JUDGING BRETHREN, ANGELS, AND THE WORLD

1. JUDGING BRETHREN, ANGELS, AND THE WORLD 1 Corinthians 5-6 Exton Two Day Study April 21, 2014

2. Goals for session • Walk through the text of 1 Cor. 5-6 together (30 min) • Defend the unity of chapters 5-6 and chapters 1-6 (10 min) • Suggest some points of application (10 min)

3. Outline of chapters 5-6 1 Corinthians 5: Judging each other Theme Statement: “Aren’t you to judge those inside?” (5:12) • vs 1-2 The unjudged brother • vs 3-8 Cleaning out the church • vs 9-13 Our need to judge each other 1 Corinthians 6: Judging Sin Theme Statement: “Don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s Kingdom?” (6:9) • vs 1-8 Their unspiritual judgment, shown in lawsuits • vs 9-11 The standard of judgment: righteousness • vs 12-20 Teaching on sexual immorality and the flesh

4. 5:1-2 The unjudgedbrother • “arrogant” or “puffed up” (φυσιόω) • 7x in NT (1 Cor. 4:6, 18, 19; 5:2; 8:1; 13:4; see also Col 2:18) • In key verses of 1 Corinthians: “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” (8:1) “Love… is not puffed up” (13:4). • Note Paul’s censure primarily of the congregation as a whole

5. 5:3-8 Cleaning out the church vs 3-5 Command to deliver to Satan • “judged” krino(κρίνω), occurs nine times in chapters 5-6 (5:3, 12 (2x), 13; 6:1, 2 (2x), 3, 6) • Perhaps the main theme of chapters 5-6 • “the destruction of the flesh”? (v5) • common to understand as “pain that leads to repentance” (Luke 15, the Lost Son) • consider “destruction of sinful desire” • …that he would learn to crucify “the flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal 5:24, ESV).

6. 5:3-8 Cleaning out the church vs 6-8 Importance and the effect of judging • “Boast” in its noun or verb form occurs 9x in 1 Corinthians (1:29, 31 (2x); 3:32; 4:7; 9:15, 16; 13:3). • Leaven illustration • Leaven’s pervasive effect • Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread (Exodus 12:14-20) • “We’re in the days of the Unleavened Feast, so all sin must be cast out!”

7. 5:3-8 Cleaning out the church vs 6-8 Importance and the effect of judging • “Become what you are” teaching in v7 “Cleanse out the old leaven, that you might be a new lump, as you are unleavened.” • Intentional tension: they are not as they are • “You’ve been purified in Christ. So live like it!” • “the leaven of evil and wickedness.” (v8)

8. 5:9-13 Our need to judge each other • They didn’t misunderstand Paul; they “misunderstood” Paul • “swindler” (ἅρπαξ)only 5x in NT (1 Cor. 5:10, 11; 6:10; Matt 7:15; Luke 18:11) • What does “swindler” make you think of? • likely better trans. “greedy” / “extortioners” • Why would Paul bring up “swindling” so much? • Clear teaching to judge the brethren • judge = to spiritually evaluate their actions

9. Outline of chapters 5-6 1 Corinthians 5: Judging each other Theme Statement: “Aren’t you to judge those inside?” (5:12) • vs 1-2 The unjudged brother • vs 3-8 Cleaning out the church • vs 9-13 Our need to judge each other 1 Corinthians 6: Judging Sin Theme Statement: “Don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s Kingdom?” (6:9) • vs 1-8 Their unspiritual judgment, shown in lawsuits • vs 9-11 The standard of judgment: righteousness • vs 12-20 Teaching on sexual immorality and the flesh

10. 6:1-8 Their unspiritual judgment, shown in lawsuits • “Go to law” or “go to court” in 6:1, 6 is same verb krino (κρίνω) “to judge” • Christians will judge the world and angels • symbolic or literal?

