Today's Devotion

Tuesday, August 11, 2026 - 1 Cor 5:1-13

In the name of + Jesus. Amen.

One of the cultural challenges of the spread of the Gospel to the Gentiles in the Greco-Roman world was “sexual immorality” (porneia). Sexuality was part of the pagan religion, and thus part of the culture. It was so common and accepted that the Council of Jerusalem – which was taking up the question of whether or not the ceremonial law applied to the Gentiles – had to remind the Gentiles that they were obliged to keep the sixth commandment. It was such a cultural norm in the progressive, cosmopolitan Corinth that the city’s name itself was a synonym for debauchery. The Christians in the Corinthian church accepted this as normal. And in fact, according to St. Paul, the church had at least one instance of open, immoral behavior between members of the same family – something that was “not even tolerated among pagans.” And Paul’s solution to this problem was not acceptance, not “love is love,” not “judge not,” but rather “Let him who has done this be removed from among you.”

This is not to say that even such public and scandalous sins cannot be repented of and forgiven, or that those who come to the faith with “baggage” are to be either cast out or treated as less than Christians. This is not to say that if someone falls into sin, he cannot be restored to the fellowship of the saints. But Paul makes it clear that he had “already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing,” but they are refusing to carry out the church discipline that the apostle had called for. Such excommunication is not only to keep the church pure, but also as an act of mercy to the one who is being cut off: “You are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord.” For even the devil has a purpose in creation, just as did the Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans.

Paul is grieved because the Corinthians are not even ashamed of their problems. In fact, they are “boasting,” and it is “not good.” For even a little bit of evil, a “little leaven leavens the whole lump.” And Paul doesn’t only appeal to the Law, but also to the Gospel: “For Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed” to redeem us from such sin.

It is not enough for Christians to avoid their own bad behavior. They must not tolerate it among themselves in the church. We are not to “associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolator, reviler, drunkard, or swindler – not even to eat with such a one.” This is not to say that Christians are to avoid those outside the church who behave this way. “For what do I have to do with judging outsiders?” We are rather to judge “those inside the church” and “purge the evil person from among you.”

And this is not for the sake of wishing ill on the immoral person. But it is rather for the sake of the Gospel and for the truth of the way God designed sexuality to work. “Let us therefore celebrate the festival,” says the apostle, “not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.