Monthly Archive for August, 2002

1 Corinthians 6:2-3

Published on August 31, 2002 in 1 Corinthians. 0 Comments
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1 Corinthians 6: 2 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 3Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?


Paul introduces doctrinal questions to argue why litigation should stay within the local church.

Do you not know

This is the first of six times Paul asks “Do you not know” in chapter six. Appeal to doctrine is an argument to not go to court with a fellow believer.

that the saints will judge the world?

The idea of saints judging the world refers to a future judgment which will occur in the Millennium. This is an argument from a major premise to the minor premise. If Christians will one day judge the world, cannot Christians judge a small issue between two Christians on earth?

And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?

If Christians will judge the world, cannot Christians judge between the smallest tribunals? The word “if” means “if, and it is true,” so it is a fact that Christians will one day judge the world.

3Do you not know that we shall judge angels?

Paul continues to enhance the contrast of going before a public non-Christian court and going before the local church by indicating that Christians will judge angels.

How much more, things that pertain to this life?

Paul continues the argument from the greater to the lesser by arguing that if Christians will judge the higher being of an angel, he most certainly can judge a lesser being of a human.


PRINCIPLE: The church has competency to decipher legal matters among Christians.


APPLICATION: Believers will judge the world one day in the future (Daniel 7:22; Matthew 19:28; Revelation 20:4). If they have this massive responsibility in the future, it is only logical that they can judge on a much smaller scale an issue between two believers. Christians have the capacity to move beyond “my friend, right or wrong.” Objectivity goes beyond subjective friendship or politics in the local church.

1 Corinthians 6:1

Published on August 30, 2002 in 1 Corinthians. 0 Comments
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1 Corinthians 6: 1 Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?


Chapter six begins a new section in 1 Corinthians. The Holy Spirit first dealt with divisions among Christians (1-4) then immorality in the church (5). Paul now turns to litigation among believers (6:1-8). Paul launches nine questions about this issue in eight verses. Six times in this chapter Paul asks, “Do you not know?”

Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous,

Paul asks the Corinthian church whether they would dare to sue one another. Apparently, they did dare to do so. They had a lot of nerve to sue one another. They were audacious with one another. This is outrageous and bold. The Greek culture was a litigious culture. The court was a chief amusement among them. Litigation was at the core of Greek life. The word “another” means another brother in Christ. Believers in the church took one another before non-Christian judges (“unrighteous”) to sue other believers.

and not before the saints?

The “saints” here are not saints in heaven but saints on earth. They were to take their legal issues before the church.


PRINCIPLE: Litigation among Christians is a mistake.


APPLICATION: It is unbiblical to haul another Christian into court because it is a poor testimony to the community. As with Greek culture, western culture is also a litigious culture. Litigation is a great American pastime. Christians should be wary of this and how it impacts non-Christians in their view of the Christian life. There are more issues to consider among Christians than straightforward legal matters. Hanging out dirty laundry for others to see in court shows that Christians are not capable to handle their internal problems.

This passage does not teach that Christians should never go to court, since it is sometimes impossible to avoid. Paul himself appealed to a higher court when he laid his Roman citizenship on the line in a case of Christian against non-Christian. Should a Christian be dragged into court by another Christian, he has no option but to defend himself in court. Obviously, as well, if the court takes the initiative, then the believer has no biblical responsibility in that case.

1 Corinthians 5:12-13

Published on August 29, 2002 in 1 Corinthians. 0 Comments
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1 Corinthians 5: 12 For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? 13But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.”


For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside?

Those on the “outside” are non-Christians. Christians or churches have no authority over non-Christians.

Co 4: 5 Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time.

1 Th 4: 12 …that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing.

Do you not judge those who are inside?

Those on the “inside” are Christians in the local church. The local church receives members and the local church expels members.

13But those who are outside God judges.

God will judge unbelievers at the Great White Throne judgment.

Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.”

Paul quotes Deuteronomy 17:7; 24:7 in this sentence. He says that it is the responsibility of the local church to make judgments about moral behavior of believers. When they come to a conclusion that a believer is intransigent about sin, then they are to expel that believer from fellowship in the local church. “Put away” is a command, so there is no option to this action. There are times when we must undergo surgery to cut out the cancer. There are times when drastic measures must be taken to avoid further damage. The Corinthian church excommunicated the sinning Christian spoken of in this passage, but he later repented of his incest (2 Corinthians 2:5-11; chapter 7). It is always wonderful news when someone comes back to the Lord.


PRINCIPLE: Making an issue out of sin rather than the solution to sin displaces the proclamation of the gospel with self-righteousness.


