READING TIME: 1-2 MINUTES
October 11, 2019
“Dave, what do you think of the way some teachers use 1 Corinthians 5:9-13 as evidence of spurious faith of the man because of the nature of his sin in 5:1?”
Some teachers believe that since the Corinthians’ lifestyle was so immoral, their faith was not genuine (spurious faith). Please see my post from September 27, 2019, about the Corinthians’ faith vs. their lifestyle. Paul never doubts the salvation of the Corinthians, but he does challenge them to bring their lifestyle in harmony with their saved position. In effect, he told them, “You’re believers, so why don’t you act like it!”
I agree with Dr. Charlie Bing that “there is no strong argument that the Bible contains examples of spurious faith. Faith is always real faith.”
Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 5:9-13 about how to deal with immorality in the church is another passage that has drawn the attention of those attempting to demonstrate that the New Testament includes a category of spurious faith. Of note is the phrase “anyone named a brother” (Greek tis adelphos onomazomenos) in verse 11. The New American Standard translates this phrase as “so-called brother,” implying that he is not saved. But this conclusion is quite tenuous. The context indicates that Paul’s use of the phrase tis adelphos onomazomenos is employed explicitly to designate believers in contrast to those outside the church (i.e., unbelievers; cf. v. 10). Also, the following translations incorrectly imply this brother was not a believer: New International Version, New Living Translation, and the Christian Standard Bible (see: https://biblehub.com/1_corinthians/5-11.htm).
Even if it could be shown that Paul was speaking of unbelieving church members here, the passage does not explain why they are unbelievers. There is no reference to spurious faith here. If the “brothers” in question are not Christians, it is because they never believed the gospel, not because they believed it and later on failed to obey.
Sources Used
Bing, Charlie C., Joseph Dillow, Roger Fankhauser, and John Correia. “A Free Grace Alliance Response to Wayne Grudem’s ‘The Historic Protestant Viewpoint and The Free Grace Viewpoint on Conversion.’ June 25, 2014, page 4.
Hixson, Whitmire, Zuck. Freely by His Grace: Classical Grace Theology. Gospel Press, 105.
