Observation
Setting. Paul writes from Ephesus (16:8) to the church he planted in Corinth. Chapters 1–4 dealt with division and pride (“arrogant” — 4:6, 18, 19); now chapters 5–6 turn to reports of moral disorder inside the church. Chapter 5 opens with no greeting and no softening word — the news is that bad.
Who: Paul (absent in body, present in spirit, v3); the Corinthian church (“when you are assembled,” v4); a man who “has his father’s wife” (v1) — almost certainly his stepmother; Satan (v5); the Lord Jesus (vv4–5); Christ our Passover (v7); “the immoral people of this world” (v10); “any so-called brother” (v11); “outsiders” and “those who are within the church” (vv12–13); God, who judges those outside (v13).
Structure: - vv1–2 — the sin and the boast: immorality of a kind that does not exist even among the Gentiles; and the church has become arrogant instead of mourning, when the man should have been removed from their midst. - vv3–5 — the verdict: Paul, absent in body but present in spirit, has already judged; when the church is assembled in the name and with the power of the Lord Jesus, they are to deliver such a one to Satan “for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” - vv6–8 — leaven and the Passover: “a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough” (v6). Clean out the old leaven; you are a new lump, in fact unleavened, for “Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed” (v7). Therefore celebrate the feast with sincerity and truth (v8). - vv9–13 — inside and outside: the earlier letter did not mean the immoral people of the world — that would mean going out of the world (vv9–10). It meant a so-called brother living in sin — not even to eat with such a one (v11). God judges outsiders; the church judges those within: “REMOVE THE WICKED MAN FROM AMONG YOURSELVES” (vv12–13; Deut 17:7).
Repeated words, with counts: - “leaven” family ×7 — “leaven” ×4 (vv6, 7, 8 ×2), “leavens” ×1 (v6), “unleavened” ×2 (vv7, 8). All in vv6–8. - “immorality / immoral” ×5 — “immorality” ×2 (v1), “immoral” ×3 (vv9, 10, 11). - “judge” family ×4 — “judged” (v3), “judging” and “judge” (v12), “judges” (v13). - “spirit” ×3 — vv3, 4, 5; “Lord Jesus” ×3 — vv4 (×2), 5; “present” ×2 — v3. - “such a one” ×2 — v5 (deliver to Satan), v11 (not even to eat with). - “removed / REMOVE” ×2 — v2 and v13: the chapter’s first and last instruction. - “world” ×2 — v10; “associate” ×2 — vv9, 11; “wrote” ×2 — vv9, 11. - “lump” ×2 — vv6, 7; “old” ×2 — vv7, 8; “new” ×1 — v7. - The sin lists: four names in v10 (immoral, covetous, swindlers, idolaters); six in v11 (immoral person, covetous, idolater, reviler, drunkard, swindler).
Contrasts: arrogant ⟷ mourning (v2). Absent in body ⟷ present in spirit (v3). Destruction of the flesh ⟷ the spirit saved (v5). Old leaven ⟷ new lump (v7). Leaven of malice and wickedness ⟷ unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (v8). The immoral of this world ⟷ a so-called brother who is immoral (vv10–11). Outsiders, whom God judges ⟷ those within, whom the church judges (vv12–13).
Commands: clean out the old leaven (v7); let us celebrate the feast (v8); do not associate … not even to eat with such a one (v11); remove the wicked man (v13).
Purpose and conclusion words: “so that his spirit may be saved” (v5); “so that you may be a new lump” (v7); “For Christ our Passover” (v7); “Therefore let us celebrate the feast” (v8).
Shape of the chapter: a scandal (1–2), a verdict (3–5), a feast (6–8), a line drawn (9–13). It opens with “removed from your midst” and closes with “REMOVE THE WICKED MAN FROM AMONG YOURSELVES,” and at its center stands the Lamb who was sacrificed.
