Alan Lewis
Elon, North Carolina
January 2024
It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife. 2 And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this?
3 For my part, even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus on the one who has been doing this. 4 So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, 5 hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.
6 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? 7 Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth
9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 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.
11 But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.
12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.” (I Corinthians 5:1-13 NIV)
Today, we are going to talk about church discipline. We are going to talk about tough love.
When a person is on a path to destruction, sometimes a family member or parent has to step in and provide some tough love. Sometimes a church needs to do the same thing.
Today, we are going to talk about excommunication. Few understand it. Many churches abuse it. They excommunicate people for the wrong reasons.
Some of the greatest Christians throughout church history have been excommunicated by churches.
Five hundred years ago, in Germany, a monk named Martin Luther was excommunicated by Pope Leo X on January 3, 1521, and declared a heretic.
He was excommunicated for simply saying that salvation is by grace and not by works. Interesting, ten months later, that pope was dead. He died December 1521 of pneumonia.
He was excommunicated for teaching the Bible. Instead of being rewarded, you are punished by church leaders. He was excommunicated for telling people what Paul said. They would have excommunicated the Apostle Paul.
Throughout history, many churches have gone to extremes when it comes to excommunication but today few churches even practice biblical church discipline today.
Church discipline is not too popular today but is not man’s idea but God’s idea. It is biblical. Paul talks about it in I Corinthians 5. Jesus talks about it in Matthew 18.
What exactly is excommunication? When should a church resort to it? Why should they do it? All of these questions are answered in I Corinthians 5.
We have been studying the Book of I Corinthians. We learn in this chapter that I Corinthians is really II Corinthians.
Paul says in this chapter that he wrote a letter to them before I Corinthians. It is a letter that we do not have (I Corinthians 5:9).
That does not mean that there are some lost books of the Bible. Not everything that Paul wrote was inspired but it would be good to find this lost letter of Paul.
Not everything that Paul wrote was inspired. Not everything that King David wrote was inspired. He wrote the Psalms but he also wrote an assassination letter for Uriah and ordered his execution. That was not inspired.
I Corinthians is a letter written to the American Church. It was the church with problems. This was not your grandma’s church. In I Corinthians 5, Paul deals with a sex scandal in the Corinthian Church.
We have seen all kinds of sexual scandals in churches today and not just in the Catholic Church.
We have seen them in some evangelical churches. We have seen them in Southern Baptist churches and often the pastor is involved.
That is not just a modern problem. There were sex scandals in churches in the first century.
Today, we will be talking about sex, because Paul talks about it. It is in our chapter.
I Corinthians 5 is a passage that deals with a difficult topic. It deals with an adult topic. It deals with incest.
That is not something that we talk that much about in church. It is not easy to talk about, especially over the pulpit and yet that was the sin taking place in this church.
It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate. A man is sleeping with his father’s wife. (I Corinthians 5:1 NIV)
This gives us a problem which was happening in the Corinthian Church. What type of sin was this?
The Corinthians Sex Scandal
1) This was a SEXUAL SIN
There was a sex scandal in the church. It involved sexual activity.
2) This was a FAMILY SIN
A man was in a sexual relationship with his stepmother. It was a case of incest.
You say this is not something that happens today but it does. Woody Allen married his stepdaughter in 1997 and it became one of Hollywood’s biggest scandals.
Incest in the state of North Carolina is not limited to biological family members and it is not limited to them according to Scripture. It includes any family members.
A stepmom is still a mom. A stepdad is still a dad. Adopted children are still your children. If you have any question about this, read Leviticus 18. It lists the relationships that God approves and the kind that He does not approve of.
3) This was PROVEN SIN
It was not just a rumor. It was well known in the community. It was not a private sin. It was a public sin. The facts were beyond dispute.
4) This was DEPRAVED SIN
The behavior was so bad that even the unsaved pagans did not approve of it. The pagans approved of all kinds of depravity and debauchery but not incest. This sin made even the unsaved blush.
5) This was CHURCH SIN
This was not a shocking sin in the world but in the church. This man was a member of the Corinthian Church. He was in good standing. The church did not do anything about it.
6) This was UNREPENTANT SIN
The man was unapologetic. He was not sorry for what he had done. He did not think he was doing anything wrong, like sin today.
7) This was SURPRISING SIN
This all took place in a church founded by an apostle. You would expect people in apostolic churches to behave better but they acted no different from people today.
Instructions on Church Discipline
Now, we come to instructions on church discipline. As bad as this sin was, Paul does not focus on it. There were two sins involved here. Most of us just focus on the one sin.
