“Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. 

 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. 

 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.“

1 Corinthians 15 :1-11 

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September 25, 2025

The Corinthian church was proud of their accomplishments and successes. Maybe they were inspired to work harder, try harder, and if they just kept going they could achieve spiritual completeness on their own. At the same time, they turned a blind eye to sin happening within the Body. We learn in chapter 5 that a man in their church had a sexual relationship with his father’s wife—and the church ignored it.  

Paul accuses the church of being arrogant. I wonder if they felt the sin was too shameful to admit, to acknowledge. So they swept it under the rug.  

How often do we let something like this happen? 

How does the gospel affect our response to sin within the body of Christ? Historically we have responded poorly in two ways.  

First, the Church responds poorly by ignoring the sin. I have a friend who is committed to never be part of a church again because when she was young a youth pastor was sexually abusing teens; the pastor, elders, and some members knew about this abuse—and did nothing to stop it.  

Second, the Church responds poorly to sin by harshly castigating the person in anger, with a response that is devoid of love. Our human search for “justice” often looks more like a quest for vengeance. If we believe Jesus is a friend of sinners, why wouldn’t the church open up its arms to sinners who have repented (with appropriate boundaries formed as needed)? 

Paul urges the Corinthians to grieve and mourn that sin is taking place within the body of Christ. Our response should not be apathy or feigned ignorance but grief. We grieve sin in the church and take action, action that removes the sinful situation from the church body and action that gives the person committing the sin the opportunity to repent and find restoration.  

 

Questions for reflection and discussion:  

  • What kinds of sins have you seen tolerated within the church? How does it damage the gospel witness when churches allow or hide sinful practices?  
  • How have you responded when a believer you know is living in a way that embraces sin?  
  • Are there some sins that are more deplorable to you than others? Why do you think that is?  

 

Church Reading Plan: 2 Samuel 21; Galatians 1