Immorality Defiles the Church

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even [a]named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s (A)wife! (B)And you are [b]puffed up, and have not rather (C)mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you. (D)For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed. In the (E)name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, (F)with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, (G)deliver such a one to (H)Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord [c]Jesus.

(I)Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that (J)a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore [d]purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed (K)Christ, our (L)Passover, was sacrificed [e]for us. Therefore (M)let us keep the feast, (N)not with old leaven, nor (O)with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Immorality Must Be Judged

I wrote to you in my epistle (P)not to [f]keep company with sexually immoral people. 10 Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go (Q)out of the world. 11 But now I have written to you not to keep company (R)with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—(S)not even to eat with such a person.

12 For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? 13 But those who are outside God judges. Therefore (T)“put away from yourselves the evil person.”

Footnotes

  1. 1 Corinthians 5:1 NU omits named
  2. 1 Corinthians 5:2 arrogant
  3. 1 Corinthians 5:5 NU omits Jesus
  4. 1 Corinthians 5:7 clean out
  5. 1 Corinthians 5:7 NU omits for us
  6. 1 Corinthians 5:9 associate

Deviant Behavior[a]

Chapter 5

Reports of Sexual Immorality. There have been widely circulated reports of sexual immorality among you, immorality of such a nature that not even pagans practice—the union of a man with his father’s wife. How can you be proud of yourselves? You should rather have been overcome with grief and expelled from the community anyone who acted in such a manner.

I for my part am with you in spirit, even though I am not physically present. I have already passed judgment on the man who did this, as if I were actually present. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you have all assembled together and I am with you in spirit through the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to hand over this man to Satan to be destroyed in the flesh, so that on the day of the Lord his spirit may be saved.

Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a small amount of yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? [b]Throw out the old yeast so that you may become a fresh batch of unleavened dough. And truly you already are, because Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the feast, not with the old yeast, the yeast of depravity and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

In my letter, I wrote to you not to associate with people who are leading immoral lives.[c] 10 Obviously, I was not referring to contact with people in the world who are immoral or with those who are greedy or thieves or worshipers of false gods, since to do this you would have to leave the world. 11 What I really meant to get across was that you should not associate with any brother or sister who is sexually immoral, greedy, an idolater, a slanderer, a drunkard or a robber. You should not even eat with such a person.

12 It is no concern of mine to judge those who are outside the fold.[d] It is your responsibility to judge those who are inside. 13 God will pass judgment on the outsiders. Banish the evil person from your midst.

Footnotes

  1. 1 Corinthians 5:1 Paul here denounces some behaviors as real scandals. He has confidence, nonetheless, that the power of Christ will transform the lives of the baptized.
  2. 1 Corinthians 5:7 These verses have been described as the earliest Easter homily in Christian literature. Paul urges the Corinthians to keep the feast of Unleavened Bread (which followed Passover) by living the Christian life in total dedication to God (see Rom 12:1-2; 1 Pet 2:5). The true Passover is the Death of Christ, which should give rise to a life of newness, purity, and integrity in the same way that during the feast of Unleavened Bread the old bread gave way to unleavened bread.
  3. 1 Corinthians 5:9 This earlier Letter has been lost, although some scholars suggest that a fragment of the original Letter can be found in 2 Cor 6:14—7:1.
  4. 1 Corinthians 5:12 Those who are outside the fold: non-Christians. A Jewish expression. See Mk 6:11.

Sin in the Church

Someone has told me about a sex sin among you. It is so bad that even the people who do not know God would not do it. I have been told that one of the men is living with his father’s wife as if she were his wife. Instead of being sorry, you are proud of yourselves. The man who is living like that should be sent away from you. I am far from you. Even if I am not there, my spirit is with you. I have already said that the man is guilty of this sin. I am saying this as if I were there with you. Call a meeting of the church. I will be with you in spirit. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by His power, hand this person over to the devil. His body is to be destroyed so his spirit may be saved on the day the Lord comes again.

It is not good for you to be proud of the way things are going in your church. You know a little yeast makes the whole loaf of bread rise. Clean out the old yeast. Then you will be new bread with none of the old yeast in you. The Jews killed lambs when they left Egypt. Christ is our lamb. He has already been killed as a gift on the altar to God for us. Bread with yeast in it is like being full of sin and hate. Let us eat this supper together with bread that has no yeast in it. This bread is pure and true.

