Sin in the church is an unfortunate reality of life. Thankfully, though, most of these situations are dealt with quickly. People recognize their sin and repent. Grace is shown. Forgiveness happens, and unity and holiness are preserved.

This passage in 1 Corinthians 5 presents another scenario, however; namely, when someone in the church persists in their sin, refusing to repent. In the last post, we saw that unrepentant sin in the church should provoke sorrow in God’s people. In this post, we see that Christians must practice discipline faithfully if sin in the church is to be dealt with biblically (verses 3-5).

Here are three things about church discipline we must understand if we would handle unrepentant sin in a Christ-honoring way. First, we should acknowledge the priority of church discipline (verse 3).

There’s a striking dichotomy here. Paul (who is not present) is ready to carry out discipline on the immoral man, while the Corinthians (who are physically present) have done nothing and are puffed up in their hearts. Yet while Paul is not physically in Corinth, he is united with these Christians in his spirit. The Corinthians should not think physical separation means Paul is unconcerned about what is happening in the church. Instead, they must act in concert with Paul because he is still their spiritual father who led them to Christ.

So, Paul contrasts his readiness and the Corinthians’ hesitancy to act. He encourages them to make discipline a priority in their assembly – as it should be in any church. Paul approves of these believers removing this man from their membership – as he has, in fact, in his own mind, excluded this man from the church.

Church discipline is also an act of judgment. This man has not repented, and judgment must fall; he must be excommunicated from the assembly. Paul sees this action as a priority for the Corinthian church, so he has already rendered judgment as if he were present.

Because church discipline is an act of judgment, many congregations often shy away from prioritizing it. One reason is because no one wants to be considered judgmental. We have been culturally conditioned to feel uncomfortable judging someone for their sin. We also fail to judge in church discipline because doing so could result in some kind of fallout for that local body.

Second, we must understand the process of church discipline (verses 4-5a).

Paul commands the church to exercise discipline for this to become a function of the body of Christ, not of the apostle. Church discipline should not be the prerogative of just one person, but it should instead be a unified action of the entire congregation. Paul also issues this command in the name of the Lord Jesus. Church discipline is not man’s idea, but God’s. Additionally, church discipline is backed with the power of heaven and Christ. That’s why church discipline can be effective and transformative in the life of a sinning Christian, because it is infused with God’s power.

Paul expects the body to assemble and agree with his judgment that this man should no longer be a member of the church, and to formally excommunicate him. What seems odd about this process here is that it seems like some steps were skipped from Matthew 18 with the church going right to the final step. One explanation is that all the steps of discipline leading up to this action were already taken, but that the Corinthians hesitated to execute the final step.

Another explanation is that there may be exceptions to the Matthew 18 process, and this is one time where all the steps are not necessary to arrive at excommunication. Paul gives such an exception to Titus, when he outlines a 3-step process for rejecting a divisive person (Titus 3:10-11). The other factor that leads to some exceptions to the Matthew 18 process is Matthew 18 itself. Gradually, one’s sin is exposed within the church until step three, when the entire body is made aware so the sinner might, then, be called to repentance by everyone. That information helps us conclude that if the sin was of such a nature where the entire church already knows about it, then the first two steps are unnecessary.

When we come to 1 Corinthians 5, this man’s sin is already known to the entire church. It makes no sense to go privately to him when his deed is so outrageous and publicly known that the entire world has heard about it all the way from Corinth to Ephesus. Because of the nature of this sin, both in its seriousness and publicity, it seems Paul moves immediately to the final step of church discipline.

Sin that is only known to a few will go through the steps of Matthew 18, taking longer to handle in the church. However, sin that is public might be dealt with very swiftly in the church because the individual has, in a sense, already told their sin to the body and brought himself to step three. We can think of the instructions of this process as follows: Scripture gives us guidelines or guardrails for church discipline, and the Lord expects local assemblies to be sensitive to the Spirit in applying the variety of instructions about discipline to each situation.

When we think about this process, we should ask why Paul describes the result of being expelled from the church as being delivered to Satan. This phrase means to be put out in the world away from the protection that being a member of a church provides the Christian – back in the realm where the devil rules. This is a terrifying prospect. What a comfort it is to know the church, with its godly leadership, Christ-centered fellowship, and prayer-focused activities provides spiritual protection to Christians. The last thing any child of God should want is to be separated from the church.

Finally, we must understand the purpose of church discipline (verse 5b).

The first purpose of church discipline is the salvation of the unrepentant member. The goal is always restorative – never retributive or political. Church discipline should have nothing to do with personalities, giftedness, jealousy, or rivalry. Instead, the purpose of church discipline is ultimately for salvation. The sinning Christian is put under Satan’s power so he will hopefully remember what it was like to be an unbeliever under the devil’s influence.

The goal of church discipline is for the individual to repent, demonstrate fruit, and faithfully endure to the end. One means God uses to enable believers to hold fast our hope and be saved is discipline – even from the church. Paul wants this sinful man put out of the church, not for his destruction, but so he will be found among Christ’s servants when the Lord returns to reward His servants and judge the wicked.

Discipline, then, is an act of love to someone who is in sin but refusing to acknowledge and forsake their sin. We don’t discipline people because we hate them, or they bother us or some other self-centered reason. Rather, we discipline sinning church members because we love them and want them to repent and walk in obedience to the Lord.

One design God uses to bring His children to repentance is church discipline. The most unloving thing we could do to unrepented sinners is to affirm their sinful lifestyle, even though church discipline may seem like the end of our relationship with them. God, though uses His means to sanctify His people. We must trust that God knows how to love sinners better than we do.