Down to Earth But Heavenly Minded

What does 1st Corinthians Chapter 5 mean?

To this point, Paul has criticized the Corinthian church for issues such as pride and self-sufficiency. As one might expect, this has led to other problems and mistakes. At the end of chapter 4, Paul noted that the believers in Corinth were behaving as if they were unaccountable—as if there was no chance they would be confronted for their behavior. In this chapter, Paul applies his serious remark about discipline (1 Corinthians 4:21) to a heinous real-life example of sin among the Corinthians.

In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul confronts the church for ignoring an ongoing case of incest by a member of the church. Instead of feeling sad about the sin in which this man was openly indulging, the Corinthians continued to be proud of themselves and judgmental of others. Two groups from Corinth had visited Paul in Ephesus. One or both reported to him that a man in the Corinthian church was engaged in a sexual affair with his father’s wife. Though the woman was not the man’s biological mother, this qualified as incest under both Jewish law and even the moral standards of that era’s pagan culture. It was a clear and indisputable case of open sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 5:1–2).

Paul commands the church to remove the man from among them. By this, Paul means that this person is to be treated as a non-believer, and one not welcome in the congregation; he will explain this in more detail later. Most likely, the woman in question was an outsider, rather than a self-identified Christian. Paul declared the man guilty and told the Corinthians to consider Paul as being present with them in spirit at their next meeting. Then they were to deliver the man to Satan for the destruction of his flesh to make it possible for his spirit to be saved from the Lord’s judgment. His purpose for this church discipline is mostly for the sake of helping the sinner—seeking his repentance—but also for the good of the church (1 Peter 2:12; 2 Peter 2:1–2). The church ought to have already dealt with such a serious issue (1 Corinthians 5:3–5).

Why had the Corinthians not taken action in this matter already? Paul again calls out their boasting. Their pride kept them from removing a sin from among them that threatened to spread, like bad leaven in good dough, to the whole community. Leavening agents were passed from old, fermented dough into new dough. A small bit would eventually grow as it was mixed into clean, fresh material. Paul’s point is that sin is contagious—they must treat this man and his sin as the Jewish people would treat leaven during the Passover celebration, removing it completely from their homes. Paul reminds these believers that they have already been saved by the blood of Christ, the ultimate Passover lamb. Now they must celebrate that salvation by removing malice and evil from their lives and replacing it with truth and sincerity (1 Corinthians 5:6–8).

Paul reminds them, as well, that he has commanded them before not to associate with sexually immoral people. The principle he discusses here applies to all unrepentant sins, and to any self-professed believer who stubbornly practices sins like greed, swindling, idol worship, regular drunkenness, and angrily insulting others. Despite this need for reasonable discipline, Paul clarifies that this does not apply to those outside the church. To entirely avoid all contact, with all sinners, in all ways, would require believers to leave the earth! Rather, Christians are responsible to judge anyone among them who claims to be a Christian. Those who act in blatantly un-Christian ways should be excluded from that community of believers (1 Corinthians 5:9–13).

Chapter Context
First Corinthians 5 continues Paul’s confrontational tone from the previous chapter. There, he warned the arrogant that he might return to them with a rod of correction. Now he points to a specific result of their pride: They have failed to respond to one among them who is openly committing incest. Paul commands them to remove the man from their community by turning him over to Satan for destruction of his flesh, in hopes that his spirit would be saved. They must not even share a meal with a Christian continuing in unrepentant sin. Paul will distinguish between the judgment of believers with that of non-believers. In the next chapter, this will include more details on how to handle conflict, as well as the ability of God to forgive any and all sin.

Verse by Verse

Verse 1. It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father ‘s wife.

Scripture was originally written without chapter and verse divisions. While this verse seems to take a turn from the end of 1 Corinthians 4, it builds on Paul’s warning that he will come to them with the rod of correction if necessary.

