Devotion: 1 Corinthians 5:13

1 Corinthians 5:13 God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.” 

On Day 2 we learned about the issue the church in Corinth was facing regarding an inappropriate relationship between a man and his stepmother. In that devotion we saw that we are told by Paul that we are not to tolerate blatant sin such as that and need to take action, which basically means we must judge the behavior for what it is – sin.

Looking at the context we see that Paul is clarifying prior teachings from an earlier letter that we have no copy of. In this letter he clarifies that teaching where he had instructed them not to associate with those who call themselves believers but live contrary to that. They were not to associate with people living in blatant and unrepentant sin like sexual immorality (which in this case was the problem), greed, idolatry, drunkenness, etc.

Today we take it a step further. The fact of the matter is that this was an ongoing issue and the man remained unrepentant and continued to engage in this sinful relationship. In order to protect the purity of the church, they were instructed to not associate with them, leaving them to be judged by God after they expelled him from their church.

Keep in mind, they were not judging the person’s faith or their heart. They were responsible for maintaining the purity and integrity of their congregation. Thus, they had to make a judgement that determined the man to be unrepentant and therefore a risk to their members’ righteousness. They were not judging the man himself, only his actions as improper for their community. The judging of the heart and his blatant sin was left for God’s judgement.

As believers we need to pay attention to situations like this. We do not want to be judged by our congregation as being improper for where we attend. We need to respond appropriately when they come to us to correct the behavior, repenting and choosing righteousness instead. Though written centuries ago, it is an important reminder to us to repent of sin instead of indulging, and to choose holiness. Don’t wait until the church leaders present their concerns to you. Act now and make the changes necessary to restore you.

Prayer: Lord, Help guide me in recognizing when sin is consuming me and bringing risk to myself and others. I want to repent of my sins and choose righteousness instead. Amen

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