1 Corinthians 5:1
Ὅλως ἀκούεται ἐν ὑμῖν πορνεία, καὶ τοιαύτη πορνεία ἥτις οὐδὲ ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, ὥστε γυναῖκά τινα τοῦ πατρὸς ἔχειν.
Sexual immorality is actually heard among you and such kind of sexual immorality which is not among the gentiles so that a certain man has the wife of his father.
Paraphrase: Now let me lay out for you some of the problems which I see and hear about in the life of your church. First, I am appalled at the reports of sexual immorality which come to me. Can it really be true that one of the men of your assembly is living with his father’s wife? Certainly, I must have misunderstood! Everyone knows that the city of Corinth is renowned for these kinds of sin; but even in Corinth, such a sin is condemned and seen to be shameful.
Comments:
Abbott (p95): “…for a woman to become devoted to a life of shame [prostitution] was called in Greece to Corinthianize.
1 Corinthians 5:2
καὶ ὑμεῖς πεφυσιωμένοι ἐστέ, καὶ οὐχὶ μᾶλλον ἐπενθήσατε, ἵνα ἀρθῇ ἐκ μέσου ὑμῶν ὁ τὸ ἔργον τοῦτο ποιήσας;
and why have you been puffed up and not rather grieved in order that he might be removed from your midst who is doing this work?
Paraphrase: How is it possible that you can speak with pride of your church and of its spiritual health and yet you aren’t even grieved that this man remains a member in good standing of your congregation? Do you really not see anything wrong with this situation?
Comments:
πεφυσιωμένοι ἐστέ = periphrastic
Of what were the Corinthians proud? Gill suggests (p177) that they may have been proud of this man himself for his gifts, learning, or eloquence and that this is why they failed to deal with his sin.
1 Corinthians 5:3
Ἐγὼ μὲν γάρ, ἀπὼν τῷ σώματι παρὼν δὲ τῷ πνεύματι, ἤδη κέκρικα ὡς παρὼν τὸν οὕτως τοῦτο κατεργασάμενον
I, on the one hand, am absent in body but present in spirit; already I have judged, as present, the one who is doing these things in this manner.
Paraphrase: For myself, this is not a difficult case. I am not present in your assembly, but I can assure you that I have already passed judgement on this man and his wickedness just as if I were with you. Consider me absent in body but present in spirit;
Comments:
1 Corinthians 5:4
ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ, συναχθέντων ὑμῶν καὶ τοῦ ἐμοῦ πνεύματος σὺν τῇ δυνάμει τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ,
In the Name of our Lord Jesus, when you are gathered and my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus.
Paraphrase: and as I stand, in spirit, at the head of your assembly, I pronounce, in the Name of our Great King, my decision.
Comments:
1 Corinthians 5:5
παραδοῦναι τὸν τοιοῦτον τῷ Σατανᾷ εἰς ὄλεθρον τῆς σαρκός, ἵνα τὸ πνεῦμα σωθῇ ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τοῦ κυρίου.
to hand over this one to Satan for the ruin of the flesh in order that his spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord.
Paraphrase: This is my decision; this man and his sin are delivered over to Satan. How is this done? It is done by excommunicating him from your assembly and removing him from the membership roll of your church. The church is the place where the Holy Spirit works; outside the church is where Satan works. (Acts 26:18) By removing this man from the church, you are taking him away from the saving ministry of the Holy Spirit and turning him over to the kingdom of darkness. My hope is that all the hardship he experiences in Satan’s kingdom will bring him to repentance, that his sin might be forgiven, and his soul saved. Then in the great day of God’s final judgment, he will be pronounced righteous and will be received into glory with all of God’s children.
Comments:
1 Corinthians 5:6
Οὐ καλὸν τὸ καύχημα ὑμῶν. οὐκ οἴδατε ὅτι μικρὰ ζύμη ὅλον τὸ φύραμα ζυμοῖ;
Not good is your boasting. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens all the dough?
Paraphrase: Your thinking so highly of your piety and spirituality is a delusion. Don’t you realize that by tolerating this man in your assembly you are poisoning the entire body of believers? It’s the same thing that happens when we put a little yeast in dough. Before long, the entire mass of dough is infiltrated with the yeast. Think about it; how long will it be before the sin that you are tolerating in your assembly spreads to other believers, especially the young and inexperienced? How long will it before they begin to think that such behavior really isn’t so bad? That’s the message you’re sending by your unwillingness to deal with this situation.
