Paul addresses a specific incident concerning sexual immorality and tells them to how to deal with the person. “When
you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in
spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, hand this man over
to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit
saved on the day of the Lord.”
This person has to “hit rock bottom”, be at the bottom of the pit and have no where to go but up.
Paul
warns about the yeast of malice and wickedness (most of the time when
yeast is mentioned it is not a good thing, in fact is a symbol of
sin) and encourages them with the bread of sincerity and truth.
“For Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed.”
Our sins are forgiven, obliterated, not just covered over temporarily as with the old covenant.
Paul
separated sexual immorality from other sins. He says that the one who
sins sexually sins against his own body and that the body is a temple
of the Holy Spirit. Our relationship with God has been repeatedly
compared to a marriage relationship. In Corinth as well as in today’s
society, sex outside marriage was treated as a normal, even desirable
part of life, while marriage was seen as confining and joyless. Paul
made it clear that Christians should take no part in sexual immorality,
even if it is accepted in society. It is a sin against God, it hurts
all those involved.
“..You are not your own; you were bought with a price…”
Christians don’t belong to themselves.
Paul
expresses that he doesn’t want to be distracted by a family. He
believed if he had a family it would slow him down in his ministry.
“But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this.”
HA!
“…but there is one God, the Father…and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ…”
Paul
makes a distinction here between God and Lord, identifying God as the
Father and Jesus as the Lord. The word God means supreme deity. The
word Lord means supreme authority.
“I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means, I might save some.”
Paul met them where they were without condemning them.
“…for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.”
No doubt here that it was the Son of God who interacted in the wilderness with Moses.
“So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall.”
We must stand firm with the whole armor of God, not standing firm with our own confidence or only with part of the armor.
“And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear…”
Good news for all believers when faced with temptation.
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