2 Corinthians 5:2
(2) “AND YE ARE PUFFED UP, AND HAVE NOT RATHER MOURNED, THAT HE THAT HATH DONE THIS DEED MIGHT BE TAKEN AWAY FROM AMONG YOU.”
The Truth is, there are Christians in this “spiritual elitism” who have by and large abandoned the True Ways of God, and are constantly casting about for these spiritual tidbits. As well, there are Bible Teachers, so-called, who are ready and willing to supply all of the so-called clever insights. In fact, the land is full of them.
Even as Paul said, despite their claims, these people are by and large babies respecting spiritual maturity, in other words, they do not have any maturity. As well, their spiritual growth has come to a grinding halt, at least as long as they remain in this posture, with regression actually the case.
Such is Satan and such is deception!
The phrase, “And have not rather mourned,” presents that which should have been the attitude of the Corinthian Believers respecting what was taking place all around them and especially the situation addressed by Paul.
The phrase, “That he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you,” carries with it several powerful statements:
First of all, the idea is presented in the Text that such an individual should be immediately told to repent and cease such activity, and if not, he must be disfellowshiped. However, not only was there no demand for Repentance, there was seemingly no understanding as to how bad the situation really was. In fact, Verse 2 proclaims the thought that the perpetrator was “glorying” in his situation instead of seeing it for what it really was (vs. 6).
In this Chapter (vs. 5), the Holy Spirit through the Apostle informs us, that those who are involved in something of this nature must be given an opportunity to repent. If they in fact, humble themselves before the Lord in True Biblical Repentance, the matter should end there. True Repentance before God always stops Judgment of any nature. However, sin always brings negative consequences, irrespective as to what the sin may be. So, if anyone thinks that Repentance means that someone is getting by, that person is engaging in fantasy. The simple reason being, that all sin, irrespective of how much that Repentance is engaged, always exacts a terrible toll. However, that toll must be confined to the act itself, and must never be the result of fellow Believers. Always remember, that “with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again” (Mat. 7:1–2).
SOME MATTERS MAY HAVE TO BE LOOKED AT DIFFERENTLY
If the sin is child molestation, or homosexuality, and even possibly other things one could name, even though Biblical Repentance may be truly enjoined, the individual who has repented, as sincere as it may be, should not desire to be placed in a position to where the same thing could easily happen again. Neither should Church Leaders desire to place one in such a position.
In other words, if a man was teaching a class of boys in the Church, and was found to be molesting one of these boys, even though he may sincerely repent of the action, he should not immediately be placed in this position again, nor should he desire to be. Notwithstanding the crime that has been committed other than the sin, such action should not at all be forthcoming.
However, there definitely can come a time, that is if the individual walks closely to the Lord and such is obvious, that he could be trusted again in whatever capacity. However, special care and wisdom would have to be exercised in such a case.
If we truly believe that Jesus Christ delivers, and we certainly do, if in fact such a person is truly delivered, they must be treated as such. As well, such will be obvious.
IF NO REPENTANCE IS FORTHCOMING …
This 5th Chapter makes it very clear, if the individual refuses to repent and line up with the Word of God, then that person, as stated, is to be disfellowshiped.
Once again, we are speaking of scandalous sins, and not all types of wrongs which, in fact, every Church has.
All people must be dealt with patiently and kindly, showing great compassion, for this is the Way of the Lord. But a situation such as Paul addresses here, which is an extreme violation of the Word of God in just about every capacity, and being carried out openly, must be dealt with, or else it will destroy the Church.
LET ME GIVE AN EXAMPLE
A young man and a young lady who were members of our Church, Family Worship Center, were seeing each other, with both of them of course professing Salvation, etc. To make the story very brief, the young lady became pregnant.
As the Senior Pastor of the Church, I met with one of my Associate Pastors who was more acquainted with the situation than anyone else, and we discussed as to what should be done, in other words how we should handle the situation.
First of all, there was never a thought which entered our minds, that we should make these young people leave the Church, because they might be an embarrassment to the Church, etc. Those things were never even once thought of or spoken. Our every action was to salvage this young man and young lady, getting them back on track with God, putting this thing, as serious as it was, behind them.
