Restoring the Sinful Believer – Part 3

Another text in scripture which makes me think about church discipline is 1 Corinthians 5:1-6.

¹ It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named* among the Gentiles--that a man has his father's wife! ² And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you. ³ For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed. ⁴ In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁵ deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. ⁶ Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

1 Corinthians 5:1-6 nkjv

Leaven in the Bible represents pride. It is pride that causes man to believe that he can keep all of God’s commandments in his own effort. Paul wrote in Romans 7:9 that he was alive (spiritually) without the law, but when the commandment was given, he died (spiritually). It was only when the law code was defined and written down that man realised that he did not have what it takes to fulfil God’s rules.

Leaven does not represent sinful arrogance, as such, as proclaimed by legalistic churches. There are many believers who think that it is pride for a believer to sin and believe that he can “get away with it”. Pride in the church is not a believer’s willingness to sin and his insensitivity and lack of respect for others and for God. Pride in the church is the mistaken belief that you can keep the Ten Commandments.

The Pharisees believed that they could keep the law, but look at what they were like. The Pharisees were great at observing religious traditions and rituals, but they were not so good when it came to what really mattered: justice and mercy and faith (Matt. 23:23).

The Pharisees who were considered the religious elite, were willing to stone a woman to death because she was apparently caught in the act of adultery (John 8:3-5). Jesus could have agreed with the Pharisees according to Jewish law, but instead, He showed compassion on the woman and did not condemn her (John 8:11).

In my experience, most Christians who sin do so because they cannot help it, not because they want to or because they want to put God’s grace to the test (Rom. 5:20, Rom. 6:1-3).

If people do sin, it is because they have wrong beliefs regarding who they are in Christ. If a believer feels condemned according to what he does, or has done, then his flesh nature will flare-up and take command of his soul. That is why it is so important for believers to be given the message of God’s grace in them, the divine nature, and righteousness by faith and no-condemnation in Christ. The preaching of do’s and don’ts, right and wrong, will simply put people into condemnation when they realise that they cant live according to those standards.

Leaven is a lump of yeast that puffs-up the dough. In a similar manner to leaven, religious pride puffs us up when we believe that we can be justified by our own works. Leaven therefore represents religious pride, or legalism, as seen in the Pharisees.

In order to further qualify this argument, let us take a look at the statement that Paul makes about leaven in Galatians 5:9, in relation to the preceding verses.

¹ Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free,* and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. ² Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. ³ And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. ⁴ You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. ⁵ For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. ⁶ For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love. ⁷ You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? ⁸ This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you. ⁹ A little leaven leavens the whole lump.

Galatians 5:1-9 nkjv

Paul is talking about a “yoke of bondage” in Galatians 5:1 and that Christ has set us free. Is Paul talking about some awful sin such as sexual immorality? Perhaps it is not a “physical” sin, but something involving thoughts and desires, such as covetousness perhaps? No, Paul is talking about circumcision.

The reason why Paul puts circumcision in such a bad light is that he refers to it in order to represent the Jewish laws and customs as observed in the Old Covenant. Therefore, Paul is warning the Galatians to get back into the New Covenant by looking to faith in Christ as our righteousness, rather than our own efforts.

Paul refers to circumcision in relation to the Jewish customs, throughout the New Testament. For instance: 1 Cor. 7:19, Gal. 5:6, Gal. 6:15, Phil. 3:3, Col. 2:11, Rom. 2:25.

What leads a person to sin is the pride, the false notion, that he can be right with God according to his own efforts. Therefore, it is important that leaven, representing religious pride and legalism, be removed from the church.

If a believer sins, he is to be restored back to the church with compassion. This restoration is to be done through telling that believer who he is in Christ, he is still right with God and that there is no now condemnation (Rom. 8:1). A believer who sins is not to be condemned and ostracized.

I believe that a believer’s private affairs are his own personal matter and not the business of others. If a believer commits adultery, it is between himself, God and the parties involved and immediately affected. If someone commits a crime, such as theft of church funds, then that is another matter entirely. We are all subject to the law of the land and the welfare of the church must be protected.

When I read 1 Corinthians 5:1-6, it looks to me like these people were proud of their religious conduct and behaviour (just like the Pharisees) and Paul says that they are to “deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus" means that they had to take this person out of the church so that they may see God's grace and repent (change one's mind). Can you imagine what it would be like to be inn a church full of Pharisees? Yet this is what many Christians experience every Sunday!

This site explains a little more about this subject:

http://www.myredeemer.org/meditations/leaven.shtml