This isn’t my favorite Bible chapter.  Verses 1-9 are fine; I struggle with verses 10-16.  But let’s start where Paul does, dealing with matters the Corinthians raised in a letter to him.

TO THE MARRIED:  NO SEXUAL ABSTINENCE (7:1-7)

Now, to deal with the matters you wrote about.  A man does well not to marry (7:1).

This is another Corinthian Christian slogan.  Literally, the Greek reads, “A man does well not to touch a woman”—a euphemism for sexual intercourse.  The slogan obviously promotes sexual abstinence.  Paul disagrees.

But because there is so much immorality, every man should have his own wife, and every woman should have her own husband (7:2). 

“ . . . so much immorality” refers to husbands being “driven” to prostitutes (6:16) because wives insist on abstinence.  “Have” here means to have sexually.  Thus, Paul urges. . . .

A man should fulfill his duty as a husband, and a woman should fulfill her duty as a wife, and each should satisfy the other’s needs.  A wife is not the master of her own body, but her husband is; in the same way, a husband is not the master of his own body, but his wife is (7:3,4).

The language, “ . . . should fulfill his duty”,  implies that husband and wife have an obligation.   “ . . . not the master of her own body” implies married partners don’t have the authority over their own bodies regarding sexual relations.  But, there can be an exception . . .

Do not deny yourselves to each other, unless you first agree to do so for a while in order to spend your time in prayer; but then resume normal marital relations.  In this way, you will be kept from giving in to Satan’s temptation because of your lack of self control  (7:5,6).

Couples may mutually agree to “no sex” to spend time in prayer.  But this must be temporary, otherwise their lack of self-control will make them prey to Satan’s temptation.  For example, a husband might be “driven” to a prostitute (6:15).

Actually I would prefer that all of you were as I am; but each one has a special gift from God, one person this gift, another one that gift (7:7).

Paul wishes they all had the gift of celibacy like him, but recognizes God has gifted everyone differently.  So the married should follow his instruction.

TO THE UNMARRIED AND WIDOWS:  STAY SINGLE OR GET MARRIED (7:8,9).

Now, to the unmarried and to the widows I say that it would be better for you to continue to live alone as I do. But if you cannot restrain your desires, go ahead and marry – it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

Since Paul has already advised the unmarried to marry (7:2), the “unmarried” here (Greek, hagamois) are probably men who’ve lost their wives to death.  He counsels them “to live alone as I do” (without explaining why).  But, if they can’t control their desires they should marry, because it’s better to marry than “burn with passion.”

TO CHRISTIAN PARTNERS:  DON’T DIVORCE (7:10,11).

For married people I have a command which is not my own but the Lord’s: a wife must not leave her husband; but if she does, she must remain single or else be reconciled to her husband; and a husband must not divorce his wife.

Paul addresses married couples who both are believers, appealing explicitly to Jesus’ authority.  “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery” (Mark 10:11,12).  No distinction should be made between “leave her husband” and “divorce”.  In Greek-Roman culture, divorce was sometimes “legalized” through proper documents; other times one partner simply left the other.

Paul allows a wife to leave her husband, but not to remarry.  Presumably the same is true for the husband.

TO BELIEVER/UNBELIEVER MARRIEDS:  DON’T DIVORCE (7:12-16).

To the others I say (I, myself, not the Lord): if a Christian man has a wife who is an unbeliever and she agrees to go on living with him, he must not divorce her. And if a Christian woman is married to a man who is an unbeliever and he agrees to go on living with her, she must not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is made acceptable to God by being united to his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made acceptable to God by being united to her Christian husband. If this were not so, their children would be like pagan children; but as it is, they are acceptable to God. However, if the one who is not a believer wishes to leave the Christian partner, let it be so. In such cases the Christian partner, whether husband or wife, is free to act. God has called you to live in peace. How can you be sure, Christian wife, that you will not save your husband? Or how can you be sure, Christian husband, that you will not save your wife?

Jesus didn’t address this issue. (“I, myself, not the Lord”)  However, that doesn’t lessen Paul’s apostolic, Spirit-empowered authority.