My Associate went to them and addressed the problem. They immediately told him that they were going to be married, which was the right course in this situation.
This was done, with a beautiful little baby boy born to them a short time later, and now they have a second child. They are both in the Church serving God, closer to the Lord I think than they have ever been before, and to be frank with you, I personally am very proud of both of them.
Of course it was not right what they did. It was sin, and in a sense despite the Love of God and the Grace of God, there will always be some hurt between both of them because of this sin.
But yet, as the Pastor of this Church, it was my responsibility to love them, to help them, to pray with them, to get them back on track according to the Word of God, which we did, and thankfully to which they both acquiesced, and they were both beautifully and wondrously salvaged. That is True Bible Christianity.
HOWEVER!
To be kind and loving, even as Christ demands, does not mean that one condones the sin or the failure. It merely means that one knows and understands, that one is not morally qualified to point a finger at others. Knowing that all of us, even the best of us whomever that may be, are in constant need of the Grace of God, and knowing that, we should be very quick to judge ourselves harshly, but others very leniently.
However, if that young man and young lady had refused to do the right thing which was to marry, which in this case was possible, in other words if they had flagrantly ignored the Word of God and charted their own course whatever that may have been, I would have continued to love them and try to help them, but I would have told them to leave the Church, just as Paul here speaks. However, that would be done only as a matter of last resort, and only after we had exhausted every means to try to get them back on track. As stated, it is not the business of the Preacher or anyone else for that matter, to purify the Church, that being solely the Business of the Holy Spirit, and because He Alone is qualified to do so. But when people, purposely set themselves against the Word of God, refuse to repent, and, as stated, chart their own course which is in opposition to the Word, and blatantly so, even as Paul here addresses, there is no alternative but to disfellowship these individuals, which the Apostle here plainly proclaims.
WHY DID THE HOLY SPIRIT TREAT THIS SIN OF INCEST DIFFERENT THAN THE SIN DEALT WITH IN THE FIRST FOUR CHAPTERS?
It was the sin of pride which Paul dealt with in the first Four Chapters of this Book, and which was so severe that it threatened to destroy the Church. But yet, even though Paul did demand repentance (4:17–21), at no time did he speak of these being disfellowshiped as he did the one guilty of incest, as recorded in this 5th Chapter.
Why?
Some may answer that I Corinthians, Chapter 5 pertained to morals, while I Corinthians, Chapters 1 through 4 did not. However, that is incorrect.
The prideful factor of I Corinthians, Chapters 1 through 4 was moral in nature as was that in I Corinthians, Chapter 5. Actually, the word “moral” or “morals” simply means “principles of right and wrong pertaining to behavior.” Consequently, the behavior of those in Chapters 1 through 4 was morally wrong as was the one in Chapter 5. Actually, this is one of the problems of the Church.
It considers sins such as the incest of I Corinthians, Chapter 5 to be immoral, which it definitely is, but does not think of slander as immoral, or gossip, or a prideful attitude for that matter. However, they are all immoral in the Eyes of God, and should be in the eyes of all others as well.
The reason that the Holy Spirit did not instruct Paul to threaten disfellowship for those of I Corinthians, Chapters 1 through 4, is because in a sense this situation was a matter of Doctrine. Their Doctrine was terribly wrong, and the Holy Spirit through the Apostle called attention to this fact. Actually, had they continued in this vein, they stood in great danger of losing their souls. If error is not corrected, it only gets worse. But yet, to call attention to this situation and demand repentance was all that the Holy Spirit did. He did not demand disfellowship, as He did in I Corinthians, Chapter 5. The sin of Chapter 5 was a direct and flagrant breaking of the Fifth Commandment, “Honour thy Father and thy Mother,” of the Seventh Commandment, “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” and the Tenth Commandment, “Thou shalt not covet thy … neighbour’s wife” (Ex. Chpt. 20). Of course all sin, and irrespective of its nature, is a breaking of the Ten Commandments in some manner. But yet, some are far more obvious, even as this sin of Chapter 5, and, consequently, must be dealt with accordingly.
~J. Swaggart
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