Chapter 5

There are a number of sins which are committed by believers and as soon as they are known to be committed by believers immediately people begin to say that this person was really not saved. We are now dealing with a sin which involves morality, but sins which involve morality are not nearly as bad as sins which do not involve morality. The first and original sin of Satan had no moral issue connected with it at all, it was a sin of negative volition. The first sin ever committed by man had no moral issue connected with it at all, it was a sin of negative volition. The worst sins in the Bible are not sins which involve a moral issue. The sins which receive the greatest discipline as far as believers are concerned are sins of mental attitude, sins of the tongue.

Verse 1, a case of incest. This man is saved, he can’t lose his salvation, and whatever disposition is made of his case when it is all over he is still saved. And he hasn’t committed one of the worst sins! He is put under the sin unto death but not because of the nature of the sin, it was because he kept on doing it.

The doctrine of carnality

1. After salvation the believer continues to possess an old sin nature, 1 John 1:8; Romans 7:14,15.

2. The old sin nature is classified as ‘desperately wicked,’ Jeremiah 17:9; Psalm 58:2-5.

3. The old sin nature is also classified as producing a filthy rags righteousness, Isaiah 64:6.

4. Therefore the old sin nature has many facets. This is brought out by the phrase ‘body of sin,’ Romans 6:6; 2:11.

5. The essence of the old sin nature. It has an area of weakness which produces all personal sins; it has an area of strength which produces human good, -R. Inside of this old sin nature is operation lust. The OSN also has trends, toward lasciviousness and toward asceticism.

6. The old sin nature is perpetuated in the human race through physical birth, Psalm 51:5. We are said to be born spiritually dead, Ephesians 2:1.

7. The believer who is dominated by the old sin nature is called a carnal believer — 1 Corinthians 3:1-3; Romans 7:14. In 1 Corinthians chapter 5 we are dealing with a carnal believer.

8. The old sin nature is the basic frustration of bona fide production, Romans 7:15 (Greek).

9. Nomenclature for the OSN varies: a) Flesh, John 3:6; Galatians 5:16; b) Old man, Ephesians 4:22; Colossians 3:9; c) Carnal, Romans 7:14; 1 Corinthians 3:1-3; d) Sin in the singular generally refers to the OSN, Romans 5:12; 7:14; 1 John 1:8. (Occasionally ‘sin’ has a collective use); e) Heart, Jeremiah 17:9; Matthew 12:34,35; 15:19; Mark 7:21-28; Psalm 58:2-5.

10. Doctrine of ultimate sanctification. The believer will not have an OSN when he has a resurrection body.

“commonly” is ‘actually.’ The phallic cult was a major portion of Greek life and every facet of Greek life was permeated with the principle of fornication as a normal expression and activity of life. The Greeks thought less of fornicating than they did of breathing!

“and such,” this is called a climactic, qualitative pronoun. It should be translated, “and such a type of fornication.”

“that one,” an indefinite word in order to indicate that he is dealing with the principle rather than castigating an individual; “should have,” present active infinitive. Present tense: linear aktionsart; active voice: he does it; infinitive: it is his purpose to keep on doing it. All of this adds up to having his father’s wife: incest.

Verse 2, “And ye are puffed up” means to be so proud of this thing that they are almost bragging about it, i.e. ‘We have in our congregation a most unusual thing. I don’t believe you could find one of these anywhere.’

“and not rather mourned,” because this thing cased this reaction (puffed up) somebody had to step in and jerk things to a halt, which is exactly what Paul is going to do.

“might be taken away” refers to the sin unto death, mentioned as a principle in 1 John 5: 16. Also 1 Chronicles 10:13, violation of the Word of God. Leviticus 10:1-3; Acts 5:1-10; 1 Corinthians 11:30,31.

Verses 3-6, the mechanics of discipline.

Verse 3, “absent in the body.” Paul is not there.

“but present in spirit,” he is in fellowship, human spirit-Holy Spirit combination; “have judged already,” Paul is an apostle and he has a right to judge such cases for the sake of getting the entire congregation straightened out on this point. This is perfect tense, he has judged in the past with result which will now appear to all; “as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed.”

