Commentary on 1 Corinthians 5

1 Corinthians 5 confronts a scandal the Corinthian church has tolerated: a man is living in an incestuous relationship with his stepmother. Paul’s response is startlingly severe—he calls for the man’s excommunication, not as punishment but as surgery. The chapter forces a redefinition of church discipline: it is not unloving to remove a professing believer who persists in unrepentant sin. Paul also clarifies that his concern is not with judging the world, but with guarding the purity of the community that bears Christ’s name. The passage is a sobering reminder that grace without holiness becomes license, and that the church’s witness depends on its distinctiveness.

Historical context

First-century Corinth was a Roman colony known for its wealth, diversity, and moral laxity. The temple of Aphrodite on the Acrocorinth had a reputation for cultic prostitution, and the city’s culture tolerated sexual practices that shocked even other pagans. Paul planted the church in Corinth around AD 50-51 (Acts 18) and wrote 1 Corinthians roughly three to five years later from Ephesus.

The specific sin in 1 Cor 5:1—a man having his father’s wife—was incest forbidden even by Roman law and Jewish tradition (Lev 18:8; Deut 22:30). The phrase “his father’s wife” likely refers to the man’s stepmother, not his biological mother, since the father is still alive (otherwise the marriage would not be incestuous). The church’s pride (1 Cor 5:2) suggests they viewed their tolerance as a sign of spiritual maturity, perhaps misapplying Paul’s earlier teaching on freedom (1 Cor 6:12). Paul’s response reorients them: true maturity is marked by holiness, not permissiveness.

Verse by verse

• 1:

  Paul begins with a blunt report: sexual immorality (porneia) exists among them, and of a kind not found even among pagans. The specific sin—a man taking his father’s wife—violated both Old Testament law (Lev 18:8) and Roman social norms. Paul’s shock is deliberate: he wants the Corinthians to see how far they have drifted from basic moral sanity.

• 2:

  Instead of mourning, the Corinthians are “arrogant” (pephysiōmenoi, literally “puffed up”). Their pride likely came from a distorted view of grace: they thought tolerance demonstrated spiritual freedom. Paul counters that the appropriate response is grief, leading to action. The phrase “let him who has done this be removed” introduces the concept of church discipline as a necessary act of love.

• 3:

  Though physically absent, Paul asserts his apostolic authority. He has already “pronounced judgment” (kekrika, a judicial term) on the offender, as if present. This establishes that church discipline is not a local option but an apostolic mandate. Paul’s spirit is present with them in the sense of his authority and concern, not a mystical presence.

• 4:

  Paul envisions the church gathered in the name of the Lord Jesus, with his own apostolic authority and the power of Christ present. The phrase “power of our Lord Jesus” indicates that church discipline is not a human act of exclusion but a participation in Christ’s judgment. The gathered church acts as Christ’s representative body.

• 5:

  This is the most debated verse in the chapter. “Deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh” likely means excommunication—removing him from the protective sphere of the church into the world, which is under Satan’s sway (1 John 5:19). The goal is redemptive: “that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.” The “flesh” may refer to his sinful nature or physical suffering, but the ultimate aim is restoration, not damnation.

• 6:

  Paul shifts to a metaphor: “a little leaven leavens the whole lump.” In Jewish thought, leaven symbolized corruption and evil (Exod 12:15; Matt 16:6). The Corinthians’ boasting is foolish because unchecked sin spreads. Church discipline protects the whole community from moral contamination.

• 7:

  Paul commands them to “cleanse out the old leaven” to become a new, unleavened batch. The basis is Christ’s work: “Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” The Passover lamb’s blood protected Israel from judgment (Exod 12); Christ’s sacrifice cleanses believers from sin. Because Christ has died, the church must live in the reality of that cleansing—not by perfection, but by refusing to tolerate known sin.

• 8:

  Paul applies the Passover imagery to Christian living. The “festival” is the whole Christian life, lived in the light of Christ’s sacrifice. “Sincerity and truth” contrast with the “malice and evil” of the old leaven. The verse is a call to authentic holiness, not mere ritual observance.

• 9:

  Paul references a previous letter (now lost) where he told them not to associate with sexually immoral people. The Corinthians apparently misunderstood him to mean total separation from the world, which would be impossible. Paul clarifies that his concern is with those who claim to be believers.

• 10:

  Paul explicitly states he did not mean separation from unbelievers, however immoral. To do so would require leaving the world entirely. The church is called to engage the world, not isolate from it. The distinction is crucial: the church’s mission is to the world, but its fellowship is for believers.

• 11:

  Paul now clarifies: the command applies to a “brother” who is sexually immoral, greedy, idolatrous, reviling, drunk, or swindling. With such a person, believers are not even to eat—a reference to the Lord’s Supper and common meals, the primary expressions of fellowship. This is not shunning in the modern sense but a refusal to treat the unrepentant as if nothing is wrong.

• 12:

  Paul asks a rhetorical question: “Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?” The Greek word krinō here means “evaluate” or “assess,” not condemn. The church has responsibility to discern the spiritual state of its members. God judges outsiders; the church judges (in the sense of discerns and disciplines) its own.

• 13:

  Paul concludes with a command: “Purge the evil person from among you.” This echoes Deut 17:7, where Israel was to remove evil from the community. The church, as the new covenant people of God, must maintain purity to reflect God’s holiness. The verse is a sobering reminder that love sometimes requires the painful act of exclusion for the sake of the whole body and the offender’s eventual restoration.

Key themes

• Church discipline as loving surgery
• Holiness as essential to Christian witness
• Christ our Passover lamb as the basis for purity
• Distinction between judging the world and judging the church
• Redemptive purpose of excommunication

Application

This chapter is uncomfortable because it confronts our cultural assumptions about tolerance. We live in an age that equates love with affirmation, but Paul shows that true love sometimes requires confrontation. The goal of church discipline is never punishment for its own sake but restoration—the “destruction of the flesh” so that “the spirit may be saved” (1 Cor 5:5).

Practically, this means churches must recover the courage to address unrepentant sin among their members. This is not about perfectionism or a witch hunt; it is about taking the name of Christ seriously. When a professing believer persists in sin that damages their own soul and the church’s witness, silence is not love—it is abandonment.

But the chapter also points to grace. The reason we can “cleanse out the old leaven” is that “Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (1 Cor 5:7). The cross is both the ground of our forgiveness and the power for our transformation. We do not pursue holiness to earn God’s favor; we pursue it because we already have it in Christ.

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