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Bible Notes - Tabernacle Commentaries
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1 Corinthians 5:2
Comments
What effect did this sin have on them? ‘And ye are puffed up’, not about that of course, but they were proud, proud of their size as a church, proud of their soundness in doctrine, proud of their culture. ‘And have not rather mourned.’ The Greek is ‘grieved’; ‘mourned’ is a good translation. This is terrible because, as the apostle argues, in the sight of God the whole body is corrupted by this being tolerated in their midst. The entire body is polluted and wounded and rotten in the sight of God. Putrefaction has set in in the Corinthian church and that is always the effect of grievous sin, which is known and tolerated in the church, and left undealt with. The effect, spiritually, is that the whole body, instead of being a family of beauty, people who are not sinless but who are striving to please the Lord, has been ruined. That particular church should be a thing of beauty in the sight of God, and it is worthily called ‘the body of Christ on earth’. But instead of striving for righteousness, and trusting in the redemption of Christ, it is polluted and ruined. All blessing from God is of course conditional. There could be no great blessing in Corinth, while this was sin was not dealt with.That is something that we have to grasp very early in the Christian life: that sin is not just the sin of an individual; it ruins the whole body. Even if the whole body doesn't participate in that sin, is not yet infected by that sin, the whole body becomes odious to God, because of that sin. That is such an important concept. ‘Have not rather grieved and mourned that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.’ That is not said out of vindictiveness towards the offender, but from a need for the body to be pure before God, and a thing of beauty for him. One member is injured, and the whole body is injured with it. That is the illustration that Paul will use.
Application
The church had completely disregarded the matter of the Lord’s disapproval, and the grieving of the Holy Spirit. Their witness would amount to nothing; the Lord could not bless them, while this infection in the body persisted. It is not necessarily that that precise sin will be replicated; but it gives freedom to lesser sins, to other forms of fornication. Whatever a person could be tempted to do, they might think, ‘Well, he is allowed to remain in the church; he is all right. I am not thinking of doing anything as bad as that.’ This sin of all sins was so undermining in the church, and therefore it was particularly infectious. What were the elders thinking about? What were the people thinking about, not to take action in such a case?
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