I Hearing That There Is Sexual Immorality Among You

 

I Hearing That There Is Sexual Immorality Among You

 

1 Corinthians 5:1-3: "I hear that there is sexual immorality among you, such as is not even found among the Gentiles, that someone has taken his father’s wife. And yet you have become arrogant; why have you not mourned and expelled the one who committed this from among you? For though I am absent in body, I am present in spirit (to pneumati), and I have already judged the one who committed this as if I were there."

It is absurd that serious moral deviations, such as sexual depravity, exist within the church. Surprisingly, however, the Corinthians seem to have taken this lightly. Paul clearly stated his position on this situation: "Expell this sexual immoral man." Just as a little leaven makes the whole dough rise, old leaven must be cast out for the sake of the holiness and purity of the church community.

Paul’s message was to expel this sexual immoral man from the church community. However, the Corinthians did not heed Paul's exhortation. Far from expelling the man who had committed sexual immorality, they were filled only with arrogant confidence and haughty bravado. This is because the man who had committed sexual immorality was a man of power.

The *to pneumati* (τῷ πνεύματι) signifies the Holy Spirit because of the article. Although Paul is elsewhere, the Holy Spirit is revealing this fact of the Corinthian church's corruption.

1 Corinthians 5:4-5: "In the name of the Lord Jesus, you gathered together with my spirit (tou emu pneumatos) and by the power of our Lord Jesus you handed this man over to Satan, so that the flesh (sarkos) might be destroyed and the spirit (to pneuma) saved on the day of the Lord Jesus."

The Greek Nessl Aland Bible uses the phrase "in the name of the Lord Jesus," while the Stephanus Bible uses the phrase "the power of the Lord Jesus Christ." "Tou emu pneumatos" (τοῦ ἐμοῦ πνεύματος) means "the Holy Spirit who comes upon me." The Holy Spirit handing someone over to Satan is exactly the same as how the Holy Spirit led Jesus to Satan after He was baptized. It causes them to be subjected to Satan's temptation.

Although believers receive a formal baptism, Satan tests whether this baptism is received with true faith. Therefore, those who fail to pass Satan's test remain under the dominion of Satan, not the Holy Spirit.

"If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." Jesus answered and said, "It is written: 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" These stones represent sinners under the law. The loaves of bread, as bread containing life, signify those who have cast off sin and become righteous. It is designed to mislead people into believing that they obtain righteousness by keeping the law. It means that one must not merely eat the bread (the life of heaven), but must first eat the Word. The meaning of the death on the cross and the resurrection is contained within the Word.

 

『Then the devil took Jesus to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “It is also written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

For a person to jump from the pinnacle of a temple is an act of suicide. However, Satan claims that an angel will help. Just as the Israelites who left Egypt complained against God because they lacked food, Satan makes them complain against God if the angel does not help. People immersed in a faith focused on material blessings think and act as they please in this way. They are trapped in the belief that no matter what the believers do, God will eventually help them. "Then the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. He said to him, 'If you will fall down and worship me, I will give you all these things.' But Jesus said to him, 'Get away from me, Satan! For it is written, “You shall worship the Lord your God and serve only him.”'" This Bible passage is from Matthew 4:8-10.

However, looking at Luke 4:5-8, it reads: “Then the devil took Jesus up to a high place and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment and said to him, ‘I will give you all this authority and its glory, for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if you will worship me, it will all be yours.’ Jesus answered and said, ‘It is written: “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”’”

Satan’s statement that “it has been handed over to me” implies that God has handed over to Satan the power to prosecute sinners. In the phrase “if you worship me,” the Greek word for “to worship” is proskuneses (προσκυνήσῃς, the base form is proskuneo). It carries meanings such as to flatter, to bow down, to show respect, and to worship. Here, it signifies the degree of showing respect rather than the actual act of bowing down. However, inwardly, it is a test of whether one serves both God and the world equally. This constitutes spiritual adultery.

** Sarkos (σαρκός) signifies the body of sin (the fleshly body). The reason such apostasy occurs in believers is that they act and attend church according to carnal thoughts.

There are two meanings here. One is a case where God saved this believer, but they mistakenly followed carnal thoughts. In this case, God gives Satan a thorn to cause them to enter into tribulation. Therefore, it is said, "The Spirit (τὸ πνεῦμα, to pneuma) is to be saved on the day of the Lord Jesus."

However, if someone who is not saved continues a fallen life after receiving a formal baptism and thinking they are saved, it means they actually lack faith and have not died to the body of sin. Romans 6:6-7 states, "We know that our old self was crucified with Jesus so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be slaves to sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin and declared righteous."

This distinction becomes the difference in whether one is truly repenting. This means that those who have no repentance and have not turned away are not saved. However, those who realize the error of carnal thinking and return to Jesus Christ still attain salvation.

Romans 8:1-5 "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, because of the weakness of the flesh, God did: He sent His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to condemn sin in the flesh, so that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For he who lives according to the flesh thinks of the things of the flesh, but he who lives according to the Spirit thinks of the things of the Spirit."