Paul now deals with the terrible sexual sin of a man with his step-mother (v1). What is shocking this doesn’t seem to disturb, but Paul is very clear that this man needs to be disciplined by the church (v2-5). The handing over to Satan means excommunication, but notice it is with the purpose of restoring.

Paul uses leaven to picture this sin and its impact (v6-8). When the Passover was celebrated, there was to be no leaven present in the house of God’s people. Leaven was symbolic of sin. A little leaven impacts all the bread and likewise sin in one person permeates the whole fellowship.

We live in a world of so much sexual immorality and it’s impossible to avoid sexually immoral people in the world (v9-13). But the church needs to be a different place and the sexually immoral believers need to be excluded from membership and fellowship in order to protect the fellowship.

We see t=here the twofold purpose of church discipline, restoring the sinful and protecting the purity of the fellowship. Pray as a Christian and as a church we will be protected from the temptation of sexual sin.