January 2013

Church Discipline - Part Five

By James Boice

 

Continuing today in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, we find that he makes two qualifications about expelling someone from the church. One qualification is disassociating from a believer who is living in open sin. He does not apply this to the world, to the people of the world in general, because, he says, if you do that, where could you live? He said you would have to go out of the world if you're going to live that way. He makes very clear, in verse 9 and following, that he is not talking about a kind of separatism.

Church Discipline - Part Four

By James Boice

 

Why does Paul insist that the Corinthian church expel this unrepentant person? The first reason is for the good of the individual involved. We find that hard to understand because our ideas of discipline are so lax. We think the worst possible thing we could do to somebody is embarrass them, or put them on the spot, or make a judgment that perhaps they are doing something wrong. But Paul says that isn’t true. Where there is open and flagrant sin, the sin must be confronted, and this must be done for the good of the individual involved. That is why he says, "I want you to hand this man over to Satan so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord."

Church Discipline - Part Three

By James Boice

 

As we continue to examine this situation in today’s lesson, the second thing we notice is the fact that this sinful relationship was public. It wasn’t even something that had happened in a quiet way, which perhaps, therefore, could be dealt with in a quiet way. There is a good principle here. If a wrong can be made right quietly without broadcasting it abroad, that is certainly the procedure to be followed. But, in this case, that was not possible. This was something that apparently was well known in Corinth. But not only was this situation known in Corinth, apparently it had spread throughout the Roman world, because Paul, writing this letter from Ephesus, had heard about it there.