s call to forgive sins. There is an everlasting tug of war between these two impulses. We see an example in chapter 5 of First Corinthians.
The Apostle Paul wrestled with a real-world case of the tricky interplay between forgiveness and morality. A man has been living with his father’s wife. Paul did not use the word ‘mother’ so we might presume a step-mother. A new woman came into a family and the son wooed her away from the father. It appears the community decided to allow this relationship to continue.
The Corinthian church knew their community was founded on love and forgiveness. But is tolerance, or immediate forgiveness the proper response to this arrangement? It may not be biologically incestuous, but it is socially and emotionally incestuous. Paul is concerned that forgiveness and love have been misinterpreted.
Paul notes that even the pagans would look down on this arrangement. That means these new Christians have the idea that in Christ, believers are free to ignore accepted social structures. God will forgive, right?
They are even proud of their newfound liberality. Paul is outraged that they are arrogant about it. The Greek word means ‘puffed up’. There is freedom in Christ, but that can be twisted into an arrogant disregard. Paul wades into the swamp to straighten things out.
Paul makes it clear the offending party must leave the church. BE CAREFUL! Yes, this is a judgment. Yes, the history of the church is sadly littered with over-zealous judgment. All too often those judgments appear to say “We who are getting it right will have nothing to do with you who are doing it all wrong.” But Paul is not pretending that everybody else is pure and blameless!
That’s why he used the analogy of yeast. See in verse 6 he quotes the proverb “a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough.”
Yeast acts on the whole loaf. Paul is saying that the church does not endorse moral relativism. The body of Christ is not a club for anything-goes libertines. By use of the leaven analogy he is saying the whole loaf- the whole body- will be affected by this out-of-bounds relationship. Keeping the body healthy means neutralizing a threat to health. Separation is necessary to guard against more boundary violations. Not letting the leaven “puff things up” is another way of saying “Let’s be honest.”
Paul said separation from the offending party was called for. Paul was quick to add he did not want Christians to retreat from the bad, bad world.
For the sake of upholding standards of purity the church has often erred by too much separation from the world. The desire to be holy- to live right, to uphold high standards can be seen in everything from closed monasteries, to Christian communes, to those subcultures such as Amish or Mennonite groups that remain aloof from the customs and people around them.
Sometimes these groups can offer a powerful witness of goodness to the world. An Amish group made a public statement of forgiveness when a mass shooter attacked Amish school children. Perhaps this kind of solidarity is only possible because those groups maintain strict discipline inside their communities.
Then again, they can seem so distant and disdaining that they don’t set a good example of God’s loving embrace of the whole troubled world. The tug of war will always be with us. Paul’s goal is the health of the church for the sake of the world, and for the hope of repentance and renewal for every offender. You and me, too.
“Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not realize that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4)
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