The Church & God’s Authority

“It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.” (1 Cor. 5:1-2) Imagine this: after a wonderful weekend with family, you open your personal email late at night to discover that a member of your church has been sleeping with his stepmother; what would be your first reaction? Astonishment, perhaps?   Paul did not get an email, but he received a report saying that a member of the Corinthian church was involved in incest, and yet the man was still part of the congregation.   Paul was stunned by the report of this man’s sin and by how the church was permissive and passive in not removing him from their fellowship.   Even pagans considered this behavior scandalous. How did the church come to accept this? The answer: the