First Corinthians 5:1-13
Paul had heard certain things regarding the church in Corinth and he knew
that they were really happening. Here he writes by revelation (in
accordance with the information being revealed to him via the
holy spirit within him) regarding one of
these subjects.
I Corinthians 5:1 and 2:
5:1Fornication among you is wholly heard-of,
even fornication of-this-kind which (is) not-even among the
Gentiles – so-as-for someone to have (his) father's wife! -
.2and you are having been puffed-up2
and have not rather mourned in order that the (person) having
done this work may be lifted out-from your midst!
Paul comes straight to the point: a great amount is presently being heard
of how there is fornication among you holy-people (sanctified-people,
Christians, saints, children of the only true God), and such fornication
which is not even done among the Gentiles (people of nations other-than
Israel/Judah who have not believed what God has said regarding Himself
and His son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore are not holy-people,
they do not have holy spirit-life and therefore are not children of God,
they are not Christians).
The basic meaning of "fornication" is "wrongful sexual
activity/relations." The Gentile fornication that Paul is referring to
is that-which was generally practiced by some Gentiles during their
gatherings as a form of worship and service to their idols or
devil-gods, right there in the middle of it all, even on the altar!
This, of course, was indeed contrary to what Paul had been teaching the
Corinthian holy-people now that they had received the gift of
holy spirit from the only true God and were
able to worship Him in spirit and in truth.
But what kind of fornication could be so contrary that not even the
Gentiles would do it during their worshipping and serving their "gods"?
This was specifically in such a manner as for someone to have the
wife/woman of his father. The son had sexual relations with his father's
wife/woman - who was either the son's natural mother or his step-mother!
One of the young men in the assembly, the church, in Corinth did this as
part of his "worship" and "service" supposedly to the only true God! He
brought over some of his old idolatrous practices which he used-to
perform towards idols and devil-spirits (demons), and not only their
practices but he heightened that form of idol worship and service to a
more devilish degree by having sexual relations with his father's woman
which was expressly forbidden by God. He did this idolatrous act
knowingly and willingly within the fellowship of the holy-people who
were to worship and render-service towards God as God instructs. This
was like slapping the face of God bringing idolatry and devil-spirit
worship into His church, among His children in the disguise of doing it
all for God. No wonder this sort of fornication was not even among those
Gentile people who had refused what the true God had said and instead
chose to believe the lie of the devil.
However, the other holy-people in this fellowship of God's children were
puffed-up when this sort of thing happened and were remaining puffed-up
(literally: they were physically or naturally breathing and swelling up;
figuratively: they were inflated in their fleshly thinking regarding the
situation). And, they had not more-so mourned (lamented) for the purpose
and result that the person having done this work (deed, action) would be
taken and carried-out from the middle of them, from the gathering of
holy-people who ought to worship and serve God as God asks them to
worship and serve Him.
Also, did you notice that Paul called this act of fornication against God
"work"? It certainly would have taken a lot of energy, action, work, for
this act of "worship" and "service" to be done. Even though this person
put effort, energy, work into his action, it was very much contrary to
God and all that God asks His children to do
as worship and service to and for Him.
[Reference: Leviticus 18:8; Deuteronomy 22:30 and 27:20; Ezekiel
16:15-34; Matthew 5:32, and 15:16-20; John 4:24; Acts 15:20 and 29;
Romans 12:1 and 2; I Corinthians 6:18; II Corinthians 7:8-12; Revelation
17:1-19:2.]
Verses 3-5:
.3For I indeed, being absent by body
but being present by spirit, have already judged2 as
being present the (person) having thus rendered this-thing
to-work, .4in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, you and
my spirit having been gathered-together with the ability of
the Lord Jesus: .5to give the (person)
of-this-kind over to satan into destruction of the flesh in order
that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
In truth, I am physically away-from you at this time but I am spiritually
near-by or beside you because we all have the same holy spirit-life
within us being connected one with another, just the same as the limbs
of a physical body (Paul emphasizes this by his usage of the emphatic
"my"). Indeed I have already made the decision in the name of "our Lord
Jesus Christ" on the person who has effected (caused to effect,
effectively brought-down) fornication in this manner as being present
with all of you holy-people in Corinth.