APPLICATION: It is the responsibility of the local church to make a judgment about the intransigence of a believer regarding extant social sin. If there is no repentance, then it is the responsibility of the church to judge Christian sinful behavior. The purpose of this judgment is not punishment but remediation so that the sinning Christian returns to fellowship with God.

It is bad business for the Christian to try to reform non-Christians before they experience regeneration. Reformation without regeneration is mere religion without Christ. All we do is make non-Christians respectable, all the while by-passing the need for the gospel. Many wives try to reform their husbands by making an issue out of their drinking or other overt behavior. They give the impression, “If you get off the bottle, you will be a Christian.” This is a mistake (1 Peter 3:1-6) because it will drive him from the Lord. If they have to choose between the bottle and the Lord, they will choose the bottle.

1 Corinthians 5:10-11

Published on August 28, 2002 in 1 Corinthians. 0 Comments
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1 Corinthians 5: 10 Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 11But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner— not even to eat with such a person.


5:10 Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world,

Paul clarifies verse ten by indicating that he did not mean that Christians are not to associate with non-Christians who live immoral lives.

Or with the covetous,

A covetous person is a person who seeks more than belongs to him. This is a culturally accepted sin even in churches.

or extortioners,

An “extortioner” is someone who takes advantage of another person’s property. In the case of the Corinthian church, it was a son taking advantage of his father by committing adultery with his stepmother. However, Paul speaks of non-Christians here. Extortion is any form of fraud.

or idolaters,

An idolater is someone who worships something other than God. This is religious activity counter to God’s norms.

since then you would need to go out of the world.

Separation is not isolation. Paul challenges the Corinthian church in his second epistle to the Corinthians to separate themselves from intimate fellowship with non-Christians. He did not mean by separation to forgo any contact with non-Christians. Paul is more concerned with insulation from sin than isolation from the world.

5:11But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner

Paul now adds two more sins to his list of the previous verse – those of reviler and drunkard. A “reviler” is a railer; he uses abusive language against someone. A “drunkard” is an intemperate person who cannot control himself. Christians like to limit church discipline to sexual sins, but Paul’s list includes something more extensive.

—   not even to eat with such a person.

Paul says to the Corinthian church not to invite people who commit such sins over to dinner. “Treat them like they are expelled from the believing community.” Going to dinner is a sign of friendliness and acceptance.


PRINCIPLE: Christians are not to have social intercourse with other Christians who blatantly violate Christian standards, because this gives the impression that they accept the sin as normative.


APPLICATION: There are Christians who live like non-Christians but profess to be Christians. Nothing gives the church a black eye more than Christians who live like non-Christians. We expect the lost to live like the lost because they have no relation to God. Christians do have a relation to God, so other Christians have a responsibility to judge their objective behavior. It is not our responsibility to judge the world, but it is our responsibility to judge fellow Christians.

1 Corinthians 5:9

Published on August 27, 2002 in 1 Corinthians. 0 Comments
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1 Corinthians 5: 9 I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people.


Paul now transitions into the church’s relationship to “sexually immoral people.”

I wrote to you in my epistle

The “epistle” here is an epistle written before First Corinthians. We have no record of this letter. The books in the canon of Scripture are not all the letters that Paul wrote, for he wrote many other letters. The Holy Spirit inspired the canonical books but not his other writings.

not to keep company with sexually immoral people.

The words “keep company” means to keep familiar company or close fellowship. It is a double compound word with the idea of mix yourself up with. The idea is of intimate and continuous relation with someone, in this context someone who lives in incest. The church at Corinth should not treat the person living in incest as a bosom companion because that gives an impression of sanctioning the sin. Paul said in effect, “I wrote you not to be a bosom buddy with sexually immoral Christian people. I did not say that you should have no contact with these people or you would not be able to go to work tomorrow. Corinth is filled with people who are sexually depraved. I am not saying that you should be prudish people.” The point is not to withdraw all association with sexually immoral people but to not enter their lifestyles with them. Paul will qualify what he means in verses ten and eleven.

2 Co 6: 14Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? 16And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said:

“I will dwell in them

And walk among them.

I will be their God,

And they shall be My people.”


PRINCIPLE: The believer is not to associate with another believer who is actively sexually immoral.


APPLICATION: A virtue of the world system is broadmindedness. It is a culture without criteria, without standards. Christians are people with the criteria of the Word of God. Integrity demands that we live consistently with these standards. However, this does not mean we are to cut off contact with non-Christians, but only with Christians who live like they are not saved and are in violation of the integrity demanded of being a Christian.

1 Corinthians 5:8

Published on August 26, 2002 in 1 Corinthians. 0 Comments
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1 Corinthians 5:8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.


