Joel M Bradshaw

12What business is it of mine [Paul] to judge those outside the church? Are you [written to Corinthian church] not to judge those inside? 13God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.”–1 Corinthians 5

1. Paul had been judging the Corinthian church regarding a horrendous sexual matter that they had allowed within their congregation.
2. He expected the church to obey him and to further administer biblical judgment to the offending parties.
3. Paul’s essential point was that the Corinthian church wasn’t just acting like the sinful Roman world around them, but actually worse!
4. The world outside of the church doesn’t follow Jesus. Paul wasn’t judging those people for following their own hearts and sinning. They are spiritually unregenerate and it is their natural state to sin and reject God.
5. Paul was judging those who claim to follow Christ, but actually do not. These people are hypocrites and drag Jesus’ name through the mud.
6. Unrepentant, hypocritical sinners in a church should face biblical accountability and God has put appropriate leaders in their lives to do this.
7. Outside the church is God’s business. But regarding judgment, Christians should focus inward and not outward. For example, I once had to face my own hypocrisy, repent, and get the help I needed. If I had stubbornly refused to do so, I would have had to face the accountability present in my life.–JMB