In such a “mixed” marriage, Paul forbids the believer to initiate divorce.  Why when he forbade Corinthian Christians from even eating with the world’s sexually immoral (5:9-13)?  “For the unbelieving husband is made acceptable to God by being united to his wife” and so the unbelieving wife with her believing husband.  Similarly, their children “are acceptable to God.”

“ . . . acceptable” referring to adults is the Greek word for “sanctified” and referring to children is the Greek for “holy”!  Dr. Gordon Fee takes this to mean “as long as the marriage is maintained the potential for [the unbelieving partner to be converted] remains (The First Epistle to the Corinthians). Paul pointedly asks, “ . . . how can you be sure, Christian husband, that you will not save your wife?”  C.K. Barrett, Professor of Divinity at the University of Durham, comments, “The Christian partner has the effect of sanctifying the relationship and his partner in it” (The First Epistle to the Corinthians).

Neither explanation is fully satisfying.  But Paul’s rule is clear: If the unbeliever consents to remain with the believer, the believer must not divorce.  On the other hand, if the unbeliever leaves, the believer is “free to act.”  The Greek is doulo-o—“enslaved, under bondage, bound.”  Traditionally many commentators have taken Paul to mean the believer is free to remarry.  But his prohibition against remarriage (7:10,11) makes it more likely Paul simply means the believer should freely let the unbeliever go.  “God has called you to peace.”

My Struggle.

Pastoring 44 years, I did much marriage counseling.  Always I tried to uphold the sanctity of marriage.  But where many years of emotional abuse was involved, I couldn’t bring myself counsel a believer to remain married to that unbeliever.  Nor when children needed a father or the family needed a bread-winner besides the mother, could I counsel a wife not to remarry.

The best of us believers are still fallen creatures.  Sometimes we make a mess of our marriages.  I understand the never-ending cost of divorce.  But I also understand, in some situations, cost of a mother with children remaining single (7:11) and the cost of a mother with children remaining married to an abusive unbeliever (7:12-16).  Divorce or remarriage is always the last resort.  But sometimes in our fallenness we need redemptive grace, not strict rules.  I always tried to  find the narrow spot between the sanctity of marriage and compassion to hurting believers.

As Paul wrote earlier, “Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes.  He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts . . . ” (1 Corinthians 4:5).

When it comes to sex, Christians seem stuck in the 19^th century.  We wonder, “Should a first date end with a kiss?”  Meanwhile, movies show us first dates actually end in bed (euphemism for sexual intercourse).

In 1 Corinthians 6:13-20 Paul is confronting a surprising sex issue. Corinthian Christian men are asserting their right to visit prostitutes!  Paul begins where they stand in their beliefs . . .

“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be enslaved by anything (6:12).

“All things are lawful for me”—that’s their slogan.  They’re “spiritual” (pneumatikos) people.  Having the Spirit the body, and ethics pertaining to it, have no consequence.

While they’re not under law, Paul reminds them “not all things are helpful (profitable, beneficial)”. More importantly he himself refuses to be “enslaved” by anything.  The Greek word (exousiazo), refers to someone or something that has authority over, that dominates or masters. For Paul, sex with a prostitute amounts to coming under her power.

Men argued for freedom to do as they pleased without restraint, including having sex with prostitutes.  Paul saw it as coming under the power of the prostitute.

“Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”–and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power (6:13,14).

Paul cites another Corinthian slogan that seems to have nothing to do with prostitutes.  But the Corinthians apparently used it to say, “Just as food is meant for the stomach, and the stomach for food”, so the body is meant for sex.  Paul agrees that food regulations are irrelevant, because God will ultimately destroy both stomach and food.

But the body is in a different category.  It is “for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.”  Just as God bodily “raised the Lord” he will also bodily raise us.  Therefore, “The body is not meant for sexual immorality”.

“Sexual immorality” is the Greek porneia.  Paul uses it of sex with a prostitute.  More broadly, it also refers to sexual relations before marriage (“fornication”) and sexual relations with someone married to another man or woman (“adultery”). The body is not meant for that, but for the Lord.

