Monday, November 26, 2012

Expelling immoral people from church (1 Cor 5)


In this chapter, Paul starts with the substantive advice for the church at Corinth.  He gets harsh and says that people who call themselves brothers, but are greedy, sexually immoral (example here is taking in your father's wife), slanderers, drunkards, or swindlers should be cut off from the people at church.

This is very harsh, I don't think this means that people should kick out of the church anyone who slanders, gets drunk, or does something stupid.  

For here, it is also important to remember the context that the church in Corinth was in the midst of an identity crisis and deeply divided.  Plus, the example about the person who took in his father's wife shows the scale of the problem that Paul is addressing.  Not only was the person doing something egregious and below the standard of those outside of the church, but was boasting about it as well.

In the midst of all this, Paul distinguishes his advice for the church to those outside of the church.

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