1 Corinthians 5:1-13 - Judging Sin in the Church

Marc Minter

FBC Diana

1 Corinthians • Sermon • Submitted 9 months ago • Presented 9 months ago

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Main Point: A church must judge one another rightly because sin is grievous, because there’s still hope, because sin is contagious, and because God’s judgment is worse.

Notes

Transcript

Introduction

In 1966, Sam Bowers became a member of Hillcrest Baptist Church in Laurel, MS. Two years earlier, Sam had played a key role in organizing a new version of the Ku Klux Klan – the White Knights of Mississippi. It’s not clear just how much the Hillcrest Baptist Church knew about Sam when he joined, but it’s public record that he was already widely known as a racist, a militant, and an outspoken leader of a violent anti-civil-rights movement. It’s hard to believe that anyone paying attention in Laurel, MS, did not know who Sam Bowers was.

Sam became the Imperial Wizard (or leader) of the White Knights, and he used his church membership at Hillcrest for credibility and for recruitment. As a member of a Baptist church, Sam was officially part of the largest Christian sub-culture in MS. And as a Sunday school teacher, Sam had weekly opportunities to teach and encourage church members to adopt his brand of pseudo-Christianity.

Over the course of nearly 30 years, the FBI attributed nine murders and 300 beatings, burnings, and bombings to Sam Bowers and his followers.[i] The first known murder was that of a man named Vernon. Vernon was a 58-year-old farmer and shop owner. His wife and children escaped their burning home that terrible night, but Vernon inhaled too much smoke while fighting back against their attackers. He died after he drove his family to the hospital in Hattiesburg.

Sam went to trial four times in the 1960s for being the one responsible for Vernon’s murder, but all four times he evaded justice. Finally, in 1998, Sam was convicted, and he spent about 8 years in prison. Sam Bowers died in 2006 of natural causes in the prison hospital. He was 82 years old… And, at the time of his death, he was still a member of Hillcrest Baptist Church. In fact, until he went to prison in 1998, he was still teaching a men’s Sunday school class at Hillcrest.

Friends, I’ve just said that a baptized, Lord’s Supper observing, Sunday school teaching, active member of a Baptist church for 32 years was simultaneously the Imperial Wizard of the KKK… Openly!

This is an extreme case, of course, but many of us have known unrepentant sinners to go on publicly and grievously in their sin without any public acknowledgement or statement from the local church. Maybe some of us in this room today are presuming upon God’s grace and expecting that no one has any business “meddling” in what you do or say on your own time.

But what does a church’s silence and inactivity regarding sin communicate? What does it say to the watching world? What does it say to fellow church members? What does your silence say to those indulging in sin? What does “holding your tongue to keep the peace” say to those being abused or cheated or neglected by a fellow church member?

Friends, today we’re going to read and consider a passage that may cut us right to the bone. Some of us in the room may feel quite proud of how healthy we are as a church, and there is certainly good reason to thank God for our relative health. By God’s grace, we are an increasingly healthy church.

We take church membership seriously. We take the gospel seriously. We believe Jesus is the Savior and the Lord of His people… and we believe our Savior-King intends to shape us into His own image by and through the very relationships we have with one another as church members.

I praise God for where we are, but I also know that the sort of gravity or weight or importance many of us feel about the church today can easily become a sense of pride or complacency or even antipathy… and it doesn’t take long at all.

The church in Corinth was established by one of the most serious and loving and thoughtful and exemplary pastors of all time – the Apostle Paul. And within just a few short years (certainly less than 5), the church of Corinth became so disordered that this letter Paul wrote to them contains almost no commendation other than the fact that he greeted them as “brothers” or Christians (1 Cor. 1:10).

Let’s read and consider 1 Corinthians 5 today, and let’s listen for the reasons the Bible itself gives for why a local church ought to practice meaningful membership… including church discipline.

Let’s all stand together as I read 1 Corinthians 5:1-13.

Scripture Reading

1 Corinthians 5:1–13 (ESV)

1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. 2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.

3 For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. 4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? 13 God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”

Main Idea:

A church must judge one another rightly because sin is grievous, because there’s still hope, because sin is contagious, and because God’s judgment is worse.

