First Corinthians is an amazing, up close and candid look into some of the gritty things that can take place in a church setting, both then and now. The wisdom that we can take from this book is so deep in its relevance and application, and the church of the 21st century would do well to read it, study it, and learn from it. This week I am going to skip chapter four and look at chapter five. I believe that this chapter holds verses that many people today take out of context, applying them to their worldview and the way that they view and approach church in general.

The thirteen verses in this chapter pack quite a punch and often illicit feelings of discomfort by those that read them. We have become, in our western culture, people who have been conditioned to make sure that we do not step on other people’s toes. We have been strictly taught the words of Matthew 7:1, “Do not judge, so that you will not be judged.” The problem is that we have misinterpreted this to mean, “I won’t judge you if you won’t judge me.” To boil it down to one word: "Tolerance." The text in Mathew is not a text about judging people in this sense at all. This is a warning about hypocritical self-righteousness and in no way excludes 1 Corinthians’ 5 instruction of church discipline.

The believers in Corinth were operating under the idea that they had found freedom in Christ and that their freedom somehow superceded the moral law given to Israel in the Old Testament. They were so self-assured in their thinking and wisdom that they elevated themselves theologically and spiritually to a place that was counter to Christian thinking and counter to the gospel Paul had taught them. target="_blank">Deuteronomy 27:20 specifically forbid sleeping with your father’s wife. The attitude and mindset that this man had was that he had somehow transcended these fleshly hang-ups (which were not only counter to the law of the Old Testament but were also an insult in his own Greco-Roman culture) and that his Christian freedom afforded him the ability to live immorally.

Now there may be some of you who are questioning what this has to do with us in the 21st century. Well we still abhor incestuous relationships in our society and culture but we have many other things that we have begun to see be eroded in the church. Church has increasingly become less and less distinct from the culture around us. This passage deals with more than just sexual sins. Sexual immorality is focused on primarily because of the situation that Paul is dealing with specifically in his correspondence with the church at Corinth. But in verses 9-11 Paul lists other areas of immorality that the church needs to stand up and take a stance on in regards to church discipline.

This passage is not, I repeat not, dealing with how those in the church should interact with those outside of the church who are not believers. He is specifically dealing with those within the body of Christ who are living in an immoral way. (Which as I have just mentioned is not limited to sexual issues)

Just this week I saw the California state courts begin to allow homosexual marriages. It saddens me to see how our culture is blurring the lines between right and wrong but what bothers me the most is that there are churches out there who have begun to compromise and to support those within their congregations who claim to be believers and followers of Christ. There are denominations of Christianity that are allowing practicing homosexuals to be in leadership positions and claim that allowing this does not in any way contradict scripture, and that ultimately Jesus is love and is accepting to all who love him.

This is the same attitude as the man in this passage of scripture and the publicizing and boasting of those within his congregation. For him, his own experience of freedom in Christ was sufficient to assure him that what he was doing was either right or, at least, of no moral significance. (Richard B. Hays, 1st Corinthians, p 91). Today many people have adhered to this mindset and many others champion it in those around them in an effort to be caring and tolerant.

How does all this pertain to us? In our time, too, we have within the church people claiming that their newly attained enlightenment or wisdom sets them free precisely as Christians to disregard the teachings of Scripture and tradition on moral issues (not just sexual conduct but other matters as well, such as materialism and the use of violence). They boast in their liberated transgression of what they regard as outmoded norms.

"What would Paul say to the church today? Shouldn’t we mourn rather than celebrate when people are making the blatant decision to disregard scripture? Doesn’t scripture continue to speak directly to us today just as it would have then?” (Hays, 92) These are some very weighty questions that we as the church must face head on if we are to see a future for a church that is grounded in morality and in truth.