March 10

Today's reading: 1 Corinthians 5:1-13

Paul is writing to the church in Corinth about open, unrepentant sexual sin that is present within the church. He compares that sin to leaven and refers back to the Feast of Unleavened Bread that was closely associated with the Passover Feast. In the same way that homes were to be cleansed of any leaven during that feast, the body of Christ was to be cleansed of sin that had the potential to impact the entire church.

Paul reminds his readers that Jesus is our Passover lamb and that He died to make it possible for us to be able to overcome our slavery to sin. Paul is obviously not saying that we are to disassociate ourselves from other believers every time they sin. But he does make it clear that when there is a lifestyle of sin that is well known within the church and the person refuses to repent, that in order to protect the body, that person needs to be removed until there is genuine repentance.

This is obviously not an easy thing to do, but I am grateful for our Elders who have been willing to do this in the very few instances where this has happened at TFC.