GUEST ARTICLE
What's Wrong With The American Church
(1 Cor. 5:1-13)
1 Corinthians 5:1-13 is a
startling chapter which shows problems they had in the
early church as well as,
in part, what is wrong with the American Church. The Bible
shows there how to deal with immorality problems in a
way unlike
would be done today. We will see that the early church
practiced church discipline in the form of excommunication,
which is absent in our day. Also, the true, original grace
message as opposed to the satanic counterfeit of our day
is revealed in this chapter.
●1
Cor 5:1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality
among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among
pagans: A man has his father's wife.
Fornication (porneia) is the Greek word used in
v. 1 and translated sexual immorality. This word
includes adultery since that is what the married woman
was committing, as well as her step-son. Her husband
("the injured party") seems to have been alive:
So
even though I wrote to you, it was not on account of the
one who did the wrong or of the injured party, but
rather that before God you could see for yourselves how
devoted to us you are. (2 Cor. 7:12)
This same Greek word for fornication is found
elsewhere:
The
acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality,
impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred,
discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions,
factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I
warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this
will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Gal 5:19-21)
It
is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should
avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn
to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable,
not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know
God; and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother
or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for
all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you.
For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy
life. Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does
not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit. (1
Thess 4:3-8)
In 1 Cor. 5:1, the step-son's sin of fornication
was not hidden, but openly known before the whole congregation.
The man alone was attending the Corinthian congregation.
(If the woman was there, she would have been expelled also.)
●1
Cor 5:2 And you are proud! Shouldn't you rather have been
filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the
man who did this?
Paul scolds them for:
■ The way they did and didn't react towards
this open sin.
■ For not putting that sexually immoral man
out of their fellowship.
●1
Cor 5:3 Even though I am not physically present, I am with
you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the
one who did this, just as if I were present.
No further details need to be known. The man was
guilty of sexual immorality and that is enough
for him to be excommunicated from the Christian
congregation.
Nevertheless,
God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: "The
Lord knows those who are his," and, "Everyone
who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from
wickedness." (2 Tim 2:19)
Hand Over To Satan
●1
Cor 5:4,5 When you are assembled in the name of our Lord
Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our
Lord Jesus is present, hand this man over to Satan, so
that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit
saved on the day of the Lord.
As a corporate body, they were to "hand [the
guilty man] over to Satan." The purpose of this is
shown to be so that his sinful nature or flesh (sarx) [not body,
soma] will be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day
of the Lord. Hence, his spirit was NOT saved at that
moment, in contrast to what the vast majority of pastors
and evangelists in
our day are teaching by way of eternal security, the perseverance
of the saints or "once saved always
saved" (OSAS). These are 3 different labels for the
same heresy that originated with Satan in Eden. It seems
that 99.99% of all OSAS teachers say this sexually immoral
man of 1 Cor. 5, who was doing sin of a kind that does
not occur even among pagans, was a Christian! In other
words, they are teaching there are 2 types of sexually
immorally people—one type saved because he once had a moment
of faith and the other lost because he never had a moment
of faith, but both acting equally vile and wicked! This
is the bottom line conclusion of this lie from the devil,
which they are teaching as grace and sometimes as
the gospel.
It is obviously a doctrine of demons.
Also, OSAS changes the holy image of a Christian
into one that allows for wickedness. Therefore, some people
are wrongly thinking: If the man of 1 Cor. 5 could do
it and remain saved, so can I. If sexual immorality
won't damn me, then drunkenness or suicide won't
either. Hence, pandora's box is opened by OSAS.
John Calvin taught this sexually immoral man
of 1 Cor. 5 was saved. Dave Hunt, who opposes Calvinism,
also teaches the unnamed man of 1 Cor. 5 was saved! Hunt
also
believes in the reprehensible carnal Christian of once
saved always saved. That is a form of antinomianism.
Again, the Greek word is sarx NOT soma (body). Sarx is
also found in the following passage:
The
acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality,
impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred,
discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions,
factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I
warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this
will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Gal 5:19-21)
Paul did not want his physical body destroyed, like
some understand this passage. In part, we know this because
in 2 Cor. 2 that same man was still alive after he was
handed over to Satan and then repented:
If
anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me
as he has grieved all of you, to some extent—not to put
it too severely. The punishment inflicted on him by the
majority is sufficient for him. Now instead, you ought
to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed
by excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm
your love for him. (2 Cor 2:5-8)
Again, remember how 1 Cor. 5:4,5 informs Christians
how to deal with sexual sin in the life of a professing
Christian! It was clearly different than how a person who
was never saved is to be dealt with. Other people
were handed over to Satan too besides the unnamed
man of 1 Cor. 5!
Holding
on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these
and so have shipwrecked their faith. Among them are Hymenaeus
and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to
be taught not to blaspheme. (1 Tim 1:19,20)
Paul's judgment regarding treatment of the sexually
immoral man and those who blaspheme was not the same as
we would read in the Old Testament:
If
a man is found sleeping with another man's wife, both the
man who slept with her and the woman must die. You must
purge the evil from Israel. (Deut 22:22)
Anyone
who blasphemes the name of the LORD must be put to death.
