I Corinthians 5:1-13
To me this is one of the stranger chapters in all of Scripture, that “…a man has his father’s wife.” At first it brings questions. Paul writes “father’s wife”, not “mother”. So we presume that it must be his stepmother. But then, a second question – is the father still alive? If so, it’s a really gross situation. And if not, it’s still weird! Also, if the father is still alive, where is he in all this? Is he part of this Corinthian congregation? Presumably not, but if Paul and the people in the congregation know about this activity, then surely the father is also aware of what’s going on. Bottom line – this is a really weird situation!
However, Paul’s response to this situation is unequivocal – throw the man out! He says it three times – see verses 2b, 5, and 13b. Verse 5 is especially telling: …you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. I think that Paul is talking about excommunication. To me, delivering the man over to Satan is separating him from the congregation of believers. Why? To wake him up…? To admonish him so forcefully, with a desire that he see the error of his ways and repent…? If everyone else in the congregation is told not to associate with the man at all, not even to eat with him, will that shock him to repentance? That’s how I understand verse 5.
Your boasting is not good. (v. 6) What are they boasting about? Also, earlier in verse 2 Paul calls them arrogant. My Study Bible suggests that the Corinthians are “proud of their liberty”. There is evidence for that claim later in this letter (all of I Cor. 8 and vv. I Cor. 12:23, ff.) where Paul speaks of the liberties that they seem to be taking and cautions them not to let their “liberty” (in this case, with food) cause offense to someone else: Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble. (I Cor. 8:13) Here Paul is speaking of not offending a younger/weaker brother within the congregation, but we also need to take this challenge to the world around us. When non-believers see our behavior, both good and bad, for them it reflects upon the entire Christian church. It’s why one of the biggest claims made by non-believers as to why they don’t believe is that “Christians are a bunch of hypocrites.” Let’s not be that!!
Slava Bohu!