Paul had received a report about a serious sin being committed by someone belonging to the group of Corinthian Christians. This report may have come from visitors to Paul in Ephesus, either Chloe’s people (1 Corinthians 1:11) or Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus (1 Corinthians 16:17) or both.

The report was this: a man in the Corinthian church had either married or was having an affair with his father’s wife. Paul’s phrasing that the man “has” this woman indicates a present-tense, ongoing sexual relationship of some kind. It seems clear the woman was not the man’s biological mother, but someone who was or had been married to his father.

Paul describes this as sexual immorality. The Greek word for “sexual immorality,” porneia, covered all forbidden sexual activity, including incestuous sex with a relative, whether biological, adopted, or by marriage. New Testament teaching is clear that any sex outside of heterosexual marriage is sinful for Christians (2 Corinthians 12:21; Galatians 5:19; Ephesians 5:3; Colossians 3:5; 1 Thessalonians 4:3).

Beyond that, sex with your father’s wife was a crime for Jews who followed the law of Moses, punishable by death (Leviticus 20:11). It was even a serious violation of the otherwise very lax moral standards of the Greek and Roman culture. The following verses will make clear that Paul’s outrage has as much to do with the Corinthian church’s response to this sin among them—or lack of a response—as it does with the sin itself.

Context Summary
First Corinthians 5:1–8 contains Paul’s primary example of how the Corinthian’s pride and self-sufficiency is hurting their community. He has just asked if they would prefer he come in gentleness, or ”with a rod,” symbolic of harsh judgment. Here, Paul details a grievous sin: the believers in Corinth have failed to rebuke a member who is committing incest with his father’s wife. They must remove him from the church and turn him over to Satan in hopes of his ultimate salvation. This is also crucial for the health of the church—just as tiny bits of leaven eventually spread to an entire batch of dough, sin left unconfronted can poison an entire church.

Verse 2. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.

Visitors to Corinth have reported to Paul that a man in the church is having an affair with his father’s wife. This sexual immorality was a violation of both Jewish law and even the decadent Roman standards of decency. Obviously, it is also deeply sinful for Christians. Despite this, the Corinthian Christians apparently tolerated it and allowed the man to continue to meet with them.

Paul now seems to say, “How can you continue to be arrogant about your spirituality and social status when you are allowing this to continue?” He confronted their arrogance in the previous chapter (1 Corinthians 4:6, 18-19). With this flagrant sin going on among them, Paul declares that they should be sorrowful instead of prideful. Their pride just doesn’t make sense given their circumstances.

Some Bible teachers suggest that the Corinthians were proud because of their wrong belief that freedom in Christ allows Christians to participate in any kind of formerly sinful practice without guilt or fear of consequence. In that sense, they would see this man as an open demonstration of God’s grace. It’s not clear this was the source of their pride, however. If it was, Paul will quickly correct their distorted thinking.

Paul urges them to do two things in response to this sin. First, he says that they should mourn. He will make clear that this man is harming himself and others. Later in this letter, he will teach that when one member of the church suffers, all suffer together (1 Corinthians 12:26). Every Christian in the church should be sad about this man’s ongoing sinful practice.

Second, Paul tells them to remove the man from among them. They must not allow him to continue to meet with them. He will explain his reasons for commanding this in the following verses.

Notably, Paul makes no reference to discipline or action against the woman involved in this relationship. Most Bible scholars assume she was not a Christian or an attender of their meetings (1 Corinthians 5:9–13). Therefore, it was not the church’s responsibility to discipline her (1 Corinthians 5:13).

Verse 3. For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing.

A man in the Corinthian church is known to be carrying on an affair with his father’s wife. Incest of this kind was not tolerated either by the Jewish followers of the law or by Roman society, yet the Corinthian Christians had allowed it to continue among them without addressing it.

Paul has written that they must act. First, they should mourn over this man’s sin among them. One of their own is harming himself and others by living in ongoing sexual immorality instead of following the way of Jesus. In addition, they must immediately remove the man from their meetings.

