An unusual passage for Good Friday, but it will have made sense by the end.
1 Corinthians 5: It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and the kind of sexual immorality that is not even tolerated among the Gentiles—a man is sleeping with his father’s wife. And you are arrogant! Shouldn’t you be filled with grief and remove from your congregation the one who did this? Even though I am absent in the body, I am present in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who has been doing such a thing. When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus, and I am with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus,hand that one over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little leaven leavens the whole batch of dough? Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new unleavened batch, as indeed you are. For Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us observe the feast, not with old leaven or with the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
I wrote to you in a letter not to associate with sexually immoral people. I did not mean the immoral people of this world or the greedy and swindlers or idolaters; otherwise you would have to leave the world. But actually, I wrote you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister and is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or verbally abusive, a drunkard or a swindler. Do not even eat with such a person. For what business is it of mine to judge outsiders? Don’t you judge those who are inside? God judges outsiders. Remove the evil person from among you.
Three points tonight, in the form of questions: 1) what do we have here? 2) why does what we have here seem unlikely? 3) why is what we have here, though unlikely, actually the case?
What do we have here?
Quite a lot, and we won’t be able to dwell on everything. But for starters, in this passage we have the Apostles showing up, represented here by Paul. Even from a distance from them, Paul the Apostle is dealing with the Corinthian church authoritatively. He’s on their case for tolerating a church member who is sleeping with his stepmom. Perhaps they’re even tolerating this wickedness a little proudly, on account of their so-called elevated Christianity that lets them – at least in their mind – leave behind these passe concepts of “right” and “wrong.”
But back to our point of Apostolic authority – here the Apostle commandingly says to the church: get together in the name of the Lord Jesus, and – importantly – I’ll be with you in the Spirit. Then at that gathering vote him out of there.
What else do we have going on? Well, here’s a basic observation: Paul is writing… and assuming the Church will be reading. And so they did.
And so they do. Can you imagine it? For 200+ decades, in cathedrals, in living rooms, in harbor towns, in country churches in the middle of the Dakotas… throughout the globe, the Church, baptized into the name of the Triune God, led and served by elders and deacons, has been reading these instructions and figuring out how to align themselves under them.
Even though Paul was addressing a specific situation in a Church in Greece in AD 60, it is still God’s word through the Apostles to us as we gather at 40 Battle Street in 2025. We’re united to that global Church, and some of what binds us is what we’ve all been paying attention to.
Next, Paul says that sleeping with one’s stepmom is not even tolerated among the Gentiles. And sure enough, you can read some 1st century moral instruction written outside the Church where this exact thing is forbidden. But I’d like us to pause over the fact that Paul calls those outside the church, “Gentiles,” that is, non- Jews. This is a little odd when we remember that this church was in Greece and would have at least some – if not a majority of – Gentiles.
So then, what do we have when Paul calls church outsiders, Gentiles? We have a little spur to remind us that the church is in significant ways Jewish. That fact was obvious enough at the Church’s beginning that Paul could think of those outside the church as “Gentiles.” Because the Church was a branch grafted on to a tree that had as its roots the patriarchs of Israel. Which means that as Paul wrote the Church was both a new thing yet also a continuation of a project that officially began with Father Abraham in 2000 BC…and going further back had its start in promises made in the morning of the world.
So, in that word, Gentiles, we have the reminder that the Church has taken center stage in an ancient story spanning creation to new creation. The great salvation story that overshadows all other developments.
So, what do we have here? We have the Apostle commanding. We have the Church throughout the ages listening and submitting. We have reminder of the Church playing a feature role in an ancient story that will culminate in a new creation. Now notice the wording when Paul directs the church to remove the member who obstinately remains in this illicit relationship. Don’t simply remove him… but hand [him] over to Satan. And why?…so that in the day of the Lord he will be saved.
I don’t have time to get into the weeds and explain every word of that. But isn’t the general point clear? The Church acts as a sanctuary from the dark powers. In removing this member from the Church he’ll again be exposed to Satan who will resume destroying his life. However, the stated hope is that the pummels and assaults of Satan will end up humbling the former church member and that, even through defeat and despair, he’ll be saved in the day of the Lord. He will have suffered at the hands of Satan, but in God’s oversight those demonic stratagems will have only brought him back to God. Ultimately, he is saved even through the destroyer.
So, what do we have here? The assumption that, as Martin Luther said, “The Devil is God’s Devil.” The Church reveals that, in God’s hands, the forces of corruption and death are turned to good ends. Even as the serpent bruises the heel, his head is crushed.
Moving on: also in our passage what we have is the vision of the Church as a pure community. We’ll fulfill that vision by a commitment to sincerity and truth, and a parallel commitment to ridding ourselves of all that is toxic toward sincerity and truth. Clean out the old leaven. And the way to such purity includes self-judgment, mutual accountability, and installing a fence around the Lord’s Supper.