Chapter theme (my words): A church that is proud of tolerating sin is not loving the sinner — it is leaving him in danger and letting the leaven spread. Because Christ our Passover was sacrificed, we are to be what we already are in Him: clean. Discipline in the church is meant to rescue, not to destroy.
Interpretation
What was happening (vv1–2). Porneia covers every kind of sexual activity outside marriage, and the present-tense verb “has” points to an ongoing relationship — Guzik: “a euphemism for an enduring sexual relationship.” Leviticus 18:8 forbade it, and even pagan Corinth would not stomach it (Henry and Guzik both cite Cicero). But Paul’s sharpest words are for the church. They were “arrogant.” Guzik thinks they were proud of their tolerance — “Look how loving we are”; Henry suggests they admired a gifted leader, or that a rival party gloated over his fall. Either way, the right response was to “mourn,” the word for grieving the dead. Sproul: this kind of action is “reserved for gross and heinous crimes by which the whole community is corrupted.”
Paul’s judgment (vv3–5) — and “judge not.” Paul is absent in body but present in spirit — Guzik reads this as his apostolic authority carried by the letter. Does this break Jesus’ “do not judge” (Matt 7:1–5)? Guzik says no: Jesus forbids hypocritical judgment, while Scripture requires the church to judge conduct (v12). Guzik, citing Wiersbe: we judge conduct, not motives. And the action belongs to the gathered church, “in the name of our Lord Jesus,” not to one angry leader. Henry: “Church-censures are Christ’s ordinances, and should be dispensed in his name.”
“Deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh” (v5) — where teachers differ. - Removal from the church’s fellowship and covering. Guzik: outside the church is the world, “the devil’s ‘domain’” (compare 1 John 5:19); the punishment “is a removal of spiritual protection and social comfort, not an infliction of evil,” and “flesh” is his rebellious sinful flesh (Gal 5:24). Sproul: “Turning you over to Satan, who will sift you like wheat” — the removal of the means of grace. - Bodily affliction. Henry reports that others see “a miraculous power or authority … of delivering a scandalous sinner into the power of Satan, to have bodily diseases inflicted.” Readers who hold this point to Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5), the sick and dead at Corinth’s Table (11:30), and Hymenaeus and Alexander (1 Tim 1:20). - A mixed case. Henry’s own view: the church cast him out by just censure, and the apostle added an act of extraordinary power — “not for his destruction, but for his deliverance.” On every reading the purpose is stated plainly: “so that his spirit may be saved.” Guzik warns the verse was twisted to justify Inquisition torture; it gives no one license to hurt anyone. “The church does not grant salvation; it certainly cannot take it away.” Many teachers connect this man with the repentant offender of 2 Corinthians 2:5–11; others think that was a different case. Either way, 2 Corinthians 2 shows the heart of discipline — the door back stays open.
Leaven and Passover (vv6–8). Leaven was a lump of old fermented dough kept back to start the next batch; a pinch works through the whole thing. Henry: “one scabbed sheep infects a whole flock.” Before Passover Jewish homes searched out every crumb (Exod 12:15) — Spurgeon describes the search by candlelight. Paul’s logic runs from what God has done to what we do: “you are in fact unleavened … For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.” Guzik: “Be what you are.” Spurgeon: Israel “were not saved by purging out the leaven,” yet “Salvation in sin is not possible, it always must be salvation from sin.” Sproul shows the apostles “saw a link between the death of Christ and the Old Testament Passover celebration” — the Lord’s Supper is the Passover fulfilled. Henry: the feast is kept “not for seven days only, but all our days.”
Inside and outside (vv9–13). Paul’s earlier letter (now lost) had told them “not to associate with immoral people” (v9), and they had misread it. Guzik: taking it as a ban on all contact would mean leaving the world — the mistake of the monastic movement. The line Paul draws is around a professing brother living in open, unrepentant sin; the church is not even to share a table with him in a way that says “all is well.” Henry calls it a paradox: “Christians may and ought to testify more respect to loose worldlings than to loose Christians.” Sproul guards the other side: there will be “always tares growing along with the wheat,” and there is a New Testament warning “against precipitous action.” God judges outsiders; the church’s job is its own household. Corinth had it backward.