Sermon

1. Judging Rightly

The last time we were in 1 Corinthians, we concluded chapter 4, which ends with a question and a warning. Paul was coming to Corinth, and his intention was to bring order to a disordered church. But he was sending this letter (as well as Pastor Timothy) on ahead of him, so that the church members in Corinth might prepare themselves for correction and repentance.

At the end of chapter 4, Paul said, “What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?” (1 Cor. 4:21). It was up to them how they would receive Paul’s fatherly discipline, but discipline was the sort of loving leadership they needed, and discipline is what they were going to get.

It is no surprise, then, that the rest of this letter (from chapter 5 on through the end of chapter 14) is full of specific instructions about how to correct various errors. It’s also no surprise that Paul took great care in arranging his corrections in a particular sequence. Chapters 5-6 are about judging rightly within the church body; chapter 7 is about regulating their marriages and their sexual desires according to Scripture; chapters 8 through 10 are about how to place limits on Christian liberty for the sake of love and holiness; and chapters 11 through 14 are about how their relationships and functions as a church ought to be ordered.

Now, the reason I’ve given this quick overview of 1 Corinthians is that we want to take note of the importance of this first fatherly instruction. Where does Paul begin his pastoral efforts to get a disordered church back on the road to order and health? Well, he begins by calling them to remember what a church is and by calling them to act like a church.

In short, a local church is the visible kingdom of Christ in the world. It is the visible manifestation of the New Covenant of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the place where and the time when the whole world is put on notice: “These are Christians!” “King Jesus rules here!” “Our hope and allegiance are focused on Christ here!”

But the church in Corinth was so fundamentally disordered that Paul needed to correct their thinking about and their practice of church membership. What could be more fundamental to a church than its membership? …Who are we?

In v1, Paul says, “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans…” or “Gentiles” (KJV, NASB, NET). And if we read this with too much concern for the type of sin, then we are liable to miss the significance of what I just read.

Paul was writing to a bunch of Gentile (non-Jewish) Christians, and he just said that they were sinning more shamelessly than the “pagans” or the “Gentiles” (v1). But they are Gentiles (ethnically speaking)! So, Paul must be using this term in some different sense here.

Indeed, if we pay attention to the vocabulary Paul uses throughout this passage (especially the OT citation in v13), then we will begin to realize that he’s not talking about ethnicity… he’s talking the language of covenant… And this sets the stage for everything we read about in 1 Corinthians 5.

For us to rightly understand what it means to be a Christian, what it means to be a church member, and what it means to be in or out of the church… we must understand that the New Covenant of Christ is for a people (not a person), just as much as the old covenant (under Moses) was for a people (and not a person).

When God sent Moses to rescue the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, He wasn’t merely interested in an individual salvation for one believing Hebrew. God had a plan to form an entire kingdom of people, set apart for His glory and for His service. And when God brought the whole mass of Israelites into the Promised Land, God had already given them their covenant promises and stipulations… the structures and rules that were to distinguish them from all other nations.

And like the Israelites of old, individual sinners today become part of a whole kingdom of Christians… when they hear and believe the gospel… and visibly enter into fellowship with Christ and His people in the world.

There is an invisible kingdom of Christ, one that we cannot see just yet, but one we will see gathered and glorious on the last day. And there is a visible kingdom of Christ, one that we can and do see anytime Christians gather in the name of King Jesus to observe the signs He’s given to mark off His people.

Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are those two signs or ordinances or sacraments, which indicate who is in and who is out of Christ’s kingdom… who is in and who is out of the New Covenant… who is under God’s covenantal blessings through Christ and who is under God’s judgment or curse (exposed without cover to God’s wrath and condemnation).

And Christ Himself has given these signs to churches. Jesus authorized existing disciples to make new disciples by “baptizing” them “in the name of” or on the authority of “the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:18-19). As we’ve talked about many times before, this is not a verbal formula (you must say exactly these words) but an authoritative authorization (this sign – baptism – is done in the name of or by the authority of the only true God and His only Savior).

If you want to read more on this, then take a look at the language of Matthew 16:13-20, Matthew 18:15-20, and Matthew 28:18-20. These passages are the way Matthew teaches us that the New Covenant Church now operates in the world as the authorized ambassadors and spokespersons for the kingdom of Christ.

