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1 Corinthians 5

KJV · Chapter 5/16

1It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.

2And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.

3For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,

4In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,

5To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

6Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?

7Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

8Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

9I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:

10Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.

11But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.

12For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?

13But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Paul rebukes the church for tolerating a serious case of sexual immorality among its members, something not even tolerated among pagans. He orders that the person be disciplined and removed from fellowship, comparing the tolerated sin to leaven that contaminates the whole batch of dough.

Explanation

In Corinthian culture, which was fairly morally permissive, this kind of behavior shocked even pagan standards, yet the church simply ignored the problem, perhaps even taking pride in its 'tolerance.' Paul teaches that church discipline is not cruelty, but an act of love aimed at restoring the person and protecting the integrity of the community, preventing evil from spreading like leaven through a batch of dough. The reference to the Jewish Passover, with the sacrificed lamb and unleavened bread, connects the church's moral purity to the work of Christ. Today this teaches that healthy communities do not confuse love with turning a blind eye to what causes real harm to people.

Fun facts

  • The image of 'leaven' points directly to the Jewish Feast of Unleavened Bread, when every house was carefully cleared of leaven before Passover (Exodus 12) — Paul applies this physical ritual to a moral cleansing of the community.
  • Paul mentions an earlier letter that has not survived ('I wrote to you in my letter,' v.9), showing that he exchanged more correspondence with the Corinthians than the two letters that have survived in the New Testament.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. 1 Corinthians 5:1The case involves a man living with his father’s wife, probably his stepmother — a relationship that Roman law and even the pagan customs of Corinth, a city far from puritanical, openly condemned. That is why Paul is shocked that the church tolerates it with pride instead of grief.
  2. 1 Corinthians 5:2Instead of grieving over the sin of the brother living with his stepmother (v. 1), the church was “puffed up” with pride, perhaps thinking this tolerance was a sign of advanced freedom. Paul says they should have removed the man, not put their permissiveness on display.
  3. 1 Corinthians 5:3Even though he was physically far away, Paul had already made a decision about the case, acting as if he were present — proof that the situation was serious enough not to wait for his visit.
  4. 1 Corinthians 5:4Paul asks that the church, gathered together with his apostolic authority present in spirit, carry out the judgment he has already announced against the man in this case of immorality.
  5. 1 Corinthians 5:5“To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh” is a harsh and much-debated phrase: it seems to mean putting the person outside the protection of the Christian community, handing him back to the outside world, hoping the shock will lead to repentance before the final judgment. There are different readings of what exactly this “destruction of the flesh” involves.
  6. 1 Corinthians 5:6The “glorying” is the church’s pride in tolerating this chapter’s sin. Paul uses the image of leaven, which spreads through the whole batch of dough, to warn that this uncorrected sin will contaminate the entire community.
  7. 1 Corinthians 5:7Just as a house was cleared of leaven before the Jewish Passover, the church should get rid of this “old leaven” — the sin being tolerated — because Christ, the true Passover lamb, has already been sacrificed.
  8. 1 Corinthians 5:8The image comes from the Jewish Passover, when the whole house was cleared of leaven before the feast and unleavened bread was eaten for a week. Paul uses this as a metaphor — a little tolerated sin, the “old leaven,” contaminates the whole community, which is why he calls for a life without leaven, that is, one of sincerity.
  9. 1 Corinthians 5:9Paul recalls an earlier letter, which has not survived to us, in which he had already asked them not to associate with people living in sexual immorality.
  10. 1 Corinthians 5:10He clears up a misunderstanding from that letter: he was not talking about avoiding everyone like that outside the church — that would be impossible, requiring you to leave the world entirely — but about a specific case inside the community.
  11. 1 Corinthians 5:11Paul had already written before asking them not to associate with those living in immorality. Here he clarifies that he was not talking about avoiding everyone like that outside the church, which would be impossible, but about not sharing a meal with someone who calls himself a brother in the faith yet lives carelessly in that sin.
  12. 1 Corinthians 5:12A rhetorical question: Paul has neither the authority nor the interest to judge those outside the church; his point is that the church should indeed take care to judge those within it.
  13. 1 Corinthians 5:13God is the one who judges those outside; it is up to the church to deal with what is inside — which is why Paul insists, closing the chapter, that they put away the man from this case of immorality.

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