Tolerance and Intolerance

1 Corinthians 5:1 (ESV) It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife. 2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. 5 ...you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

In this age the church is guilty of tolerating sin. Sinners are welcome in the church but for one purpose - to avail themselves to the Word which leads to being born-again. From the passages above, it is clear that Christians are not to fellowship with blatant sinners that obviously are not influenced by Jesus's sacrificial death on the cross.

Actually, there are many points to be made by Paul in these passages. I skipped over verses three and four, not because they are not important, but to narrow the scope of this commentary. Let's look at some of the points:

• "It is reported":  Christians, in those days, were held accountable for the spiritual condition of others. Because sinful behavior reflects on the entire Body of Believers, sinful behavior is everybody's business. Just think of the reputation of Christianity if the Church had allowed to be a den of sinners! They were not hypocrites as many churches are today. They were not tolerant of sin as many other churches are today. The Church at Corinth was beginning to be lukewarm as was the church at Laodocia. Paul endeavored to stop that in its tracks!
• "That there is sexual immorality": This is clear. There is right and wrong. One man and one woman in Holy Matrimony was God's Design. Fornication is only one sexual sin, and it is serious business, yet the churches are filled in modern times with fornicators who either can't control their passion or feel no remorse. Sexual sins are the most prevalent, it seems, in the Body of Believers. In modern times, our culture and media is driven by sexual passion. More people watch pornography than read the Bible. Sexual immorality is being your own god and focusing on pleasuring oneself. It is elevating oneself over God.
• "Pagans": Paul compares the sinners as worse than the pagans. Pagans are those who are of any other belief other than Judeo-Christianity. Some of them sacrificed their babies to Molech and even had male temple prostitutes, implying homosexuality within the place of their worship. Pagans by definition are unrighteous, and Paul was pointing a direct finger at the unrighteous in the Corinthian Church. Scripture clearly tells God's people not to do the things pagans do, but this is even worse! Let's look at what the pagans were noted for and what God commanded:

Deuteronomy 18:9 (ESV) “When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you.

 God pointed out the vile sins of the pagans, but at least they were not (at the time of Paul) into incest in their religious practices. (Albeit, Cleopatra was eighty-some years before Paul in Egypt.) 

• "A man has his father's wife": Incest is a greater sin than even the things the pagans do. There are degrees of sin, and incest is one of the greatest. Note that biblical incest is not necessarily of the same blood, but is familial. We are to revere the institution of marriage, and especially respect our parents. Not "honoring father and mother" is a violation of the Fifth Commandment . On top of that is the violation of Seventh - adultery (a form of fornication), and the Tenth - coveting what belongs to another. Incest is a triple sin against the father, and a Ten-fold sin against our Father in heaven. And I almost forgot theft. The son stole his father's wife (the Eighth.)
• "And you are arrogant": This accusation wasn't directed at the two who sinned,  but the church itself! Arrogance is a special kind of pride. It is flaunting self-importance. You see, the church allowed sin in the church; God forbade it. The church placed themselves above God. They allowed abominations in the church. In times past the Baptist Church in America would dismiss sinners who refused to repent, and return to good standing. Some would not, and the church considered them reprobate. Nowadays, the church allows about any abomination in the church and take no measures to stop the behavior or dismiss the rebellious. For instance, Catholics allow politicians who support abortion and homosexuality to remain in good standing. That is a reflection on the church. When the church allows pagan living on Holy Ground, they are arrogant!
• "Mourn": Not only is the church not to tolerate its members living in sin, but is to mourn for them. As God weeps for sinners, Christians are to as well. "Toughlove" is tough! It is hard to turn out a family member, and a brother in Christ is no easier.  However, there must be discipline in the church or in indeed will evolve into a den of sinners.
• "Remove from you": Sin within the Church is not to be tolerated! Mourning for the sinner is showing love, but Christians are to hate the sin enough to not tolerate it! One man told me that it is not in the Bible to hate the sin but love the sinner. The entire theme of Holy Scripture is focused on that! How can one who claims to be a Christian fail to see the main point of the gospel? In modern culture and the church, the "correct" thing to do is to tolerate sin. Paul made it clear that the toleration of sin damns the person Christians claim to love! There is a process for dismissal. (See Matthew 18:15-17). Once one is removed for failure to repent, Christians are not even to eat with them.

