“It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father’s wife. You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst.”

You know that when a sinful behavior is so bad that even non-believers are ashamed of it, then it is mind-boggling for Christians to engage in that sinfulness. That is the depth to which the Corinthians had descended in their carnal living. Remember what Paul had said about them at the beginning, that they were “saints by calling” (1 Cor. 1:2) and “enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge” (1 Cor. 1:4).

Paul doesn’t identify his sources, but the “word on the street” was widespread; the reputation that Corinth in general had was not lost on the believers, who had a worse reputation than their average neighbor. The particular sin? Someone in the congregation was sleeping with his step-mother (“has his father’s wife”). Sexual terminology was not specifically used, but the meaning is obvious, for what other situation would cause such alarm with the apostle?

The worst part of it was not the sin itself but the attitude of the whole church about the situation. The “you” is a plural form in the original language. The sin of the one became the sin of the church, which is the natural extension of the body life teaching Paul gives to them later (chapter 12). The attitude Paul zeroes in on is one of arrogance. But in what sense was the church arrogant? Possibly this is a carryover from chapter four and the discussion about cliquishness and boasting of one group against another.

Could Paul be saying essentially, “How can you be puffed up with grandiose opinions about yourselves when your fellowship as a whole is harboring serious, extreme sin?” Of all people, the Corinthians shouldn’t be characterized as boasting, but as mourning over the sin in the camp. Did they not know or remember the story of Achan, whose sin led to the defeat of Israel’s armies in the Promised Land (Joshua 7)?

On the other hand, could it be that the Corinthians saw themselves as sophisticated about such things, being above making a big deal about the man’s immoral behavior? Maybe it was a bravado that as Christians they could simply turn a blind eye to the problem. Could it be that the sinful person was related to one of the church leaders, or was even a leader himself? Whatever the boasting, believers should recoil with mournful grief from both the sin and sinner.

Lord, I want to take sin seriously—in my life and also in the church. For we are all one, the body of Christ and Him crucified.