Life saving is what both passages of today are all about. Jesus cuts through the legalities of the Pharisees to save a physically disabled man, while Paul exposes the smugness of his new Christians in order to save a brother who had become sick spiritually. The erring brother is to be expelled temporarily from the community so that, missing the secure support of his fellow Christians, he will come back to his senses and so to full spiritual health again.

It seems likely that the Corinthians had so misunderstood Paul's earlier talk about their freedom in Christ that they felt it entitled them to complete licence. Paul is quick to disillusion them and shows that such 'freedom' can be just as binding as any legalism. Their old ways (symbolised by the Jewish yeast bread which had to be destroyed before the Passover) must be completely given over if they are to belong to Christ.