This is not just a suggestion. Paul claims his authority as an apostle of Christ Jesus. He declares his spiritual presence with them—through this letter and their unity together in the Christ. It’s not entirely clear if Paul means to say that he is also present with them in some additional supernatural sense through the power of the Holy Spirit.

In either case, Paul insists that he is present enough with them to declare this man guilty and command that he be removed from his place among the other Christians. Apparently, there was no question about whether this man was sleeping with his father’s wife. Everyone knew it, and Paul used his authority to pass judgment on the man. His rationale will be explained in the following verses: the goal is to restore the man’s spiritual health.

Verse 4. When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus,

Paul has passed judgment on a man in the Corinthian church. The man was sleeping with his father’s wife, a form of sexual immorality even the pagan culture of the day did not tolerate. In his position as apostle, founder of their church, and spiritual father, Paul has commanded them to remove the man from among them.

Now Paul tells them to do so when they meet. In doing so, he elevates the idea of “going to church” beyond a mere meeting of like-minded people to a gathering together in the name of the Lord Jesus. Physical gathering of believers is not merely an option, or a suggestion: it’s a command (Hebrews 10:25).

As Paul did in the previous verse, he declares he will be present in spirit at this meeting, as well. Again, it is unclear in exactly what sense Paul means this. He will be present in the form of his letter to them, declaring this man guilty and commanding that he be removed. Paul has also said that he will be present spiritually, either in the sense that all of those who are in Christ are together or beyond that in some special supernatural sense by the power of the Lord Jesus. At minimum, Paul intends them to understand his judgment in this issue to be binding.

Paul is also claiming that it is with the power of the Lord Jesus that he will carry out the sentence for this man described in the following verse.

Verse 5. you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

This is an important and complicated verse. Paul has commanded the Christians in Corinth to remove from among them a man who was sleeping with his father’s wife, a form of sexual immorality even their own pagan culture condemned (1 Corinthians 5:1). By tolerating such open sin and perversion, the church was inviting shame and judgment (1 Corinthians 5:2).

Now Paul writes that by the power of the Lord Jesus (1 Corinthians 5:4), they are to deliver—or hand over—the man to Satan. Paul is the one who has commanded this action, but it is the church in Corinth that must carry it out. In doing so, they will take responsibility as a group for confronting the sin that is among them. This openly incestuous person is to be given over “to Satan for the destruction of the flesh.” The purpose is not for revenge, or even punishment. Rather, it is “so that his spirit might be saved” at the Lord’s judgment.

Bible teachers debate what this means. Most all agree that in practice it means nothing more than excommunication: to reject him from meeting with the other believers, and from identifying with them. It seems likely that by removing the man from the church, they will also be removing him from the protection that comes with being included in the body of Christ. They will be thrusting this man back, exposed, into the kingdom of darkness (Colossians 1:13).

In some way, this will result in the destruction of the man’s flesh. Some scholars suggest this means Satan will be given the freedom by God to end the man’s earthly life, either quickly or through a long-term illness. Others, however, point to the examples of Job, Paul’s own “messenger from Satan” (2 Corinthians 12:7), and Paul’s deliverance of others to Satan for their ultimate good (1 Timothy 1:20) to mean that God may use Satan’s destructive work in the man’s life to lead him to repentance.

For the man, the hope is that this action will result in the eternal salvation of his spirit. It is unclear if the man is understood to be a Christian who will ultimately be saved by God’s grace or an unbeliever who may come to genuine salvation by this act of removing him from the church. The goal of this action is not retaliation, but rehabilitation: to convict the man of his sin to encourage repentance and restoration (Galatians 6:1).

Details aside, this verse clearly supports three crucial purposes of church discipline. First, it is necessary in order to convict and correct others so they aren’t fooled about their spiritual state (1 Corinthians 10:12). Second, it is necessary for the spiritual health of the other believers (Jude 1:12; Galatians 2:4). Third, it is necessary to prevent the unbelieving world from having legitimate reasons to criticize the body of Christ (1 Peter 2:12; 2 Peter 2:1–2; Galatians 2:14).

