Dangers of unconfronted sin

We are prone to make many justifications for not confronting evident sin in a fellow-Christian.

• He won’t listen to me anyway.
• It’s too hard and too embarrassing for me to do something like that.
• Wouldn’t it be more gracious not to say anything?
• Isn’t that only the kinds of things radical churches do?
• It’s not really my business.
• I wouldn’t do what he’s doing, but it’s his right to do that if he wants to.

But the apostle Paul would say that confronting sin in other Christians is the business of the believer and there is an inherent danger in not confronting sin (1 Cor. 5).  In fact, he delineates at least seven dangerous consequences of not disciplining a sinning church member.

Lack of confrontation promotes arrogance and pride in the church body (vv. 2a, 6).  The undisciplined incestuous sin in the Corinthian church (v. 1) produced a particularly perverse and virulent form of pride among the Corinthians.  Perhaps they believed that as a church body they did not need to discipline sin or that even open incest was not a sin that needed discipline or that freedom in Christ meant that they were free to indulge any manner of sin they desired.  Regardless of their exact thoughts, their inaction against sin was an evidence of how far they had slid down the slope of pride.

Lack of confrontation inhibits grief over sin in the church body (v. 2b).  As Jesus said, sin should result in grief before God (Mt. 5:4; see also Js. 4:8-9) and that mourning over sin produces comfort (and conversely, that without mourning over sin, their will be no comfort).  Because they did not discipline sin, their was no grief over sin in the Corinthian church body, and the possibility of repentance was precluded.

Lack of confrontation minimizes the eternal consequences of sin (vv. 3-5).  There are consequences for sin, and when sin is not confronted, it suggests that God will also overlook sin (which He will not and cannot do).  But disciplining sin gives hope that while Satan may even destroy the body, yet that discipline may produce repentance that will result in the sinner’s salvation.

Lack of confrontation promotes the spread of sin in the church body (v. 6).  Just like a couple of teaspoons of leaven (yeast) can penetrate and cause an entire loaf of bread to rise, so a small amount of unconfronted and undisciplined sin can permeate (and damage) an entire church body.  Church discipline is not only productive for the sinner, but it is also protection for the church.

Lack of confrontation obscures the purpose of salvation (vv. 7-8).  The goal of salvation is to produce new life in the believer.  The Corinthians mistakenly thought that salvation meant they could continue in their sinful patterns, but be absolved of the consequences.  Paul reminded them that salvation meant that sin should be removed and that a new life should be begun — a life centered around sincerity and truth.

Lack of confrontation confuses the place of fellowship in the church body (vv. 9-11).  The Corinthians believed that naming Christ meant they could enjoy fellowship and intimate relationship with anyone — regardless of spiritual condition.  Perhaps they believed that their “tolerance” of sin in the church body was a means of evangelism.  Paul reminded them that believers cannot relate to sinners inside the church body in the same way that they would with sinners outside the church body.  There can be no fellowship with sinning, so-called believers.

Lack of confrontation misses the purpose of judgment in the church body (vv. 12-13).  One of the roles of the church is to judge sin.  And when sin is not judged, it misses an opportunity to carry out divinely given purposes for the church.

It is a danger not to confront sin.

It is not a mercy to overlook sin; it is a mercy to discipline sin so that repentance and transformation takes place.

Disciplining sin does not mean that the sinner will always repent.  But disciplining sin means that I am being obedient to Christ and that the church body is being protected.