Therefore let us keep the feast,

The Jews kept the Old Testament Passover for one week. The “feast” here is not the Lord’s Supper or the Passover but the Christian way of life. The idea is “to keep the festival.” The Greek emphasis is “let us keep on keeping the festival.” The Christian life is like a festival free from wickedness. Christian living is like a perpetual feast that does not exist for a day or a week but for an entire life. How can the Corinthian church keep on keeping the festival of the Christian life if they have sin in their midst? The church should be a place of joyous celebration of a believing community.

not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness,

The “old leaven” was the life of the believer before he became a Christian. The Christian cannot constantly live as he did before he became a Christian.

The leaven of “malice” is the desire to hurt someone. “Malice” has a vicious feature to it. It is a mental cancer.

Ep 4: 31Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

The leaven of “wickedness” is the active exercise of hurting someone. It is the actual injury of another person. It is malice in action, malice in deed. There is a deliberate malice or active connivance to this sin.

but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

The unleavened Christian life has two characteristics: “sincerity and truth.” The word “sincerity” means unalloyed, pure, unmixed. Sincerity is the expression of a quality that is consistent with what one believes. Motives and actions coincide. There is a transparent uniformity between the two. The Greek used the word “sincerity” for a pot held up to the sun to determine whether there were any cracks. Ancient merchants would paint over cracked pots to mislead the buyer of its worthlessness as a pot. “Sincerity” is judgment by light of the sun and is an established transparency, a pure heart before the Lord.

The second characteristic of an unleavened life is that it lives consistently with “truth.” “Truth” is something consistent with reality. A person who lives according to truth does not compromise what he believes. There are no shams. This person lives with an inner desire for a reality consistent with Christ and all for which He stands.

2 Co 2: 17For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ.


PRINCIPLE: Living the Christian life like a festival manifests itself in transparency and consistency with truth.


APPLICATION: God wants marked integrity in living the Christian life like a festival. Convergence of truth and action is the essence of Christian living. To put it another way, it is the application of principles of God’s Word to experience. From the moment we come to Christ, the Holy Spirit begins to rewire our heart for “keeping the festival” of Christian living. He wants us to put aside both the mental desire to hurt others and the actual hurting of others. We want to live with a pure heart that rests its case on truth. It is not enough to be sincere because we can be sincerely wrong. We may get on a plane to Detroit but, if the plane is going to Los Angels, there is no value in sincerity. Sincerity must always align itself with truth. So this sincerity is not a Pollyanna attitude or maudlin sentimentality but an attitude and action that are always consistent with truth.

2 Co 1: 12For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God, and more abundantly toward you.

1 Corinthians 5:7

Published on August 25, 2002 in 1 Corinthians. 0 Comments
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1 Corinthians 5:7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.


This verse may refer to Exodus 12:18-20; 13:6,7.

Therefore purge out the old leaven,

God exhorted each Jewish household to remove all leaven in the house in preparation for Passover. Leaven (yeast) symbolized a complete break with the old life in Egypt. Moses identified leaven with the putrefaction of life in Egypt. Paul uses this idea to “purge” incest from the church in Corinth. The church is to “purge” (cleanse) decisively and thoroughly (Greek) the leaven of incest that will spread throughout the church if they do not deal with it.

that you may be a new lump,

The church has status before God because of their position in Christ. They were to become what they are – in union with Christ. Note the emphasis is not on “to be” something but on something that they “are.” The church was to live according to their eternal status before God in Christ.

since you truly are unleavened.

The church is a “new lump” since it is “justified” forensically before God. The word “new” means new in the sense that it did not exist previously. It was a new lump of dough that never had yeast put into it. The church was not just a reformed church patched up, but was something radically new.

For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.

Christ is the Passover Lamb. The Greek places great emphasis on “Christ.” The sacrifice of Christ the Passover Lamb was the means of the church becoming “unleavened.” Christ’s substitutionary death contained the principle of death to sin. Christ took my hell that I might have His heaven. The essence of salvation lies in a sacrifice on our behalf. Incest is blight on the finished work of Christ. Jesus was the last lamb that God ever recognized because He fulfilled all the sacrificial typology of the Old Testament. The sacrifice on Calvary was the true and final sacrifice. Christ once and for all dealt with the issue of sin on the cross.

John 1: 29The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

1 Peter 1: 18 …knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. 20He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.


PRINCIPLE: The church is to live in the light of who they are.


APPLICATION: The believer and the church have status with God – the same status Jesus has before God forever. Both the church and the individual believer are to live their Christian lives in light of who they are in Christ. Everything we do reflects our position in Christ. Jesus cleansed us from sin so we are to live like cleansed people.

1 Corinthians 5:6

Published on August 24, 2002 in 1 Corinthians. 0 Comments
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1 Corinthians 5:6 Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?