11. 6:1-8 Their unspiritual judgment, shown in lawsuits • Symbolic judgment • Jesus has been established by God to be the judge (Matthew 7:23; 25:32; John 5:27; Acts 17:31; 1 Corinthians 4:4f) • the men of Nineveh and the queen of the South who “rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it” (Matthew 12:41,42). • Christians will judge the world by showing what the world could have done (set the curve) • Rechabitesin Jeremiah 35

12. 6:1-8 Their unspiritual judgment, shown in lawsuits • Literal / active judgment • references in scripture to our judging the world • Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Matt 19:28, ESV (paralleled in Luke 22:30) • Revelation 2:26f • Sept of Daniel 7:22 “judgment was given to the saints of the Most High” • The sense of Paul’s argument in 1 Cor 6 • “Why would you give your matters to be judged by outsiders? Don’t you know you that you’re going to be judging them? And if you are to judge such significant things, can’t you judge the matters of this life?”

13. 6:1-8 Their unspiritual judgment, shown in lawsuits • Translating 6:4 • “So when you have such cases, appoint as judges despised members of the church!” • The idea: “if we are to judge the world, even the most moronic of church members would do a better job than Gentiles.“

14. vs 9-11 The standard of judgment: righteousness • v8: “you yourselves do wrong”(ἀδικεῖτε)v9: “don’t you know that wrongdoers don’t inherit God’s kingdom?” (ἄδικοι) • Most translations:“do wrong” / “unrighteous” • Strong anti-Calvinistic statement by Paul

15. vs 9-11 The standard of judgment: righteousness • v9: the malakoi (μαλακοὶ) “soft” and arsenokoitai (ἀρσενοκοῖται) “men-bedders” • Against all homosexual acts?“men who practice homosexuality” (ESV) • Against pederasts specifically? • Paul against homosexuality, Rom 1:26-27 • Jesus against homosexuality, Matt 19:1-7; Matt 5:27-30

16. vs 9-11 The standard of judgment: righteousness • v11 – “you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified.” • Washed – certainly referencing baptism • Only other appearance in NT – Acts 22:16 • Related noun - Ephesians 5:26, Titus 3:5 • He does say “washed” not “baptized” • “Washed, sanctified, justified” – blessings of our transformation in Christ • New identity, new standing

17. vs 12-20 Teaching on sexual immorality and the flesh • Paul correcting false teaching that has been permitting (encouraging) fornication • Three Corinthian quotes / slogans in section, maybe from their letter to Paul (7:1) v12 “All things are allowed” v13 “Food is for the stomach, and stomach is for food, and God will destroy both one and the other.” v18 “Every sin which a person commits is outside the body”

18. vs 12-20 Teaching on sexual immorality and the flesh • “All things are allowed” • maybe originating with Paul • Quoted twice (again twice in 10:23) • “And you even said, Paul, that all things are allowed. All things are allowed!” • Paul doesn’t contradict but also won’t agree • Two qualifications in v12: not all things are beneficial & we must not be slaves to anything

19. vs 12-20 Teaching on sexual immorality and the flesh • v13 “(a) Food is for the stomach, and stomach is for food, (b) and God will destroy both one and the other.” • Idea (a) – Sex for the body, the body for sex • Idea (b) – These things don’t matter; God’s going to do away with it all anyway • Paul corrects these ideas: • (a) “The body is for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body” • (b) “God raised the Lord and will raise us”

20. vs 12-20 Teaching on sexual immorality and the flesh • Christian’s union with the Lord • “Our bodies are members of Christ” (v15) • “We are joined to the Lord and are one spirit with Him” (v17) • “How could you join ourselves to prostitutes? Don’t you realize what you’re really doing?” (v15-16) • Conclusion: run away from fornication (v18)

21. vs 12-20 Teaching on sexual immorality and the flesh • v18 “Every sin which a person commits is outside the body” • In other words “sin doesn’t affect our spirit, doesn’t really affect us” • Paul’s teaching: “Actually, the fornicator sins against his own body.” (v18) • Our bodies are temples of God’s spirit (v19) • How could we chose to defile that?! • God’s temple is God’s property • We are slaves, bought with a price (v20)

22. Unity of chapters 5-6 • Are 5-6 random topics? • Unifying themes: • Sexual immorality • Judging

23. Unity of chapters 5-6 • Sexual immorality • man with his father’s wife (5:1) • the command to separate from the sexually immoral (5:11) • the reminder of God’s condemnation of sexual immorality (6:9-10) and of their former participation in this sin (6:11) • the teaching on the sin of sexual immorality (6:12-20).