Paul writes "our Lord Jesus Christ" which ought to emphasize to the
readers that the resurrected Christ Jesus is their Lord, the Master of
all of them, including Paul, and also the person who had committed this
fornication. Also, we need to note that Paul's judgment was made "in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ." When reading the phrase "in the name
of," we should understand that when God talks about something being done
"in the name of" something or someone else it incorporates the fullness
of everything involved with the one named. Regarding the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ, it includes all that the name of "Lord" and the name
of "Jesus" and the name of "Christ" represent and stand for. "In the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ" means: within the sphere of action of all
the authoritative-power, and ability, etc, that God gave to Jesus when
he raised him up out-from the dead-people, and gave him the name that is
above every other name, designating the resurrected Jesus being Lord and
Christ (refer to Matthew 1:21; Acts 2:21 and 38; 3:6 and 16; 4:7-12, and
30; Romans 1:3 and 4; Ephesians 1:19-23; Philippians 2:9-11; II
Thessalonians 3:6; and chapter 1 of this "Study of I Corinthians").
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when all of you Corinthian
holy-people are assembled together with my holy spirit-life (because we
all have the same and it cannot be separated spiritually) and together
with the ability of the Lord Jesus (in conjunction with the able-power,
capability of the Lord Jesus, which all of us holy-people have within
our holy spirit-life), the judgment (decision) is that: you must
give-over this sort of person to satan (hand him over, deliver him
beside/alongside satan, the name ‘satan’ emphasizing the devil's
opposing and adversarial attributes) which will result-in him paying the
penalty of destruction of his flesh (ruination and slaying, disaster
with death, his physical death may happen quickly) with the purposed
result definitely being that this holy-person's holy spirit-life will be
saved in/during the time of the day of the Lord.
Because this person is a holy-person (a true Christian, one who has
already received the gift of holy spirit) there is no way that he will
have to go through the wrath period of time, because when Christ will
come to be present he will firstly gather-together all holy-people with
him which begins the day of the Lord. However in the physical
category this person must receive the judged sentence right-now, at that
present time, so that he does not continue to fornicate among the rest
of God's children - the church of God in Corinth. Paul tells the
Corinthian church to give such a person along to satan, get him out of
their meetings, since it is the devil that he is worshipping and serving
with his flesh under the guise of worshipping and rendering service to
the only true God.
Even though this person had received the gift of holy spirit just the
same as everyone else to whom Paul was writing had received it, this
person refused to worship and serve God as God had instructed him to do
so by way of Paul's teachings previously, which is to worship God in
spirit and in truth, and serve Him in accordance with his holy spirit.
Doesn't this really show us that it is entirely an individual's
free-will decision to do what God and/or the Lord Jesus Christ would ask
a person to do by means of the gift of holy spirit?
It is up to the freedom of will on the Christian's part to behave and
live according to God's revealed Word (either the Word which has
previously been written-down, and/or the Word received via holy spirit
right-then-and-there in a specific situation, and/or that-which God or
the Lord Jesus Christ has instructed someone else to tell you, etc). God
and the Lord Jesus Christ do not control God's
children, neither does the gift of holy spirit.
We are not forced or controlled to do anything with and for God in this
life before Christ comes to gather us together with him - it is entirely
up to each individual to believe and carry out what God instructs.
Therefore anyone saying that "God forced me" or "Jesus controlled me" or
"the spirit pushed me and forced me to do such and such" is speaking a
lie from satan, for it is the devil and his angels (referred to as
devil-spirits or demons) who do the forcing, the dominating, the pushing
around, the "slaying in the spirit" with their devil-spirit power, etc,
even though they may claim that it is the only true God doing this!
