How antinomianism causes hypocrisy (1Cor 5:9-10)

I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. (1Cor 5:9-10)

Let’s take a moment to deduce what is going on here; Earlier in the chapter we learned that the Corinthians were not only tolerating sin in Church, but were actually celebrating it. Here we see that Paul has written to them about this in the past. And that upon receiving that message from him, the Corinthians had limited it to only demand a higher standard of unsaved people, while still allowing for immorality in the church.

As easy as it is to point out the blatant hypocrisy in that, recall our discussion on antinomianism from chapter 4. antinomianism, as you may remember is the doctrine that says there is no longer any value in obeying God’s commands because we are free from the law. Antinomianism is grace abuse. And it is a very short leap to go from antinomianism to demanding a higher moral standard for unsaved people. Since the unsaved are not under grace, they would still be under the law, so if you are going to be consistent you’ll have to go there. You really can’t avoid it.