I Corinthians 5 - Christ Our Passover - 150322PM@TBC

→ Title Slide

→ Background

A.  Passover and leaven

Ex 12.5-7, 12-15   The whole Exodus is a picture of our salvation.

·        The lamb was to be without blemish.  The blood of the unblemished Passover was put on the doors so the destroyer would pass over the house. (vv. 21-23)  Was that the only purpose of the plagues and Passover? No! They did not stay in Egypt.  They began a journey away from Egypt.

·        Those who ate leaven during the Feast of Unleaven Bread were to be cut off (kicked out). (vv. 18-20)

John 1.29 “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”  --John the Baptist

B.  “put away” Deuteronomy 13:5; 17:7; 21:21; 22:21-22, 24

·        13.5 prophets who say, “Let us go after other gods…”  “So shall you put away the evil from your midst.”

·        17.7     served other gods and worshiped them…

·        21.21     stubborn and rebellious son

·        22.21-22, 24     a woman who was not a virgin

·        This serious punishment was done to remove their polluting affect from Israel. 

·        The lesson for us is we should not be allow sin in our lives nor allow flagrant, repeated, and unrepentant sin to continue in the church.

C. Context  (Book theme: Quarrels and Questions)

Christ Should they boast about their favorite preacher or glory  Christ? Christ in 1.30-1 Christ our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption… He who glories, let him glory in the Lord,

Temple   Believers are temples individually  1 Cor.  3.16-17; 6.19

The temple as a reference to the whole church          Ephesians  2.19-22   
19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone, 21 in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Judging   4.3, 5  I do not judge myself… judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes

               5.3 I have already judged

               5.12 For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside?

               6.2-5  Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?

→ Reading instructions slide.

Pride 4.6, 18, 19 “puffed up”  lit. to inflate, blow up, to cause to swell up;  fig. arrogant, proud

How is Christ pictured in this passage?

Why does this passage say Christ was sacrificed?

→ Big idea:  Christ, our unblemished Passover, was sacrificed to purify for Himself a holy temple.

→ I.  The Situation— It is actually reported…

A.  The Error  ---A Moral Scandal!!

that there is sexual immorality among you, (πορνεία - G4202 - porneia: sexual relations with a forbidden mate  (adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism, intercourse with animals etc.)

and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—

·        As depraved as Greek culture was, even the pagans looked down on incest, and Roman law prohibited it. –Johnson in TCEN

(Sexual immorality was common among the pagans.  While this particular perversion occurred in some instances, it was apparently not commonly practiced or accepted.)

that a man has his father’s wife!

·        The verb translated “to have” (present tense in Gr.), when used in sexual or marital contexts, is a euphemism for a continuing relationship in contrast to a “one night stand” (cf. 7:2).

·        (Lev. 18:6–8 – “The basic principles underlying the rules in vv. 6-8 are therefore clear: a man may not marry any woman who is a close blood relation, or any woman who has become a close relative through a previous marriage to one of the man’s close blood relations.” --Gordon Wenham in NICOT)

·        Since Paul does not pass judgment on the woman (1 Cor. 5:9–13), we assume that she was not a member of the assembly and probably not even a Christian. [1] --Wiersbe

B.  The Attitude

² And you are puffed up (φυσιόω - G5448 - physioō: "to puff up, blow up, inflate" (from phusa, "bellows"), is used metaphorically in the NT, in the sense of being "puffed" up with pride, 1Cr 4:6, 18, 19; 5:2; 8:1; 13:4; Col 2:18.),

and have not rather mourned (πενθέω - G3996 - pentheō: denotes "to lament, mourn," especially for the dead; in LXX Ezra 10:6; Neh. 1:4; in 2Cr 12:21)

that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you.

→ Application:

The purity and reputation of Christ’s church are important.

…Jesus Christ gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us… and purify for Himself His own special people… Titus 2.13-14

→ II.  The Instructions— I have already…

A. Paul’s Judgement

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.

·        Paul had spoken earlier about not judging others (4:5).

·        That kind of judging had to do with one’s degree of faithfulness to the Lord.

·        Here the issue was blatant immorality.  –TCExNotes

B.  The Corinthian’s Duty

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 (1 Tim. 1:20) such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh,

Two views of “destruction of the flesh.” 

·        Paul meant that he had delivered the man over to the world, which Satan controls, with God’s permission of course, for bodily chastisement that might even result in his premature death.

·        “To hand the offender over to Satan is to turn him back out into Satan’s sphere, outside the edifying and caring environment of the church, where God is at work. The “flesh” to be “destroyed” is his sinful nature.” -–CNTUOT

·        Basic principles:  
1. Make them leave protection and fellowship of the church. 
2. Some sort of hardship or affliction is involved. 
3. It’s in the hope that he would back to Christ.     (2 Thessalonians 3.6, 14-15)

·        that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord (Jesus).

