Adult Bible Study – 1st Corinthians
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church
Paul turns to several matters of morality in the chapter which need to be addressed. In Paul’s theology, faith and action are linked. Action brings faith to bear upon the world.
There is a man reported to be “living with his father’s wife.” This is identified as “sexual immorality” (NRSV translation). The Greek word that is translated as sexual immorality is the word pornea. You may recognize the English word pornography as coming from this word. It carries the connotation of the sexual immorality as the NRSV translates it. The conclusion can therefore be drawn that they are not simply cohabiting together. Paul levels another charge against the Corinthians – no one in the congregation addressed this man and his actions. The charge is great. It is noted within the text that not even the pagans permit a man sexual contact with his step mother.
I add a note here on the pagans: The same word in Greek is translated as both pagan and gentiles – ethne – we see the English words ethnic and ethnicity coming from it. In the Jewish context of St. Paul, an ethne is anyone who is not Jewish. The word carried in the Jewish context, a very negative connotation of being unclean, non kosher and therefore, not to be mingled with.
Paul underscores the seriousness, both in the Jewish context and in the gentile/pagan context, that this activity is not acceptable. From this perspective, such behavior aught to have been mourned by the community and not tolerated. Paul’s answer to such behavior is removal from the community.
The course of action prescribed by Paul is that the assembly is to gather. Paul notes that he will be with them, if not physically, at least spiritually. The assembly is then to “hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh so that he spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.” Two points need to be addressed: 1) hand him over to Satan . . .; 2) that his spirit might be saved . . .
I’ll handle the second phrase first. It appears that what Paul has in mind, at least in part, is that the rejection by the community is to lead to the redemption of the sinner. The hope is that the sinner when faced with the problem will turn and repent and therefore be saved in the end. The first phrase is somewhat more complicated. To handle it, we need to look into the next verses as a point of reference.
Paul turns attention to the images of the Passover. He draws upon the images of yeast (leaven) and the properties of yeast in the dough. Just a little yeast makes the whole dough rise. The image is meant to be a reflection about the community. It is the community – the whole, the church – that Paul is concerned with. His point as reflected in this image is that this behavior is not to be condoned and tolerated, because this sinful behavior and any sinful behavior will corrupt the entire body. His case in point in verse 6 is that their boasting about the behavior and their failure to address the problem in the assembly is already a mark of their collusion with the behavior. The corrupting effects have already taken place.
The Passover reference to yeast is added. The preparation in any Jewish home for the Passover is the removal of all yeast from the house. The regular dishes are removed. The entire house is scrubbed and the old food is removed. The Passover dishes replace the regular ones and the home is ready for the celebration. Paul makes reference to the fact that Jesus was the Passover Lamb. Therefore, the Passover Lamb has already been sacrificed. Now is the time clean out all leaven – remove all of the polluting substances from the community to make it ready.
Several notes about Passover are helpful:
· It is the celebration of when the angel of death passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt to set them free from the slavery.
· A lamb was slain and the blood smeared on the door jams and lintels as the sign of the presence of Israel – the sign for the angel to Passover
· To have been thrown out of the house would have meant sure death to anyone on the outside.
Another image comes to mind around the day of Yom Kippur. In ancient days the day of atonement centered around symbolically placing the sins of the people upon goat – which has come to be known as the scapegoat – and then sending the goat out into the wilderness where Satan and all the demons were believed to dwell to be devoured, thus also devouring the sins of the people.
We’re now ready to try to understand what Paul may have been talking about when he commanded that they turn him over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh. Casting someone out of the community of the church would be tantamount to rejecting them from under the protection of the blood of Christ to leave them vulnerable to the angel of death. It would tantamount to relegating them to the wilderness, without the protection of the church to dwell where the demons dwell. Paul states his believe about the church, therefore, as being the place of protection under the mark of the blood of the Passover (Paschal) Lamb that was slain. In Paul’s thinking, the church has become an entrance into the Covenant relationship which God established with the people Israel beginning with Abraham. Note in those first verses, Paul does not think of them any longer as ethne – the pagans or gentile. Paul compares them to the pagans as expecting more of their behavior then the pagans. Paul considers them part of the covenantal people and part of God protected community under the protection of the Paschal Lamb’s blood that stops the angel of death. Paul is calling upon the church at Corinth to celebrate the Passover, or at least to live as though they were in perpetual celebration of the Passover of God.
Paul advocates for them to break any contact within the community, with anyone who practices sexual immorality, but then adds to the offenses anyone who is greedy, robbers, idolaters. Note again: they are to disassociate with them within the community. The same rules do not apply for those who are already outside of the community. Paul’s total concern is cleansing the church – getting out all the leaven that might pollute it. He is not concerned with correcting all the ills of the world. However, for those within the church, the disassociation is total. He urges them not to even eat a meal with such a one. Paul adds to the list even more extensively – he adds revilers and drunkards to the list of those to be thrown out. His invective is to “drive out the wicked person from among you.”
It’s important to turn to some understandings about interpretation. First, it’s important to note that there are some legitimate reasons to ask questions at this point. First, in the last chapter, 4 Paul urged the people who were judging him that he doesn’t even judge himself and that judgment must be reserved for the Lord who is far more qualified to know. Now, in chapter 5 he requires that the Corinthians judge those within the community – and with the end that they be removed from the community. The question that needs to be reflected is this, how do you reconcile the polarity created by these two instructions?
It was interesting to see the group process taking place. Thinking went immediately to the ministry of Jesus. The method employed in trying to understand to understand this dilemma is one that actually finds it’s roots in the reformation theology of Martin Luther. The methods of coming to terms with the Bible are called hermeneutics. Luther’s hermeneutic was to bring the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to bear upon any text within the Bible to begin to understand it. It looking to the example of Jesus, that hermeneutic is being employed.
Pail as a Pharisaic Jew was very connected to the law – the Torah. He was acquainted with the entire law and the codes. Paul’s teaching on the expulsion of the sinners from the community comes directly from the law codes, and this injunction against living with a step mother. The prescription was the same. See Deuteronomy 22:20; 27; Leviticus 18:7-8. Through out Jesus’ life and ministry, the people that he was drawn to, dined with were those who had been cast out of the community because of their uncleanliness according to the legal prescriptions of the law. At Levi’s house, Jesus ate with those identified as tax collectors and sinners. When criticized for his actions, Jesus responded that it was the sick who needed the physician, not the well, and added to their criticism, “go and learn what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice.”
The question for faith and life becomes one of which road to take: do we take the road of judgment and drive the sinners out of our company; or do we take the road of grace, inviting sinners in to communion – to our company. Grace is not an easy road because we walk a tight rope. Jesus did not dismiss or condone sin. He did not advocate for an “anything goes” policy; yet, he kept the sinners in his company and loved them. We walk a delicate balance between the two and the hermeneutic that we choose is important because it will determine our direction and our way of operating. The example that we have in Jesus’ life and ministry is that he was tough on sin, but kind to the sinner.
© Copy write held by The Rev. Dr. Kipp W. Zimmermann
Friday, October 17, 2003