24. Unity of chapters 5-6 • Judging • “to judge” (κρίνω) shows up 9x in chapters 5-6 • related words in 5:8 (εἰλικρίνεια “sincerity”) and 6:7 (κρίμα “judgment”)

25. Unity of chapters 5-6 • Judging • Corinthians called to judge each other (chapter 5) • first, judging in the sense of evaluating if a brother is in sin or not • second, judging in the sense of acting on his sinful status by delivering to Satan and separating themselves. • God judges non-Christians (5:13), but the Corinthians are to judge each other (5:12-13). • They are judging each other foolishly by bringing each other to court (6:1-8) • They themselves will judge the world and angels. (6:2-3) • Corinthians called to righteous judgment, understanding the nature of sin (sinners don’t inherit the kingdom, 6:9) and, specifically, the sinfulness of sexual immorality.

26. Unity of chapters 5-6 What’s the point? • Chpts5-6 Paul is addressing (a) the false teaching of sexual freedom and (b) the consequences of this false teaching in the Corinthian Church • How could a church permit a man to have his father’s wife? • The church is teaching fornication is okay! • This “delayed” presentation typical in 1 Corinthians • chs 8-10, ultimately teaching idol meat sinful • chs 11, 14, ultimately teaching no women speaking in assembly

27. Unity of chapters 5-6 fornication covetousness greed idolatry reviler drunkard adulterers soft homosexual thieves list 1 list 2 list 3 Sin lists: 5:10; 5:11; 6:9-10 • “swindling” (greedy) almost certainly talking about lawsuits in 6:1-8 • Other connections to Corinthian church?

28. Unity of chapters 5-6 sin: chapter Paul addresses this: • fornication chs 5-6 • covetousness 6:1-8 • greed 6:1-8 • idolatry chs8-10 • reviler 4:7-21; 9:3; 15:12, 33, etc. • drunkard 11:21 • adulterer 5:1-2?, 7:1-5 • soft 6:12-20 • homosexual 6:12-20 • thieves 6:1-8

29. Unity of chapters 1-6 Chps 1-6: Theme statement / introduction I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. (1 Cor. 1:10, ESV) • They need to be of the same mind, “the mind of Christ” (2:16), taught by the Spirit through the Apostles • They need to be judging righteously • Their worldly wisdom and pride is driving them to reject Paul, cause divisions, permit sin, etc.

30. Unity of chapters 1-6

31. Practical applications • Paul addresses the community at fault and not just the “brothers in sin” (5:1-13) • Serious call to congregational purity • Judging the world and angels • Is there practical value understanding this? • Comforting? • “Become what you are” teaching • We are sons of God. So we must act like it! • New identity in Christ • Hope and incentive for change

32. Practical applications • Beware of covetousness • Congregational withdrawal for greed? • We need to be able to see… • Covetousness for what it is • Covetousness in ourselves • Covetousness in our brethren

33. Practical applications • Indwelling of the Holy Spirit • NT clearly teaches we have the Holy Spirit in us • “And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him” Acts 5:37, (ESV) • Not all believers have supernatural gifts of the spirit (1 Corinthians 12:27-31). • We must not equate having the Spirit to having the supernatural gifts of the Spirit. • Having the Spirit does not open the door for modern spiritual gifts.

34. Practical applications • Indwelling of the Holy Spirit • How is the Spirit in our bodies? • How was God in the pillar of cloud and fire? (Exodus 13:21) • How is Jesus is in our midst? (Matthew 18:20) • How are our spirits are in us? • He is spiritually in our physical bodies • The Spirit is spiritual / non-physical / non-material

35. Practical applications • Indwelling of the Holy Spirit • I suggest the filling of the Holy Spirit in Acts 4:31 and Stephen in Acts 6:5 are non-miraculous spiritual works • When we are filled with the word, zeal, love, etc., they are seeing Jesus in us • Ultimately, this is the Spirit in our physical bodies (what people see) • Apostles: “saw the boldness of Peter and John”(Acts 4:13) • Stephen’s face: “like the face of an angel” (Acts 6:15, ESV)

36. Practical applications • Modern Gnosticism • Corinthians had “understanding” about the body and the spirit, therefore sin didn’t matter. Their head knowledge allowed for some wiggle room with holiness. • Assume young people at conservative churches are “spiritually minded”? • Allow for sensual behavior (Gal. 5:19; Col. 3:5) in non-married couples at church? • Gnostic about evangelism?