The Responsibility & Gift of Church Discipline | 1 Cor. 5:1-13

As preached by Timothy O'Day.

1) Church discipline aims to restore members (1-5).

2) Church discipline protects members (6-8).

3) Church discipline maintains gospel witness (9-13).

The Gift and Responsibility of Discipline

1 Corinthians 5:1-13

April 13, 2025

Would you like to have a cocktail of toxic drugs shot into your body even though they damage your digestive system and bone marrow? If you’re sane, you answer will be a resounding “no.” At least, the answer will be “no” if all things are equal. But if you weren’t feeling well and, upon visiting the doctor, he told you that you had an aggressive form of cancer that required chemotherapy—which means having toxic agents shot into your body that would kill the rapidly dividing cancer cells—then you would most likely accept the collateral damage done to your bone marrow and digestive system. Why? You value your life. Your family and friends value your life. And, since you and others value your life, undergoing the very real hardship of chemotherapy would be worth it, since cancer is dangerous and life is good. 

Remarkably enough, having toxic chemicals circulated through your body is horrifying if you think you are healthy, but a gift if you know that you are sick and that it is the only way to get better. 

We could think of the dynamics of church discipline in a similar fashion. 1 Corinthians 5:1-13 is a passage that speaks directly to the practice of church discipline, which is a practice that, when many hear of it, consider it to be harsh, unloving, and even wrong. 

But here it is, and the Apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, gives clear directions to the Corinthians and, by extension, to us in how to practice it when the church body gets so sick that it is necessary. 

The Specific Problem in Corinth

Before getting into the details of chapter 6, let me give us some wider context of where we are in this letter. In chapters 5-6, Paul turns from addressing the division in the church that has arisen from leaders and others seeking to glorify themselves to a series of moral issues that also demand immediate correction and action. So, what is the first moral problem that Paul addresses? There is a man in the Corinthian church who is openly living in sexual immorality. Sexual immorality, to be clear, is a wide-ranging category. It simply refers to any kind of sexual practice that God calls out of bounds. In this instance, a man is sleeping with his stepmother. If you look at verse 1, it says, “a man has his father’s wife.” This doesn’t mean his mother, or Paul, would have simply said, “his mother.” Rather, this is a woman who was once (or still is) his stepmother, and he is living in sexual immorality with her. Surely there are more details that Paul knows and the Corinthians know, but since both parties are aware of these details, he doesn’t rehearse them here. 

And this issue isn’t hidden. Verse 1 notes that this sin is known since it is being reported to Paul. Likewise, it is seen as scandalous not just by Paul but also by the wider culture. Finally, as you see in verse 2, the Corinthian church is celebrating the fact that this man is with his stepmother when it says that they are “arrogant.” Or, at the very least, they don’t think that this open toleration of sin says anything negative about the church as a whole. 

The problem in Corinth was a member living in open sexual immorality, but that is really just the surface problem. It is really more a symptom of the true problem. The true problem is that the Corinthian church doesn’t know how precious the church is and how heinous and destructive sin is. 

As such, they wink at sin; they tolerate sin; they congratulate themselves on how open-minded, tolerant, and accepting they are. All the while sin deadens our hearts to the beauty of God and the joy of communion with him. 

And whether you want to admit it or not, you desire to excuse sin in other people because confronting it seems too “toxic” and painful. You know, toleration of sin will only cause it to spread further in the community of the church, but confrontation just seems too hard. The great commandment of our age is to “live and let live.” But God tells us that the church for whom Christ died is too precious and loved by him for us to simply do nothing; sin is too dangerous and heinous for us to simply wink at it. It is a cancer that must be treated, even if the treatment is hard and painful.

What we see in these verses is that discipline is a responsibility for the church to exercise, but also a gift to help the church. With the rest of our time, let me draw out for us three ways that discipline is a gift and a responsibility that God gives to his church.

First, discipline aims to restore members (1-5)

Paul’s surprise and shock at the beginning of this passage show us that the Corinthian church isn’t just doing something that is wrong. They are doing something that is glaringly wrong. They are tolerating sin and acting as if they are superior because they are tolerating sin. This is what lies behind Paul’s charge in verse 2, “And you are arrogant!” He goes on in verse 2 to lay out what the proper response would be. It is twofold: mourning the fact that such sin is taking place in their midst and removing the man from church membership, which is what is meant at the end of verse 2 when we read, “Let him who has done this be removed from among you.” 

Paul wants to affirm that this is the right course of action by putting his own authority behind it, saying in verse 3 that even though he isn’t present with them, when they practice this act of discipline they should act as if he is with them.

