Just A Little Bit Of Leaven
In chapter 5, Paul changes course a bit and deals with a second major issue for this church: the issue of sexual immorality. It is apparent that at least one member of the congregation is engaging in a particular sexual immorality “not even tolerated among the Gentiles”. This is pretty bad considering the Corinthian culture is a pretty immoral lot. A great deal of sexual sin is not only tolerated but encouraged in the culture so, for someone to engage is something that even this culture looks down on is appalling indeed.
Vs. 1-2 It is widely reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and the kind of sexual immorality that is not even tolerated among the Gentiles—a man is living with his father’s wife. And you are inflated with pride, instead of filled with grief so that he who has committed this act might be removed from your congregation.
The Greek word for sexual immorality is porneia, which means selling off or surrendering your sexual purity. It is where we get our word pornographic. So what kind of sexual immorality is even distasteful to the Corinthians? A man is living with his father’s wife – this would be his step-mother. So a man has taken his father’s wife and is now living with her in an ongoing sexual relationship. According to Paul he, and the church, have no shame in this. He continues in his sin and the church isn’t saying anything about it and Paul is upset at both parties, particularly the church. I want to ponder that a moment. Here we have a guy who is living in a sin that is so egregious, even the Corinthians look down on it, yet Paul is more grieved by the reaction, or lack thereof, of the church. He says they are filled with pride rather than grief. They should be mourning this guys sin. In the first few chapters Paul has dealt with the Corinthians lack of understanding of the ways of God – their lack of spiritual understanding. Now he deals with their lack of moral understanding and the relationship between the two. When we understand God’s ways, then we can better deal with morality amongst believers.
There may be several reasons the church is turning a blind eye to this sin. One could be the world they lived in. Greek culture prided itself on it’s sexual lack of purity and old habits die hard. It is very easy to allow culture to dictate our response to sin but, as believers, we have the mind of Christ, therefore, we understand things as God would. Paul points this out as he calls out the sin of the man and not the woman. She is apparently not a member of the church nor is she a Christian. This is not to say that her behavior is okay, but Paul does distinguish between the non-believing world and believers and deals with their sin in an appropriate way. I believe this is important for us to understand. As a non-believer, the woman does not have the power of Holy Spirit, nor the church to disciple or discipline her to walk in a pure way. The man, on the other hand, is a believer. He does have the power of Holy Spirit, and the church and, is therefore more responsible for his sin. The people of this world sin because they live in a sinful world without benefit of the power of God in their lives. They do not believe and do not have a biblical understanding or worldview, so it is not surprising that they would engage in sinful behavior. I often find it amazing that we are so shocked by sin in this world. We are astounded that non-believers would take part in sin and judge them quite harshly for it. I am actually more astounded when the world does not engage in sin and when they are morally upright. By what power do they do this? Without the power of Holy Spirit, how can they walk an upright life? But, as believers, we have the benefit of the power of Holy Spirit. We have the benefit of a community of believers that hold us accountable, discipline and disciple us. This community can judge us according to the word of God and equip us to walk a moral and upright life. This is why Paul is speaking to the church in this way. So what is his solution to this man’s sin?
Vs. 3-5 For though I am absent in body but present in spirit, I have already decided about the one who has done this thing as though I were present. When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus with my spirit and with the power of our Lord Jesus, turn that one over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the Day of the Lord.