There was the sin of the man. There was a depraved sexual sin from a professing Christian. That was bad but the sin of the church was even worse. Paul condemned the man but focused on the sin of the church.
The church did not judge this sin. They did not deal with it. They did not even think it was wrong.
Paul said that they were proud (I Corinthians 5:2). They were not weeping about the sin and loss of testimony in the church. They were proud. They almost seemed like a modern church.
They believed in grace. They believed in liberty. They believed in tolerance. They believed in love. They believed in acceptance. These are modern virtues.
Paul he told the Corinthians what they needed to do to solve this problem.
4 So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, 5 hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord. (I Corinthians 5:4-5 NIV)
Notice what Paul says in this chapter. He uses some strong language. What does he tell them to do?
Put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this (I Corinthians 5:2)
EXPEL the wicked person from among you (I Corinthians 5:13 NIV).
HAND THIS MAN OVER TO SATAN for the destruction of the flesh (I Corinthians 5:5 NIV)
Do not ASSSOCIATE with him. Do not even EAT with him (I Corinthians 5:11)
JUDGE him (I Corinthians 5:12 NIV)
He didn’t tell them to love him, accept him and tolerate him. He told them to judge him. He told them to get rid of him. He told them to expel them.
In fact, Paul did not just say, “kick him out.” He said, “Hand him over to Satan.” That sounds a little scary.
Why would any Christian want to hand a sinner over to Satan? Aren’t we supposed to be snatching people from Satan, not giving them to him?
That sounds a little harsh. It sounds a little unloving. It sounds un-Christian. Paul added one more detail.
Not only were they to judge the man, kicked him out and remove him from church membership. Not only were they to hand the man over to Satan but they were not even to eat with him.
You must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. DO NOT EVEN EAT WITH SUCH PEOPLE. (I Corinthians 5:11 NIV).
Biblical Teaching on Excommunication
What does the Bible teach about excommunication? It teaches several things.
1) Excommunication is reserved for the worst sins
Excommunication is reserved for the worst sins. Some have been excommunicated for things that are not sins at all. Some churches have excommunicated believers who have not done anything wrong.
Six hundred years ago, in France a peasant girl named Joan of Arc was excommunicated because she heard the voice of God. God spoke to her.
She was excommunicated for getting a haircut and not wearing a dress when she went off to battle. None of those are biblical grounds for excommunication.
She was burned at the stake in 1431. It was such a clear miscarriage of justice that twenty years later, she was retried and found not guilty. In fact, a hundred years ago, a pope canonized her as a saint (1920).
It is not for minor things. In Corinthians 5 it is for incest, but it is not limited to sexual sins. Paul says it can be done for idolatry, slander, drunkenness, and theft.
It is not talking about someone who falls into any of these sins. Anyone can. It is talking about someone who claims to be a Christian and lives in blatant sin without repentance.
Excommunication is not limited to a wicked lifestyle. It applies to doctrinal, as well as moral issues.
Holding on to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith. 20 Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme. (I Timothy 1:19-20 NIV)
Here are two men who Paul excommunicated for false teaching. They were excommunicated for false doctrine.
2) Excommunication is a long process
It is the last step in a long process. Jesus gives us the steps in Matthew 18.
“If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. 16 But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ 17 If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector. (Matthew 18:15-17 NIV)
If a person in the church is living in open sin or teaches false doctrines. If a person has been confronted multiple times but refuses to submit to the leadership of the church.
If a person says is unrepentant and says, “I have done nothing wrong. I am going to continue do it anyway. I am proud of my actions.” That is the type of person who should be excommunicated from a local assembly.
You can’t stop people from showing up at church, but you can remove people from church membership.
You can withhold communion from people who are excommunicated and keep them from doing ministry in the church when they are living in open sin. You can also stop fellowshipping with them.
3) Excommunication is a radical act
It turns a person over to Satan. This is frightening. What is that all about?
When a person in the church lives like the world, refuses to repent, he or she should be sent back into the world. When a person lives like the Devil, he is sent back to the Devil. He is sent back to the place where he came from.
The world is the domain of Satan. Satan is called “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4 KJV). He is described as “the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.” (Ephesians 2:2 NIV)
When we get saved, we are taken out of Satan’s kingdom. We are rescued from Satan’s kingdom (Colossians 1:13). We are brought out of darkness into light.
We become part of the church. Paul said that the church is the temple of God. The Spirit of God dwells in the church. It is the place of the presence of God.
