1 Corinthians 5

B. Lack of discipline in the church chs. 5-6

The second characteristic in the Corinthian church reported to Paul that he addressed concerned a lack of discipline (cf. Galatians 5:22-23). This section of the epistle has strong connections with the first major section. The lack of discipline in the church (chs. 5-6) reflected a crisis of authority in the church (1 Corinthians 1:10 to 1 Corinthians 4:21). The Corinthians were arrogant and valued a worldly concept of power. This carnal attitude had produced the three problems that Paul proceeded to deal with next: incest, litigation, and prostitution in the church.

"It is frequently said that the only Bible the world will read is the daily life of the Christian, and that what the world needs is a revised version! The next two chapters are designed by Paul to produce a Corinthian revised version, so that orthodoxy might be followed by orthopraxy . . ." [Note: Johnson, p. 1236.]

1. Incest in the church ch. 5

First, the church had manifested a very permissive attitude toward a man in the congregation who was committing incest. Paul explained his own reaction to this situation and demanded that his readers take a different view of immorality than the one they held (1 Corinthians 5:1-8). Then he spoke to the larger issue of the Christian’s relationship to the immoral both within and outside the church (1 Corinthians 5:9-13).

"What is at stake is not simply a low view of sin; rather, it is the church itself: Will it follow Paul’s gospel with its ethical implications? or will it continue in its present ’spirituality,’ one that tolerates such sin and thereby destroys God’s temple in Corinth (1 Corinthians 3:16-17)? Thus Paul uses this concrete example both to assert his authority and to speak to the larger issue of sexual immorality." [Note: Fee, The First . . ., p. 197.]

"The unusual feature of 1 Corinthians 5:1-13 is the manner in which the community is addressed first and more extensively than the man involved in an incestuous relationship. The congregation is distinguished by its arrogance and boasting and its failure to mourn. At the heart of Paul’s rebuke is an urgent plea for a new, communal self-understanding (1 Corinthians 5:6-8). Mixing the cultic images of unleavened bread and the Passover lamb, the text pushes the Corinthians to think of themselves differently-as an unleavened community that demonstrates honesty and dependability, as a community for whom the paschal lamb has been sacrificed. The crucified Messiah lies at the heart of the new perspective, critically needed by the readers." [Note: Cousar, "The Theological . . .," p. 98.]