Comments:
1 Corinthians 5:7
ἐκκαθάρατε τὴν παλαιὰν ζύμην, ἵνα ἦτε νέον φύραμα, καθώς ἐστε ἄζυμοι. καὶ γὰρ τὸ πάσχα ἡμῶν ἐτύθη Χριστός·
Cleanse away the old leaven in order that you might be new dough even as you are unleavened, for even Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed.
Paraphrase: So take vigorous action and wash out this evil so that you can be pure dough, unleavened dough which is what God commanded his people to use in their homes. Remember the command, “You shall not eat anything leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.” (Exodus 12:20) Well then, let us keep this command not by getting rid of all yeast, but by getting rid of the sin which is what the yeast represented. This is what God commanded His people to do every time they celebrated the Passover which we also celebrate, not by choosing a lamb for ourselves, but by coming to the Lord’s Supper in faith and placing all our trust and confidence in the atoning sacrifice of our Passover Lamb.
Comments:
1 Corinthians 5:8
ὥστε ἑορτάζωμεν, μὴ ἐν ζύμῃ παλαιᾷ μηδὲ ἐν ζύμῃ κακίας καὶ πονηρίας, ἀλλ’ ἐν ἀζύμοις εἰλικρινείας καὶ ἀληθείας.
so that we might feast, not with the old leaven neither with evil leaven of hatred and sexual immorality but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Paraphrase: In this way, your celebration of the Lord’s Supper will be edifying to you and honoring to God. Just as the Israelites would have angered God by eating the Passover feast with leavened bread, so we anger God when we sit down at the Lord’s table even while we tolerate such sin to remain in our assembly. So now, let’s eat our Passover, not by eating bread mixed with the yeast of hatred towards others and sexual immorality, but the unleavened bread of a sincere devotion to God and a mind filled with truth. Then God will be pleased with our sacramental meal.
Comments:
1 Corinthians 5:9
Ἔγραψα ὑμῖν ἐν τῇ ἐπιστολῇ μὴ συναναμίγνυσθαι πόρνοις,
I write to you in my letter not to gather with adulterers.
Paraphrase: Now previously, brothers and sisters, I had warned you about keeping company with adulterers. The city in which you live is infamous for this sin, and I want you to remain unspotted from it. (James 1:27)
Comments:
1 Corinthians 5:10
οὐ πάντως τοῖς πόρνοις τοῦ κόσμου τούτου ἢ τοῖς πλεονέκταις καὶ ἅρπαξιν ἢ εἰδωλολάτραις, ἐπεὶ ὠφείλετε ἄρα ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου ἐξελθεῖν.
Not altogether with adulterers of this world or the greedy or thieves or idolaters because then you are obliged to go out from the world.
Paraphrase: Now don’t misunderstand me. I am not saying that you should not have any contact at all with the sinful people of this world. That would be impossible; you would never be able to leave your house if this is what God expected of us.
Comments:
1 Corinthians 5:11
νῦν δὲ ἔγραψα ὑμῖν μὴ συναναμίγνυσθαι ἐάν τις ἀδελφὸς ὀνομαζόμενος ᾖ πόρνος ἢ πλεονέκτης ἢ εἰδωλολάτρης ἢ λοίδορος ἢ μέθυσος ἢ ἅρπαξ, τῷ τοιούτῳ μηδὲ συνεσθίειν.
but now I write to you not to keep company; when anyone being named a brother might be an adulterer or an idolater or verbally abusive, or a drunkard, or a thief, neither to gather.
Paraphrase: I was referring to Christians, not to those who do not profess to be disciples of Jesus. These are the people you are to cut off. If someone claims to be a Christian and is a member of your assembly, but he or she is also an adulterer, or attends pagan worship services, or is verbally abusive, or is a drunkard, or a thief, such a person cannot be allowed to remain a member in good standing of your church. He or she must be placed under discipline; and if unrepentant, must be excommunicated.
Comments:
1 Corinthians 5:12
τί γάρ μοι τοὺς ἔξω κρίνειν; οὐχὶ τοὺς ἔσω ὑμεῖς κρίνετε,
b
Paraphrase:
Comments:
1 Corinthians 5:13
τοὺς δὲ ἔξω ὁ θεὸς κρίνει; ἐξάρατε τὸν πονηρὸν ἐξ ὑμῶν αὐτῶν.
b
Paraphrase:
Comments: