From time to time, I hear people saying: ″If only we could go back to the good old days of the New Testament church. When it all started back then, everything was simple and ideal.″ I often have to hold myself back from telling them: ″Perhaps not, when you consider just how bad the situation had been in the church in Corinth!″

So far, we have seen a church that is far from perfect-splitting into factions behind their favourite leaders, and abandoning anything that looks weak (even the cross of Jesus). Now, Paul addresses something else he has heard: ″It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate″ (1 Corinthians 5:1).

Corinth was known across the ancient world as a city of sex.⁵ The Greek temple dedicated to Aphrodite, the goddess of love, employed more than a thousand slaves and prostitutes,⁶ and was doing a roaring trade. But now, a scandal that even Corinth might think is beyond the pale is rocking the city-and it is happening in the church of Jesus Christ!

The church is meant to be a light shining in the darkness and salt disinfecting society (see Matthew 5:13-16), so Paul has to tackle this issue head on.

The problem is, ″a man is sleeping with his father's wife″ (1 Corinthians 5:1). This almost certainly means a member of the church is sleeping with his stepmother. What shocks Paul is not so much the man's sin, but the reaction of the church: ″And you are proud!″ (v. 2).

So, Paul tells them what to feel-not pride or superiority, but grief-and what to do: ″Put out of your fellowship the man who is doing this″ (v. 2). The Corinthians are to do this as a church, to be conscious of the presence of Jesus with them, and to hand the sinner ″over to Satan . . . so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord″ (vv. 3-5). The first aim of this action is for the sinner to respond with brokenness to his sin, and to seek God's forgiveness and the church's welcome. The second aim is for the church to stem the spread of sin (vv. 6-9).

Does that mean the church should retreat from sinful Corinth (vv. 9-10)? No! God will judge the world (v. 13). What the church must do is be holy (vv. 11-13).

Heavenly Father, help me to become more holy in every area of my life, including the area of sex. Help me to encourage my brothers and sister to holiness, too.