Verse 6. Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

One of the men in the church at Corinth has been having a sexual affair with his father’s wife (1 Corinthians 5:1). Though apparently everyone in the church knows this, they have not addressed the man’s sin. They have allowed him to continue to come to the meetings and participate in the life of the church.

The church has been instructed to remove the man from among them and to turn him over to Satan in the name of Christ (1 Corinthians 5:5). There are many purposes behind this excommunication. First and foremost is that the man might be convicted and come to repentance for his sin (1 Corinthians 10:12; Galatians 6:1). But it’s also necessary to protect the spiritual health of the other believers (Galatians 2:4) and to prevent slander from the unbelieving world (2 Peter 2:2).

Paul has also identified the cause of the Corinthians’ indifference to this man’s sin. They are arrogant (1 Corinthians 5:2), which is why they are boasting about how well they’re doing. Instead of mourning about the presence of heinous sin in their own congregation, they focused only on their own success as people and as a church.

Paul now writes that this boasting is not good. It is causing them to ignore a sin that could end up infecting all of them. He reminds them that a little leaven leavens the entire lump of dough.

Leaven was used in making bread. A bit of risen, aged dough from the previous batch would be stored away as the starting point for the next batch of dough. Working this tiny piece into a new batch introduced leavening agents which would spread to every piece of the new material. If the leaven was bad, the bacteria in it would quickly spread to the rest of the dough, making the bread worthless.

Paul’s readers would have understood this process and his meaning. Sin of this nature, left unaddressed in the church community, would eventually spread and corrupt everyone. This was why Paul told them to remove the man from among them. Leaving open, unrepentant sin unaddressed would be like carelessly throwing rotten leavening agents into a new bowl of dough.

Verse 7. Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

Paul is using bread metaphors to help his readers understand why they must remove the man who is committing incest from among them (1 Corinthians 5:1–5). In the previous verse, he described sin in the church as leaven that is contaminated. It must be removed or it will infect the whole batch of dough, making the bread worthless. Just as is done with certain breads today, a small piece of an earlier batch of dough would be reserved to “seed” the next batch. Fermenting agents in that piece would be spread around the new dough and continue the cycle. A small influence would grow and become universal.

Here, Paul adjusts the metaphor to one best understood by those familiar with the Jewish Passover. In preparation for that celebration, Jews scour their homes to remove any hint of leaven. They would make and eat, instead, unleavened bread. In addition, they would sacrifice a Passover lamb and put its blood on their doorposts before eating it.

Paul’s metaphor puts the Corinthian Christians in the place of the Passover dough. They must cleanse out all the old leaven and become a new, unleavened piece of dough.

Then Paul says something surprising: They are already the unleavened dough. This is true because Christ, the Passover lamb, was sacrificed on the cross to pay for their sin. The leaven has already been removed from them. Paul is urging them to live up to what they already are, the forgiven and set-apart people of Christ.

Put another way, why would the Corinthian Christians allow sin that Christ had died for to continue to be flagrantly practiced among them?

Verse 8. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Paul has commanded the Christians in Corinth to gather as the church and to remove from among them a man who was known to be in an ongoing sexual relationship with his father’s wife (1 Corinthians 5:1–5). To drive home how important this is, Paul has used a metaphor of leavened bread during the Jewish Passover celebration. Jewish people were to remove any trace of leaven from their homes and eat only unleavened bread during the Passover.

In the previous verse, Paul wrote that the Christians in Corinth were already unleavened or purified. This is because Christ, the Passover lamb, had already died to pay the price for all their sin. Now the time had come for the Corinthians to live up to what they already were. They must remove the sin from among them that Christ had died for.

Paul calls them to celebrate the festival. He does not seem to mean that they should observe the Passover celebration. Instead, he seems to be saying that they should always be in a spirit of celebrating the truth that Christ’s blood had paid for their sin. For Christians, this in an ongoing reason to rejoice, not a once-a-year celebration. Some Bible teachers connect Paul’s mention of the festival with the Christian practice of communion.

