Some sins are being allowed, even celebrated in the Church. These sins exist because we have abandoned the restraints of Scripture and allowed sin to remain unchallenged.

Paul wrote about our response to these sins, “So, don’t make judgments about anyone ahead of time—before the Lord returns. For he will bring our darkest secrets to light and will reveal our private motives” (I Corinthians 4:5).

What Paul was saying is to give God time to redeem a person who is engaging in sinful behavior. This kind of “ahead of time” judgment is not ours to make. We only see part of a much larger picture of God’s ability to redeem a human life. To prematurely judge a person removes the miracle of transformation from their lives. We can judge a sin, but only God can judge a person’s eternal destiny.

Paul was specifically addressing sin in the Corinthian Church—a sin that was allowed and not challenged. A man was shacking up with his stepmother, and no one in the Church challenged his sin. This unchallenged sin was like the encroaching effect of yeast in a lump of dough. It was affecting the spiritual integrity of the Church.

Paul was straightforward about this man’s sin and its effect on the Church: “Then you must throw this man out and hand him over to Satan so that his sinful nature will be destroyed and he himself will be saved on the day the Lord returns” (5:5). As tough as this sounds, it was an act of love. It was done to help the man realize what he was doing was sinful and give him a chance to repent and return to the Church..

While Paul was addressing the issue of sexual sin, he expanded the net of what displeases the Lord, “Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God” (vs. 6:10-11). Paul expanded the net of his judgment to include others who might think they were off the hook.

When sin enters the Church, it happens many times because we forget the purpose of why our bodies were created, “But you can’t say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies” (6:13). The way out of our sin begins by realizing our bodies and what we do with them belongs to the Lord, not us.

Since Paul was specifically dealing with sexual sin, he got specific and straightforward, “Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So, you must honor God with your body” (vs. 6:18-20).

Today, the Church needs clarity about the sins we allow to exist in our midst and remain unchallenged by God’s redeeming love. This is never an easy job, but it keeps God’s temple clear of the infecting yeast of sin that can affect our purity and cause people to tolerate their sin and still call themselves believers.