Yet, notice that church discipline is not something that Paul, as an apostle, can unilaterally accomplish. He gives them directions on how to do it, but the church itself must be the one that does it. Look at verses 4-5,

“When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of the Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan…”

In other words, the church must gather together and pronounce this judgment because they are the ones with the authority to do so, not Paul. This fits hand and glove with what Jesus teaches about church discipline in Matthew 18. In Matthew 18, after giving instructions on how to practice church discipline, Jesus tells the church that if they exercise formal discipline on a member, putting him out of the visible church, then they are acting with his authority. He says in Matthew 18:18-20, 

“Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” 

This closing promise, that Jesus will be with his people, applies to the act of formal discipline in which a member is put out of the church. Paul wants the Corinthians to know they, as a local church, must practice the discipline, but in so doing they are acting in accord with apostolic authority and with the authority vested in them by Christ himself.

Christ has given his church, in particular local manifestations of his church, the authority and responsibility to baptize (which is to declare to the world that one shows evidence of belonging to Jesus) and discipline (declare to the world that one does not show evidence of belonging to Jesus). 

This man in their midst, who is living in open sexual immorality, should, in the authority of Christ, have said over him, “This one gives no evidence of belonging to Christ.” That is what is meant in verse 5, “You are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.” 

In the Bible, there are two categories of people. You are either a child of God or a child of wrath, which means you are under the influence of Satan. When a person is disciplined by the church, he is no longer given assurance by those in the church, saying, “You give evidence of being God’s child.” Rather, because of a stubborn refusal to turn from sin, the church must say to an individual, You give evidence that you want to walk in the way of the enemy, Satan himself, and not Christ.

Yet, the hope in delivering a man over to Satan is not his ultimate spiritual destruction. Rather, it is in hope that his physical body would be buffeted and afflicted so that he might come to his senses and repent. That is what is meant by the end of verse 5. In being physically afflicted by being removed from the church community as a member, his spirit would be saved on the day of judgment.

The Gift of Discipline for Erring Members

Discipline, then, is a gift for those who are caught in sin and blinded by it. Think of the alternative. If one of us were walking in open sin, hardening his heart to the Lord, the absolute cruelest thing we could do would be to affirm his salvation even as he hardened his heart to God. I’ve heard it said that the opposite of love isn’t open hatred, it is indifference. To be indifferent to a person’s sin is to be indifferent to their eternal standing with the Lord. Sin destroys. It hardens the heart.

Don’t get this wrong. We should expect to have to deal with sin in the church. While we are saved by Christ and made new in Christ, indwelling sin remains and will be with us until Christ returns and makes all things new. So do not be surprised when your brother or sister sins. But do be surprised when they refuse to repent and turn from that sin. When that happens, we should NOT give assurance of salvation to that person. Hear Jesus’ warning on this from Matthew 7:21-23,

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”

These are people who call Jesus Lord and have accumulated quite the resume of good works. But they do not know Jesus. How does Jesus address them? As “workers of lawlessness.” That is to say, they are not defined by trust in him and life in him; they are defined by sin.

Love demands we confront a person in sin and even discipline one who ignores the commands of Christ. What gets in the way of discipline is not love for the other person. It is love for our own comfort and our own ease that holds us back. Love confronts because the confrontation of church discipline is the only path to restoration when one refuses to repent. 

Back when I lived in Tennessee, the church at which I was a member had the difficult task of practicing discipline on one of our members. She was a young lady who got romantically involved with a Jehovah’s Witness. She kept the relationship a secret at first because she knew that the church would call her to obey the Lord and not be unequally yoked to an unbeliever in marriage. Then, when it came to light, she refused to break off the relationship and said that she would rather be with him than obey the Lord. The difficult step of formal church discipline was taken, but it was done so with the aim that this woman be restored. But she remained steadfast in her refusal to repent. Or so we thought. Years later, she emailed one of the pastors, asking if she could talk. She came in and confessed that she was wrong and that her life had been spiritually dead and miserable she left the church. Even though her husband didn’t want her to come back, she felt compelled by the Spirit of God that she needed to repent. She came before the church and asked to be forgiven and restored—and she was. 

Brothers and sisters, let us be so committed to love one another that we will do the hard work of giving the gift of discipline when it is necessary.

But discipline isn’t just loving the one member, it is also loving the whole body, which we see in the next section.

Second, discipline protects members (6-8)

The sin of one member, left unchecked, can poison the whole church. This is why Paul warns in verse 6 that their boasting—talking of how great they are for tolerating this sin—is not good. In fact, their boasting betrays the fact that they do not understand their responsibilities as a church to care for those in sin and the danger that unchecked sin poses for the all members in the church. 

Paul asks a rhetorical question that they should know the answer to, “Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?” 

If you do not know anything about baking, I’ll help you by saying that a little leaven does in fact leaven the whole lump. Leaven isn’t added to merely one part of the dough. It mixes in and effects the whole of it whether you want it to or not. 