And this is why Paul tells the church of Corinth to “pronounce judgment” (v3) when they “are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus” (v4). This is why Paul uses the language of “inside” and “outside” and “associate” (v11-13).

Friends, the local church is not a consumer service provider. It is not an entertainment venue. It is not a community organization designed to meet various felt needs or to address all the social problems in the world. No, the local church is an embassy of the kingdom of Christ in the world. It is the only institution or group or gathering authorized by King Jesus to make public and binding judgments about who is in and who is out when it comes to God’s blessings and Christ’s salvation.

Individual sinners must hear the gospel. Individual sinners must repent (turn from their sin) and believe the gospel. And individual sinners must make their own profession of faith by publicly declaring their allegiance to Christ. But only a gathered body of believers… a church assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ… only a local church (as far as the Bible is concerned) has the authority to make a public statement on behalf of heaven – “This one is a Christian!”

So too, the local church is authorized (and even commanded by Christ) to make public statements on behalf of heaven when those who claim to be Christians are not acting like it. And this negative public judgment is the main thrust of our passage today. The church in Corinth had open and unrepentant and grievous sinners among them, and they were not thinking rightly about how to respond.

There are many reasons why churches today don’t practice church discipline, and one of the most frequent reasons (and, quite frankly, one of the most influential) is the rationale of love. It feels unloving to make judgments like this. But our passage today gives us at least 4 reasons churches should actually show true love by judging those among the membership.

Let’s look at each of these as they show up in our text. First, sin is grievous (v1-2). Second, there’s still hope (v3-5). Third, sin is contagious (v6-8). And fourth, God’s judgment is worse (v9-13).

2. Sin is Grievous (v1-2)

See how Paul begins by appealing to the grief they ought to feel about the reputation they have for “tolerating” sin (v1). Paul says, “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you” (v1). The KJV includes the word “commonly,” and the HCSB says “widely” (v1). The Greek word means “everywhere.” In other words, this isn’t just the report Paul got from “Chloe’s people” (1 Cor. 1:11)… This is a widely known reputation.

But rather than grief or shame, the church of Corinth was in some sense “arrogant” about their reputation (v2). Paul says that the right posture toward sin is “mourning” or “grief” (NIV) or sadness or lament. It should have been a cause for mourning that anyone among their church family was living in unrepentant sin.

Brothers and sisters, when one of us is giving ourselves over to sin, it is a grievous thing. It’s sad because the one sinning is hurting himself or herself. It’s sad because he or she is usually hurting others. It’s sad because Christ’s own name and glory are being slandered… “A Christian is sinning!?”

It’s bad that anyone sins, but it is especially heartbreaking and painful and disastrous when a Christian sins without apparent shame or regret. Don’t we know that sin is what Christ came to die for? Don’t we know that sin will lead us to destruction? Don’t we know that sin is appalling to the God who has gone to such great lengths to save us from its consequences?

One of the reasons we ought not be silent about sin among Christians is that we (of all people in the world) know just how terrible sin is! We know that sin is deceptive. We know that sin is fun for the moment, but its end is sorrow and death.

Parents often naturally feel the way God has intended us to feel about sin when we see it in our kids. We give our little ones rules to follow so that they might avoid the pain and shame we know will result if they disobey. And when they do disobey, we get angry (our rules have been broken; our authority has been disregarded) and we are sad. “Oh, little one… don’t you know that my rules are there for your good? Don’t you know that I have told you ‘no’ because I can see the danger that you can’t? I know that disobedience will lead to suffering for you!”

Friends, if you are giving yourself over to sin, then drop everything and invite someone into the dark corners of your life… so that they might help you avoid sin and all that comes with it. And, brothers and sisters, when we see public and unrepentant sin in one another, let’s lovingly and patiently confront that sin… so that we might help each other walk in freedom from the wicked bondage of sin.

One reason churches ought to speak up when a fellow church member is unrepentant (i.e., not turning away from sin) is because sin is grievous. It’s grievous to the one sinning; it’s grievous to those he or she is sinning against; and it’s grievous to slander the name of Christ in such a public and obvious way.

