📖 Read the Bible Deeply: Holiness, Grace, and Truth | 1 Corinthians 5 Devotional (7-Step QT)
7-Step QT Notes
1. 🙏 Quiet Time
Pause.
Take a deep breath.
Ask God to help you read His Word carefully—not quickly, not casually, but with a heart that wants to know Him and obey Him.
2. 📅 May 19, 2026
Today’s passage reminds us:
God’s Word must be read deeply, and God’s people must live with both holiness and love.
3. ✝️ 1 Corinthians 5:1-13
Paul rebukes the Corinthian church because serious moral sin exists among them, yet they respond with arrogance instead of mourning. He warns that unaddressed sin within the church can corrupt the whole community, just as a little leaven leavens the whole lump, and he calls them to live as a new people shaped by Christ, their Passover Lamb. Paul clarifies that the church is not called to withdraw from the world, but to exercise holy discernment within the community by addressing unrepentant sin among those who claim to be believers.
4. 📖 Key Verse
I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people (v. 9).
5. 📝 Reflection
The Bible is a truly fascinating book. Although it appears to be one book, it is actually a collection of sixty-six books gathered together as the Word of God. The human authors of the Bible differ from book to book, and about forty authors wrote it over a period of approximately 1,500 years. The languages of the Bible also differ. The Old Testament was written mainly in Hebrew, with some portions in Aramaic, while the New Testament was written in Greek.
Despite these diverse backgrounds, every book of the Bible consistently testifies to God’s redemptive history centered on Jesus Christ. This is because the Bible is not merely a human record, but the Word of God written through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, doing QT with the Bible requires careful attention and thoughtful study. We must consider not only the immediate context of the passage we are meditating on, but also the purpose and structure of the book in which the passage appears, as well as the broader theme and context of the entire Bible. Simply reading through the Bible quickly, as in general Bible reading, is not enough to fulfill the purpose of QT. QT is a time to seriously meditate on and explore who God is and what God is saying. When we approach Scripture in this way, QT becomes more than simple Bible reading; it becomes a time of deep meditation that transforms our lives.
Paul’s argument in today’s passage can also be understood more clearly when we approach it through this kind of QT, that is, through deep meditation. If we read quickly and remember only the command in verse 9 not to associate with sexually immoral people, we may misunderstand Paul as saying that we must leave the world entirely. However, when we consider why Paul said this, together with the surrounding context and the purpose of his letter to the Corinthian church, we can understand that this command does not mean cutting off all relationships with people in the world. Rather, it refers to not associating with those inside the church who continue in sexual immorality without repentance (1 Cor. 5:11-12).
Likewise, if we read Paul’s command in 1 Corinthians 4:5, “Do not judge anything before the appointed time,” and then read his instruction in 1 Corinthians 5:11 and following to judge those inside the church, it may seem as though Paul is contradicting himself. However, when we understand how the object of judgment in 1 Corinthians 4:5 differs from the object of judgment in 1 Corinthians 5:11, and why Paul gives this specific solution, we no longer see contradiction. Instead, we discover one consistent purpose.
Beloved brothers and sisters, Paul’s command not to judge leaders, teachers, or apostles carelessly is given for the unity of the church community. At the same time, his command to discern and judge a brother who continues in sexual immorality without repentance is also given for the holiness and unity of the church community. When we remember Paul’s passion and love for the community of Jesus Christ, meditating on his first letter to the Corinthian church will not lead us into confusion or contradiction. Rather, it will become a precious time of discovering unity and peace within the will of God.
6. 💬 What does this passage speak to you today?
- Am I reading Scripture carefully, or am I taking verses out of context?
- Is there any area of my life where I have become comfortable with compromise?
- Do I have Christian friends who can speak truth to me with love?
- How can I help build a church community that is both holy and gracious?
7. 🙏 Prayer
Lord, teach me to read Your Word with humility and care.
Help me not to twist Scripture for my comfort, but to understand Your heart through Your Word.
Purify my heart from pride, compromise, and hidden sin.
Give me courage to receive correction and wisdom to speak the truth in love.
Build Your church into a community of holiness, grace, sincerity, and truth.
Amen.
Scriptures
📖 (1 Corinthians 5:1-13, ESV).
1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. 2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. 3 For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. 4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. 6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? 13 God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”
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