III. Various Moral and Spiritual Problems in the Congregation (1 Corinthians 5:1-14:40)
Read 1 Corinthians 5:1-2. What was the sin that was occuring?
AnswerWhat does Paul mean by “father’s wife?”
AnswerHow did the Corinthians respond to this sin?
AnswerToppe: Paul might have been able to quote the great Roman orator, Cicero, who denounced a Roman matron’s passion for her son-in-law as an “unbelievable crime, unheard of except for this case.” Paul’s comparison of the Corinthian Christians with the pagans is the height of scorn. Where is their shame? (53)
Why wouldn’t a congregation deal with such an obvious sin?
AnswerWhy would the Corinthians be proud of such a seemingly flagrant sin?
AnswerRead 1 Corinthians 5:3-5. What had Paul already done?
AnswerWhy didn’t he wait to talk to the congregation or let them deal with it?
AnswerDid Paul need their approval for the action to be official?
AnswerHow would you go about “handing someone over to Satan?”
AnswerA or D: When we “hand someone over to Satan,
AnswerToppe: This judgment not only expels him from the congregation but also delivers him into Satan’s hands, so that Satan may have his way with him and may reduce him to shame and utter wretchedness, perhaps because the excess into which Satan leads the man will lead to disgust and revulsion. We know from Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians that the congregation later excommunicated this manifest sinner and that he repented (2 Corinthians 2:6). (54)
Read 1 Corinthians 5:6-8. What was especially dangerous about this sin that the man was committing?
AnswerThe “old yeast” was not the adulterous man that Paul wanted to get rid of - but rather the permissive and proud attitude that they had toward his sin. It was that attitude that would effect the whole congregation’s view toward sin. “If they don’t do anything about that sin, then I guess I can get away with this sin as well.”
Why would Paul mention Christ, the Passover lamb at this point? Think of why Jesus forgives our sins - John 1:9 should answer this question for you - If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
AnswerToppe: It may have been the Passover-Easter season when Paul wrote this letter. His mention of leaven (which was to be removed from Israelite homes during the Passover) appears to lead his thoughts to the sacrifice of the Lamb of God and to the great Christian festival of Easter, when Christ rose from the dead, and by his resurrection assured our pardon and cleansing to “live a new life.” Celebrating Easter means also dedicating ourselves to a new walk of life. (55)
Paul now goes on to address the general topic of church discipline ~
Read 1 Corinthians 5:9-11. (Toppe mentions a possible lost letter where Paul warned them against sexual immorality - and they misinterpreted him or ignored what he wrote.) Does vs. 9-10 speak against “cloisters”, etc.? What does Paul mean by the word “associate?” (Being friendly, etc. - giving impression that their conduct is acceptable.) By “eating” is Paul referring to the Lord’s Supper or more than that? (Any kind of association.) What kind of people aren’t we to associate with? How would we know if they were?What if such a person was your spouse?
AnswerRead 1 Corinthians 5: 12-13. How is this verse different from what people think today?
AnswerLooking back at 1 Corinthians 5: vs. 5, what is the purpose behind all of this?
AnswerAny questions on this chapter?
B. Two Lapses From Sanctification
Read 1 Corinthians 6:1-6.
What was another problem happening within the congregation? AnswerThis seems to be a total change in topic. Yet what do these two instances have in common?
AnswerWhat does 1 Corinthians 6: vs. 3 mean?
Answer1 Corinthians 6: Vs. 4 is a bad translation. Paul wouldn’t call some Christians lower than others when he is trying to guard against pride. Instead the NASB has a better translation: Do you appoint them [pagans] as judges who are of no account in the church?
Read 1 Corinthians 6: 7-8. The very fact that brothers were wronging brothers showed the depths that their congregation had sunk into already. How does this conflict with the American philosophy of life?
AnswerWhat was a better solution to the problem?
AnswerPaul wasn’t against all litigation - but there were 4 points that Paul was opposed to -
1) the fact that brothers were wronging brothers in the first place
2) they weren’t forgiving their brothers and forgoing their rights
3) the assumption that pagan judges are better able to handle the problems than fellow Christians
4) the pagan world gets to see Christians wrangling in public
Read 1 Corinthians 6:9-10. How do you understand Paul’s statement? Consider the following. Which of them is (are) true? Which is most helpful for understanding Paul’s manner of experssion here - - both what he says and what he does not say?
A. Anyone who has ever committed one of these sins will not go to heaven
AnswerB Anyone who falls back into any of these sins after becoming a Christian will not go to heaven.
C. Anyone who does not merely fall back into such sins temporarily but lives in them habitually will not go to heaven.
D Anyone who dies without repenting of such sins will not go to heaven.
E. Anyone who dies while committing such sins will not go to heaven.
F. Anyone who is guilty of any of these sins will, according to God’s law, not go to heaven.
G.God, Paul makes this sort of statement only about coarse sins that by their very nature destroy faith and thereby exclude from heaven.
Walther: It is not the manifest enormity of their sin that casts such people out of their state of grace and puts out the heavenly light of their faith, but the attitude of their heart towards their sin. When I am suddenly overtaken by sin, God forgives me; He is not angry with me and does not charge that sin against me. Such acts do not extinguish faith. Or it may be that I am rushed into sin by my temperament. I do not want to sin, but I have been irritated to such an extent that, before I knowit, I have sinned. That is not a mortal sin, which would take me out of the state of grace. But when a person persists in his sin against his conscience, though he knows it to be a sin, and continues sinning purposely for a long time, he no longer has faith and cannot truly pray to God; the Holy Spirit leaves his heart, for another spirit, the evil spirit, rules in it, whom the sinner has admitted into his heart. To him the Holy Spirit yields His place and departs. (Law and Gospel: 220)
What does 1 Corinthians vs. 11 point to?
Answer
Why does Paul do this again?
AnswerRead 1 Corinthians 6:12-17. Who do you imagine was Paul quoting in vs. 12?
What are the two restrictions Paul put on adiaphora?
According to 1 Corinthians 6: vs. 13. the Corinthians seemed to compare sex to food - they were both natural desires which needed to be satisfied. They also reasoned that both the stomach and the sexual organs would cease to function in the afterlife. How did Paul disagree with their reasoning in vs. 13?
AnswerWhy does Paul say we shouldn’t engage in sexual immorality in 1 Corinthians 6: vs. 14-17?
Read 18-20. How does this differ from the previous paragraphs?
AnswerPaul gives another reason why we shouldn’t engage in sexual immorality. What is it?
AnswerWhat does this mean?
E: In some manner the body of a Christian, which is of inestimable worth, is violated by sexual immorality more than by any other sin. Perhaps Paul has in mind the complete physical intimacy; or that in sexual immorality f participant uses his own body as the instrument of sin; or that no other sin affects the body as this one does. What is clear, however, is that God considers sexual immorality to be an especially shameful, desecrating sin. Old Testament accounts show that his penalties for such sins are severe. (63)
"What makes this sin so repulsive"?
Answerhow does this section give comfort to those who have committed such sins
Any questions?