Instead of confronting the brother and rebuke him, the church decided to leave him as it is. Maybe they are thinking it is a small thing, and it will go away. They are so prideful to admit to Paul such a situation exist in the church nor did they seek advise from him. Paul's heart goes to the church in Corinth and have already passed judgment to this brother as though he was there, as he can feel and understand the situation and the respond from the church.
Paul advised the church to hand the brother to Satan, it doesn't mean to stone him or kill him so that he'll be tortured in hell but to expose his sin to the whole church and let the whole church discipline. This is not the time to be sensitive to the offender since it is stumbling to the church and even to the non-Christians. Hopefully after his sins are exposed that he'll feel remorse and broken of his sins, leading him to repentance.
Now a days, how many times have you heard of sexual immorality in the church? It is so common in the modern world which leads to the church being more accepting to such situations. The offender is not rebuked, the church was not taught, and the warning was not emphasised, gossips spread, fellow members stumbled yet the leaders are not taking a stand to discipline the Christians.
This is definitely not the church that God wants to have, nor can any Christian grow healthily there. I need to ask myself how many times I just ignore the sins of myself and even the fellow brothers and sisters, thinking it will go away or they should know how to get out of it. How much am I taking the responsibility of my own spiritual life and others too? What does it mean to love one another in Christ? It is to encourage and build each other up, and rebuke and challenge when people are tearing themselves or one another down. Real love disciplines.
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