Word study (Greek): - immorality — porneia (G4202): any sexual activity outside marriage (v1 ×2). immoral person — pornos (G4205): one who practises it (vv9, 10, 11). - has — echō (G2192): present tense — an ongoing relationship, not a single fall (v1). - arrogant / puffed up — physioō (G5448): inflated like a bellows; six of its seven NT uses are in 1 Corinthians (4:6, 18, 19; 5:2; 8:1; 13:4). - mourn — pentheō (G3996): to grieve as for the dead (v2). - have judged — krinō (G2919): to judge, decide (vv3, 12 ×2, 13). - assembled — synagō (G4863): gathered together as a church (v4). - deliver — paradidōmi (G3860): to hand over (v5; 1 Tim 1:20). - destruction — olethros (G3639): ruin (v5; 1 Thess 5:3). - flesh — sarx (G4561): the body, or the sinful nature — the hinge of the debate in v5. - be saved — sōzō (G4982): the stated goal of the discipline (v5). - boasting — kauchēma (G2745): a boast, a ground of glorying (v6). - leaven — zymē (G2219): old fermented dough; in Scripture usually spreading corruption (Matt 16:6; Gal 5:9). leavens — zymoō (G2220). - lump — phyrama (G5445): a mixed batch of dough (vv6, 7). - clean out — ekkathairō (G1571): to purge thoroughly (v7; 2 Tim 2:21). - unleavened — azymos (G106): without leaven (vv7, 8). - Passover — pascha (G3957): the feast and the lamb itself (v7). - has been sacrificed — thyō (G2380): to slaughter in sacrifice; aorist, a finished act (v7). - celebrate the feast — heortazō (G1858): present tense — keep on keeping the feast (v8). - malice — kakia (G2549) and wickedness — ponēria (G4189): ill will and active evil (v8). - sincerity — eilikrineia (G1505): purity, transparency — often explained as something held up to the sunlight and found without flaw (v8). - associate — synanamignymi (G4874): to mix up together; close company (vv9, 11; 2 Thess 3:14). - covetous — pleonektēs (G4123): one who must have more (vv10–11). - swindler — harpax (G727): a grabber, one who takes by force or fraud (vv10–11). - reviler — loidoros (G3060): an abusive talker (v11). drunkard — methysos (G3183) (v11). - eat with — synesthiō (G4906): to share a table (v11; Gal 2:12). - remove — exairō (G1808): to lift out, take away (v13; TR also v2).
Key insights to carry (from the Deep Dive): 1. The church’s sin was worse than the man’s — Paul spends one verse on the deed and the rest on the boasting church (Guzik). 2. Arrogance is Corinth’s word — physioō, six of seven NT uses in this letter. 3. The right response to sin in the body is grief — “The sins of others should be our sorrow” (Henry). 4. Discipline is a rescue mission — “so that his spirit may be saved” (v5). 5. Teachers differ on “the destruction of his flesh” — sinful flesh, bodily affliction, or a mixed case; none licenses harm. 6. The Lamb comes before the leaven — not saved by purging leaven, but because the Lamb was slain (Spurgeon). 7. Be what you are — “you are in fact unleavened” (Guzik). 8. The feast never ends — “not for seven days only, but all our days” (Henry). 9. The line runs around the church, not around the world — same sins, different judges (vv10–13). 10. Paul ends with Moses — Deuteronomy’s “purge the evil from your midst.”
Cross-references: Exod 12:13, 15–20; Lev 18:8; Deut 13:5; 17:7; 22:22, 30; 27:20; Job 1:10; Matt 7:1–5; 16:6; 18:15–17; Luke 22:31–32; John 1:29; Acts 5:1–11; Rom 6:6; 1 Cor 4:6, 18–19; 11:30; 2 Cor 2:5–11; Gal 5:9, 24; 6:1; 2 Thess 3:6, 14–15; 1 Tim 1:20; 5:20; Titus 3:10; 1 Pet 1:18–19; 1 John 3:15; 5:19.