You may ask: what does Paul mean when he says to give this person over to
satan? It means just that - take this person
out of the church where those who want to worship and serve the only
true God are gathered together and thereby he is removed from
influencing the rest of God's children. This holy-person is taken out
from the midst of God's household and so is
no-longer under God's protection during this life, which God affords to
those who honestly endeavor to do His will, because God will not force
His will upon that person. This holy-person has opened himself up to the
influence of satan (the devil) by his own
choice in the walk/behavior category in the fleshy realm. See Acts 7:42
and Romans 1:24.
However, this holy-person continues to have that gift of holy spirit
which he received at the time of his first believing what God gave
mankind to believe regarding Himself and His son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
This holy spirit cannot be taken away from
him, he cannot lose it, and therefore he most definitely is saved in the
spirit category to God and he will be part of the gathering-together
when Christ comes for all holy-people. But this person at that time
chose that during his earthly life he would not walk with/for God but
would instead do what the devil instructed him to do by various
means even though he knew better, he had
already been taught the will of God.
Also, we should recognize and understand that when Paul says “to give the
(person) of-this-kind over to satan into destruction of the
flesh” this cannot refer to this fornicator becoming “possessed” by a
devil/demon because all holy-people (Christians) have been bought with
the price that the Lord Jesus Christ paid, and this fornicator who is a
holy-person has holy spirit-life within him. A holy-person (Christian,
having the spirit of Christ within him/her) can never have a
devil/demon inside of his physical body.
[Reference: Matthew 12:31; John 13:27; Acts 53-10; I
Corinthians 12:12-27; II Corinthians 2:6-11; Ephesians 1:19-23;
Philippians 2:13; Colossians 1:27, and 2:5; I Timothy 1:18-20. For
further study on "the day of the Lord" you may read my studies I Thessalonians, II Thessalonians, and chapter 15
of this study on I Corinthians.]
Verses 6-8:
.6Your boast (is) not beautiful; you
knew2 that a small leaven leavens the whole lump, don't
you? – (yes.) .7You
must clean-out the old leaven in order that you may be a new lump
according as you are unleavened, for even our Passover was
sacrificed - Christ, .8so-that we may keep-the-feast, not
in an old leaven, nor in a leaven of badness and evilness, but
in unleavened of genuineness and truth.
Paul continues teaching the Corinthian holy-people regarding the
walk/behavior category and also the spirit category. Your subject or
theme for boasting (speaking loudly so others can hear what is said) is
not beautiful (it does not have a manifested decorous, harmonious
and acceptable goodness). Don't you all know (perceive, see) that a
small amount of leaven in a loaf of bread leavens the whole lump of
bread? The Greek construction of this rhetorical question is in such
manner that the unwritten answer must be "yes" – we know that a small
leaven leavens the whole lump.
Leaven is a substance used for fermentation in dough or a liquid such as
sourdough. It is like yeast, or a material such as baking powder used to
make a gas to lighten or raise dough or batter. Leaven is something that
modifies in some respect and degree. It permeates mingling-with and
altering what it comes in contact with. It is something introduced into
something else so as to affect the other throughout. It either vitalizes
or corrupts the total quality, itself being included in the whole.
Don't you know that a small leaven put into a mass of something leavens
(affects with/by itself) the total mass? There is not any part of the
original mass that is unaffected by the infusion of the leaven. It does
not confine itself to its own small area, but it spreads its influence
and effects over the entire area where other parts of the mass are.
In the walk/behavior category: you must clean-out (purge out from among
yourselves) the leaven that has existed for a long time. For those of
the Gentile background the leaven here refers to the
Gentilish thinking-patterns, the attitudes
of worshipping and serving idols and devil-spirits in order to gain
favor with/from the only true God or with/from a false-god. For those of
the Israeli background this would refer to all they did themselves in
their sacrifices, etc, as they awaited the true sacrifice, the Christ,
and the resulting time of not needing a leaven but of being unleavened
afterwards.