In either case, Paul writes that those who are celebrating the forgiveness of their sins by the blood of Jesus must not do so while living in sin, the leaven of “malice and evil.” Such sin has no place among those who rejoice over being forgiven for their sin. Instead, such rejoicers should live with sincerity and truth.

Verse 9. I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people —

This verse reveals that Paul had written to the church in Corinth before. While this letter is referred to as “First Corinthians,” that reference simply means it is the first of the two contained in the canon of Scripture. That prior writing has been lost to history, but the key point is repeated here: Paul wrote to them about something they had apparently ignored. He commanded them not to associate with people who practice sexual immorality.

Paul will clarify in the following verses that he does not mean by this that they should totally dissociate from all unbelievers. Instead, Paul is telling Christians not to include in their community self-labelled Christians known to be practicing sexual immorality. Sexual immorality for Christians might include any kind of sexual involvement outside of heterosexual marriage.

Communicating this same idea in his letter to the Thessalonians, Paul put it this way, “If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother” (2 Thessalonians 3:14–15). By extension, this principle implies that Christian congregations should not turn a blind eye to those who engage in open, unrepentant sin. Doing so not only threatens the spiritual health of the church (Jude 1:12), it damages the reputation of Christ in the eyes of the world (2 Peter 2:1–2).

Context Summary
First Corinthians 5:9–13 introduces Christian teachings on church discipline, conflict resolution, and the power of God to cleanse us from sin. After demanding the church in Corinth excommunicate someone for flagrant sin, Paul reminds them that those who claim to be Christians are to be held to a higher standard. Specifically, the church must not accept the fellowship of those who persist in blatant, stubborn sin. Non-believers, in contrast, aren’t subject to that judgment. Paul insists that Christians must not even share a meal with someone who identifies as Christian but refuses to stop participating in sin.

Verse 10. not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.

In the previous verse, Paul reminded the Corinthian Christians that he had told them once before not to associate with people who practice sexual immorality. Apparently, in some prior writing—now lost to history—he had referred to this problem once before.

Now he clarifies that he does not mean they should not associate with any unbeliever or someone connected to any sin at all. He makes the point that if Christians were going to try not to associate with those in the world who are “sinful,” they would need to entirely leave the world! Sexually immorality and other sinful practices were the norm in Greek and Roman culture, even more so than in modern culture. Paul’s intent here is not that congregations become isolated, rigid, paranoid collectives. Rather, he means that sin ought to be taken seriously, and those who openly embrace it should not be part of the assembly of believers.

Paul’s teaching makes clear that God does not intend for His people to avoid relationships with unbelievers, even those who are living in obvious immorality. Not only would this require us to retreat from any involvement in the secular world, it would also keep us from communicating the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who need to hear, just as we once did (Matthew 28:19; Romans 10:14).

Instead, Paul will say in the following verses, Christians are responsible to isolate themselves from self-labelled Christians who openly live in sin. In other words, deliberate separation is meant to apply to those who claim—perhaps falsely—to be brothers and sisters in Christ, yet who insist on continuing to live in sin (1 Corinthians 5:11–13). This is for their benefit and ours (1 Corinthians 5:5).

Verse 11. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler — not even to eat with such a one.

Paul is giving to the church in Corinth, and to all Christian churches, a guideline for how we should respond when other believers begin to participate in actions that are clearly sinful. Should we ignore this issue, as the Corinthians had done with the man who was having an affair with his father’s wife (1 Corinthians 5:1)? Clearly not. Instead, Paul’s instruction is to remove that person from the community (1 Corinthians 5:2–5).

Now he adds that the rest of the church should not even continue to eat with such a person. In the previous verse, he clarified that this does not apply to those who are outside the church, unbelievers. Instead, he says here, this is about anyone who would call himself a brother—or herself a sister—in Christ (1 Corinthians 5:13).