Was he a believer?  Apparently so.  Was God going to allow him to go along in that state? NO.

→ III. The Rational— For indeed Christ…

A.  Sin Spreads

⁶ Your glorying is not good. καύχημα - G2745 - kauchēma:  that of which one glories or can glory, matter or ground of glorying (In 2Cr 5:12; 9:3 the word denotes the boast itself, yet as distinct from the act)

⁷ Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.

“Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? One sin and one sinner, if regarded with indifference, may ruin the whole Corinthian church.”  –William Ramsay in HCFC

B.   The Passover and Purity

For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed (for us).

⁸ Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

1.      “The crucified Messiah lies at the heart of the new perspective, critically needed by the” Corinthians. 

2.      There are both an “already” and “not yet” aspect of our salvation.

The believer has already been regenerated and cleansed positionally of their sin. When the Father looks at us, He sees Christ righteousness.

We believers have not yet completely sanctified in our lifestyles.  God is in the process of making our righteous position a practical reality in our lives.  We are all making progress in our personal holiness and becoming more like Christ in what we think, say, and do.

3.      The theological reason for Paul’s strong response to this blatant, continuing, and unrepentant sin, was grounded in the pictures of Christ as our Passover sacrifice for sins and purity from sin illustrated in the hunt for and destruction of leaven in the Passover celebration and the eating of only unleavened bread.

4.      “The church must purge itself of “old leaven”—the things that belong to the “old life” before we trusted Christ. We must also get rid of malice and wickedness (there was a great deal of hard feelings between members of the Corinthian church) and replace them with sincerity and truth. As a loaf of bread (1 Cor. 10:17), the local church must be as pure as possible.” [2]  --Wiersbe

5.      Sincerity εἰλικρίνεια - G1505 - eilikrineia: purity, sincerity;  From the root word εἰλικρινής G1506 – eilikrinēs: found pure when unfolded and examined by the sun's light

6.      Sincerity not hypocrisy followed up with true thoughts, words, and actions.

→ Big idea:  Christ, our unblemished Passover, was sacrificed to purify for Himself a holy temple.

→ IV. The Clarification— Yet I certainly did not mean…

A.  Don’t Avoid the World

⁹ I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. ¹⁰ Yet I certainly did not mean with

·        the sexually immoral people of this world,

·        or with the covetous,

·        or extortioners,

·        or idolaters,

since then you would need to go out of the world.

B.  Do Avoid the Sinning Brother  “If God’s people in Esrael expelled certain sinners, then God’s people in Christ should do no less.” --IVPBBC

 ¹¹ But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is

1.      sexually immoral,

2.      or covetous,

3.      or an idolater,

4.      or a reviler, (abusive)

5.      or a drunkard,

6.      or an extortioner

--not even to eat with such a person.

C.  Judge Those Inside, Not Those Outside

¹² For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? ¹³ But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.”

We have a responsibility to maintain a church body that is pursuing personal and corporate Christ-likeness and living as a positive testimony to the watching world.  Our hypocrisy, when we do not practice what we preach, does harm to the reputation of the church and is not consistent with the purity Christ desires for us.

→ Application:

A purpose of “church discipline” is to restore, not punish sin.  (purity to the church and a brother back to Christ)

…you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness…     (picture of nets being mended)   Galatians 6:1

→ Big idea:  Christ, our unblemished Passover, was sacrificed to purify for Himself a holy temple.

V. The Gospel— Christ, our Passover…

PAU: Sin is your problem.  Christ’s sacrifice to redeem you and to begin the process of setting you apart from sin to love and serve Him is the solution.  Sin is a bummer here on earth and a disaster after you die.

Review

1. Blatant, repeated, unrepentant sin is a scandal that the church should grieve over.

2. The person who is hardened in their sin should be put out of the church and its fellowship.

3. “Christ, our Passover without blemish, has shed his blood to purify for himself a holy Temple.” This is the reason and motivation for striving for holiness in the Church and in our lives.

4. We do not need to disassociate with unbelievers who live in sin.

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It's not safe to assume anything in my sermon is original.  Here are some sources that I remember using.
Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 586.

Anthony Theiselton in The New International Greek Testament Commentary by Eerdmans 

Craig Bloomberg in the NIV Application Commentary by Zondervan

William Ramsay edited by Mark Wilson in Historical Commentary on First Corinthians by Kregel

Leon Morris in the Tyndale New Testament Commentary

Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament by Baker Academic

Thomas Constable's Expository Notes online

Blue Letter Bible and Logos word study materials

and others ...