From Gentle Admonishment to Exclusion from the Church: The Relevance of Paul’s Pastoral Care of Sinners in First Corinthians for Churches Today

Apr 11, 2023 by Dave Doveton

By Rollin Grams, Bible and Mission.

Introduction

This study of the arrogant in the church in Corinth provides a Biblical precedent for what might be the next step for orthodox Christians as the Anglican and Methodist Churches in our day. It also applies to other denominations that have already divided between the revisionists promoting sin and the orthodox who have, by and large, left to form new denominations. Having spoken the truth in love over many years, Paul’s response to the arrogant faction in Corinth provides an example of good practice for believers concerned to follow God.

We live at a momentous time, not unlike the days of division of the Church in the 11th and 16th centuries, but with much more at stake. Already in the first days of the Church, however, certain issues showed themselves that illustrated both what types of issues would divide the Church and how believers ought to handle them. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians is one of the Biblical texts that gives us this insight. Paul had been made aware of a group in the Corinthian Church that was promoting various things to divide the Church, including sexual immorality.[1] One way in which he describes this group is to say that they are arrogant. This group was attempting to build a church that was not built on the foundation of the Gospel that Paul had proclaimed when establishing the Church, and they were building with materials of their culture, such as sexual morality, which would result in an unholy building rather than the temple of God.

Contemporary readers of 1 Corinthians 4.21 are likely taken aback by the roughness of Paul’s words. He says, ‘What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?’ How should we understand this? Cultural context is important to understand the mention of a rod of punishment. Also important are reading the context of this verse from 4.14 and further into chapter 5–the chapter break is unhelpful. Finally, the gravity of the issue explains Paul’s strong language. First Corinthians 4.14-5.13 is an instruction for the Church about what to do when gentle admonishing fails. The presenting case is one of practicing sexual immorality and those approving of it.

Read here.