There are special benefits and blessings to being in a local church. It is a place of protection. There is a hedge or of protection around church members, just like there was over Job.
When a person is placed back in the world and back into the dominion of Satan, the hedge of protection is removed.
Satan is given permission to work on that person. Satan has the ability to afflict the body (Job 2:4-10; Mark 9:17-25). That is clear from the book of Job.
4) The goal of excommunication is salvation
The goal of excommunication is not to hurt people but to help them. The purpose of excommunication Is not to condemn people to hell or to consign them to outer darkness.
Paul says, “Hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be SAVED on the day of the Lord.” (I Corinthians 5:5 NIV)
The ultimate goal is for the man to repent and be saved. The implication here is that the man in I Corinthians 5 was not saved if he still needed to be saved. Not everyone in church is saved.
Applications for Today
1. Take sin seriously
The man in this chapter did not take sin seriously. He did not take sexual sin seriously. The church did not take sin seriously.
A man was committing blatant sin in the church. He did not even try to hide it and the church did not think it was a big deal. That was a big mistake.
Paul gives a special title of Jesus in this chapter. He is described as the Passover Lamb who was sacrificed for us (I Corinthians 5:7).
Paul used a cooking analogy. It is a baking analogy. He said, “Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough?” (I Corinthians 5:6 NIV).
The NLT reads, “a little yeast that spreads through the whole batch of dough?”
It only takes a little yeast. It only takes a little sin. One sin ruined the whole race. One sin can ruin a whole church. Even a little sin that goes unchecked can destroy a church. It spreads like cancer. Sin spreads.
Do you take sin seriously? Do you take sin seriously in yourself? Do you take it seriously in your sin or is sin so prevalent today that you do not even notice it anymore, because it no longer bothers you? We have become desensitized to sin.
2. Watch your Christian testimony
Are you aware of the testimony you have among those around you? Is it good or bad. That is a major lesson from this chapter and the next chapter.
The man in I Corinthians 5 was not a professing Christian who lived like the world. That is bad enough.
This man was a professing Christian who lived worse than the unsaved. Unbelievers were more righteous than he was. That is embarrassing.
Greek and Roman law prohibited the behavior of the man in this chapter. There are some things that even the unsaved think are bad. They usually do not speak too highly of child molesters and rapists.
What kind of testimony do you have in the world? The Apostle Paul said of some people that “God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” (Romans 2:24 NIV)
In I Corinthians 6, we will see another example of a poor testimony. Christians were taking other Christians to court. It made the church look bad. These pagan judges saw Christians fighting other Christian in court.
3. Fight for the purity of the church
We need to fight for the purity of the church. We need to fight for the moral purity of the church. We need to fight for the doctrinal purity of the church.
In this chapter, leaven is described as sin. It is described as sexual sin. He said, “A little leaven leavens the whole lump” (I Corinthians 5:6)
In Galatians 5:9, Paul said, “A little leaven leavens the whole lump” and there he is talking about false teaching. He is talking about the Judaizers.
This is where tough love comes in. In order to have a pure church, certain people have to be removed. There are certain people you should not eat with.
That does not mean that you are to have absolutely no contact with the individual or talk to that person. It doesn’t mean that we are rude and unfriendly. It is an act of tough love.
There is a difference between ministering to someone and fellowshipping with someone. Paul is talking about fellowship.
Take special note of anyone who does not obey our instruction in this letter. Do not associate with them, in order that they may feel ashamed. 15 Yet do not regard them as an enemy, but warn them as you would a fellow believer. (II Thessalonians 3:14-15 NIV)
You can’t warn or admonish someone if you have no contact with them, but you do not treat them the same either.
4. Don’t judge the world
9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 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.
11 But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.
12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.” (I Corinthians 5:9-13 NIV)
Paul talks here about insiders and outsiders. We are to treat the church different from the world.
The unsaved are spiritually dead. They do not know Jesus. They don’t know the Bible. They do not have the Holy Spirit. Paul says we are not to judge the world.
That does not mean that we cannot preach against sin. We can proclaim truth. Speaking the truth is not the same as judging.
Paul preached against sin. He has long lists of sin in his epistles. He condemned the sin in his day. Noah condemned the world of his day (Hebrews 11:7).
We can take a stand for righteousness, but it is not our job to judge the unsaved. That is God’s job. Our job is to preach the gospel.
Paul did not encourage us all to become monks and nuns and isolate from the world. We are to associate with sinful people in the world. That is the only way to reach them.
Do you have some contact with non-Christians, or do you only spend time with fellow Christians? We are to live in the world. We are to be salt and light.
