I’ve learnt a lot from following Byron’s journey over the last year or so. Go have a read of what he said at his ‘anti-funeral’.

I think I might borrow this title for a church advert…

And now I have surpassed myself – this is _next_week’s_sheet!!

BTW, this is picking up themes from a thread on the blog last September, see here for a relevant sermon, and then a sequence of posts, here , here and here.

My thinking has continued to develop, and these notes contain my most up-to-date thoughts on the question of church discipline. Hit ‘full post’ for the text.

Notes for the house groups on 1 Corinthians.

Week six, beginning Sunday 27 May: 1 Corinthians 5

Main theme: the nature of church discipline

The ONE question for discussion!!

1.What are the grounds for excommunicating a member of the church?

Supplementary thoughts:
Paul is clear that the ‘immoral brother’ should be cast out, ‘put out of your fellowship’, handed over to Satan, not even to eat with, expelled. How does this reconcile with Jesus’ life and ministry, where he was condemned by the Pharisees for table fellowship with sinners? Is it to do with the nature of the offence committed? How does this reconcile with Jesus’ teaching about not judging? How does this reconcile with the idea that ‘we are none of us righteous, no not one’?

A way forward may be to consider Matthew 18.15-35, especially vv 15-17 (bear in mind that this gospel is written by a tax collector!) The structure for church discipline here is:
– take a matter up privately (the ‘against you’ in v15 may be spurious)
– take one or two other members of the congregation with you
– take it to the church body as a whole
– if the church is rejected then the sinner is outside the community.

The difference here is that it is the sinner’s choice that places them outside the community; it is less a matter of condemnation than a refusal to accept forgiveness (the rest of Mt 18). In other words, the matter is less about whether a member of the community is a sinner – for we are all sinners – than whether the understanding within which sin is dealt with (repentance/forgiveness/new life) is shared. The issue is not about any individual act (however wicked); rather it is about how community life is to be maintained when it is structured on Jesus. Hence verse 11 – someone who calls himself a brother, but rejects the teaching of the community.

Different church communities have followed different policies on this over time. What sort of framework would be best for Mersea?

Notes on verses
v1 – the context is probably a stepmother and stepson following the death of the father; there may be an issue about securing an inheritance lying behind the controversy
v5 – ‘hand this man over to Satan’ – ie back into the world
v5b – the word ‘his’ is not in the Greek; the second half of this sentence may therefore be about the church (ie the expulsion saves _the_church_ on the day of the Lord)
vv7-8 – we’ll come back to this when we explore communion later

A little something extra:
A brother in Scetis committed a fault. A council was called to which abba Moses was invited, but he refused to go to it. Then the priest sent someone to him, saying, ‘Come, for everyone is waiting for you’. So he got up and went. He took a leaking jug and filled it with water and carried it with him. The others came out to meet him and said, ‘What is this, father?’ The old man said to them, ‘My sins run out behind me, and I do not see them, and today I am coming to judge the sins of another.’ When they heard that, they said no more to the brother but forgave him.

A brother asked abba Poemen, ‘If I see my brother sin, is it right to say nothing about it?’ The old man replied, ‘Whenever we cover our brother’s sin, God will cover ours; whenever we tell people about our brother’s guilt, God will do the same about ours.’

A brother sinned and the priest ordered him to go out of the church; abba Bessarion got up and went out with him, saying ‘I, too, am a sinner.’

(From ‘Daily Readings with the Desert Fathers’, ed Benedicta Ward)

This week’s sheet….
Notes for the house groups on 1 Corinthians.

Week five, beginning Sunday 20 May: 1 Corinthians 4.6 – 4.21

Main theme: the nature of power
apostolic style and authority
grace

Questions to prompt discussion

1.What does ‘do not go beyond what is written’ mean?
2.How does this link with taking pride in ‘one man over another’? Can you think of examples in the contemporary church (in UK and worldwide) where there is such pride?
3.Is there anything that a Christian can boast about? If only the cross, does this mean that a Christian should never enjoy a sense of achievement? (or similar)
4.Would you like Paul as your church leader? Paul is engaging with what he perceives to be the arrogance of the church community, and a large part of his method is sarcasm (vv 8-13) – but is sarcasm a form of blessing or answering kindly?
5.What is the power of the Kingdom of God? What is the context of Paul’s statement – and therefore what is he suggesting specifically?

Some background thoughts
Paul is still struggling with ‘party spirit’ at Corinth. He has been talking about Apollos as an example, not because he is particularly angry with Apollos or disagrees with him, but because the Corinthians have distorted the faith through emphasising the importance of individual leaders. That is the ‘idiom’ of their culture, and against this Paul is emphasising the nature of apostolic leadership – humiliated and weak. There is a strong sense that the Corinthians have started to look down on Paul as a manual worker who doesn’t speak well.

Paul is here exercising an episcopal role, ie oversight of the church community which he founded, and is using parental language to try and exercise discipline. It would appear that his attempt goes wrong, and the divisions are not overcome (see 2 Cor 1.23 – 2.4).

There are strong echoes of the cross (1.18-25) in Paul’s description of apostolic ministry.

