1 Corinthians 5

Paul confronts the Corinthian church over a case of open sexual sin that they were tolerating, even boasting about. He calls them to act, to remove the offender, and to live as a people already cleansed by Christ, our Passover lamb. He ends by explaining that the church is to hold its own members accountable, while leaving the world to God’s judgment.

1 Corinthians 5:1

Word had reached Paul that a man in the church was living with his father’s wife, apparently his stepmother. Such a union was condemned even by the pagan society around them. The shock is that believers were doing what unbelievers would not accept.

BSA: sexual immorality (“fornication, including adultery and incest”): The word covers a wide range of sexual sin, and here it points to a forbidden family relationship.

Greek: πορνεία (porneia, G4202) — “sexual immorality of any forbidden kind.” It is a broad word for sex outside God’s design. Paul uses it here for a specific, public case.

See also: Leviticus 18:8.

1 Corinthians 5:2

Instead of mourning, the Corinthians were proud, perhaps taking pride in their tolerance or spiritual freedom. Paul says they should have grieved over the sin and removed the man from their fellowship. Real love for the church includes sorrow over sin.

BSA: proud (“puffed up, arrogant”): The picture is of being inflated like a bag of air, full of self-importance but empty of substance. stricken with grief (“mourned, felt deep sorrow”): This is the mourning one does over a death, showing how serious the sin was.

1 Corinthians 5:3

Though far away in body, Paul is with them in spirit. He has already judged the matter as if he were standing among them. He is not waiting for a long debate, because the case is clear.

BSA: pronounced judgment (“made a decision, condemned”): Paul has reached a firm verdict on the matter, not merely an opinion.

1 Corinthians 5:4-5

The church is to gather in Jesus’ name, with his power present, and hand the man over to Satan. This means putting him out of the fellowship, back into the world where Satan rules. The aim is rescue: that his spirit be saved on the Day of the Lord. Christians understand the ‘destruction of the flesh’ in different ways.

BSA: hand (“to be surrendered, yielded up”): The man is given up to the realm outside Christ’s protection, as a sober act of discipline. saved (“delivered, protected”): The goal of the discipline is the man’s final rescue, not his ruin.

See also: 1 Timothy 1:20; 2 Corinthians 2:5-8.

1 Corinthians 5:6

Their boasting is a poor thing, because sin tolerated will spread. Paul uses a common image: a little yeast works through the whole lump of dough. One unchallenged sin can shape the whole community.

BSA: leaven (“yeast, corrupting influence”): In the Bible, yeast often pictures a hidden influence that quietly spreads through everything.

See also: Galatians 5:9.

1 Corinthians 5:7

Before Passover, Jewish households cleared out every trace of yeast. Paul says to clear out the old yeast of sin, because you already are unleavened, made clean in Christ. Be what you are. The reason is that Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed for us.

BSA: Passover lamb (“sacrificial victim, atoning for our sins”): Christ is the lamb whose death delivers his people, as the lamb did in Egypt. sacrificed (“offered up, slain”): It points to a real death, offered once on behalf of others.

See also: Exodus 12:21-27; John 1:29.

1 Corinthians 5:8

Paul turns the whole Christian life into a continuing festival. We are to keep the feast, not with the old bread soured by malice and wickedness, but with the plain, unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. A life with Christ should be honest and clean through and through.

BSA: sincerity (“genuine, heartfelt”): It means a life with no hidden motives, which is clear and pure like unleavened bread. malice (“evil intentions”): This is ill will, the inner desire to do harm, which sours a community as yeast sours dough.

Greek: ἑορτάζωμεν (heortazōmen, G1858) — “let us keep the festival.” It is a present-tense command, suggesting a continuing celebration. All of life is a feast in the shadow of Christ’s sacrifice.

1 Corinthians 5:9-10

In an earlier letter Paul had told them not to associate with the sexually immoral. Some seem to have taken this to mean everyone in the world. Paul clarifies that he did not mean unbelievers. To avoid all of them, believers would have to leave the world altogether.

BSA: associate (“keep company, mix”): The word means to mingle closely with someone, not merely to meet them.

Greek: συναναμίγνυσθαι (synanamignysthai, G4874) — “to mix together with.” The word pictures close, ongoing mingling. Paul is talking about close fellowship, not the ordinary contact needed to live in the world.

1 Corinthians 5:11

Paul’s real point concerns those who bear the name of brother but live in open, unrepentant sin. He lists sexual immorality, greed, idolatry, verbal abuse, drunkenness and swindling. With such a person a believer is not even to share a meal, so that the church’s witness stays clear and the sinner may be shaken awake.

BSA: verbal abuser (“a reviler, speaking abusively”): This is someone whose tongue is used as a weapon, and Paul counts that as seriously as the other sins. do not even eat (“share a meal, have close fellowship”): In that culture sharing a table meant acceptance and friendship.

See also: Matthew 18:15-17; 2 Thessalonians 3:14-15.

1 Corinthians 5:12-13

Paul does not appoint himself judge of unbelievers; God will deal with them. But the church must care for its own life and put away the wicked person from among them. Such discipline is meant to keep God’s people holy and to call the sinner back.

BSA: judge (“evaluate, discern”): It means weighing conduct within the church, not condemning the world. Expel (“remove, put away”): The offender is to be taken out of the community, as a firm and public act.

See also: Deuteronomy 17:7; 2 Corinthians 2:6-8.