1 Corinthians 5:1 Commentary and Bible Study

We will learn in this chapter the importance of purity and happiness in the Church of Christ. This is often called the harrowing chapter, the discipline chapter – the man guilty of incest – but it is not all harrowing in this chapter because there is one of the most positive and glorious themes to be found in the whole epistle. First however, Paul speaks of sin and its purging.‘It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you [immorality] and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles.’ All the trouble is down to one man. It is not everybody who behaves like this, by any means; but everyone is affected. One man has sinned, and sinned terribly; but the whole church is guilty, because they have neglected to deal with it, and they have brushed it into a corner. This was a sin that was so shocking, causing a scandal that was spoken of widely, and even from a distance the apostle had heard of it. It was being talked about among the churches, and no doubt in society in general: the ruin of the gospel. How could the gospel possibly prosper when such sin was known about as being practised tolerated in the church at Corinth? It was an appalling case. It was a case of incest; a case of a man committing fornication with one who appears to be his stepmother, and who, from the description given by the apostle, seems to be an unconverted person, because she does not come under the discipline of the church, as she otherwise would. It is not just an act of sin covered by hypocrisy; it is an act of sin covered by the most blatant arrogance. This was not a secret sin, but was known and public, and yet, we can assume, he boldly came out to the services, and he was so arrogant that he thought he could continue blatantly with this sin, and maintain his position as a Christian man in the congregation. Astonishingly, they had done nothing about it. It would not be tolerated among the Gentiles. Paul has in mind, of course, the Roman and Greek society which was that known to the Corinthians, because there were other nations at that time where this form of fornication was common, but certainly not among the Greeks and the Romans. Why did they ignore it or do nothing about it? Perhaps it was cowardice. Perhaps he was a very popular man. Perhaps, for all his uncleanness and his hypocrisy and his arrogance, there were some attributes that he possessed on a personal, human level that made him popular or liked. But whatever the reason, they had let it go on long enough for the church to lose its sensitivity. No longer did people think this to be a scandal – they were growing used to it.