Notes on verses
v6 – “Few scholars claim to understand the allusion” to not go beyond what is written; yet I suspect that the point Paul was trying to make can be discerned. NB there was no New Testament at this time
v8 – almost certainly not economic riches or kingship, but figures of speech used by popular philosophers of the time
v9 – ‘end of the procession’ – captured prisoners dragged behind triumphant military leaders, usually to be executed as entertainment or sold into slavery
v14 – ‘guardians’ – literally childminders, babysitters
v14 – compare with 6.5

Catching up…
Notes for the house groups on 1 Corinthians.

Week four, beginning Sunday 5 May: 1 Corinthians 3.1 – 4.5

Main theme: Divisions in the church
The nature of leadership
All things come from God
Party ‘faction’ is absurd – Christ is the sole foundation

Questions to prompt discussion

1.What is the nature of Paul’s distinction between milk and solid food?
2.Why is division seen as a sign of spiritual infancy?
3.What is leadership? What is specifically Christian leadership?
4.What place does obedience play in your understanding of discipleship?
5.How is leadership judged, and by whom?
6.What builds a church? What are the good materials to use? Are they present in Mersea?
7.What is God’s temple? How is this linked with the new temple of Christ’s body?

Some background thoughts

The first part of this section is springing the rhetorical trap laid in the last chapter (remember the shift from ‘I’ language to ‘we’ language). Paul is very opposed to the idea of being aligned with a human leader or authority, as opposed to Christ – it a) places leaders on a pedestal, where they don’t belong; b) causes faction and rivalry; and c) encourages them to consider human praise rather than divine judgement.

There are three metaphors here, discussing leadership: agriculture (v 3.5-9); building (v 3.9-17); and slavery (household servants) (4.1-5); in each of them Paul undercuts the importance of human leadership: The leader is a) the servant of the community, ‘belonging’ to the community (v 21-23); b) agents or instruments of Christ (no intrinsic merit – growth comes from God alone); and c) judged by God alone. In elevating human leadership the church is actually diminishing itself.

You might like to look at Hebrews 13.17!

Notes on verses
v 3.1 – infants in Christ are ‘fleshly’, vulnerable to sin; this isn’t flesh vs spirit, but flesh governed by sin rather than flesh governed by spirit
v 4&5 – there is no indication that Paul disagrees doctrinally with Apollos – he wouldn’t keep quiet about it if he did!
v 11 – the foundation in Christ, link with 1.23 (scandal)
v 13 – the day, cf 1.8
v 16 – the ‘you’ is plural, not singular (ie the congregation is the temple); possible parallel between Spirit dwelling in church and ‘shekinah’ presence in Jerusalem temple
v 4.1 – secret things of God = ‘sacred mysteries’ (link with Learning Church talk)

I changed the format of these, due to complaints!! Click full post for text.
Notes for the house groups on 1 Corinthians.

Week three, beginning Sunday 29 April: 1 Corinthians 2.6 – 2.16

Main theme: spiritual wisdom;
not understood by the world, ‘secret’ and ‘hidden’;
requires being spiritual to be seen;
link with knowing Jesus (the ‘mind of Christ’).

Questions to prompt discussion

1.How do we know if someone is spiritual?
2.If you need to be spiritual to discern the truth – and therefore those who disagree must be unspiritual – how can we discern error in ourselves or in our community?
3.Can a Buddhist have ‘the mind of Christ’?
4.Where does Paul quote from in verse 9? What does this indicate about worthy texts? And isn’t it a wonderful text?!
5.What link is there between this passage (especially verses 11 and 15) and Jesus’ command that we are not to judge (ie condemn) one another?
6.(A difficult one) – what is the difference between Paul’s view and gnosticism (the view that it is by sharing secret knowledge – gnosis – that you are saved)?
7.Is Paul arguing that ‘only the holy can see truly’? (Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God) – how can we cultivate this holiness in our own lives?

Some background thoughts

In this passage Paul may be deliberately using vocabulary that the Corinthians would have used of themselves, ie a spiritual elite, in order to set them up for a painful fall in the beginning of chapter 3. He tends not to use much of this language elsewhere. Note in particular the shift to using ‘we’ language – a rhetorical device to lull the listeners and lower their guard!

Paul employs a distinction between ‘this age’ – when there are worldly rulers – and ‘the age to come’ – when Christ is revealed as the true Lord of heaven and earth. Christians live ‘in between’ these two ages – as if we are living in the dawn light, we have started to see what is coming, the sun has not yet fully risen, and some deny that it ever will.

Notes on verses

v 6 ‘mature’ could also be translated ‘perfect’ – cf Mt 5 43-48
v 6 ‘rulers of this age’ – cf Rom 8.38, Eph 6.12, Col 2.15
v 9 may be a pastiche of Isaiah 64.4 and 65.17 – or a quotation from the now lost text ‘The Apocalypse of Elijah’ (according to the Church Father Origen)
v 9 ‘those who love him’ – Old Testament way of describing the faithful community
v 13 is best translated: ‘…taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to spiritual people’