It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans. For a man has his father’s wife and you are arrogant. Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.
– 1 Corinthians 5:1–2
So thus begins a really hard chapter in the Bible to grasp and to apply, to obey, to do.
1 Corinthians 5:1–2 Calls Us to Admonish Each Other
Paul speaks to the church at Corinth about their tolerance of sexual immorality in the church. And they’re not addressing sin among the members of the church. He says, It’s actually reported there is sexual immorality among you of a kind that’s not even tolerated among pagans. People who are far from God would not even tolerate what you are tolerating. And he gives a specific example of a man who has his father’s wife. Then he says, “You are arrogant.”
And it’s really interesting. When I read that, I notice that that’s a different way than how we often think. We think it’s arrogant to confront someone in their sin. We are hesitant to approach someone about ongoing continual sin in their lives because we think, “Well, who am I?” It feels arrogant to address that. The Bible actually switches that around and says it’s arrogance not to address that.
1 Corinthians 5:1–2 Teaches Us it is Arrogant to not Reach Out to Those in Sin
It’s arrogance before God and it’s unloving toward others. So many different passages, Galatians 6, Matthew 18. Jesus specifically addresses this in the church. The need to go to a brother or sister who is caught, trapped in ongoing continual sin. To lovingly and humbly go to them and gently point out their sin, help them to see their sin. If they don’t see it in that conversation, to bring a couple of others along with you to have that conversation with them, eventually for the church to help them see that.
Why is that humble? It’s humble because it’s helping people repent of sin and helping people turn back to Jesus. And it is arrogance to not do that. It’s humble to mourn. That’s what 1 Corinthians 5:2 says over sin, not just in our lives, but over sin in others’ lives. And to take the step, even 1 Corinthians 5:2 and the rest of this chapter talk about removing someone from membership in the church when that is necessary. Well, there’s a lot more we could talk about there, but this is not an isolated exhortation in the Bible.
I think about James 5 which makes clear, “If anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering, will save his soul from death and cover over a multitude of sins.” It is humble, it is loving, it is good and right and necessary in the church to go to brothers and sisters in Christ who are caught in sin and to lovingly, gently, carefully, prayerfully call them back to Christ. And if they refuse to do so, to take necessary steps of church discipline that are aimed at their good, their restoration.
Prayer for Spiritual Growth
Oh God, this goes totally against the grain of the way we think. So we pray that you would help us to do this and make us people who mourn over sin in our lives and over sin in others’ lives. And you would help us to do 1 Corinthians 5, to do James 5, to bring back brothers and sisters who are caught in sin, to come back from their wandering.
God, we pray that you would help us to be serious about sin in our lives and serious about sin in the church in ways that show the world not just the seriousness of sin, but the beauty of the gospel and your grace that saves us from sin. Frees us not just from its penalty, but from its power and our lives to live a life that you have created and called us to live in abundance through obedience to you. God, we pray that that would be the picture we show in our lives and in our churches, all according to your word in 1 Corinthians 5:1–2. In Jesus name, we pray, amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
