Verse 18
In conclusion, believers should flee from fornication (porneian). Joseph is a good example to follow (Genesis 39:12). Fornication is more destructive to the sinner than other sins because the people who engage in it cannot undo their act. Gluttony and drunkenness hurt the body as well, but they involve excess in things morally neutral, and abstinence may correct their effects.
Fornication is also an especially serious sin because it involves placing the body, which is the Lord’s (1 Corinthians 6:19-20), under the control of another illegitimate partner (cf. 1 Corinthians 7:4). [Note: Fee, The First . . ., p. 262.] No other sin has this result. All other sins are outside or apart from the body in this sense. "Every sin that a man commits is outside the body," could be another incorrect Corinthian slogan that Paul proceeded to correct (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:12-13).
"Does God then forbid the restoration of fallen leaders? No. Does He leave open the possibility? Yes. Does that possibility look promising? Yes and no. If both the life and reputation of the fallen elder can be rehabilitated, his prospects for restoration are promising. However, rehabilitating his reputation, not to mention his life, will be particularly difficult, for squandering one’s reputation is ’a snare of the devil’ (1 Timothy 3:7), and he does not yield up his prey easily." [Note: Jay E. Smith, "Can Fallen Leaders Be Restored to Leadership? Bibliotheca Sacra 151:604 (October-December 1994):480.]
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