What Does Paul Mean By “Separation”?
WHAT DOES PAUL MEAN BY “SEPARATION”?
1 CORINTHIANS 5:9-13
We continue to consider the theme of discipline and the treatment of evil practices.
Some of the Corinthians were immoderately lax (5:2); others had misunderstood an earlier letter and had become inordinately rigid (5:10) by refusing any contact with the outside world.
Obviously Paul’s earlier instruction had been misapplied and what was intended as a call to discipline within the church had been taken as an invitation to the isolated life of a recluse by severing all association with people of the world (5:10). Paul shows how impossible this is except, perhaps, by setting up a monastic, self-contained community like the people of the Dead Sea Scrolls. But this withdrawal from society is never supported in the New Testament. The church is the light of the world, the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13-16), not a shut-off community, practicing a world-denying ethic and living only to itself.
The separation that Paul emphasized was in the matter of church discipline (5:11). Members of the church who try to profess the faith and to adopt pagan ways of life are to be severely dealt with (5:11-13). Even to welcome them at the Lord’s table, in their unrepentant frame of mind and manners, or possibly to any meal table, is an act of encouragement to them (2 John 10-11; 2 Thessalonians 3:14-15). Rather, they must be “judged,” ie shown their folly and firmly reminded of the high moral standards demanded by the new covenant. Even one immoral man can spoil the fellowship by his influence (5:6) unless he is checked. The point is clinched by a reference to Deuteronomy 13:5. What is the relevance of this text?