The church of Corinth was a mess. Paul’s disappointment, anger, confusion and intense love for these people is clear within the pages of this letter. These emotions are all too familiar to pastors, who deal with the darkness of people not only on a personal level like the rest of us, but on a corporate level. Pastors see the hurt, the evil and the joys of their congregations, and it takes its toll. So while some of Paul’s language may seem intense or even a little over-the-top remember that he’s ministering to a large group who have nearly all strayed from the path. Correction is imperative, and sometimes that means harsh words.

In chapter five Paul changes topic from divisions in the church, to disorders in the church. While Paul helped start the church, he had been away for some time leading some to wonder how he had such expansive knowledge of the problems this congregation faced. How did Paul gain insight of these circumstances? The same way he learned of the divisions, by an oral report from the delegation of Cloe’s house. This isn’t gossip, this was a concerned group of believers who also were concerned about the issues their family was facing. They came to Paul for help, not to satisfy a need to shame others or leak juicy secrets of others’ lives.

There are three disorders that Paul will address over the course of the next two chapters:

Summarized in modern language this Biblical passage suddenly seems remarkably relevant to our modern culture. Some of the worst forms of sexual immorality and a litigious practices fit right into the 21^st century.

Though not as lengthy, the structure is similar to chapters one through four, whereby Paul begins a discussion of a certain topic (divisions, or sexual immorality), then discourses on a related topic (worldly wisdom or lawsuits), and then returns to the original topic. This fits a literary pattern known as “ABA”. In both these instances the topics are loosely knit, leading some to question if the ABA literary structure was Paul’s intention. This is a letter after all, not a sermon or other work of literature.

Over the next couple days we’ll examine these disorders and what to do about them if they are an issue in your church today.