You must actively remove the old leaven thus making what remains free
from every foreign mixture. Why? For the purpose and result that you
all-together may be a new lump, a mass which only lately originated –
just as or in comparison to the truth that you all-together are
unleavened in the spirit category. You are unmixed or uncontaminated by
any leaven in the spirit category because emphatically in truth our
Passover Who is Christ was sacrificed – past-tense – Christ our Passover
has previously been killed and offered in sacrifice to the only true
God. Christ is "our" Passover - all of us together, you and I and every
other holy-person together.
During the old covenant times God instructed the children (sons,
descendants) of Israel/Jacob regarding the Passover and the Feast of
Unleavened Bread (refer to Exodus chapter 12). Usually the people would
bake their bread with a small piece of leaven in it, but from the
killing and offering in sacrifice of the Passover lamb and during the
whole time of the Feast of Unleavened Bread they were not allowed to put
any leaven in the dough to make their bread. All of this was a type
(pattern) to God's people at that time that the promised seed would
redeem and save them from the sin and its consequences as promised by
God initially in Genesis 3:15. Therefore, after the one true and
complete sacrifice was made (by the Messiah/Christ giving himself as the
sacrifice receiving the right/just consequences of the sin and sins
against the only true God), then God's people would no-longer need to
offer any other sacrifice because nothing would need to be added-to or
taken-away-from them in order to make them acceptable to God. They
themselves would not at some future time be permanently killed and
burned-up by God’s fire, as their physical sacrifices were when God
accepted those physical sacrifices in their place so that they could
stay alive. The true and complete Passover sacrifice, which would be
offered once by the Christ, would permanently redeem and save them by
making them new – as a new loaf of bread having already been raised-up
and therefore not in need of any leaven to raise them up. They would at
a future time-period be raised-up by the Christ and given new spiritual
bodies.
Our Passover has already been sacrificed. Jesus Christ was the complete
Passover lamb of God and he has been
raised-up by God from among the rest of the dead-people and given his
new spiritual body. God provided the lamb to be sacrificed, and it was
Jesus Christ's own freedom of will to carry out that sacrificial
offering of himself to God on behalf of mankind. Christ has already been
killed and offered in sacrifice to God on our behalf. God has accepted
Jesus Christ's sacrifice of himself by raising him from the dead and
giving him his new body with eternal holy spirit-life. Therefore, a
person is made accepted to God within Christ once he/she believes
that-which God has given to be believed regarding Himself and His son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. We are God's people, His children,
His sons with His life within us – holy
spirit-life.
The resurrected Christ is the one who accomplished the plan of redemption
that God said had to be paid-in-full in order to righteously
(justifiably) make holy spirit-life permanently available to mankind.
Christ accomplishment of redemption covers the spirit category and the
physical/natural category.
Re-reading verses 6-8:
Verses 6-8:
.6Your boast (is) not beautiful; you
knew2 that a small leaven leavens the whole lump, don't
you? – (yes.) .7You
must clean-out the old leaven in order that you may be a new lump
according as you are unleavened, for even our Passover was
sacrificed - Christ, .8so-that we may keep-the-feast, not
in an old leaven, nor in a leaven of badness and evilness, but
in unleavened of genuineness and truth.
Paul writes to the Corinthian holy-people: you are spiritually unleavened
because you have already been given the gift of holy spirit from God by
means of the Lord Jesus Christ which makes you all together a new mass
of people, the church of God, the assembly of called-out people from
other people because you are children of God. You have been redeemed.
You have been delivered. The fully-manifested totality of this will come
to pass when Christ comes in the future to gather all the holy-people
together with him, because then all holy-people will receive spiritual
bodies as he received when he was raised from the dead by God his Father
(refer to Philippians 3:21).
We (all of us holy-people no matter where we live) do not need any leaven
because Christ our Passover was sacrificed – it has been done, it is
accomplished, it does not need to be redone, in truth it cannot be
redone. We have received the benefits of our Passover and we live in the
time of being unleavened. Spiritually we are new and complete in the
newness of our holy spirit-life which cannot be contaminated or mixed-up
with another spirit or fleshy-thing, it cannot be leavened with
something else – this is what God says! However, mankind may try to mix
it up with worldly influences which only make the man himself
contaminated in the walk/behavior/fleshly category (it does not affect
the holy spirit-life itself within the Christian).
If any person today, whether they be Christian or non-Christian, thinks
that by offering sacrifices, no matter what kind, to the only true God
that they will become accepted by Him because of those sacrifices, then
what they are really saying to God is that they do not believe what He
has said and they refuse to believe that the Lord Jesus Christ was able
to accomplish redemption and salvation on their behalf. What arrogance
on the part of that man or woman against God and the Lord Jesus Christ!
Oh how satan would enjoy a person's rejection
of the only true God and His son, the Lord Jesus Christ!
The consequence or result of the resurrected Christ being our Passover is
that we may presently and actively keep the feast (celebrate the
festival) because we are now living, we are alive after and following
the time of Jesus Christ having offered himself as the sacrifice, the
Passover lamb, to God. Christ is alive and so are we spiritually because
we have received the spirit of Christ within us. We are alive and are
living during the festive time – unleavened.
How do we celebrate Christ being our Passover during the everyday living
of our lives in the walk/behavior category?
-
not within the sphere of action of a leaven
that has existed for a long time – such as the old Gentilish activities or the old Israeli/Judean activities;
-
nor within the sphere of action of a leaven
consisting-of all forms of badness and evilness (active malignancy)
carried out in the fleshy mind and body;…
…but contrary to that kind of "festivity":
-
we holy-people are to keep the feast (which
we are living spiritually) within the sphere of being unleavened with
our actions consisting-of:
-
genuineness (as being examined regarding
our everyday living by God in the bright sunlight and found to be
genuine, sincere), and
-
truth (living every day in accordance with
that-which issues from God, His essential reality, His inherent verity).
We celebrate the festival of Christ being our Passover by being un-mixed,
uncontaminated, unleavened, by being within genuineness and truth – all
that God in Christ has given to us and made us to be - holy-people -
children of God. We are to worship and serve as God asks us to do so,
not in any other way!
[Reference: Exodus chapter 12; Leviticus 17:11, and 23:5-8; Deuteronomy
chapter 16; Luke 13:21; John 1:29 and 36; I Corinthians 6:20, 7:23, and
chapter 15; Galatians 5:9; Philippians 3:20 and 21; I Thessalonians
4:13-18; Hebrews 9:22; I Peter 2:19-25; I John 3:1 and 2; and for
details regarding sin and its consequences, you may read my study of Appendix to Romans.]
Verses 9-11:
.9I wrote to you in the letter not to be
mixed-up-together with fornicators - .10not altogether
(mixed-up-together with) the fornicators of this world or the
covetous-people or catching-people or idolaters, since you owe-it
consequently to go-out from the world! - .11but now I
wrote to you not to be mixed-up-together if-ever someone being named
"brother" may be a fornicator or a covetous-person or an idolater or
a reviler or a drunkard or a catching-person - with the
person-of-this-kind not-even to eat-together!
Paul further explains what he is presently writing in this letter to the
Corinthian Christians which will have been completed by the time they
receive it. He says: I wrote this letter to you holy-people to teach you
not to have intercourse or company with fornicators – but, please note
that I am not entirely and exclusively talking about being mixed-up
together with…
-
the fornicators belonging-to this world
(fornicators who are not children of God because they do not have holy
spirit-life within them), or
- the covetous people belonging-to this world (people who are
constantly-wanting to have more, greedy, always intentionally grasping
and reaching out to get something else), or
- catching people belonging-to this world (people who seize and carry off,
here used in the bad-sense of snatching and taking suddenly away as
their catch or booty, but what is left-remaining is plundered - spoiling
people and things), or
- people belonging-to this world who are idolaters (people who practice
rites and rituals of worship and service to so-called 'gods' instead of
only worshipping and serving God Who is the Father of the Lord Jesus
Christ; the idols may take the form of devil-spirits, statues,
wood-carvings, icons, people, computers, the web, and everything else
which is not the only true God),…
…since, if I were writing within the context of this world, in
correspondence with that you are obligated (you ought) to come-out from
the world!
