1 Corinthians 5
- Who wrote it
- Paul
- Who it was for
- The church in Corinth
- What was happening
- A serious case of sexual immorality the church tolerates, and a call to clean out the old leaven
What’s happening
Paul has heard a report of sexual immorality "of a kind that is not even among the Gentiles," a man living with his father's wife. The church is proud rather than grieving. Paul, absent in body but present in spirit, has already judged the case: when they are gathered together with the power of the Lord Jesus, they are to hand the man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, "that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." Their boasting is not good, because "a little yeast leavens the whole lump." They should clean out the old yeast and keep the feast, "for our Passover also has been sacrificed for us, even Christ," with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Paul clarifies an earlier letter: he did not mean to avoid the immoral people of this world, which would mean leaving the world, but to avoid anyone who calls himself a brother and lives in sexual immorality, greed, idolatry, abuse, drunkenness, or robbery, and not even to eat with such a person. God judges those outside; the church is to judge those inside. "Put away the wicked man from among yourselves."
Why the setting matters
Corinth was known across the Greek world for its reputation for loose behavior, and "to act like a Corinthian" was a proverb for immorality. Paul's case is about a man with his "father's wife," almost certainly his stepmother, a relationship forbidden in Leviticus 18:8 and, Paul says, shocking even to pagans (Roman law also condemned it). What troubled Paul as much as the act was the church's pride, perhaps because the man was wealthy or influential, or because they treated freedom as something to boast about; the text does not say. "Hand over to Satan" is debated: most take it as putting the man out of the community, back to the world where Satan rules, in the hope of his restoration; it may also imply physical suffering. The yeast image ties to Passover, when Jewish households removed leaven from their homes (Exodus 12), and Paul uses it to say that Christ's death calls for a clean community.
Who’s in this chapter
Paul
Absent in body, present in spirit, judging the case.
The believers in Corinth
Proud rather than grieving; told to deal with the matter.
The man in chapter 5
A believer living with his father's wife.
Jesus
"Our Passover" who has been sacrificed.
Talk it through
- Paul is more upset by the church's pride than by the one man's sin. Why?
- Paul says a little yeast spreads. When does one person's behavior shape a whole community?
- He separates judging those outside from judging those inside. What does that distinction protect?
- The aim of discipline is "that the spirit may be saved." How does that aim change what discipline looks like?
Read 1 Corinthians 5
World English Bible
1It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles, that one has his father’s wife. 2You are arrogant, and didn’t mourn instead, that he who had done this deed might be removed from among you. 3For I most certainly, as being absent in body but present in spirit, have already, as though I were present, judged him who has done this thing. 4In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, you being gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 5are to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
6Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole lump? 7Purge out the old yeast, that you may be a new lump, even as you are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed in our place. 8Therefore let’s keep the feast, not with old yeast, neither with the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
9I wrote to you in my letter to have no company with sexual sinners; 10yet not at all meaning with the sexual sinners of this world, or with the covetous and extortionists, or with idolaters; for then you would have to leave the world. 11But as it is, I wrote to you not to associate with anyone who is called a brother who is a sexual sinner, or covetous, or an idolater, or a slanderer, or a drunkard, or an extortionist. Don’t even eat with such a person. 12For what do I have to do with also judging those who are outside? Don’t you judge those who are within? 13But those who are outside, God judges. “Put away the wicked man from among yourselves.”
Text: World English Bible, Public domain. About our sources