Reading: 1 Corinthians 5-6, Psalm 143

Today we are starting into one of the least comfortable series of chapters in the New Testament in our present culture. The primary offense that Paul lays into the Corinthians about in chapter 5 is sexual ethics. It turns out that this is a bit of a powder keg in the world today. Very few people want to believe that Paul is saying what he is saying in a post-sexual revolution world. That being said, even those who believe and accept what Paul is saying here often miss who he is saying it to, and conveniently skip over the part of his argument that says this is not carte blanche to judge the world around us by our standards. Chapter 6 makes this abundantly clear- Paul doesn’t even want them going to public courts with disputes, much less dragging unbelievers into their disputes. No, Paul is carefully outlining how the Corinthian Christians are to judge themselves, and explicitly no one else.

Apparently there was a kind of libertine religious movement going on in the Corinthian church, and Paul heard about it. In one sense, this is unsurprising, as Roman and Greek culture were not exactly sexually repressed. On the other, Christianity was thoroughly rooted in the Hebrew Scriptures, and they circumscribe a very particular role for sexuality. It seems that the prevailing culture values were more in vogue than the Scriptures, to the point that the Corinthians were bragging about their behavior. Paul is rightly horrified by this development. He blasts the Corinthians for their nonsensical bravado about their sin, and he does not mince words: the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God. This is not just a matter of bad press. Paul is concerned for these people’s souls. While they have believed in the name of Jesus, their actions speak volumes about their misunderstanding of the gospel. It first involves repentance, then life in the name of Jesus. This is persistent disobedience attempting to have life in the name of Jesus. It doesn’t work. It is not the gospel.

Paul is not interested in a reductionist gospel that leaves out repentance and allegiance to Jesus as King. He is not interested in people who confess the name of Jesus but do not treat him as Lord and God. He sees these actions in total contradiction to the Kingdom proclaimed by the Lord Jesus, and he tells the Corinthians to have nothing to do with those who claim to serve Jesus but act in these ways.

This is where we have to put on the brakes and recognize one of the great mistakes the church has made through the ages. We skip over chapter 5 verses 12 and 13. What I have to do with judging outsiders? Paul is carefully treading the line between the pursuit of holiness in the church, and the judgmental hypocrisy that has far too often characterized the church’s interaction with the world around it. The last thing he wants is for the Corinthians to go out and start telling the culture what to do, think, and believe. He wants them to be transformed into the image of Christ so they can bear witness to the power of the gospel to save. Paul is avoiding the kind of culture war, fire and brimstone, hellfire theology that has caused enormous problems throughout the history of the church. This is not to say that the church should not have impact on the culture- we absolutely should- but not by judging it according to standards it does not have. We should not expect any human culture to adhere to the Kingship of Jesus or the Kingdom of God. That is the whole point of the gospel. We want them to change, yes, but by turning to follow the true King, not by changing outward behaviors but leaving the heart untouched.

While sexual behavior is the larger theme here, Paul does not limit his critique to it. He has also heard that the Corinthians have been taking each other to the secular courts. We don’t know the specifics of the disputes, but it is quite ironic that on the one hand Paul must criticize their libertine sexuality, while on the other he must tell them to lay off suing each other. Note that this does not appear to be referencing criminal activities or courts. There were public courts in the ancient world, much like our civil courts today, that heard complaints from individuals against each other. While there was much more overlap in those courts with criminal activities than we might have today, they were still of a different order. I do not believe that Paul is telling the Corinthians to avoid criminally prosecuting someone in the church who breaks the civil law. For what he sees as petty civil disputes, though, he would have the Corinthians suffer loss from each other before dragging anyone off to a public court. It is hardly a witness to the authority and majesty of the Kingdom of God for it’s members to fight each other over money.