The Mississippi enterprise. (Jackson, Miss.) 1938-current, 1957-10-12
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON

9O4NDA4 OSl1OOA 4LG1OOO4N
October 13, 1857
BY Rev. Geo. A. Harper
MORAL STANDARDS IN A
Church: I Corinthians Sc.
Print I Corinthians 5:6-13,
6:17-20
MEMORY Selection: Know
We not that your body is the
temple of the Holy Ghost
which We have of God, and we
are not your own? Ye are
bought with a price: therefore,
glorify God in your body
q Corinthians GIG, 20). In the
Old Testament, the word item
pie" was used to indicate the
place of Gods presence and
where he was worShiped. In
the New Testament, temple
is used in referring to the body
of every believer. I Cor. 3:16
states know We not that We
are the temple of God, and
that the Spirit of God dweleth
in your" The price with which
they were bought was the
blood of Christ (Acts 20:28;
Hebrews 9:12; l Peter 1:18,
19). To glorify God means to
live as his redeemed children
and to keep pure. Rather than
use the body for immortality,
Paul exclaims that the body
should be the means of gIori-
flying God.
VAINGLORIFYING FOR
BIDDEN: ''Your glorying is not
good. Know we not that a little
leaven leaveneth the whole
lump" Someone in the church
had committed the sin of for
nication. A man of the congre-
cation was living with his faith
er's wife and the members of
the church were doing nothing
to correct it. 1t seems, on the
contrary, that they were up
holding the man in this sin, for
Paul accuses them of being
puffed up, and had not rather
mourned that such a thing was
happening among them. "Pur-
&c out therefore the old leay-
en-, that We may be a new lump,
as We are unleavened. For even
Christ our passover is sacrific-
ed for US" This was one of the
earliest demands for church
discipline. The person or per-
sons guilty of bringing dis
grace upon the church were to
be cast out of its fellowship
until repentance and restora-
ton could be effected. To keep
fornicators and other wrong
doing persons in the church
without disciplining them is to
invite trouble that eventually
gets out of hand. ''There let us
keep the feast, not with old
leaven, neither with the lea
ven of malice and wickedness:
but with the unleavend bread
OF sincerity and truth" 2 Cor.
l:l2 says that sincerity (purity)
comes through the Holy Spirit.
The Christian with Gods help
can be morally pure. Truth
means that which is not hid
den or concealed. The Chris
tian's life should be open and
above reproach.
ABSTINENCE from Forni-
cation Urged: 81 wrote unto
you In an epistle not to COM
pany with fornicators." This re-
fers to an earlier letter writ
ten to the Corinthians but now
lost so that we have no record
OF it. Evidently it warned them
OF the danger in evil associa-
tons. 1t was misunderstood as
for b | d d in G communication
with all men of bad character.
thing manifestly impossible
for people living In pagan sur
roundings.
Yet not altogether with the
fornicators of this world or
with the coveteous or eytor-
TONERS, or with idolat ers: for
then must We needs go out of
the world" Paul realized the
lmpossibility of stunning ab-
Solutely all persons guilty. of
coveteousness, fornication. ex-
tortlon, and idolatry, for there
are some of these everywhere.
But now / have written I'M
TO you not to keep company.
II any man that is called a
brother be a fornicator. or CO.
vesteous, or an idolater or =
railer or a drunkard, or an ex-
torioned: with such a one
no not to eat" Paul makes his
contention a bit stricter then
before. He forbids Christians
TO even eat that is associate