Episode 2825 - Lesson 4 - Sunday July 19 - Dissonance between Faith and Practice

Episode 2825 - Lesson 4 - Sunday July 19 - Dissonance between Faith and Practice

From Bible Study - Sabbath School Podcast by Believes Unasp

July 18, 2026 · 13 min · Season 8 · Episode 2825

About this episode

This episode discusses the dissonance between faith and practice in the early Christian church, focusing on Paul's letters to the Corinthians and a scandalous situation involving incest.

Dissonance Between Faith and Practice Throughout Christian history, theologians, pastors, and laypeople have studied the New Testament in order to determine what the church should look like. We marvel, for instance, at the church of Acts. But we quickly lose sight of one significant element: people have problems. It seems that we can also read the New Testament to see what the Bible says about what a church should not look like. Paul's letters to the Corinthians are a good starting point. Read 1 Corinthians 5:1-13 . What scandalous situation does Paul describe in this passage, and why is it so disturbing? The expression "his father's wife" ( 1 Cor. 5:1 ) suggests that Paul refers to the incestuous relationship between a man and his stepmother. This situation was probably reported "by those of Chloe's household" ( 1 Cor. 1:11 , NKJV). Incest was reputed as such a terrible sin that it was "not tolerated even among pagans" ( 1 Cor. 5:1 , ESV). And yet, it is now happening in an early Christian church? Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 5:1-2 show that he is in shock at the report that a church member was doing this. However, this bad situation gets worse…

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Chloe's household

Books & works: 1 Corinthians, Acts

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