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.
