Az – Disorders in the Church at Corinth 5:1 to 6:20

Disorders in the Church at Corinth
5:1 to 6:20

Paul turns from one manifestation of the pride of the Corinthians to another, this one of immoral sexual sin. In the ancient world the Jews had high standards of sexual purity, but lax moral standards were common among the Greeks. The TaNaKh was clear about its uncompromising opposition to sexual immorality. The Corinthians, however, proud in their new found “freedom” in Messiah, seem to have felt that they knew better, being “wise” in their own eyes, even though it meant condoning serious sexual immorality.¹³⁴ Paul opposed their sinful attitude, and that brought on a crisis of authority. This crisis of authority, then, is what seems to hold the first six chapters of the letter together.

With his opening sentence (5:1), Paul clearly turns to address a new issue, a case of incest that is at least being tolerated, if not actually condoned by the believers in the church at Corinth (to see link click Ba – Failure to Discipline an Immoral Brother). What seems to be at stake here is the authority of Paul against the false prophets (see the commentary on Second Corinthians Af – The Problem of the False Apostles) who were responsible for leading the church in its new direction against Paul. But it was not only the false prophets. The apostle was at odds with the entire church for their failure to resolve personal disputes (see Bb – Failure to Resolve Personal Disputes), and their failure to exercise sexual purity (see Bc – Failure to Exercise Sexual Purity). So, this was a double crisis; not only a crisis in Paul’s authority over the church, but also a crisis of the authority of the Scriptures.¹³⁵