If the context of Paul's teaching to them was specifically only regarding
their not being mixed-up together with the fornicators of this world,
then here he would be instructing them by revelation from God and/or the
Lord Jesus Christ that the holy-people have to leave this present world
right-now! The people of this world (referring to those who do not
believe what God says and therefore do not have holy spirit-life and
thus are not children of God) are fornicators in the walk/behavior
category and they carry-out abominations against God, no matter what
disguise or covering they may put on/over themselves and their
activities. Paul is making it clear that even though we holy-people
should not mix ourselves up with the fornicators of this world, it is
obvious that we must physically live in this world (and if we should die
then we remain dead in this world) until such time as our Lord Jesus
Christ comes to gather us all together with him out-from this present
world.
But the context here is within the Corinthian church (which
consists of holy-people). Paul explains that he is writing at the
present time to all the holy-people telling them not to have intercourse
or company with someone who is being named, known and called "brother"
(a holy-person with the same holy spirit-life within him) should that
brother be a fornicator, or a covetous-person, or an idolater, or a
reviler (an abuser, one who uses abusive language and reviles against
God and so hurts other brothers and sisters), or a drunkard (one who is
drunken with wine, the drink which the Lord Jesus Christ himself told
people to remember his sacrifice by), or a catching-person. Instead of
all the holy-people leaving this present world (which is impossible
until Christ comes for us), they are to remove the brother who is a
fornicator from within the Corinthian church, from their meetings and
gatherings.
And Paul continues by revelation that: not only should the holy-people
not be mixed-up together with such a brother, but they should not eat
together with him. They were not to eat bread nor drink wine in
remembrance of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ and all that it
signifies and has made us to be today with such a person.
A brother who would do those things which Paul has just listed would in
fact be saying to God that he no longer believed what God has said
regarding Himself and the Lord Jesus Christ - how they had worked
together to accomplish mankind's redemption and thus made it available
for any man or woman to be saved and to receive His gift of holy spirit
by means of the Lord Jesus Christ. A brother or sister who would do
these things would not lose the holy spirit-life which they had received
when they first believed the good-message which Paul or another person
had taught them, but now they would be behaving the same way as those
people who reject what God has given them to believe. Therefore Paul
teaches in this letter that the rest of the holy-people must not be
mixed-up together with this brother and they must not-even eat together
with him – this is in the walk/behavior/fellowship category only,
because spiritually we are all members of the same church, the same body
in Christ with the same holy spirit-life within each one of us, and
therefore we cannot be separated spiritually one-from-another; we are
all children of God.
[Reference: John 17:14-19; Romans 1:29, and 16:17, 18; II Corinthians
6:14-18; Ephesians 1:19-23, 2:1-10, and 5:3-7; II Thessalonians 3:6, 14
and 15; Hebrews 13:4 and 5; I John 5:19; Revelation 21:8, and 22:15.]
Verses 12 and 13:
.12For what (is it) to me to judge the
(people) outside? You must judge the (people)
from-inside, .13but God will judge the (people)
outside. "You must lift-out the fornicator from you yourselves."
Paul again explains that he is not altogether writing about those people
who belong to the world (people without holy spirit-life) by asking what
business is it of his to make a decision on the people outside of the
church, is it up to him to do this now? Then
he instructs regarding the walk/behavior category: you holy-people are
to judge the holy-people who are inside of the church (make a decision
on those who have already received God's gift of holy spirit by means of
the Lord Jesus Christ) – this is to judge on each specific occasion that
may arise within the church regarding these kinds of situations in order
to protect each other from the devil's influence! The decision-made is
not to last for the entire physical life of the person regarding whom
they are deciding – because this person may ask God for forgiveness
concerning this matter in the walk category (behavior, fellowship
category, see I John 1:9). Of course any judgment they make will not
affect this holy-person's spiritual standing because he is already a son
of God having holy spirit-life within him just the same as they do!