Here’s how it works: in being baptized into the body of Christ you are claiming to be the brother and sister of those in the Church, shared possessor of the Spirit. However, if your decided, ongoing, law-breaking lifestyle contradicts your claim, the Church is to take notice and hand you over to Satan.
A couple big points: Paul is not envisioning a Church in which everyone is sniffing around everyone’s business, ready to be a tattle tale. Neither is he claiming that those who are struggling against sin should wait until they’re victorious before being baptized into the Church. Nor that once inside the Church the struggle against sin won’t continue and sometimes see setbacks. We can imagine someone within the Church trying to quit pornography or someone who’s spent years being a complainer and a brawler trying to mend his ways or someone who’s been steeped in selfishness retraining himself to look beyond his concerns and toward the needs of others. The Church should be…is…a hospital of sinners who are reforming, repenting over a lifetime.
Who Paul has in mind for removal are unrepentant sinners in the Church who, “sound in mind and body,” by their actions clearly and decisively have staked out a place that is against the law of Christ. The church is not to ignore that defiance, nor give them a pass – no matter how influential or magnetic or potential filled or actually helpful they might be. In these unambiguous cases the Church becomes a judging community. They are to gather and remove the obstinate sinner, handing him over to Satan.
One final nuance about judgment: Paul doesn’t indicate that those handed to Satan aren’t allowed to gather anymore with the Church. The Church welcomes all into their worship of singing and scripture. However, the Church is not to eat with them. Do not even eat with such a person.
Does Paul mean that I shouldn’t grab a Chipotle burrito with someone who’s been removed from the church? Maybe. But I’m sure that, at the least, he means that the Church is not to gather at the Lord’s Table with that person, since the Lord’s Table is called explicitly a table of communion. And as we gather at the Table we’re commanded to reflect that we’re one body together.
The Lord’s Table, then, is a form of accountability: in welcoming one another to eat beside us we are tacitly affirming them as fellow members of Christ’s Body.
The Church judges…the Church. I want to quickly pan out from this chapter to place judging those inside the Church into the bigger picture. Humans are image bearers, ruling the creation in the interests of the Creator. In this capacity, the Church, restored image bearers, will judge angels, a fact Paul drops in the next few sentences (6:3)!
So, our judgment within the Church is on our way to judging the creation’s most elevated realms, visible and invisible. And both the next paragraph and Psalm 149 suggest, eventually the Redeemed people of God will even play a part at the end of days in judging the world, judging fellow image bearers who have persisted in their rebellion against the Heavenly Father.
So, the Church judging itself – wisely, carefully, slowly, charitably, out of loyalty to God – is an aspect of…a stage in…a preparation for the next stage in… God’s great salvation project wherein image bearers have been lifted out of the mire and reinstated with great and permanent dignity to a position of rule and judgment. So, Church discipline, done properly, is the opposite of pettiness. There’s something magnificent – supernaturally magnificent – in it.
So, what do we have here in this passage? Grandeur! Epic-ness! A great salvation working itself out through the centuries! Looking through Paul’s eyes, we see a great vision of the Church obedient, united throughout history, overcoming, sincere, pure, ready to do hard things, do them wisely, being prepared for a glorious purpose in the age to come. Hallelujah!
So that’s what we have here. Which brings us to our second point, also in the form of a question: why does what we have here seem unlikely?
I look at all that’s behind and underneath this passage; I look at all which it points to in the future; yes, it’s all pretty epic. And my question to Paul is: are you sure about all this?
Here are some specific questions –
- How is it possible that Paul, who one time breathed out slaughtering against the Church, is now an Apostle through whom God is breathing out his life-giving word to whom the Church is expected to listen? But even beside Paul, how could God entrust any sinful image bearer with significant authority. Won’t humans mess everything up?
- I’m just waking up going to work coming home eating my dinner watching TV then repeat and all the while getting a little sorer and grayer. Someone like me, whose life seems so small, what right do I have to say that I’m part of some grand old story with a happy ending? Are we just pretending here?
- As far as the Devil goes – – it appears like he’s winning. I’ve heard people say that it’s all so gloomy they don’t even watch the news anymore, just old Turner Classics so they can remember the good days when God was winning. Everything from my memory to civility to western civilization seems to be collapsing. So, upon what basis can the Apostle so easily assume that the Devil is God’s Devil?
- Someone says: you’re talking about the Church being pure. People of sincerity. Well, when I look at my navel, investigate my authentic self, here are my sincere findings about my big desires: a) I want to eat cereal and watch movie trailers. b) I want people to do what I want when I want. c) I am sleepy and would like a nap. If the Church is going to be sincere, to be true to itself, won’t that be a disaster?
And an important by the way: considering that God judges us by our actions and our thoughts and dispositions, how could I – the true and sincere Colin –get out from under the fact that I’m in big trouble… because of who God knows the true and sincere Colin to be?