The word ‘done’ here is katergazomai, something on the inside which works to the outside. This gives a perfect description of this believer’s incest. Inside is lasciviousness and outside is incest.

Verse 4, the sentence has been passed, it will be executed at the first time that the church meets after getting this information” “when you are gathered together” means the church service.

Verse 5, the content of the sentence. “To deliver such an one unto Satan.” When you turn a believer over to Satan it is like throwing a nice meaty bone to a starving dog.

Satan as a killer

1. Satan has extra natural powers in the realm of death, Psalm 109:6-13.

2. Satan has the power of death, 1 John 3:8; Hebrews 2:14,15.

3. Satan actually killed the seven sons and three daughters of Job, Job 1:12,18,19.

4. It was Satan who motivated Cain to murder Abel, 1 John 3:13; John 8:44.

5. Satan is used as an agent for the sin unto death, 1 Corinthians 5:5; 1 Timothy 1:19,20.

It is impossible for Satan to do anything to a believer unless God permits it. There are certain cases where God does permit it, but this would only be in cases where the justice was fair all the way around.

“to deliver,” aorist active infinitive, in a point of time; “for the destruction of the flesh,” here is a believer who is so far out of line that God is going to take him out of the world before his time. In other words, God has a purpose for the life of every believer and we can leave before that purpose is completed by discipline, and here is the sin unto death by which this is accomplished. The flesh here does not refer to the old sin nature but to the human body. Once the flesh, the human body, has been destroyed the soul and the spirit will enter into the presence of the Lord.

“that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord,” he doesn’t lose his salvation. The day of the Lord here refers to the Rapture. The word ‘saved’ means to be delivered. The aorist tense means that at the point of the Rapture this person will receive a resurrection body. The passive voice: the subject receives the action of the verb, which means that he receives a resurrection body like all other believers.

Verse 6, the reason for this discipline. “Your glorying [boasting] in not good.” It isn’t the nature of this believer’s sin that caused him to be put under extreme discipline, it is the effect on others.

“Know ye not,” i.e. “Don’t you know a principle of doctrine?” The principle of doctrine: “ … a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.” When you find leaven in the scripture it always refers to sin or something evil; either an evil principle or a sinful act. The leaven of Herod, worldliness, Mark 8:15; the leaven of the Sadducees, rationalism, Matthew 16:6; the leaven of the Pharisees, religion and ritualism, Mark 8:15; Luke 12:1; the leaven of the Galatians, legalism, Galatians 5:9; the leaven of the Corinthians, licensciousness.

The principle of separation, verses 7-13.

Verse 7, “Purge out,” aorist active imperative; “therefore the old leaven,” Who is the old leaven? One man, verse 1.

“that,” purpose clause, “ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened,” these people are to rebound, purge out the old leaven, and that means they are back in fellowship. This is a command to rebound.

“For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast,” ‘Christ our passover’ is a reference to salvation; the next six days after the Passover is the feast of unleavened bread. Unleavened bread is a picture of being in the bottom circle, in fellowship. They ‘keep the feast’ by getting back in fellowship.

The Levitical feasts: Passover, unleavened bread, firstfruits, Pentecost, trumpets, atonement, tabernacles. They portrayed the entire history of Israel from the time of the Exodus to the Millennium, minus the Church Age. These are all found in Leviticus 23. Passover: salvation, “Christ our passover was sacrificed for us.” Feast of unleavened bread: fellowship with God in time, being in the bottom circle. In the feats of unleavened bread there was another one, the firstfruits — resurrection. “Christ the firstfruits,” 1 Corinthians 15. Pentecost: the day the fifth cycle of discipline began, opening the way for the big gap, almost seven months before the final feast. That is for the Church Age, during which the Jews are dispersed. Then, next is trumpets, second advent of Christ with the regathering of Israel. Atonement: the deliverance of the saved Jews through the baptism of fire. Tabernacles: the Millennial reign of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 8, “Therefore let us keep the feast,” present tense: make this a habit. The word ‘keep’ means to observe the feast of unleavened bread. Active voice: believers must produce the action of the verb. You must rebound, no one else can do it for you. We have the subjunctive mood here and there are three concepts in the Greek. a) It carries the force of a command with regard to human volition. It recognises that you may or may not keep this command because you do have free will. The difference between the subjunctive and the imperative mood is that the subjunctive mood recognises human volition. b) The subjunctive mood is potential. Whether these believers rebound or not is a potential factor. c) We have the word hortatory which is simply a concept where the writers invites the readers of the listeners to join him in a mutual course of action.