1 Corinthians 5:11 (ESV) But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one.

This is called shunning.  Those who fail to comply with God's Will are to be avoided. The grievous sins for shunning are enumerated: sexual immorality, usury, hatefulness, drunkiness, or a cheater. To be honest, I know of some even in the church who hate others. We are no better today, if not worse than in apostolic times.

• "Deliver this man to Satan":  Essentially, this means to shake the dust off your feet. The man is nearly reprobate. Psychologists call reprobation "psychopathic" in that those people feel no remorse. I call the reprobate "spiritually psychopathic". If they are into denial, the demons inside fend off the Holy Spirit in producing guilt. Such a horrid sin as this is not blasphemy but abominable. He can be changed! Christians are to deliver him to Satan because to Satan is to whom he belongs. The church body is to convict the man. It is their responsibility. If he won't deal with God, they are to deal with him!
• "For the destruction of the flesh": This is not meant to be eternal destruction but letting the world destroy him. It is allowing him to have the consequences of his sinfulness. "Delivering him to Satan" is allowing Satan free reign. God lowers the safety hedge from around him. Satan can teach us a lesson. It's not for his purposes but for God's. God was proud of the faithfulness of Job, and allowed Satan to test it. In this case, God is ashamed of the man, and knows he will tire of Satan's testing. I've been there. I readily tired of Satan! If Christians are not feeling remorseful for sin, their soul is in grievous danger. Guilt can be a great spiritual medicine!
• So that his spirit may be saved": Toughlove is hard to do! Good parents let their children fall because in their calamity they are humbled. God does the same! God struck Paul blind because he murdered. That humbled Paul and he quit "kicking against the pricks" as Jesus mentioned. That is self-injury to avoid doing what's right. The one to whom God forgives the most, loves him the most (Luke 7:47). There is the potential for this man to love God extremely after he tires of Satan and becomes remorseful. True love is toughlove. Rather than tolerate sin, we are to deal with it. The flesh - pleasuring the self - is to be sacrificed on the cross to save the spirit (Romans 12:1).
• "So that his spirit may be saved": Although grievous, even incest is still pardonable. It is not blasphemy unless the sinner denies God. It is God's will that "whosoever" be saved. That's this man too! Right now, he is not "saved". In fact, he is unsafe. God adjusted his protection for this man because he dropped his sword - the word - and misplaced his faith, the major part of God's armor! Unless he repents, he belongs to Satan, and God desires that "none should perish" (John 3:16). 
• "In the day of the Lord": Paul is clear here. Salvation comes the on Day of the Lord. That's judgment day. Until then, dead sinners "vacation" in Paradise, but when God says, "Well done good and faithful servant," the Christian is judged innocent and saved. For the righteous that will be a great day; not so for the unrighteous:

Joel 2:31 (KJV) The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.

That's the day when this troublesome flesh is destroyed by fire! For some it will be quite a terrible day, or actually eternity! 

True love is saving one from eternal damnation. By tolerating this man's sin would have been a ticket to hell. By dismissing him from the Family of God is an act of divine love. By not tolerating sin is the way Christians demonstrate love. Of course, to condemn sin, Christians must be without sin. We must remain vigilant that we keep our repentance up-to-date!

It's a shame: I've been chastised by Christians because I refuse to tolerate homosexuality. Because the homosexual is the brother to the Christian lady, all of a sudden homosexuality was no longer sinful! This is bad thinking, and is arrogance in the face of God! If she truly loves her brother, she would use toughlove with him as Paul admonished the Church to do. God's will never changes. Society's does. We are to do God's will without regard to cultural norms. The world is of the flesh, and to join the world is to deny God.

Paul rebuked both the sinner and the arrogance of the Christians. This is a lesson for the liberal churches who preach tolerance and the social gospel. If the Corinthian church had allowed this unrepentant sinner to remain part of the church body, Paul would have called for their dismissal from the true Church! Apparently, they obeyed Paul's instruction because St. John didn't condemn them in the Book of Revelation! 

This is a lesson on not tolerating sin, and the mercy of God for even grievous sinners. His justice is toughlove because he even desires the incestuous to not perish.