The church at Corinth is under Paul's skin. His letter has gone from beautiful "body of Christ" images to this passage where he is furious at the behavior of a group that is holds the name "Christian" and ought to be acing like it. Apparently, though, they practice sexual immorality (of types that "pagans" don't even do) and are suing each other in civil court.
Paul judges. Gasp. We're not supposed to judge. He suggests that those outside the church are not to be judged, but those inside the church are.
This is a tough passage. Paul comes down hard. "Drive out the wicked person from among you."
My skin crawls. Where is forgiveness, reconciliation, transformation? I don't know what to do with this. I do know that humans turned loose on each other in environments that are supposed to be "above" the "regular world" can become vicious in their judgment.
"You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God," Paul says. You are held to a higher standard.
The people of God are called to live differently. How do we help each other do that without becoming what we hate?
Recently, there was a great Facebook meme that said "I always thought quicksand would be a bigger part of my adult life." For those of us raised in a certain generation of movie going...it's true.
Perhaps the metaphorical quicksand is our danger. The path is a hard one to navigate today.
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