The Irony of Impurity – 1 Corinthians 5:1-11
From a common sense point of view, most Christians would probably say that impurity comes from contact with the outside world. Flee the “immoral world” is the idea. Stay out of cities is the slogan, at least a generation ago. In a word, there seems to be a protectionist undercurrent in much of Christianity. However, there is something very “un-Pauline” about this whole approach. In fact, Paul reverses the whole logic. Fear of impurity does not come from the world, but from the church. This is Paul’s theology in 1 Corinthians 5:1-11. When Paul finds out that there is sexual immorality (incest) in his Corinthian congregation, his advice is expulsion, lest the rest of the church become contaminated with this impurity. He writes, “Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast…” (1 Corinthians 5:6-7).
Paul knows that some will misunderstand him and form some sort of Christian enclave. So, he clarifies his position further. He writes:
I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat (1 Corinthians 5:9-11).
Paul’s point could not be clearer, even if it is paradoxical. Contact with the world should not be avoided, but advocated. Paul comes to this conclusion not because he has a rosy view of the world, but because he sees the mission of his group to be in the world. If this were the only passage concerning Paul’s stance towards the world, there might be some room for hesitation, but this theological framework can be seen in much of Paul’s thinking. For example, Paul advises Christians who are married to non-Christians to remain in marriages for the potential sanctification of both spouse and children (1 Corinthians 7). No fear of impurity; just the opposite. He also states that meat offered to idols to be of no concern and that if a person is invited to a dinner party, he or she should go without pang of conscience and eat whatever is offered. To be sure, he does counsel sensitivity and love towards weaker believers, but his stance is one of mixing with the world (1 Corinthians 8). If this is Paul’s stance, then we might have to rethink a few things in the life of the church.
Discouragement and danger may come from the wrong type of Christian “fellowship,” not interaction with the world. From a pastoral point of view, I wholeheartedly agree. One of the most dangerous times of a church’s life is when there is sin and it is glossed over and even celebrated. This type of yeast will spread and cause great harm. On the flip side, I’ve never felt danger for the church when members engaged the world. At times, individual members may fall prey to the allures of the world, but the church is not threatened. Most of the times though, engagement with the world strengthens a person’s faith as well as the life of the church. In light of this, I leave the reader with two questions. What is the quality of your Christian fellowship? And how are you engaging the world?