I told you in my letter not to keep on being with people who do any kind of sex sins. 10 I was not talking about people doing sex sins who are bad people of this world. I was not talking about people of this world who always want to get more or those who get things in a wrong way or those who worship false gods. To get away from people like that you would have to leave this world! 11 What I wrote was that you should not keep on being with a person who calls himself a Christian if he does any kind of sex sins. You should not even eat with a person who says he is a Christian but always wants to get more of everything or uses bad language or who gets drunk or gets things in a wrong way. 12 It is not for me to judge those outside the church. You are to judge those who belong to the church. 13 God will judge those outside the church. So you must put that sinful person out of your church.

Wickedness in the Church

Now, it is actually being said that there is sexual sin among you. And it is of such a bad kind that it does not happen even among those who do not know God. A man there is living sinfully with his stepmother. And still you are proud of yourselves! You should have been filled with sadness. And the man who did that sin should be put out of your group. My body is not there with you, but I am with you in spirit. And I have already judged the man who did that sin. I judged him just as I would if I were really there. Meet together as the people of our Lord Jesus. I will be with you in spirit, and you will have the power of our Lord Jesus with you. Then give this man to Satan, so that his sinful self[a] will be destroyed. And then his spirit can be saved on the day of the Lord.

Your bragging is not good. You know the saying, “Just a little yeast makes the whole batch of dough rise.” Take out all the old yeast so that you will be a new batch of dough. And you really are new dough without yeast. For Christ, our Passover lamb, was killed to cleanse us. So let us continue our feast, but not with the bread that has the old yeast. That old yeast is the yeast of sin and wickedness. But let us eat the bread that has no yeast. This is the bread of goodness and truth.

I wrote to you in my letter that you should not associate with those who take part in sexual sin. 10 But I did not mean that you should not associate with the sinful people of this world. People of the world do take part in sexual sin, or they are selfish and they cheat each other, or they worship idols. But to get away from them you would have to leave this world. 11 I am writing to tell you that the person you must not associate with is this: anyone who calls himself a brother in Christ but who takes part in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or lies about others, or gets drunk, or cheats people. Do not even eat with someone like that.

12-13 It is not my business to judge those who are not part of the church. God will judge them. But you must judge the people who are part of the church. The Scripture says, “You must get rid of the evil person among you.”[b]

Footnotes

  1. 5:5 sinful self Literally, “flesh.” This could also mean his body.
  2. 5:12-13 “You . . . you.” Quotation from Deuteronomy 17:7; 19:19; 22:21, 24; 24:7.

Throw Out the Evil Person!

It is actually reported that there is sexual sin among you. I’m told that a man is sleeping with his father’s wife. Even people who don’t know God don’t let that kind of sin continue. And you are proud! Shouldn’t you be very sad instead? Shouldn’t you have thrown out of your church the man doing this? Even though I am not right there with you, I am with you in spirit. And because I am with you in spirit, I have already judged the man doing this. I have judged him in the name of our Lord Jesus. So when you come together, I will be with you in spirit. The power of our Lord Jesus will also be with you. When you come together like this, hand this man over to Satan. Then the power of sin in his life will be destroyed. His spirit will be saved on the day the Lord returns.

Your bragging is not good. It is like yeast. Don’t you know that just a little yeast makes the whole batch of dough rise? Get rid of the old yeast. Then you can be like a new batch of dough without yeast. That is what you really are. That’s because Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been offered up for us. So let us keep the Feast, but not with the old bread made with yeast. The yeast I’m talking about is hatred and evil. Let us keep the Feast with bread made without yeast. Let us keep it with bread that is honesty and truth.

I wrote a letter to you to tell you to stay away from people who commit sexual sins. 10 I didn’t mean the people of this world who sin in this way. I didn’t mean those who always want more and more. I didn’t mean those who cheat or who worship statues of gods. In that case you would have to leave this world! 11 But here is what I am writing to you now. You must stay away from anyone who claims to be a believer but does evil things. Stay away from anyone who commits sexual sins. Stay away from anyone who always wants more and more things. Stay away from anyone who worships statues of gods. Stay away from anyone who tells lies about others. Stay away from anyone who gets drunk or who cheats. Don’t even eat with people like these.

12 Is it my business to judge those outside the church? Aren’t you supposed to judge those inside the church? 13 God will judge those outside. Scripture says, “Get rid of that evil person!” (Deuteronomy 17:7; 19:19; 21:21; 22:21,24; 24:7)