Another reason is that we hope to see the sinner repent and be saved.

3. There’s still Hope (v3-5)

In v3-5 we read an echo and an application of Jesus’s teaching recorded in the Matthew’s Gospel. There’s more here than we have time to talk about, and I’ve already mentioned the passages in Matthew 16, 18, and 28 which establish the foundation of Paul’s Apostolic command in 1 Corinthians 5 to “pronounce judgment… when you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus” (v4).

If you have questions or want to talk more about this, then please ask me or one of our other pastors about it after the service. For today, I want to focus on the purpose of church discipline and the reasons we see here that churches ought to practice it. And in v3-5, the reason is hope.

Look especially at v5. Paul says that the church’s “judgment” (v3) to “remove” the unrepentant sinner “from among” them (v2) is in some sense an act of “delivering this man to Satan” (v5). And v5 speaks of a kind of “destruction” that can lead to “salvation.”

Brothers and sisters, there are a number of graces (or means of grace) that we enjoy as church members that those outside of the church do not. As church members, we gather each Lord’s day to sing the word of God, to pray the word, to hear the word preached, and to regularly see the word on display in baptism and the Lord’s Supper. These disciplines (doing the same things over and over) create an environment that is conducive to spiritual life, to maturity, and to assurance.

But for some of us (those of us who may be living in unrepentant sin), this weekly practice and experience can also lead to spiritual stagnation, to foolishness, and to presumption. For a long time, preachers have warned their hearers that baptism, church membership, and even regular church attendance cannot save anyone. And this warning is true! But sometimes people take this to mean that such things are unnecessary or optional… and that’s the wrong way to think about it.

It is true that my justification before God is not based on anything I do, but only on what Christ has done for me. Sinners like me must believe that Jesus is the Christ and that He died and conquered death for me!

But it is a false and soul-destroying thought to imagine that anyone can believe in Christ and yet live in disobedience to Christ’s basic commands. The same Jesus who said, “Believe in me” (Jn. 14:1, 11), also said, “whoever does not obey [me] shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (Jn. 3:36)… and “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (Jn. 14:15).

So, when someone claims to be a Christian, yet does not aim to obey Christ in any meaningful way (i.e., doesn’t church on Sundays, doesn’t repent from sin, doesn’t give some effort to help other people follow Jesus), that one is giving evidence that he or she is not what they claim to be. This is not to say that anyone can judge with certainty who is and who is not a Christian, but it is to say that Christ has commanded local churches (congregations of Christians) to make judgments about the credibility of a person’s profession of faith.

When churches baptize a repenting and believing sinner, the baptizee is proclaiming faith and allegiance to Christ, and the congregation is also proclaiming something… “This one is a Christian.” That is definitionally what’s happening in baptism (whether you’ve ever realized it or not), so no church member can neglect the responsibility to judge other church members… We have already judged each other (all of us who are members of FBC Diana) by the very act of voting to affirm each other as church members… some joining by baptism, and others joining by having already been baptized by another true church.

Therefore, as church members, the standing judgement is: “All those on our membership roster are Christians, in so far as we can tell.” That’s why all church members in good standing are welcome to the Lord’s table when we observe the Lord’s Supper together.

The question is: “On what basis do we continue to make such an affirmation?” Biblically and historically speaking, Christians base that affirmation on one’s ongoing life of repentance and faith… “This one still talks like a Christian, still walks like a Christian, and still acts like a Christian… so far as we can observe in our lives together as church members.”

And that’s why Paul told the church in Corinth to “remove” or “pronounce judgment” on the unrepentant sinner “among” them (v2-3). They were to “deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh” (v5). In a public and obvious way, they were to remove the benefits and assurances of church membership and expose the unrepentant sinner to the full weight of Satan’s assaults (which are against every person in the world).

But look at v5. They were to do it in the hope that the unrepentant sinner might feel the full weight of his sin so that he might (at some point in the future) turn away from that sin and “be saved in the day of the Lord” (v5).

Friends, we live in a microwave world. We want everything, and we want it now. But those things that are most valuable in life come with painful slowness. And sometimes the path toward spiritual growth and maturity (or even Christian conversion!) travels right through the desert of misery and loneliness and despair.

