September 10, 2023
Passage Read: 1 Corinthians 4-5
Meditation Verses: 5:11-13
Thought
Paul expects a degree of perfection from believers. They are not supposed to be guilty of or acting out what is clearly sinful. Where in Scripture does it say it is sin to have your father's wife? All the way back in Leviticus! The Law still is a moral guide to believers today. And it is up to us to judge one another. We are to judge other believers because we can't be letting each other get away with sin! And if there is no repentance when confronted, then expulsion from fellowship is the only remedy. Hand that person over to Satan, that his flesh may be destroyed but his soul saved. A fellow believer's soul should be more important than their emotional, physical or social comfort. It's not this life but the next that matters.
Application
All this talk of not judging is ignorant. It is designed to leave people in their sin; it cares more about keeping the peace at the expense of souls. As if this life were more important than the next, as if God Himself will overlook sin in those who claim to believe in Him. He won't. He saved us to change us, to conform us to His holy likeness. We are to judge one another and be humble enough to accept rebuke, because we value eternity with Christ and don't want to miss out on it. I need to be open to correction just as surely as I need to guard the souls of those around me.