Paul
the apostle told the church in Corinth to “purge
out the old leaven”
so they could “be a new lump”
as he referred to the “fornication”
that was found within the church. He referred to how “Christ
our passover is sacrificed for” he
and the church members, and desired that they “keep
the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and
wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth”.
In chapter five and verse nine of First
Corinthians, Paul told the church members in Corinth,
“not to company with fornicators”
where we read:
I
wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:
The
verse begins, “I
wrote unto you in an epistle ...”
Paul began
with the words, “I wrote” which
means “Paul expressed and recorded in written characters” “unto
you” or
“to the Corinthian church” “in an
epistle”
which refers to “in a letter”. Paul had already written to the
Corinthian church members another time.
The
verse goes on to say, “...not
to company with fornicators:” Paul
continued with the words, “not to
company” which
means “not to mixed together or be intimate” “with
fornicators” which
refers to “a person who prostitutes his body to another's lust for
hire, a male prostitute or one who indulges in unlawful sexual
intercourse”. Paul wrote to the Corinthian church members
concerning not “mixing together with people who indulged in
unlawful sexual intercourse”.
When
we meditate upon these words from Paul, we see how Paul had
previously warned the church members concerning being intimate with
“fornicators”.
Because they did not follow Paul's warning, they had a person in the
church who was involved in “fornication”.
Corinth was known for it's “sexual promiscuity” because three
temples, of which the one on Acrocorinth was the most prominent, to
the goddess “Aphrodite”, the “female goddess of love and
fertility”, were built there. Prostitution of courtesans or
servants of the temple were conducted throughout the city, and Paul's
warning against “fornication” was to keep the Christians
within the Corinthian church “pure and holy” before God Lest
they pollute themselves with their sinful ways, they were to cling to
Jesus Christ and keep themselves from “sexual immorality”.
Next
time Paul shares how the church members were not to “company”
with “fornicators
of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with
idolators”,
so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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