Your glorying is not good.

The word “glorying” means ground of glorying. The ground of glorying in the Corinthian church was tolerance towards incest in the church. This was far more than acquiescing to the sin.

Do you not know

Six times the phrase “know you not” occurs in chapter six. The Corinthians church should have been aware of the danger of tolerance towards evil. The father, son, and stepmother were all there in church and no one said a word to them.

that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

Paul introduces an illustration of leaven because many in the congregation were from a Jewish background. During Passover all unleavened bread was to be put out of the house. The Greek puts stress on the word “little.” It does not take much leaven to infect the whole lump of bread. A small amount of leaven will spread through the whole lump of dough. Leaven here stands for evil influence. It ferments with putrefaction, with rottenness. Tolerance of incest in the congregation will spread its corrupting influence into the entire congregation.


PRINCIPLE: A little tolerance will spread its corrupting influence into the entire congregation.


APPLICATION: One bad apple in a barrel can make all the good apples bad. A little yeast will leaven a large lump of dough. By shutting our eyes to the corrupting influence of tolerance of a small amount of evil in the congregation, we will introduce penetrating putrefaction into the congregation. Church discipline is primarily for the spiritual health of the local church.

1 Corinthians 5:4-5

Published on August 23, 2002 in 1 Corinthians. 0 Comments
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1 Corinthians 5:4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 5deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.


In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Paul appeals to the character and authority of Christ by appealing to His “name.” He now asks the Corinthian church to discipline the believer living in incest with his stepmother.

when you are gathered together,

The Corinthian church should do this only when they are duly assembled as a church. No single individual has the authority to excommunicate another member.

along with my spirit,

The Corinthians have Paul’s authority and participation in this discipline.

with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,

The judgment on the believer out of fellowship will come from the authority of Christ.

5deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh,

The act that the congregation duly assembled was to do was to deliver the incestuous believer over to physical death. The word “deliver” is a strong word in the Greek conveying the idea of a judicial sentence – the handing over for discipline.

There is a sin unto physical death (Acts 5—Ananias and Sapphira; 2 Co 11:7; 1 Jn 5:16). This is not destruction of the being but of the body. The sin unto death is not a specific sin nor does it come from individual acts of sin but from continued, willful, negative volition towards God over a protracted period of time.

1 Ti 1: 20of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.

The killing of the body is Satan’s work – “the destruction of the flesh.” He killed Job’s seven sons and three daughters. He has the power of death (He 2:14,15; 1 Jn 3:8). He is a murderer (Jn 8:44) and he motivated Cain to kill Abel (1 Jn 3:13). He is the agent for the sin unto death of the believer (here; 1 Ti 1:19,20).

that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

All discipline of a believer in the Bible is remedial. The purpose is restoration, not punishment. The “spirit” of this believer will go to heaven but his body will die if he does not repent. God will resurrect even his body eventually. Satan cannot touch the soul of the believer but he can kill the body . Even after God takes a believer home prematurely, God will save his body when Christ comes again.


PRINCIPLE: The purpose of discipline is restoration.


APPLICATION: The purpose of all discipline for Christians is restoration into fellowship with the Lord. It is not vindictive but designed to get attention. Social sins in particular are destructive to society and the church. Discipline is not lack of love; however, lack of discipline is deficiency in love for the Lord or His church. God’s discipline has to do with how much He loves us.

He 12: 6For whom the Lord loves He chastens,

And scourges every son whom He receives.”

7If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?

Public sins must be dealt with publicly.

Mt 18: 15“Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. 16But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ 17And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.

There is a sequence to church discipline: (1) first, go to the individual; (2) then bring two or three witnesses with you; (3) finally, take it before the whole church. First, start with privacy and then move more publicly. Remember that the purpose of this discipline is not punishment but restoration to the Lord and the body of believers.

1 Corinthians 5:3

Published on August 22, 2002 in 1 Corinthians. 0 Comments
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1 Corinthians 5:3 For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed.

 


For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed.

Paul passed sentence on the young man who lived in incest with his stepmother. His sentence was “guilty.” The verdict is settled. There is an air of a settled conclusion on this matter by Paul – his judgment stands. Although Paul is far away, he can make a decision about this situation because of its clarity in biblical terms.

Paul’s judgment here is not judgment of motives but of facts. Christians are not to judge motives because we cannot see motives. However, we can judge an act of incest.


PRINCIPLE: Private sin should be dealt with privately and public sin publicly.


APPLICATION: Private sin should be dealt with privately and public sin publicly. If a sin is public, then it is the duty of local church leaders to deal with the situation. Public sin cannot be countenanced or condoned because it affects the testimony not of the individual but of the whole church.