Application
Warning to heed — pride that calls itself love. The Corinthians “have become arrogant and have not mourned instead” (v2). I can do the same thing in a softer way — winking at sin in a brother because confronting it feels unkind. But leaving a man comfortable in what is killing him is not love. Guzik put it plainly: you don’t show love to a body by being kind to a cancer. Real love grieves, and then it acts.
For the men I walk with — this chapter is about the unrepentant, not the struggling. A man fighting to stay sober, a man who slipped last week and called his sponsor, a man bringing his sin into the light on a Thursday night — that man is not the man of 1 Corinthians 5. This man had stopped fighting and the church was cheering him on. If you are in the fight, the church does not cast you out; it pulls up a chair. The danger is not in confessing. The danger is in hiding, or in no longer caring.
Promise to trust — the goal is rescue. “So that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus” (v5). Even God’s hardest discipline has a door back built into it. Paul later told this church to “forgive and comfort him” so he would not be overwhelmed by sorrow (2 Cor 2:7). Some of the men I serve have been put out — of homes, churches, families, society. God’s heart toward the one who turns back is welcome, not probation.
Promise to trust — I am already unleavened. “Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed” (v7). I don’t clean myself up to become God’s; I clean out the old leaven because I am already His, bought by the Lamb. Be what you are.
Command to obey — clean out the crumbs. Jewish families went through the house with a candle looking for every crumb of leaven before Passover. Spurgeon said we must not keep even a crumb. A little leaven works through the whole lump. For a man in recovery that means the “little” things: the saved number, the hidden app, the stash, the old route home, the resentment I keep feeding. I’ll name one crumb this week, tell a brother, and get it out of the house.
Example to follow — judge myself, not the world. “Do you not judge those who are within the church? … those who are outside, God judges” (vv12–13). I am not called to be shocked by unbelievers acting like unbelievers; I’m called to be honest about the household of faith — starting with me — and to love the lost enough to go sit with them. Henry said it well: the more sincerity in my own profession, the less I’ll censure others.
Questions for the table (from the Deep Dive): 1. Where have I called it “love” to say nothing while a brother is being destroyed by sin? (5:1–2, 6) Guzik: you don’t show love to a body by being kind to a cancer. 2. When I hear of another man’s fall, is my first response grief, gossip, or a quiet sense that I’m better than him? (5:2; Gal 6:1) Henry: “It is a very wicked thing to glory over the miscarriages and sins of others.” 3. What is the difference between the man in 1 Corinthians 5 and a man who is fighting his sin and bringing it into the light? (5:1–5; 2 Cor 2:7) This man had stopped fighting and was being cheered on; the struggler is pulled close, not put out. 4. If the Lamb has already been sacrificed for me, what “crumb” of old leaven am I still keeping in the house? (5:7; Exod 12:15) Spurgeon: not saved by purging the leaven — but not a crumb may stay. 5. Am I harder on unbelievers for acting like unbelievers than on myself and my brothers? (5:9–13; Matt 7:5) Outside, God judges; inside, we are responsible — starting with me. 6. If a man under discipline repents, what would it look like for our table to “forgive and comfort him”? (5:5; 2 Cor 2:6–8) The door back is part of the discipline, not an exception to it.
Worship. The Lamb has been sacrificed. The blood is on the door. I am not saved by sweeping the house; I sweep the house because I have been saved. Christ our Passover — the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world — makes a puffed-up church into a new lump and a ruined man into a son who can come home.
Prayer. Lord Jesus, our Passover Lamb, thank You that You were sacrificed so I could be made new. Keep me from pride that tolerates what You died to remove. Give me tears for sin, courage to speak truth in love, and a heart that always holds the door open for the one who comes home. Search my house for the old leaven and help me clear it out, crumb by crumb. Let me keep the feast all my days, with sincerity and truth. Amen.