Monday 06 September 2010

Background

Paul, the author of this letter, has heard of a CorinthianChristian living in a sexual relationship with his stepmother. Wecan assume that the father is dead, but the Jewish insistence thatsuch a relationship is incest (see Leviticus 18:8) is also found in most othercodes of law.

Whilst we can only guess why the man thought such behaviour wasacceptable, it is perhaps related to Paul's bigger concern in verse2, that the Church takes an 'anything goes' attitude. They are"arrogant" and, in verse 6, "boasting". Paul recently founded thischurch and regards himself as its senior minister even when workingsomewhere else, so he has "pronounced judgment in the name of theLord Jesus".

He therefore instructs them formally to exclude the sinful man fromtheir fellowship. 1Timothy 1:20 also uses "hand over to Satan" as adescription of such exclusion, but the Church did not generallyadopt such ambiguous language. Paul is unlikely to mean that theman should be literally handed over to let Satan go to work on him,but rather that outside the Church he will be in the realm whereSatan is still generally active as God's enemy.

The more difficult thing to understand is how this will destroy theman's flesh and save his spirit. We need to know that Paul sees"flesh" and "spirit" not as parts of our make-up but as differentorientations for our life (see Galatians 5:16-25) - what we might refer to asour lower and higher natures. It is the Holy Spirit that enables usto live according to what our higher nature knows to be right, andhopefully the man will be brought to his senses and choose that wayin future.

Verses 6 to 8 use the idea of leaven to show that tolerating anyimmorality quickly contaminates the whole Church. "Yeast" is notthe right translation; it was rare in the ancient world, but good(see Matthew 13:33). By contrast, leaven, as insour-dough recipes, was a portion saved from the previousbread-making and allowed to ferment, with increasing risk ofinfection as time passed, so the Jewish festival of UnleavenedBread enabled a fresh healthy start to be made once a year. Andthat is what Paul wants to happen for the Corinthian church.

To Ponder

Sexual immorality is a frequent concern in NewTestament letters, not because Christians were hung up over sex,but because adultery, casual sex and aberrant sexual behaviour wereso widespread in society. Is today's Church too lax or too firm inits teaching on sex? What do you think its position should be?

How do you think the Church ought to deal withmembers who pursue lifestyles that are inconsistent with biblicalstandards? What kinds of behaviour - other than sexual ones - mightprompt Paul to issue similar instructions to this passage if hewere with us today?

What little things in your life (no bigger than ateaspoon of yeast in the bread mix) might be a threat to your wholespiritual well-being if you do not get rid of them?