God is the One Who will make His decision on the people who are outside
of the church – referring to those people who refuse to believe what God
says and who physically live and die between the day of Pentecost and
Christ's gathering of all the church together with him. God will judge
the unbelievers regarding their actions/works. The people who refuse
God's gift of holy spirit will be part of the
second death (refer to Revelation 20:12-15).
Again Paul helps the Corinthian holy-people to carry-out the judgment
which was made in the name of their Lord Jesus Christ regarding the
fornicator who was still in their midst within the church by referencing
a combination of scriptures previously written as part of the old
covenant writings: you must take-up and carry-out, remove the fornicator
from you yourselves – from the church of God. Let us read some verses
from the Book of Deuteronomy chapter 13 which are helpful for our
learning:
Deuteronomy 13:1-11:
If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of
dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a
wonder,
And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he
spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after
other gods, which thou has not known, and let us serve them;
Thou shalt not hearken
unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the
Lord your God proveth you, to know
whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all
your soul.
Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear him,
and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve
him, and cleave unto him.
And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall
be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from
the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and
redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the
way which the Lord thy God commanded thee to walk in. So
shalt thou put the evil away from the
midst of thee.
If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son,
or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which
is as thine own soul, entice thee
secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast
not known, thou, nor thy fathers;
Namely, of the gods of the people which are
round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the
one end of the earth even unto the other end of the
earth;
Thou shalt not consent
unto him, nor hearken unto him: neither shall
thine eye pity him, neither shalt
thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal
him:
But thou shalt surely
kill him; thine hand shall be first upon
him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.
And thou shalt stone him
with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away
from the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt,
from the house of bondage.
And all Israel
shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as
this is among you.
The above verses of Scripture are for our learning as it was written
regarding the children of Israel.
Today all holy-people (Christians) ought to continue to believe what God
has given us to believe in this day and time regarding Himself and the
Lord Jesus Christ - we are to believe and do what God says. Any
judgments made regarding the walk/behavior category within the church by
the holy-people to lift-out a brother who is a fornicator from being
among them not only protects those remaining among the fellowship of
holy-people when they all gather-together for prayer, etc, but it also
gives the brother who has done this wrong the opportunity to repent, to
change his mind and ask God for forgiveness, and if he does this then he
would be welcomed back into the company of the rest of the holy-people –
spiritually he could never leave them but it would only be in the walk
(behavior, fellowship, state) category that he would have to leave the
rest of the holy-people.
As we continue to read this letter/epistle, we should remember that all
holy-people are spiritually members of the church of God because we have
received God's gift of holy spirit within us
and our holy spirit-life cannot be removed from us nor can we remove
ourselves from it! Therefore if a holy-person who commits fornication
against God and His children is removed from the fellowship of the rest
of the holy-people, this can only be in the walk/behavior category – not
the spirit category for he can never be removed from being spiritually a
part of the church of God which is spiritually the body of Christ, and
he is and remains a brother of all holy-people.
[Reference: Deuteronomy chapter 17; Matthew 18:15-17; Acts 2:1-4; II
Corinthians 2:1-11; Ephesians 1:18-23, and 2:2-10; I Thessalonians
4:13-18; Hebrews 2:10-18; I John 1:3-10; II Thessalonians 3:6-15;
Revelation 20:12-15. Note: verbs with a superscript 2 (2)
immediately following them indicate the "perfect" tense - details are
provided in the "Relevant Notes" link of this study.]
And Paul continues to teach and explain in the next verse which has been
put into "chapter 6"…