Therefore, as it says in verse 7, they should “cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump.” Practicing church discipline on this member who is refusing to repent is a necessary step to protect the whole church. Sin will spread if discipline is not practiced—maybe not that particular sin, but if sin is tolerated in one area, it declares to everyone in the church, “don’t take sin seriously.” That’s the leaven that spreads and corrupts the whole lump. 

In other words, discipline isn’t just good for the individual who is caught in sin. It is for the good of the whole church—to refrain from discipline when needed, not only is it unloving to the one caught in sin, but also to all the other members in the church.

Getting the Motivation Right

Before I say anything else, let me just be clear about motivation. It is key for us to get the motivation for discipline right. The motivation to fight sin in your life and in the life of the church is not so that you can be new; it is because you are new. We fight sin because we are saved, not in order to be saved. We have to get this right because it is the difference between legalistic drudgery and joyful energy. Look down at verse 7,

“Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened.” 

What is he saying? You cleanse out the old leaven of sin because you have already been declared and made unleavened. If you are in Christ by faith, you’ve been made new. How? By the work of Christ, of course. Look at the end of verse 7,

“For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” 

What is all of this talk about leaven and Passover about? Passover marked the high point in the Israelite Exodus from Egypt, and the Exodus was the quintessential act of redemption in the Old Testament. In delivering Israel from bondage in Egypt, the Lord sent an angel of death that would kill the firstborn of each household in Egypt. But God said that everyone who killed a lamb and placed its blood on his doorpost would be spared. Death would “pass over” that house, for the lamb would die as a substitute. It was through this act of judgment and salvation that God’s people were delivered from death and from bondage in Egypt. So abrupt was their deliverance that they did not have time to leaven their bread before they left. 

The Exodus is a historical event, and it is also a type of the greater salvation that came in Christ. It pointed forward to the ultimate salvation that God brought about and serves as a picture of Christ. Just as all who believed God’s Word and took shelter under the blood of the provided lamb were saved from death in the Exodus, so all who claim the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, will be saved from eternal death that our sins deserve. Just as Israel had to leave behind the influences and way of life in Egypt, symbolized by not using leaven, we leave behind sin because God is making us into a new people. 

We are called to live new lives because Christ has made us new through his work of redemption for us. As we are freed from the death and bondage that sin brings, we leave behind the old life and take on the characteristics of new life in Christ. 

No Neutrality

Simply put, there is no neutrality. We can walk toward the promised land, or we can complain and go back to Egypt. A church can either tolerate sin or leave it behind—and we will always be doing one or the other. If we tolerate unrepentant sin, then this hurts the whole church and does not live in the reality of what Christ has accomplished. 

But, conversely, if we take the work of Christ seriously—with all of its glorious ramifications of forgiveness and newness of life—then we corporately desire to leave sin behind. Just imagine two scenarios with me and think through the implications for the spiritual health of the whole body.

Scenario one: A church has an open secret that one of its members is committing adultery. Instead of this being called out, it is hushed up because dealing with it is deemed to be too dangerous for the reputation of the church. So people know about it, but it isn’t discussed, and it is covered up because the damage of handling it is seen as worse than hiding it. But what do you think this will teach people about sin and the gospel? What will seep into the hearts of all is that sin isn’t that dangerous or evil, and the gospel doesn’t lead to newness of life. Lying and hiding are promoted instead of sincerity and truth. The souls of all are poisoned because sin is tolerated instead of disciplined. 

Scenario two: You’re sitting with a church friend who hasn’t been acting like himself recently. Instead of ignoring it, you press in, and he says that he has been involved in sexual sin. At first, he defends himself and tries to justify the behavior—you’re tempted to ignore it because it would be easier, but instead, you open your Bible and exhort your friend to believe what Jesus says about sin—that it destroys and leads away from him. Eventually, your friend breaks down and confesses that he feels stuck and wants to get free. He feels ashamed and convicted. He weeps with you and asks for help. You pray together, he confesses his sin to the Lord, and asks for forgiveness. Then you make a plan for how you will help him in this fight. 

As you leave, you are struck by the fact that sin seems more disgusting and dangerous to you now than it ever has before. You desire to fight it more in your life and hunger more to cultivate holiness. Instead of sin spreading, sincerity and truth spread, as verse 8 says they should. 

Discipline is a gift because the church is claimed by God to be a new people in Christ. Sin corrupts the whole church if not addressed, which endangers all by tolerating sin in one.

Third, discipline maintains gospel witness (9-13)

As this chapter closes, Paul offers some clarification of the teaching he gave in a previous letter to the Corinthians. As we see in verses 9-10, he previously wrote to them not to associate with sexually immoral people, but he didn’t mean for them to avoid association with unbelieving sinners, whether they be in sexual sin, financial sin, or idolatry. In order for them to avoid association with such people, they would have to leave the planet. 