- Finally, the Church judges? How could something as momentous as turning someone over to Satan be placed in the hands of a people who are naturally censorious, small-minded, vengeful? Upon what basis could God entrust the purity of His Church to themselves, not to mention the fact that this self-judgment is preparation for a judgment over all the Creation!?
Paul is assuming the church is willing to listen to him, will live up to its responsibility as a key cog in God’s great saving project and won’t turn proud and petty, will survive the Devil, will through the years do the righteous yet really difficult thing of purifying itself. Doesn’t he understand human nature? How can he be so optimistic?
Which takes us to our last, brief, and most important point: why is what we have here, though implausible, actually the case?
In v. 7, right in the middle of all these instructions, Paul says two quick things, so small they could get buried under everything else, that make sense of this whole chapter. He utters two indicatives – statements of fact – that ground all his instruction and explains why he has such a grand optimistic vision for the Church.
Church, cleanse out the old leaven…as you really are unleavened. Church, purify yourself. Why? Because you’re pure. You are clean. How can you say that? Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed.
You might recall that the Last Supper was actually a Passover meal which annually commemorates Israel’s deliverance from Egypt. In the plan of God, Christ’s crucifixion is set within Passover weekend. As Israel was rescued from Egypt, so, Church, we’ve been brought out from under a more fundamental enslavement through Christ our Passover Lam being sacrificed.
Church, we are no longer under guilt before God or the power of Satan or the tyranny of our desires or the death wish of the First Man or the atomization and isolation of the world or the lawlessness of sin. We’ve been delivered from guilty grime, immoral grime, broken image bearing grime. We’re free. We’re clean.
Because Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed. Someone says, I don’t get it. Those are just words. What exactly does Christ’s crucifixion have to do with purity and freedom?
And also, I don’t feel like that’s true.
That’s part of the genius of this passage: Paul simply asserts this as fact and doesn’t offer explanation or argument: You’ve been set free. You are clean.
Just as in the first Passover we probably don’t grasp the connection between blood on a doorframe and being led out to freedom…. Paul doesn’t explain the connection between Christ’s violent death and our consequent freedom. And yet it’s there! It’s true. It’s so foundationally solid, or solidly foundational, Paul sees no need to expound on it. It’s just there. You’re clean; you’re free.
In and of itself the Church is disobedient, fragmented, small-minded, defeated, grimy, confused, tolerant and intolerant in the wrong places. Yes. Yes. But Christ our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed. Therefore, the Church can and will live up to its epic, grand, layered, global, of-ancient-vintage vision of obedience, Serpent-crushing, authority, sincerity, truth, and life-producing purity.
Because, and only because, Christ our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed. We are pure. We are free.
You might have watched the powerful cinematic scene when Dr Sean Mcguire, the psychologist, played by Robin Williams, is holding a folder containing the medical and psychiatric history of Will Hunting, the patient, played by Matt Damon.
Will is a trouble causer who’s been through a lot of turmoil and abuse. He’s become caustic and cynical, and he sarcastically asks Dr McGuire what label he’s going to pin on him. What’s your diagnosis, Doc? he mockingly asks.
And the psychologist replies, well, I don’t know that much, but I do know what’s in these files isn’t your fault. Will nods his head, ok.
Then Dr McGuire repeats, It’s not your fault. Yeah, I know, replies Will.
Dr. McGuire moves closer to him and says It’s not your fault. Quit messin’ with me.
It’s not your fault. It’s not your fault. It’s not your fault.
And Will breaks down sobbing. The scriptwriter is saying: that’s what Will needed to hear, that’s what needed to be drove into him, before any progress could be made.
A similar dynamic in Christian ethics. Church, before we can get on with the instruction, with purifying ourselves, with the programs, with the plan to improve ourselves or our family or the Church, we’ll first need to hear: You’re clean. You’re free. Christ our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed.
Ok, I understand.
No, you’re clean. You’re free. Christ has been sacrificed.
Yes, I heard, that’s great…
Listen! You’re clean. You’re free. Christ has been sacrificed.
Quit messin’ with me.
You’re clean. You’re free. Christ our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed.
You’re clean. You’re free. Christ our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed.
You’re clean. You’re free. Christ our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed.
You see the point, Church. Just look ahead to the next 365 days, between now and Good Friday 2026. There’s much for us to do, and some of it will be hard.
And remember Paul’s vision here: the Church – whether we’re gathered or scattered – is a grand thing, the most important Body in the world. So it’s hard and important work in front of us.
And some of the work will be negative: fixing in ourselves and fellow church members what is broken, cleaning what is dirty.
But any progress in your life or your family or our Church’s life has to begin here, at Good Friday, at the cross. Before we can get to doing anything, changing anything, cleaning anything, we’ll need to sit before, sit long before the fact the big thing has already been done. Well need to know nothing except Christ and him crucified.
Often…often!… in your mind’s eye, to see that King on the cross, and hear him just before dying say, “It is finished.”
To believe the Gospel: The King your Passover Lamb has been sacrificed. You are clean. You are free.
Hallelujah.
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