5. It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife.
6. A man is sleeping with his father's wife, and he are puffed up, and have not rather mourned that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.
What does it mean by he are puffed up?
The church of Corinth is saying, we are too loving to ever kick anybody out of church.
It's like we accept anybody. I mean, pedophiles, the LGBT, I mean, if you're a serial killer, sit here in the front row, right?
That's the sort of mindset and the attitude, and my question would be, are you more loving than God?
Because God says, you know, I'm long suffering, and I gave the benefit of the doubt, I gave people chances, but there's also a line, and if that line is crossed, it's not just like, well, anything goes.
No, there is a spiritual quarantining.
7. Verse 3, for I very, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed.
You know, when you institute spiritual quarantines, a lot of people criticize you and say, well, you weren't there for the entire situation, but here Paul says, I've judged already.
Why?
Because if something is commonly reported, if there are a lot of witnesses, then you already know, right?
Now, if there's only one witness to something, things have to be verified.
If 20 people come to me after the service and say, well, I saw so and so do whatever, I can pretty much know for sure that it's true.
Out of the mouth of two or three or 20 witnesses shall every word be established, right?
And so he's saying, I don't have to be there to judge it because everyone's reporting it.
I know it's true.
Verse 4, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together in my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ.
To deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
Your glorying is not good, know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
And some people might say, but wait a minute, everybody has sin.
So how dare you say that this sin gets quarantined and this one doesn't?
But wait a minute, here's the thing, you didn't physically quarantine people for every time they didn't feel well.
But I mean, if you woke up in the morning and it's like, oh, I got a headache, seven day quarantine.
No, it's not that strict.
I mean, if that were the case, I mean, probably, you know, most of us every other day, we don't feel well.
We're tired, we're exhausted or whatever, we're in a bad mood because we didn't get sleep.
But quarantining was for a sickness that would spread, but a major sickness, major infection.
As I said, I'm not here to judge on every single sickness under the sun.
Those would be very gray area situations.
I think we could agree on that.
Of certain things that would be too dangerous and certain things that would not, okay.
But what I'm saying is that it's the same thing with the local church.
Obviously, we're all sinners.
Obviously, the Bible says the thought of foolishness is sin.
We all think foolish thoughts.
We can all be covetous, but there can be a line.
And when you're sleeping with your father's wife, that's way past any line that any man could make.
And that's something that would spread where if you allow that, does that mean everybody's going to sleep with their father's wife?
Probably not, but it's going to make people think fornication is not a big deal.
And if you allow something like that, then surely fornication is not that big of a deal to God.
Right, because that's something that's far more grievous.
Verse 7,
Purge out there for the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened, for even Christ our Passover sacrificed for us.
What Paul's saying is, you know what, quarantine that person.
They've got to be outside the local church.
They're not welcome right now because this person has a spreading infection that's going to cause sin to just be very rampant in the local church.
Verse 13, 1 Corinthians 5, verse 13.
But then let it without God judge it.
Therefore, put away from the lung yourselves that wicked person.
What Paul's saying is, I give you situations to judge in the local church.
And when someone gets cast out of the local church, they're in God's hands to judge.
That's what the Bible says.
And here's the thing, in the Old Testament, when somebody had the plague of leprosy, and then they got cleansed,
did they just get to immediately come back without any verification, or did they have to prove they were cleansed?
They had to prove it.
They imagined someone had the plague of leprosy, and then all of a sudden the next day, yeah, you know, I think it's gone.
It's like, wait a minute, let us double check.
Right, did you offer those birds?
Let us make sure it's true.
And of course, when it comes to the local church, 2 Corinthians talks about the fact you need godly soul and not worldly soul.
What carefulness it hath wrought in you.
Yay, what zeal, what vehement desire.
It's like, where's the proof?
Where's the evidence?
And so if somebody gets cast out of the local church, it's not just like, yeah, I'm sorry, let me back.
Well, they got to prove that it's done.
It's like, you know, that's what you see with physical quarantining in the Old Testament.
It's not just this free for all.
Yeah, I sinned, but I got it right.
It's like, well, let's make sure that's true.
And here's the thing.
If there is a concern that maybe the sin is not gone,
if somebody might still have the leprosy,
what did the Bible say?
Shut him up seven days more.
It's like, it's too risky.
If it's 50-50, it's too risky for the church.
It's too risky for congregation.
Same thing when people get cast out of the church.
If I'm like 50-50, or even 75-25,
I'm like, that 25% is a very dangerous thing.
Because if that infection is going to spread,
and it's like, it's not worth the risk to everybody else.
And you could get mad at me all you want, and people do,
but wait a minute, isn't that what you see
with quarantining in the Old Testament?
It's like, to get back, you better make sure it's gone.
There's proof.
You know what, there's actual evidence and verification
that the sin is gone, and they are not a danger to come back.
What is the spiritual symbolism in the local church
of a spiritual quarantine,
where you're cast out of the local church?