Sin in the church. It’s always been there. But this was sexual immorality. And not just sexual immorality, but some of the worst kind of immorality. A man was sleeping with his father’s wife! Whether that was his mother, or step-mother, it does not matter. It was evil, and it was wrong.
The church should have been horrified.
Instead, they boasted about it. Perhaps it was labeled “progressive.”
“It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father’s wife. And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this? For my part, even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus on the one who has been doing this. So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.”
In 3 places in the Old Testament, it was commanded not to have sexual relations with your father’s wife (Lev 20:11; Deut 22:30; 27:20). It was so severe of an offense it came with the death penalty.
Paul was not advocating the death penalty here. But he was saying take this very, very seriously. Put the man out of the assembly. Kick him out.
“Remove the wicked person from among yourselves.” (1 Cor 5:13)
The hope is that this man will repent and his spirit will be saved. By putting him out of the fellowship of the church, perhaps he will wake up as he to his spiritual emptiness. And even if he does not, at least it will not infect the whole of the rest of the church.
Sexual sin is nothing to mess around with. Paul, under inspiration of the Spirit, says that,
“All other All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body” (1 Cor 6:18).
And in another place, he says,