Paul does not ask us to decide if that person is really a Christian or not. Instead, his instruction applies to anyone who claims to be a Christian. Paul’s teaching here allows for the possibility that a self-professed Christian might at some point begin to participate in ongoing sexual immorality, greed, idol worship, angrily insulting others, regular drunkenness, or swindling people out of money.

Paul expresses two purposes for officially removing from the community those who are known to be living in sin. First, it provides protection for the community from getting caught up in either the sin itself or the consequences that sin will bring. Second, as he writes in 2 Thessalonians 3:14–15, such action may bring the sinful person to repentance, “If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.”

Other New Testament passages indicate that separating unrepentant sinners from the congregation is necessary for the health of the church, and the influence of the gospel among an unbelieving world (Jude 1:12; 2 Peter 2:2, 1 Peter 2:12).

Verse 12. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?

Paul has been clear: Christian churches must remove from their community those known to be participating in obvious sin. They should not associate with such people if those people claim to be Christians. The purpose of this is to encourage repentance in the sinner (1 Corinthians 5:5; 2 Thessalonians 3:14–15), protect the spiritual health of the congregation (Jude 1:12; Galatians 2:4; 2 Peter 2:1–2), and avoid giving the world excuses to slander Christ (1 Peter 2:12).

He has also been clear that this teaching does not apply to unbelievers. Now Paul asks rhetorically what he has to do with judging those who are outsiders, meaning non-Christians. Even Paul has not been given the responsibility of judging those who have not trusted in Jesus for salvation. He will write in the following verse that God judges unbelievers.

Perhaps this is why Paul never instructs the Corinthians regarding the woman involved in the affair with her husband’s son. Based on these verses, she apparently was not a self-identified Christian and wasn’t involved in the church at Corinth. If so, they would have no responsibility to hold her accountable for her actions. That doesn’t mean they’d have no right to call out sinful behavior (Matthew 28:19–20; Acts 3:11–26), simply that it was not their job to discipline a non-believer.

With another rhetorical question, Paul insists that Christians do have the responsibility to judge those inside the church. In other words, Christians are called by God to hold each other accountable for ongoing participation in obviously sinful actions.

We should note that this practice, called “church discipline,” is not often carried out in Christian churches despite this clear teaching. The result is an epidemic of poisonous spiritual influences (Jude 1:12; 2 Peter 2:1; Galatians 2:4) and much criticism from the non-believing world (1 Peter 2:12; 2 Peter 2:2). On the other hand, some of what is called “church discipline” today has been carried out in a manner which is unloving, inconsistent, an unhelpful to the reputation of Christ (Galatians 6:1; Matthew 18:15–20).

Obviously, churches must be prayerful and wise about when and how to apply Paul’s instructions in 1 Corinthians 5. The goal is not self-righteousness or vindictive revenge. Rather, it should be protection of truth and the repentance of the sinner.

Verse 13. God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”

Paul’s final word on the issue of Christians judging unbelievers for their sin is simple: it is not our responsibility. He states unequivocally that God judges those outside of the community of Christ (Acts 17:30).

On the other hand, Christians must accept our responsibility to judge each other when one who claims to be in Christ is participating in ongoing and unrepentant sin. The word “repentance” seems to be key to this conversation. In this specific example, the man who was having an affair with his father’s wife was continuing in his sin (1 Corinthians 5:1–5). He had not confessed it as sin or turned from it. He was not even reported to have been struggling to give up sin he knew to be wrong. He continued in obvious and ongoing sin openly and willfully.

Paul applies a common phrase from the law of Moses in Deuteronomy: “Purge the evil person from among you.” Christian churches must not allow such ongoing sin to remain unaddressed in the community. Doing so poisons the spiritual health of the congregation (Jude 1:12; 2 Peter 2:1) and invites slander from the unbelieving world (1 Peter 2:12; 2 Peter 2:2).

Paul put it this way in 2 Thessalonians 3:14–15: “If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.”

End of Chapter 5.

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