Question: 1 Cor. 5. Does not ver. 1 imply “leprosy,” 2 “leaven,” 3-5 dealing with the former, 6-8 with the latter (cathartic), 9-13 (excommunicatory). So in 2 Tim. 2:2121If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work. (2 Timothy 2:21), is it not purging one’s own vessel? J.J.
Answer: “Leprosy” here is a fancy. It does not apply in a believer. There is not the least hint of it here or elsewhere in the N.T. as to Christians. Nor does the O.T. warrant it as to such typically, though such an application has been favored by some. But in 1 Cor. 5 the leaven is the offender who if allowed defiles the assembly; which had not only to purge him out but to purge themselves, according to their standing as unleavened keepers of the feast. In 2 Tim. 2 it is not purging out the vessels to dishonor, but purging one’s self out, when the evil gets a sanctioned place. One was the assembly still recognized spite of its transient disorder; the other, a state where it could not be owned save for judgment.