Cheap Grace

Meditations in First Corinthians 

May 5, 2022

Cheap Grace

You are so proud of yourselves, but you should be mourning in sorrow and shame.

1 Corinthians 5:2a

Read: 1 Corinthians 5:1-5

Paul has made his case that a Christian is a follower of Jesus. A Christian’s allegiance is to Jesus, not to another follower of Jesus. Paul is insistent about this point because “the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power” (4:20). The Kingdom is about the individual followers of Jesus living by God’s power to change lives. To make this point, Paul brings up a scandalous situation in the Corinthian church.

The issue is quite simple. In the Corinthian church, a man was openly living with his stepmother. He was living by the flesh, not by the Spirit. The Church was priding itself for taking a graceful, non-judgmental attitude about this situation.

The church in Corinth was practicing ‘cheap grace.’ “Cheap grace is preaching forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession. … Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate." (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship)

My Takeaway: Paul was insistent that the church confront the man and remove the man from their fellowship. Paul was not being judgmental or mean-spirited. It was Paul’s hope that the man, thus confronted, would repent, and be saved on the day the Lord returns. (v.5) Is our love for one another sufficient for us to speak the truth to each other? 

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2022 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.