His utmost concern is this man’s spiritual condition. He tells the church they are to turn him over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh so that his spirit might be saved. Wow! That’s pretty definitive. No ands, buts or ifs. Paul tells this church they need to act like a body of believers who have the mind of Christ. They are to call out and deal with sin as Christ does. We tend to shrink back from this and fall back on the fact that God is love and Christ loved us forgetting that God is holy. We love all the words about love and caring, but gloss over the words that Christ had for the religious leaders of the day. His expectation of the lost was different than His expectation of those who knew scripture. Here is what Jesus says to them in Matthew 23:29, 33: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous…“Snakes! Brood of vipers! How can you escape being condemned to hell?” In this day and age of ultra tolerance this sounds really harsh, but it is actually quite the opposite. Shouldn’t we be more concerned for people’s spiritual health than anything? Shouldn’t the church be looking out for each other and hold each other accountable for our actions? Jesus was saying to the religious leaders – you are hypocrites and I want you to see that and turn from it. Right now you are headed to hell. Wow again! In His sermon on the mount he says, “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to go into hell!” Matthew 5:29-30. And this is what Paul is saying. He wants this man’s flesh to be destroyed – that is his fleshly desires – so that his spirit would be saved. It is a call to repentance. This is the message to the church. We need to look around and see how spiritually healthy our congregations are. If we see sin in the flock, we need to tend to it – call it out so that healing can happen. Paul shows us why in the next couple of verses.
Vs. 6-8 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast permeates the whole batch of dough? Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch. You are indeed unleavened, for Christ our Passover has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us observe the feast, not with old yeast or with the yeast of malice and evil but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Before Passover begins, the family will go through the entire house and get rid of all their leaven. They will wipe the shelves, clean the fridge, sweep and mop the floors so that not even one speck of leaven will be there. They will then eat only unleavened bread for the duration of the festival. As a baker, I understand what just a little yeast can do. It really doesn’t take much to permeate the whole batch of dough. A little bit of sin will begin to work it’s way into a fellowship of believers and ultimately destroy it. A little bit of gossip can ruin lives. A little bit of malice can turn many bitter. A little bit of sexual immorality can cause more. Remember the word porneia is the foundation for our word pornographic. One look can lead to a second glance, which leads to a long glance and then to engagement. If the church allows a little bit of sin in, it will eventually permeate the whole congregation and cause it’s downfall. We have seen it over and over. Churches have split over a tiny bit of gossip that turned into a full blown war. They have dissolved over unchecked bitterness. Marriages have failed because of one glance that grew into full on engagement. White lies have turned into black holes which have devoured entire denominations. All it takes is one speck of leaven. Maybe it’s time for the church to wipe our shelves clean and sweep and mop the floors so that we get rid of the leaven that threatens to bankrupt us spiritually.
Vs. 9-13 I wrote to you in a letter not to associate with sexually immoral people. I did not mean the immoral people of this world or the greedy and swindlers or idolaters; otherwise you would have to leave the world. But now I am writing you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer who is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or verbally abusive, a drunkard or a swindler. Do not even eat with such a person. For what business is it of mine to judge outsiders? Don’t you judge those who are inside? But God judges outsiders. Put away the evil person from among yourselves.
Paul wants to be very clear – he is talking about the church – not the world. The world is full of sin and sinners. We are to associate and walk a holy life amongst those in the world. If we don’t, how else will they come to know Christ who lives in us? We’ve got it all backwards. We want to judge the world and ignore the sin within. We really go after those sinners out there and allow the leaven to grow in our own congregations. We complain about cancel culture, gaslighting and the media, yet we do not complain about the white lies and gossip going on around us in our churches. The spiritual condition of this world is not a shock. Of course the world will engage in sin. Of course they will hate us and try to cancel us. Of course the world’s media will paint us in their own light. This is to be expected. It’s as if we have forgotten the words of Christ in the Sermon on the Mount. “You are blessed when they insult and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of Me. Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you,” Matthew 5:11-12. When the world rails against us, we should rejoice instead of complain. It means we are having an impact. But when they begin to point out our hypocrisy, then we should take a look. What is going on inside? What kind of leaven has invaded the pure unleavened bread of our churches? Paul tells us don’t worry about judging the world – that is God’s to do. It is our job to judge, hold accountable, and discipline those who claim to be believers – even to the point of not communing with them in any way. We have the mind of Christ and we can walk in the power of Holy Spirit. Let us not allow even a speck of leaven to penetrate the body of Christ.
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