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Corinthians 5:3
NKJV
For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have
already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed.
NLT (includes part
of verse 4)
Even though I am not with you in person, I am with you in the
Spirit. And as though I were there, I have already passed judgment
on this man in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Today, I encourage
you to at least go back to verse one and start reading. If will give you some context for these
verses.
I use a couple of
commentaries in writing. Commentaries are a big help for this old cowboy to
understand God’s word better. I hope you
have one, or two, or three that you use regularly. (Here are the ones I use, if
you have some you use, please share in the comments…help some brothers and
sisters out!
Enduring
Word, BibleRef.com,
and of course Bible Hub (lotsa help here) And now back
to our regularly scheduled program…
Paul is basically
calling out the church at Corinth because of what is a known sin of an unrepentant
man. He is exercising his authority as
an apostle and leader in the church. He’s
saying, “just because I’m not there, does not mean anything goes”, and then we
get into the hard part of his comment when he says, “I have already judged him”.
Wait…what? Doesn’t the bible say judge not lest you be
judged? Yes, but understand the context
of what it says. It’s not for us to
judge unbeliever’s, but we should not let the unrepentant actions of fellow
believers just lie there. The NIV says, “I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus
on the one who has been doing this.”
This one is
kinda tough, I mean, shouldn’t we love and encourage someone back into a
relationship with God? Yes we should,
our judgement (if we’re going to call it that) should come after some time has
been spent loving on that person.
Encouraging them and speaking truth about what the bible says about their
situation. I believe we all, at times, have been in a place where our sin has
placed us in a place contrary to God. I
have and thank God I have people in my life who called me on it and led me back,
in repentance, to a relationship with God. But what about the one who doesn’t
want to hear any truth and has justified their position in sin?
The Enduring Word commentary says, “Paul
is not being disobedient in the slightest way. Jesus’ command in Matthew 7:1-5 forbids hypocritical judgment, and judging others by a
standard that we ourselves do not want to be judged by. Paul is perfectly
willing to apply the same standards to himself that he is applying to the
Corinthian Christians. Some judgment is permitted, and some is not. “While
Christians are not to judge one another’s motives or ministries, we are
certainly expected to be honest about each other’s conduct.” (Wiersbe)”
There
you go…we should only judge to the level we are willing to be judged at
conductwise. Still, every step should be
taken before God and every step should be prayed over. WWJD?
This
is hard,
cej
