But there was something far worse — in the Assembly of God at Corinth — going on, than divisions and puffing up for one minister against another. There was fornication allowed among them, such fornication as was not named among the Gentiles, that a man should have his father’s wife. And they were puffed up, and had not mourned that he that had done this deed might be taken away from among them. Sad evidence of the power of evil amongst the saints of God. But as for the apostle, though absent in body, but present in spirit, he had judged already as though present, concerning him that had done this deed, in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, when they were gathered together, and his spirit, with the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such an one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. His being absent in body did not hinder his being present in spirit. One spirit united them, though in two places; the body was one; the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ as Head and Lord of the Assembly was one. Evil in one place affected the whole body. They were attaching the Holy Name of the Lord Jesus Christ to fornication, by allowing this evil amongst them. He thus at once connects this Holy Name with the Assembly when they are gathered together, and thus getting the conscience of the Assembly in connection with that Name, he forces them to judge the evil. What was the power? The power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who ruled outside the Assembly of God? Satan, the god of this world. Thus to Satan he must be handed, but all for his ultimate salvation. Satan had rule over the flesh. Consequently as he was permitted, for disciplinary purposes, to afflict Job; so, for the same purpose, would the fornicator be handed to him, that his spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
But the conscience of the Assembly evidently was all wrong by allowing such evil amongst them. Did they not know that a little leaven leavened the whole lump? Their dull conscience was an evidence of this. But they as to their position were an unleavened lump. The body of Christ was outside evil, raised by the power of the Holy Ghost out of death together with Christ, and seated in heavenly places in Him. It was a new creation, a new man (Eph. 2). Old leaven then had no place there; it was to be purged out, so that their practice might correspond to what they really were, namely, an unleavened lump. As for their past lost position, as connected with evil, Christ, their Passover Lamb, had been sacrificed for them; therefore, as Israel had to put away all leaven from their houses where the blood was sprinkled, so the Corinthians were to keep the feast, not with the old leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. As the Passover was the memorial of Israel’s redemption out of Egypt, so is the Lord’s Table the memorial of our redemption from a greater slavery, even from Satan and the world. Whilst it is a most blessed and privileged place therefore, it is also a place of self-judgment, that is to say, a place from whence all evil is judged and put away. The soul that does not judge itself is apt to come under the judgment of the Assembly, when the evil is discovered; as the soul in Israel that did not put away the evil leaven was to be cut off. Awful and solemn place for the Church of God on earth to have! Yet such is its responsibility before God. The body of Christ being an unleavened lump has thus no need of mercy (see Paul’s salutation at the beginning of each Epistle). Consequently, it has the power of judgment, which individual believers have not (see Matt. 7:1-41Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. 3And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? (Matthew 7:1‑4)).
He had written to them not to company with fornicators; yet he did not mean altogether that they were not to company with the fornicators or other sinners of the world, for to keep altogether separate from such we must go out of the world. The world was full of them. What he meant was this, that if any man that was called a brother was a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such they were not even to eat. They had not to judge the world outside. God judged that. But they were responsible to judge evil within, and therefore to put away the evil person. This might go against amiable nature, but the glory of the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ required it. The without and within of the Assembly is thus with jealousy guarded. Within was an unleavened lump, and in their practical walk they must conform to their position by putting away the evil, if not judged, by the discipline of the Assembly. Outside was the world, of which Satan was the god. Thus in 1 Cor. 1–4 we have the true nature of the Assembly brought out, as the temple of God, as well as the position of the servants in it, as to correction to human wisdom and sectarianism working amongst the saints. But next, if the temple of God is set up it must be kept clean, and this is what we have in 1 Cor. 5:88Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. (1 Corinthians 5:8)— the discipline of the house of God. The Lord’s table is our feast founded on redemption, and the place in the house of God where Christians gather, and from which evil must be put away.