1 Corinthians 5:12-13

“It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your job to judge those inside the church who are sinning in these ways. God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, ‘You must remove the evil person from among you.’”

I wonder if this Scripture makes you a little uncomfortable, as it does me. Removing a person from fellowship is almost unheard of in today’s American church—that’s why this concept is so unfamiliar. It helps me to look at the chapter’s context to understand today’s focus verses.

In today’s full reading, we cover the chapter of 1 Corinthians 5. Paul speaks with incredulity at a report that a man was committing incest with his father’s wife, apparently without repentance, yet the Corinthian church had not removed him from the fellowship. In verse 5, Paul makes it clear that the goal of the “tough love” approach is to preserve the man’s salvation. He further explains in verses 6 and 7 that one man’s grossly sinful actions affect the church as a whole, and the church is to remain pure for the Lord. Then, in verse 11, he lists the sins that should be judged by the church if the sinner claims to be a believer yet lives in sin. These sins are sexual sins, greed, idol worship, abuse, drunkenness, and swindling.

So, going back to today’s focus verses, our job as believers is to work to preserve the holiness of the church body. The best context where I could apply this principle is as a small group leader in my church. If I suspected that any of my group members was living in sin without repentance, say infidelity or child abuse, I would be responsible as the group leader to lovingly confront the woman, most likely with the help of my pastors. The goal of the confrontation would be to help the woman face her sin and encourage her to repent, but also to preserve the integrity of the whole group.

I pray I will never have to confront this type of situation, but these verses are worthy to consider as scriptural backup for such a time. How would you handle this kind of problem in your church?

Copyright 2009