John Calvin once prayed, “Grant, Almighty God, that… we may learn to loathe ourselves, and so lie down confounded and despairing on account of the sins and guilt we have contracted, and yet to know that true glory is offered to us and [to know] that we can be made partakers of it if we by true faith embrace Christ.”[ii]

The second reason we must be a church that speaks honestly about sin and repentance is because some of us are now or will in the future presume upon the riches of God’s grace, and we will forget how terrible sin is. But there is still hope… that unrepentant sinners might turn away from their sin… and embrace Christ with true faith… that will not be put to shame on the last day.

May God help us make right judgments now, so that we will be better prepared to hear God’s own pronouncement on “the day of the Lord” (v5).

4. Sin is Contagious (v6-8)

The third reason we see here that Paul gives for the church in Corinth to enact church discipline is the fact that sin is contagious. If one unrepentant sinner remains among the church, it won’t be long before others start to indulge in sin more freely as well. He writes, in v6, “Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?”

You’ve probably heard the saying, “Bad company corrupts good character.” Well, it’s true. It is far easier for a Christian to slide into sin than for a sinner to grow in genuine holiness. And if we ignore this reality, we put ourselves in danger.

In v6-8, we notice something I’ve frequently called “the already and the not yet” of the gospel. Paul says that “Christ” has already “been sacrificed” as “our Passover lamb” (v7). This means that an assembled body of Christians “really” is (in a sense) made pure or holy or “unleavened” by Christ’s sacrifice (v7).

The use of “unleavened” bread began with the Passover of Exodus 12. The people of God were not to use leaven in their bread during the annual “festival” so that they might be reminded of God’s deliverance and their hasty departure from slavery in Egypt. Over time, leaven became symbolic of corruption; and it served as a great analogy, since just a “little leaven” really does “leaven the whole lump.”

Paul’s point here was that the Corinthians were tolerating some of their church members who brought the corruption or evil or sin of their “old” lives into the fellowship of Christians (v7). But Christians are those who are supposed to have been made “new” (v7). As Paul wrote later, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Cor. 5:17).

Friends, many of us in the room have watched Christians turn their whole lives upside down by running off into sin. And some of us in the room can speak to this from our own experience. When we see others dabbling in sin or even giving themselves over to it, it makes that sinful indulgence more plausible to us.

One of the reasons churches must confront sin and remove unrepentant sinners from among their membership is so that the whole church might know that sin is to be avoided. If we choose to avoid confrontation, sin will spread… But if we choose to confront sin, then we will more likely avoid being corrupted by it.

5. God’s Judgment is Worse (v9-13)

For me, this last reason is the most compelling of all. These last 5 verses (if we will pay attention to the biblical language of covenant here) remind us that judgment must come upon sin and sinners… one way or another. There is no scenario whereby we continue in sin and avoid judgment. We can choose to face judgment from each other, or we will ultimately face God’s judgment in the end.

Remember how I said at the beginning that the language Paul is using here is covenantal? The whole passage is dripping with covenantal imagery and concepts.

Paul’s admonition was that the church “remove” the unrepentant and public sinner “from among you” (v2).

They were to “pronounce” their “judgment” (v3) against the sinner “when you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus” (v5).

They were to remember that Christ had already fulfilled the role of the “Passover lamb” (v7), and that they “are” the “unleavened” or pure or holy people which God intended to form in “sincerity and truth” (v8), not merely a people to display some religious “festival” (v8).

And they were to “associate” only with those who “bear the name of brother” and live in keeping with that “name” (v11).

But the most profound and obvious covenantal language of this whole passage shows up in v13. Look there with me.

Paul said, “God judges those outside. ‘Purge the evil person from among you.’” This is a phrase that any Jewish person would immediately recognize as old covenant language, referring to the many commands God gave the people of Israel regarding how they were to deal with unrepentant sinners among them.

In Deuteronomy 13, God warned His people that some Israelites would encourage them to “rebel against” God and even try to make them “leave the way in which the LORD… commanded” (Deut. 13:5). “So,” God said, “you shall purge the evil from your midst” (Deut. 13:5).

