The Epistles · Chapter 5 of 16
1 Corinthians 5
Paul confronts a scandalous case of sexual immorality the church has tolerated and even boasted about. He calls them to grieve rather than glory, to remove the unrepentant man for his ultimate restoration, and to purge out the old leaven. He points to Christ our Passover, sacrificed for us, and urges a life of sincerity and truth, judging those within the church.
What happens in 1 Corinthians 5
A report reaches Paul of a man living with his father's wife, immorality shocking even to pagans, yet the Corinthians remain puffed up instead of mourning. Though absent in body, Paul has already judged the matter in spirit. Gathered in the name of the Lord Jesus and with his power, they are to deliver the man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord.
Paul warns that a little leaven leavens the whole lump and calls them to purge it out, since Christ our Passover is sacrificed for them. He clarifies an earlier letter: he meant not to avoid immoral outsiders, but professing believers who persist in such sins. Judging outsiders belongs to God; the church must judge its own and put away the wicked person.
1 Corinthians 5 in context
First Corinthians addresses a divided, gifted, worldly congregation Paul planted in a cosmopolitan port city. Having rebuked their factions and pride in the opening chapters, he now turns to a specific moral crisis. Corinth's culture normalized sexual license, and the church had absorbed its permissiveness.
Chapter five begins Paul's practical corrections, establishing loving church discipline aimed at holiness and restoration.
Main themes of 1 Corinthians 5
1 Corinthians 5 (KJV)
1It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife. 2And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. 3For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed, 4In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 5To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. 6Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? 7Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: 8Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 9I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: 10Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. 11But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. 12For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? 13But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
Verses to carry from 1 Corinthians 5
“To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”1 Corinthians 5:5
“Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:”1 Corinthians 5:7
“Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”1 Corinthians 5:8
Christian typology
How 1 Corinthians 5 points to Jesus
Here Paul names Christ as our Passover, sacrificed for us. The image reaches back to Egypt, where a lamb's blood spared Israel and unleavened bread marked their swift deliverance. Paul reads that whole feast as pointing forward: Jesus is the true Passover Lamb whose death shelters his people from judgment and sets them free. Because that sacrifice is finished, believers are already unleavened, a new lump, and are called to become in practice what grace has made them.
The old leaven of malice must be purged not to earn deliverance but to honor it. Every act of church discipline and every pursuit of sincerity flows from this: Christ has been slain, so let his people keep the feast in truth.
Questions about 1 Corinthians 5
Why does Paul want the church to mourn instead of boast?
Their glorying showed they measured themselves by tolerance and pride rather than by holiness. Sin among them should have grieved them as a wound in the body they share. Paul wants sorrow because sorrow takes sin seriously and moves toward action, while boasting only excuses it. Godly grief here is the beginning of both discipline and of hope for the man's restoration.
Does Paul tell believers to avoid all sinners?
No. He clarifies that avoiding every immoral or greedy person would require leaving the world entirely, which he does not intend. His instruction concerns those who claim the name of brother yet persist unrepentant in such sins. Outsiders God will judge; the church's responsibility is its own members, so that its shared life stays honest and its witness stays credible.
Reflection
Where have I called tolerance kindness while sin quietly spread? Christ my Passover has already made me a new lump. This week I can name one compromise I have excused, bring it into the light, and let the finished sacrifice move me toward sincerity rather than shame.
A prayer from 1 Corinthians 5
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