The entire assembly must stone him. Whether an alien or
native-born, when he blasphemes the Name, he must be put
to death. (Lev 24:16)
Under the New Testament, both of those cases are
to be handed over to Satan instead of being put to death,
as in Moses' day. From this we, therefore, can conclude
that John Calvin was certainly wrong in putting Michael
Servetus to death over doctrinal issues,
especially by burning him at the stake with green wood!
(Calvinism allows
for such cruel unscriptural behavior to be Christian!)
●1
Cor 5:6 Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that
a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough?
The Corinthian congregation was "boasting" and
Paul warned them of this danger! He said a little yeast
works through the whole batch of dough. The little yeast
was their boasting! So even such can be spiritually dangerous
for the Christian. No sin is insignificant and completely
harmless. This same expression is found elsewhere:
A
little yeast works through the whole batch of dough (Gal.
5:9).
●1
Cor 5:7 Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new
batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our
Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
It was their responsibility to change and get the
boasting out of their lives. Almighty God wouldn’t do that for them. They had
free will and the ability, through God, to walk without
that.
●1
Cor 5:8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the
old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with
bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.
Christians are to be that bread of sincerity and
truth. Elsewhere Paul wrote:
For
of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such
a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom
of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty
words, for because of such things God's wrath comes
on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners
with them. (Eph 5:5-7)
NOTE: That was written to people previously saved
by grace and who were sealed by the Holy Spirit. Yet, Paul
taught that same group certain sins would exclude them
from God’s kingdom! That is the grace teaching which
needs magnified.
●1
Cor 5:9-11 I have written you in my letter not to associate
with sexually immoral people not at all meaning
the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy
and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have
to leave this world. But now I am writing you that you
must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother
but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer,
a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.
Since the statement not to associate with sexually
immoral people is not found in this epistle, we can
only assume that Paul wrote them at least one other time
before this epistle, where that is stated. This means
there are lost writings from people who wrote inspired
Scripture. Another one is referred to at Col. 4:16:
After
this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read
in the church of the Laodiceans and that you in turn read
the letter from Laodicea.
The phrase calls himself a brother but is
sexually immoral can also refer back to verse 1. This is
a very important detail, that is, he was professing
to be a Christian.
Verses 9 through 11 together show that it is a commandment
for Christians not to associate, even to the point of
not eating with a person, who claims to be a Christian,
but is sinning that way. No such command is given for
such people who don't claim to be Christians. Jesus ate
with unsaved people for evangelistic reasons only.
●1
Cor 5:12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside
the church? Are you not to judge those inside?
Clearly Christians are commanded to judge those
inside a Christian assembly!
The Wicked Are
Without Salvation
●1
Cor 5:13 God will judge those outside. "Expel the wicked man
from among you."
John
Calvinand other once saved always saved teachers,
have taught this man was a Christian, even though he
was
in unrepentant sexual sin, doing what even pagans
don't do! This is in clear contrast to Paul's description
of him. That sexually immoral man, who professed
salvation,
is identified by the Apostle Paul as wicked and
consequently is not saved at that point, even though
he might have been in the past! The same Greek word
for wicked, as in 1 Cor. 5:13, is poneros and
found in the following passages:
This
is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will
come and separate the wicked from the righteous
and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will
be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Mat 13:49,50)
Then
his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him,
O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt,
because thou desiredst me: (Mat 18:32)
His
lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and
slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed
not, and gather where I have not strowed: (Mat 25:26)
(The destiny of the person in Matthew 25:26 is weeping
and gnashing of teeth in outer darkness. v. 30. That alone
shows the wicked are unsaved.)
All
the wicked of the earth you discard like dross; therefore
I love your statutes. (Psa 119:119)
Furthermore, we know the man guilty of sexual immorality
in 1 Cor. 5 is unsaved based on other Scriptures, like
Rev. 21:8:
But
the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers,
the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts,
the idolaters and all liars—their
place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This
is the second death.
Apostate American Church
The apostate American church of our day would
never:
■ expel
the known wicked (or sexually immoral) man from
their fellowship;
■ refuse
to eat or associate with people who profess salvation but
are listed in 1 Cor. 5:11—the sexually immoral, the greedy,
swindlers or idolaters;
■ consider
that man wicked or unsaved, as Paul the real grace
teacher did, because it is teaching the heresy of eternal
security;
■ corporately
hand the sexually immoral man over to the devil. (They
think that has been done away with.)
Observations
1. Based on the man's present behavior, Paul knew
the man was wicked!
2. Paul, the servant of God, knew all sexually
immoral people are wicked (unsaved),
unlike the eternal security teachers! This is true, even
if the sexually immoral person is supposed to be just
a baby
Christian. (NOTE: spiritual death comes regardless how
long a person has been saved. It comes to the righteous
who turn to evil!)
Moreover, Paul was open and bold about stating that
the man was unsaved (wicked), unlike present-day so-called
spiritual leaders who know OSAS is unscriptural and dangerous,
but are afraid to clearly preach against it. (The eternal
security teachers are not afraid to openly preach their poison before
all the people they can.)
If Paul would have chosen not to do anything about
this open immorality in the congregation, that would have
been to the spiritual harm of the unsaved man, as well
as to the whole congregation and the holy image of a Christian.
Problems like that only get worse, not better. God
bless you.
--Dan Corner
evangelicaloutreach.org/1cor5.htm
|