In Deuteronomy 17, God said that those who “act presumptuously by not obeying the priest who stands to minister” are inviting death to themselves (Deut. 17:12). Therefore, God said, “you shall purge the evil from Israel” (Deut. 17:12).

Throughout the Old Testament law, God warned that sinners would arise in Israel who would not turn back from their sin… They would be sexually immoral (Deut. 22:21-24), they would steal what does not belong to them (Deut. 24:7), and they would even worship and serve other gods (Deut. 17:1-7). And repeatedly God commanded His people to “purge the evil from your midst” (Deut. 17:7).

But why? What was Israel? And what did it mean to be outside of Old Testament Israel? Well, Israel was the covenant people of God… formed as God’s visible kingdom in the world… to live according to God’s laws… and to live under the bounty of God’s blessings.

Of course, Israel failed to keep God’s commands. They sinned again and again… and they earned nothing but God’s judgment.

But this was exactly why Jesus came! He came to fulfill God’s covenant demands! And Jesus did it! He obeyed… He lived perfectly under God’s laws, and He earned God’s blessings and favor!

And yet when Jesus died, He was counted as guilty… not for the sake of His own sin (He had none!), but for the sake of those sinners He came to save. This is what the Bible means when it says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus… For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled…” (Rom. 8:1-4).

But this lack of condemnation and this promise of blessing is only for those who are “in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). And those are the ones who “put to death the deeds of the body” by the power of the indwelling “Spirit” of God (Rom. 8:13). They do not “live according to the flesh” (Rom. 8:13), because those who do that “will die” (Rom. 8:13).

Friends, when churches pronounce judgment on unrepentant sinners who claim to be Christians, those churches are pronouncing God’s own judgment while there is still time to repent.

One day, time will run out… and we will all have to stand before a holy God to give an account for ourselves. And those who are repenting and believing ones will hear God’s final pronouncement – “This one is justified!” “This one is covered by the sacrifice of Christ!” “Enter into the rest and blessing that has been prepared for you from before the foundation of the world!”

But for those who are not repenting sinners (but openly and grievously and shamelessly unrepentant)… those will hear God’s final pronouncement as well – “Depart from me, for I never knew you.” “You remain in your sin, and you will face the judgment for it.” “You are barred from the eternal blessings, and you must be cast out into eternal darkness and death.”

Oh, friends… We must speak honestly about sin… We must confront one another in our sin… And we must be humbly and lovingly willing to even pronounce judgment against unrepentant sinners among our own church family… so that we may speak a word of warning about the judgment that is surely to come… for all those who are unwilling to turn from their sin right now.

Brothers and sisters, there are a lot of bad ways to judge. We must not be harsh, and we must not be self-righteous. We must be patient, and we must be willing to come alongside one another to war against sin together.

But, brothers and sisters, we must judge sin rightly… especially in the church… so that we may all help one another to avoid God’s judgment in the end.

Endnotes

[i] See the full New York Times article here: https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/06/us/06bowers.html [ii] Calvin, John, and John Owen. Commentaries on the Prophet Jeremiah and the Lamentations. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010. See Calvin’s prayer at the close of volume 1, chapter 9.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Aland, Kurt, Barbara Aland, Johannes Karavidopoulos, Carlo M. Martini, and Bruce M. Metzger, eds. Novum Testamentum Graece. 28th ed. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2012.

Chrysostom, John. Saint Chrysostom: Homilies on the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians. Edited by Philip Schaff. Logos Research Edition. Vol. 12. A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, First Series. New York, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1889.

Ciampa, Roy E., and Brian S. Rosner. The First Letter to the Corinthians. Logos Research Edition. The Pillar New Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2010.

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. Logos Research Edition. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.

Sproul, R. C., ed. The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version (2015 Edition). Logos Research Edition. Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust, 2015.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Logos Research Edition. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016.

The Holy Bible: King James Version. Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009.

The Holy Bible: New International Version. Logos Research Edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1984.

The NET Bible First Edition. Logos Research Edition. Biblical Studies Press, 2005.

Vaughan, Curtis, and Thomas D. Lea. 1 Corinthians. Logos Research Edition. Founders Study Commentary. Cape Coral, FL: Founders Press, 2002.

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