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! (6:15).

By “Do you not know” Paul implies they should know “that your bodies are members of Christ”.  Spiritually, the believer’s body has been joined to Christ’s resurrection body (and will be raised with his).  Therefore, it’s unthinkable to “take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute”!

Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him (6:16,17).

In the second, “Do you not know”, Paul rejects the modern idea of “casual sex.”  “ . . . he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her”.  He takes that from Genesis 2:24–“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.”

The Christian man actually prostitutes himself.  By being joined to the Lord he “becomes one spirit with him”.  By union with a prostitute, the Christian “becomes one body with her”.  And she’s not a member of Christ, not destined for resurrection.

Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body (6:18).

Paul fairly shouts, “Run away from porneia!”  With his exhortation comes this warning:  the porneia person “sins against his own body.”  That is, by having sex with a prostitute he, in effect, takes his body from its union with Christ and makes it a member of her body.

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body (6:19,20)

Finally, the Corinthians should know this:  “that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God.”  Earlier of the church Paul had written, “Do you not know that you (plural) are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (3:16).  What is true of the church is also true of the believers.  Once the Jerusalem temple housed the presence of the living God, now the Spirit of God is housed in the believer’s body.

Thus, Paul turns the Corinthians’ argument on its head.  They insisted the Spirit’s presence made the body of no consequence; Paul argues the Spirit’s presence sanctifies the body.

Furthermore, they are not their own, free to do as they please with their body.  “ . . . for you were bought with a price.”  Paul is clearly referring to the “price” of Christ’s sacrificial, bodily death.  This “bought” them as whole persons (body too) for God.

Doxasate refers to enhancing God’s reputation; hence, “praise, honor, magnify” God in your body.  Again, the body is not of no account.  It belongs to the Lord.  It is joined to the Lord.  It is indwelt by the Lord’s Spirit.  It will be resurrected by the Lord.  “So glorify God in your body.”

* * *

Prostitutes not the problem?  How about pornography? (It’s a $10 billion business—bigger than the NFL and MLB combined.) Or lustful looking?  Fornication?  Adultery?  Porneia includes them all. But we shouldn’t see the prohibition as an ancient ethic, as if we’re hopelessly out of touch with the times.

If we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, then this body we call ours is really his.  It’s joined to him.  It houses his Spirit.  It will be one day resurrected by him.  The issue isn’t keeping a regulation.  It’s not even just running away from porneia. 

It’s remembering whose body it is.  Then honoring the Owner with it.

After more than four decades of pastoring, I can look back on some pretty messy church problems.  But never did I have to deal with one member cheating another out of money (that I knew of).  Paul did. The Corinthian case was even worse, because the cheated member took the cheating member to court.  Paul was indignant.

DARE GO TO LAW?

When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life!  So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church?  I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers,  but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? (1 Corinthians 6:1-6).

Paul is horrified.  Look at his language:  “When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?”  As a Jew, he was trained in the tradition of bringing to the synagogue what pagans would bring to law court.

But these newly-converted Corinthians were products of their “court-culture”.  In nearby Athens, a jury for small cases numbered 201, for big cases from 1,000 to 6,000 people.  That made jury participation a way of life.  It was natural, then, for these newly-converted Corinthians to settle a dispute in court.

Paul, however, isn’t thinking culturally¸ but eschatologically.  The “saints” (those sanctified by conversion to Christ) “will judge the world”.  That belief may have sprung from the prophet Daniel who saw in a vision that “ . . . the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given for the saints of the Most High”.  Jesus echoed the idea when he told the disciples they would judge the twelve tribes of Israel (Matthew 19:28).

Paul doesn’t go into detail.  The Corinthians should know the saints will judge the world.  That means God’s people will somehow be involved in the final judgment when the whole anti-God world system will be judged.

So Paul asks rhetorically, “And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases?”  Dr. Gordon Fee (The First Epistle to the Corinthians) paraphrases:  “Here are those who will not inherit the kingdom, whom God through his people is going to judge, and you are allowing lawsuits to be brought before them?” (p. 232).

Not only does Paul shame them for going to “unrighteous” judges, but . . .

DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE?

To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?  But you yourselves wrong and defraud–even your own brothers! Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.  And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God (1 Corinthians 6:7-11).

Win or lose in court, they’ve already lost: they’re behaving like people of the present evil age where self-gain and personal rights rule.  People of the new age in Christ should rather be cheated than take a brother to court.

Again, fault lies not with only the two combatants, but the whole church.  Instead of intervening, the whole church is boasting of their spirituality while ignoring sinful conduct. If they persist, Paul warns, they’ll find themselves like the world:  without inheritance in the kingdom of God.

But Paul can’t end his reproof with a warning.  To call them to right-living, he reaffirms what God’s Spirit has done in them.  In the past, they were guilty of sexual immorality, idolatry, adultery, practicing homosexuality, stealing, greed, drunkenness, reviling, and swindling.  But then they were cleansed from the filth of their former lifestyles (“you were washed”), set apart to God for holy living (“you were sanctified”) and declared right with God (“you were justified”).  This salvation was carried out by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ (“in the name of”) and “by the Spirit of God”.  Paul, therefore, is urging the Corinthians to live like the new people they are.

Here, too, the apostle is thinking eschatologically.  “Why not rather be defrauded” than take your brother to court?  We would say, “He cheated me out of my money!”   Paul would say, “This world’s wealth is a trivial thing for people who are eternally rich!”  This is why Paul can say, “To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you.”  Shame on the church, not only because brother is fighting brother for money, but for embracing the values of this age instead of the eternal kingdom of God.

SHAME ON THE CHURCH TODAY?

At first glance I don’t get Paul’s indignation.  Sure, the church is “airing its dirty laundry before the world”.  And, sure, this mars the church’s witness.  But neither is why Paul is horrified.  Why then?  Because the church is living by the values of this evil age instead of those of God’s kingdom.  And it’s not just a matter of ethical failure:  the church isn’t living out its identity as the new-age people of God who will judge the world.

Let’s suppose the following occurred in a church I pastored . . .

A church member sells his house to another member, promising a sizeable water-leak problem has been repaired.  The next big rain reveals the seller’s deceit.  The seller refuses to pay for repair and damages.  The buyer hires a lawyer and sues.  Would we say, “Shame on the church”?  Would I as pastor be indignant, as Paul was, and for the same reasons?

I’m sure I’d be disappointed in those two members.  I’d be concerned about our church’s reputation.  If the monetary loss wasn’t too great, I’d suggest the new owner forgive the old and move on.  But I don’t think I’d be indignant that the church wasn’t living out its identity as the new-age people of God who will judge the world.

So:  shame on the church today?  In this case, yes.  Shame that we haven’t learned to live out our identity as the new-age people of God who will judge the world!  In other words, shame that while we’ve learned to look back to biblical ethics, we haven’t learned to look ahead to the “not yet” of God’s kingdom that has “already” come in Christ by the Spirit.

Being, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Spirit-washed, Spirit-sanctified, Spirit-justified heirs of God’s eternal kingdom calls for radical thinking and other-worldly conduct, doesn’t it!

Incest.  Not your typical church problem. So at first glance this text seems irrelevant to us.  Let’s see . . .

THE SIN  

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not found even among pagans; for a man is living with his father’s wife. And you are arrogant! Should you not rather have mourned, so that he who has done this would have been removed from among you? (1 Corinthians 5:1,2).

Paul has received a report of “sexual immorality” among the Corinthian Christians.  The Greek word, porneia, is used of all sexual practice outside of marriage.  But quickly we learn what porneia Paul is condemning: “a man is living with his father’s wife.” 

The woman isn’t the man’s mother.  We’re not told anything about the father/husband.  Did he die?  Was there divorce?  It matters not. Even pagans counted it immoral for a father and son to “have” the same woman.

The sin is compounded:  the church is “arrogant.”  How can they be arrogant with such perverse sin among them?  The Corinthians remember are triumphalists.  Having the Spirit, they ask, how can sin hold any consequence for such spiritual people?  They aren’t boastful of the sin; they’re boastful of their “triumphant” spirituality that renders such sin inconsequential.

Rhetorically, Paul asks:  “Shouldn’t you have grieved over sin and been moved to repentant action so that he who has done this would have been removed from among you”? 

The church is “called to be God’s holy people” (1 Corinthians 1:2).  But sin has corrupted the church’s corporate holiness. The incestuous man should be removed from among them.

The Judgment

 For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present I have already pronounced judgment in the name of the Lord Jesus on the man who has done such a thing. When you are assembled, and my spirit is present with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord (1 Corinthians5:3-5).

It’s unclear what Paul means by “I am present in spirit”.  But what he wants done is crystal clear:  “As if present” he has “already pronounced judgment” by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.  His verdict: “When you are assembled (the whole church is to act) and my spirit is present with the power of our Lord Jesus (Paul seems to say that the Holy Spirit makes his spirit present among them) you are to hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh . . .”  They are to expel him from the Christian community and, thereby, put him back into Satan’s realm.  The intent is for his sinful nature (“flesh”) to be  destroyed so that in the final judgment his spirit may be saved.  In other words, the purpose of discipline is redemptive.

The Cleansing

Your boasting is not a good thing. Do you not know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch, as you really are unleavened. For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (1 Corinthians 5:6-8).

The man’s sin has infected the whole church—and they’re boasting!  Paul uses what is probably Jewish folk-saying (“a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough”) to diagnose sin’s effect on the whole community and to repeat what they must do (“Clean out the old yeast”) so they can be “unleavened” as they really are in Christ.

How are they “unleavened” (cleansed from sin)?  Paul turns to Passover:  they are “unleavened” by the sacrifice of their paschal lamb, Christ.  Therefore, they should “celebrate” who they actually are in Christ—not a community infected with “malice and evil”, but cleansed with “sincerity and truth”. 

The Correction

 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral persons–not at all meaning the immoral of this world, or the greedy and robbers, or idolaters, since you would then need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother or sister who is sexually immoral or greedy, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or robber. Do not even eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging those outside? Is it not those who are inside that you are to judge?  God will judge those outside. “Drive out the wicked person from among you” (1 Corinthians 5:9-13).

Paul had written previously—a letter not providentially preserved Scripture.  The Corinthians had misunderstood his instruction.  He didn’t mean, “Don’t associate with the world’s immoral (that would mean leaving the world).  He meant, “[Don’t] associate with anyone who bears the name of brother or sister” who is practicing sexual immorality, greed, idol worship and so on.  “Do not even eat with such a one.”

It’s God’s work to judge outsiders.  The church is to judge insiders.  As Deuteronomy 17:7 commands: “Drive out the wicked person from among you.”

The Take-Away.

Should you not have mourned?

My first reaction is to sort of boast that my church isn’t guilty of so egregious a sin as incest.  My second is to examine how Paul wanted church discipline to be carried out so, if necessary, we might follow.  My third is to realize (again) how rarely do we discipline sin-practicing church members.

But only after much inspection of this passage do I confess how little, if any, do we mourn over our sin.  I’ve not talking about occasional transgressions.  Nor about anything as extreme as incest.  I’m talking about those addictive sins, such as pornography or drugs.  I’m talking about those isolation sins, such as the church doing little or nothing to reach our neighborhoods with the evangelistic/social gospel.  I realize the first may demand discipline but not the second.

However, the larger issue is, “Should we not mourn over sin?”  So the big take-away for me from this text is not how to do church discipline.  It’s a call to grieve over the sin in me and among us.

O Lord, you know we still carry a sinful nature, even though your Holy Spirit indwells us and we’re your people.  But keep us from treating sin lightly.  Give us a heart to mourn over sin that we might more successfully shun it and that we might more highly treasure your salvation.  For the glory of your holy name, Amen.