So what did he mean? Look at verse 11. He meant that they are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a Christian but lives in open and unrepentant sin. 

Why make this distinction? It has to do with the responsibilities given to the church. The church is not called to judge the world, as verse 12 indicates, 

“For what have I to do with judging outsiders?” Says Paul.

And verse 13 confirms, 

“God judges those outside.” 

The church is called to preach the gospel to those outside, plead with unbelievers to repent, and call out evil in this present age. But we cannot remove sinners and sin from this world—that’s God’s job, and he will do it, as verse 13 says. When Christ returns, all will stand before him and be judged. All those outside of Christ will be cast into hell, being judged for sin. In the new creation, there will be no more sin for all outside of Christ will be judged and cast away, and all those in Christ will be glorified and without sin. 

The church is not responsible for rooting sin out of this world—God will do that. But the church is responsible for purging evil from its midst, as verses 12 and 13 say,

“Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?” And “‘Purge the evil person from among you,’” which is a quotation from Deuteronomy in which Israel is called to maintain their purity. 

Keeping Within Our Responsibility

The church is vested with a profound responsibility to maintain a distinct witness to the gospel—the reality that Christ lived, died, and was raised to claim a people for himself. The gospel does not excuse sin—don’t get this wrong! The gospel is the good news that God has decisively dealt with sin in Christ. When one is forgiven in Christ, his forgiveness is not a waving of the hand that says sin isn’t a big deal. His forgiveness is granted because it was earned by Christ. He paid the price for sin by bearing our sin in his body on the cross. 

The church is a vocal witness to the gospel, verbally stating what the good news is. But the church also testifies to the reality of the gospel—that Christ has really made a people for himself that are forgiven, that are justified—and are being sanctified—that is, changed into Christlikeness.

 In this age, one of the church’s tasks is to remain a distinct witness to the reality of the gospel. One of the means by which this is accomplished is church discipline. If one calls Jesus Lord but refuses to obey him, then it becomes the churches responsibility to discipline this person and say, “he is not one of us.” 

Further, once disciplined, you should not even associate with this person if they continue to claim to be a Christian despite the discipline. 

Now perhaps you hear that and think, “That sounds harsh.” After all, we aren’t perfect. True. The church maintains her witness to the reality of the gospel not by being sinless but by being consistent. When we preach the gospel, we call everyone to lay aside sin which kills and separates from God and to put on Christ who saves. 

But if we make this call to the world and then tolerate sin in our midst, the gospel looks powerless at best and gives others the excuse to accuse the church of hypocrisy. 

The Gift and Responsibility of Discipline

Brothers and sisters, what Christ is doing in his church is so valuable and precious that discipline, far from being a burden, is a gift. Yes, it is a weighty gift, but one that we should use to restore and to protect the people of God that Jesus loves. 

And that Jesus loves his church is clear as we approach the Lord’s Table. He invites us to eat with him. He says to us, “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. Come buy and eat, without money and without price.” On the night when he was betrayed, Jesus celebrated the passover meal with his disciples. On that night, he took the bread and broke it, saying that it was his body, broken for them. Likewise, he took the cup and shared it with them, saying that it was his blood, the blood of the new covenant, shed for them. 

What Jesus declares in this meal is that he has done all that is necessary to make us right with God and bring us into fellowship with God through the New Covenant. 

As such, this is a meal for Christians and not for the world. This is a meal for those who have thrown out the old leaven and have come to Christ in faith; it is a meal for those who confess about Jesus all that he has said about himself—that he is the Son of God incarnate, the second person of the Trinity, who for us and for our salvation took on flesh, lived a life of perfect obedience, died a substitutionary death for sin, and rose again from the grave. He has ascended to the Father and will come again to judge the living and the dead. If you believe that and you have confessed your faith in Christ by being baptized in an evangelical church, we invite you to partake of this meal with us. 

But if you have not trusted in Christ, then do not partake of this meal. Instead, place your faith in Jesus today. He is the Passover Lamb for all who would come to him in faith. You can believe in Jesus right now, turning from your old life and trusting that only Jesus can make you right with God. Call out to him as Savior and Lord, believing that he died for you and rose again to guarantee your new life in him. And, if you do that, come and tell us so that we can see you baptized, which is a declaration of your faith and new life in Christ—then you can walk arm and arm with us together as God’s people, rejoicing in Christ, helping each other stand faithfully with him until the day of his return. 

I will prepare the elements, and then we will dismiss by rows to collect the bread and the cup. Then you can return to your seat,s and I will lead us as we take the meal together. 

Let’s pray as we prepare to take this meal.