IMMORALITY MOST SCANDALOUS!

I Cor. 5:1-2 ... "It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father's wife. And you have become arrogant, and have not mourned instead, in order that the one who had done this deed might be removed from your midst."

      It is believed Paul was at Philippi in Macedonia some 350 miles by land northeast of Corinth when he wrote this epistle to the church there. But even at that distance he had received news that a most shameful situation existed among the Corinthian brethren. Actually, the situation was worse than shameful. It was scandalous! Such immorality even exceeded the depravity of the Gentiles. One of the Corinthian brethren had taken unto himself his step-mother, (the probable meaning of "his father's wife"), and was regularly committing adultery with her. The standard of Christian purity could hardly be more flagrantly violated. But to compound the sin the church had taken no action of itself to admonish the brother and seek to induce him to repent, and if he would not, to expel him from their fellowship. To the contrary, they took pride in defending the liberty of the man to have his way.

      When God created the first human couple, He decreed that "a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh," (Gen. 2:24). In Matthew 19, Jesus interpreted this verse to show that it is God's will for one man to be joined to one woman for a lifetime. The only honorable release from this union is the death of one of the members, (Rom. 7:2-3). Only within the bonds of the marriage union does God sanction sexual activity between a male and a female, (I Cor. 7:2-5). Within marriage God blesses sexual intercourse, for it was He who fashioned the male and the female to perform the act in gentleness and in love. The brother in Corinth flaunted the divine will, and his brethren shielded him proudly in his sin. The apostle was appalled when he heard about this and chastised the Corinthians that they had not "mourned," declaring that their "boasting is not good," (v.6). He commanded them at once to "deliver" the man "to Satan for the destruction of his flesh that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus," (v.5). Paul thus demonstrated a radical solution to a radical problem, for the leaven of evil had to be purged without delay to protect the church as a whole, (vs. 6b-9).   

      Our present society has lamentably reached the position where there is little stigma, shame, or scandal associated with the sin of fornication. At least one incidence of fornication occurs in almost every movie and in many television shows. We find entertainment in watching the dramatization of the sex act and exhibit no shame when it is luridly portrayed on the screen. A prophet in the 6th Century B.C. said of his generation, "Were they ashamed because of the abomination they have done? They were not even ashamed at all; They did not even know how to blush," (Jer. 6:15).  It has come to the same thing in our society. We are no longer scandalized by fornication. Many commit it with the full knowledge of their friends, and neither they nor others blush or feel shame. In fact, we have come to accept fornication as near standard behavior for our times. It is far past time for Christians to try to raise the level of morality of our society by stressing that fornication is strictly forbidden in the Bible and by treating it as the black sin which it is. Do we have the courage to proclaim this message?

NOT IN WORDS BUT IN POWER

I Cor. 4:10 ... "The kingdom of God does not consist in words, but in power."

      Corinth was a city of the Greeks,a people who highly valued rhetoric, the art or science of using words effectively in speaking or writing. In the classical age they produced men who developed themselves in rhetoric to the point where they are still remembered today. One of them, Demosthenes, who lived in the 4th Century B.C., was perhaps the greatest orator of them all. In order to perfect his ability, he is said to have filled his mouth with pebbles on the beach and then practiced speaking articulately above the sound of the waves breaking on the rocks. The Greeks valued rhetoric so much, and so many tried to excel in it, that eventually it was overplayed and became somewhat ridiculous. This was the prevalent situation when Paul brought the gospel to Athens, Corinth, and other Grecian cities. The once great art had been degraded to artificial eloquence and mere showiness in language and style. And yet, it was what the people desired and esteemed. They thought that any speaker who did not employ it was unskilled and not worthy of an audience.

      In the Corinthian correspondence, especially, Paul emphasized that the power of God is not dependent upon such displays of speech. In I Cor. 1:21 he stated that, when he brought the gospel to them, he "did not come to you with superiority of speech ... proclaiming to you the testimony of God." In 13:1 he stated that "if I come with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal." And in 4:20, quoted above, he contrasts eloquent speech with power, meaning the power of God. It is true that God's power is demonstrated through His word, the gospel, (Rom. 1:16). But that refers to the word of revelation per se and not to the manner in which men speak in their use of phrases, expressions, gestures, tones, and all that might be called "pulpit delivery." The power of God is contained in the word of truth itself, not in the style of vocal presentation. The Corinthians failed to realize that, and their failure is repeated even now.

      When someone today delivers a sermon in a dramatic way from the pulpit, most audiences are very impressed by the artful expressions, vigorous gestures, and dramatic voice projection. The louder and more commanding the voice, the more rapid the speech, and the more energized the personality, the more effective we think the speaker to be. It is just this evaluation that the Spirit, through Paul and other New Testament writers, counsels us to avoid. The power of a sermon or lesson lies in its truth to revelation, its sincerity of purpose, and its honest effort to draw attention to God rather than to the speaker. When a teacher or preacher has done a really superb job, the audience will be awed by God and not by the speaker. We must put our confidence in the power of God, not in the skill of men, to make things work, to build things up, and to establish continuity of success. In I Cor. 3:21-23 we read this: "Let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God." When we go to church to receive a lesson or hear a sermon, we should not go to hear a certain brother but rather an exposition of truth from the word of God. If we put the stress on the speaker and his style of delivery more than on the content of what God has revealed, we are reversing the statement of I Cor. 4:20. We must also consider what we are told in I Cor. 3:7, "So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth."