1 Corinthians 5

My goodness, this incident is quite odd. News has reached Paul that a person in the church has his father's wife. I'm guessing it's not his mother, otherwise it would probably be mentioned as such. This woman is probably his step-mother. Regardless, this is a terrible thing to have happen. The first thing Paul addresses is the church and how they are to deal with this. He's surprised that they are allowing this kind of behavior to simple go without doing anything about it. He calls them proud, this shown by how they are dealing with the situation or rather their lack of dealing with it.

They might argue that it's not a big deal. However, if only a small amount of tolerance is allotted for or if only a small amount of sin is allowed, it is still not a good thing. Paul relates it to how only a small amount of yeast will work through the whole dough. Allowing a small amount of tolerance or sin is still a bad thing that can work its way through the entire church. In addition, this analogy is related to the unleavened bread and how Jesus is our Passover lamb.

Paul wishes to correct something he said earlier. It is possible that they have interpreted it incorrectly. He told them not to associate with sexually immoral people. When he says this, he is not referring to the people of the world, but people who call themselves a follower of Jesus but are sexually immoral people. If he meant all the sexually immoral people, then they would have to leave this world since the world is filled with these kinds of people. When referring to sexually immoral people, he adds to the list, referring to a number of different kinds of sins people commit.

So why is it okay to associate with these kinds of people if they don't claim to be a follower of Jesus and not okay to associate with these kinds of people if they do claim to be a follower of Jesus? Well, we aren't in charge of judging those outside the church, but God is. However, we are in charge of judging those inside the church. Some people quote Matthew 7:1 in defense to those who judge. There are certain parameters and exceptions I'm sure, but Matthew 7:1 isn't an end to judgment on others, but there is in fact instruction to judge those who claim to be followers of Jesus.