How is this active voice fulfilled:

a) You must confess your sins, 1 John 1:9, the rebound mechanics.

b) Once you confess a sin you must then forget it. Keep moving, Philippians 3:13,14

c) Isolate the sin, Hebrews 12:15. Don’t light one sin from another.

“not with old leaven,” you can’t keep the feast and sin, that is why they took leaven out of all the bread and everything else.

“of malice of wickedness,” malice refers to the mental attitude sins. This is actually malignity in the frontal lobe. Wicked deeds [literally] come from the mental attitude.

“but of sincerity,” the Greek word for sincerity is a compound noun and it means to judge something by putting it up to the sun. It is used only for transparent objects, of course. The sunlight here is the doctrine of the Word of God. The word ‘sincerity’ here does not mean sincerity, it means to use a criterion.

“and truth” should be ‘even the truth,’ the principle: Doctrine of the Word of God must be the absolute criterion. Evaluate everything on the basis of the Word.

Verses 9-11, a clarification of the previous instructions.

Verse 9, “I wrote unto you in an epistle.” This epistle is not extant. Paul wrote four time to the Corinthians, only two became a part of the canon of scripture and the other two were lost. In that letter he told them not to company with fornicators. They all interpreted this one way, i.e. unbelievers. Now Paul is going to show them that isn’t what he means altogether. He is talking about believers here.

Verse 10, “for then must ye needs go out of the world.” We are in the world for one purpose, to witness for Jesus Christ. So we have to have contact with the unbeliever to witness to him.

Verse 11, “But now I have written unto you.” He is clarifying the previous instructions which they didn’t understand and misinterpreted.

“not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolator, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat,” or not having fellowship.

There are six categories given here, this doesn’t cover all the areas of sin but it covers the areas where something might flow from one person to another, where a person might have influence. In other words, the leaven leavening the lump.

“covetousness” is lust. A covetous person is one who is motivated by approbation lust, power lust, or whatever kind of lust it may be.

“idolator,” religious activity. Cf. 1 Corinthians 10:19-21, the devil’s communion table is a type of religious activity.

“railer,” a person who is abusive of others verbally. It may be nit-picking or it may be more volatile but it is a person who criticises, who runs down, who maligns, who tries to cut down other people.

“drunkard,” one who is frequently inebriated; “extortioner,” a believer guilty of dishonest business practice.

Verse 12, “without” means an unbeliever. Paul’s job is not to judge the unbeliever in the area of his sinning but to communicate the gospel. You cannot communicate the gospel and run someone into the ground. You cannot make an issue out of someone’s sins or someone’s bad habits and at the same time communicate the gospel. They always get the wrong impression. They get the idea that if they give up this or that, or the other thing, then they can turn respectable and go to heaven. You do not make an issue of the unbeliever’s sins.

“do not ye judge them that are within?” He is saying that the principle of judging unbelievers is not a part of our responsibility. Our responsibility is to give them the gospel. But we judge them that are within. We do not judge those who are within except under four situations. Christians are not to judge the unbeliever, but are to declare the gospel to them. The issue to the unbeliever is the person and the work of Jesus Christ. We do have a principle whereby under certain conditions it is right to judge believers. a) Where one who has the authority and a person is disciplined where the discipline is warranted. b) The evaluation of those who are eligible for church office. c) The evaluation of a believer for a job recommendation. d) The evaluation of anyone with whom you are doing business or having personal contact in any way. This is not criticising them openly to others but you are discerning about that person all the time.

Verse 13, God has set up laws and principles by which God personally judges both individuals and nations. Once more he gives them the command to take this person at this time and put him out — excommunication.