Corinth: A Church Gone Wrong

CORINTH: A CHURCH GONE WRONG

( 1Cor. 5:1-13)

I. HER REPUTATION (v. 1)

A. Widespread

It seems that even those outside the church knew

about this problem.

B. Well-known

It seems that nobody even tried to hide what was

going on.

C. Worldly

This church allowed sin within its membership that

even the heathen didn’t commit.

II. HER REACTION (v. 2)

A. Puffed Up

1. Paul uses the phrase “puffed up” 5 times in

this letter.

2. Each time he uses it to describe the pride-

filled attitude of the members of the church.

3. “Puffed up” literally means “inflated”.

Someone either has a swelled head or a swelled

chest.

B. Procrastination

1. The church chose to ignore the problems within.

2. The problems therefore got worse and worse, to

the point that we see here.

3. Putting off dealing with problems never leads

to a good result.

III. HER ROUTE TO CORRECTION (v. 3-8)

A. Exclusion (v. 5)

1. To save their spirit.

2. To purify the church.

B. Purity (v. 7)

1. A church that doesn’t strive for purity will

have more problems than she can hope to deal

with. The Bible says to put them out of the

congregation (v. 13).

2. A church that chooses to “overlook” certain

sins within the congregation will inevitably drift

far away from God.

3. A church member that thinks certain sins aren’t

as bad as others should first search the

scriptures and find out which sins Jesus was not

crucified for!

IV. HER RESPONSIBILITY TO DISCIPLINE (v. 9-12)

A. When Sin Is Openly Known (v. 9-11)

1. Every sin on this list has one thing in

common. They are all publicly known.

2. When a church member openly rebels against God

the church has the right and the responsibility to

exclude them.

B. When Sin Involves A Church Member (v. 12)

1. A church has no authority to judge those who

are not members.

2. A church has full authority and responsibility

to judge those who are within.