1 Corinthians 5 (Pt 2)

1 Corinthians 5:3 (ESV)

[3] For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing.

Our first response over serious sin in the life of a believer should be a broken heart. Our second response should be to exercise accountability. “We are not to judge” is the byword of the day. Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:1 appear to be one of the best known verses in the Bible, “Judge not, that you be not judged.”

That passage is certainly a balancing passage to Paul’s call for judgment in 1 Corinthians, yet we fail to read the entire passage. Jesus went on to say, “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye” (Mt 7:5). Notice that he did not say that you have no right to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. He simply said that before we take the speck out of our brother’s eye we must first take the log out of our own eye. The Apostle Paul echoed Jesus’ teaching with these words, “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted” (Gal 6:1).

There is a biblical directive to hold one another accountable within the Body of Christ. The World is the World. The Scriptures are not calling us to hold the World to a biblical standard. We cannot expect unbelievers to live like believers. We cannot expect the World to look like the Church. Unfortunately too often, however, the Church looks like the World because we fail to challenge one another and hold one another accountable.

Now, here we must be careful for much spiritual abuse has occurred in the name of accountability. We must make sure that if we are to hold a brother or sister accountable to biblical standards, and that we ourselves are living according to biblical standards. Second, we must make sure that it is actually biblical standards that we are holding others to. It is not our place to become the morality police carefully examining others looking for infractions. The accountability Paul calls for is concerning clear, obvious, and public sin. Furthermore the sin addressed is clearly a biblical issue. Too often in the name of accountability we make up rules that have little if any biblical basis and then use it to attack out brothers and sisters. The whole point of accountability is restoration not ruin. “You are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord” (1 Cor 5:5). Third, we must exercise accountability with humility, acknowledging that we too are accountable to others. No one is exempt. We must recognize that we ourselves can easily become caught up in sin, and that we ourselves are far from perfect. The Bible’s call for accountability is never an excuse for spiritual abuse.

Our first response over serious sin in the life of a believer should be a broken heart. Our second response should be to exercise accountability. We are actually called to make some judgments. They just need to be made in humility and genuine love.