1 Corinthians 5 Study Notes
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5:1-6:20 Paul shifts to discuss specific immoralities that had been reported to him. The key term that joins the two major sections (1:18-4:21 and 5:1-6:20) is the word translated arrogant (cp. 4:6,18-19; 5:2). The three issues in this section involve incest (5:1-13), lawsuits (6:1-11), and prostitution (6:12-20).
5:1 The phrase not even tolerated among the Gentiles refers to Roman law. A son committing incest with his stepmother was a capital crime in a Roman colony, calling for death or banishment. It was also prohibited in the Mosaic law (Lv 18:8; Dt 22:30).
porneia
| Greek pronunciation | [pohr NAY ah] |
| CSB translation | sexual immorality |
| Uses in 1 Corinthians | 5 |
| Uses in the NT | 25 |
| Focus passage | 1 Corinthians 5:1 |
The Greek noun porneia was a general term for all sexual activity outside marriage, so the term can be translated fornication or sexual immorality. Related terms include porneuo, meaning to commit sexual immorality (see 1Co 6:18); pornē, meaning an immoral woman or a female prostitute (see 1Co 6:15-16); and pornos, meaning an immoral person or a male prostitute (1Co 5:9-11; 6:9).
Paul condemned a case of incest in the church in Corinth, a sin he called porneia (1Co 5:1). In chap. 6 he explained that the believer’s body is for the Lord and not for porneia (v. 13). Then he commanded believers to flee porneia (v. 18). On the other hand, sexual union in marriage is commended, partly because it helps believers avoid porneia (7:2). It is likely that cult prostitution, in which the Corinthian people could indulge at the temple of Aphrodite, was a major threat to the Corinthian believers’ spiritual growth.
5:2 Paul connected the problem of ignoring church discipline to arrogance within the corporate body (v. 6). They were so arrogant that they had been blinded to the most offensive sins within the church—sins that even pagans in Roman Corinth would not tolerate. They should have removed the offender from their fellowship. The purpose of this measure is revealed in v. 5.
5:3 As an apostolic judge, Paul issued a “judicial opinion”—a banishment of the offender but with a view toward ultimate restoration. Taking up the language of a legal trial, he used at least ten legal idioms in these verses. Paul’s terms echoed the language from secular courts.
5:4-5 Paul declared that the assembled corporate body was capable of judging the offender in the name of their Lord because he, as an apostle, had already rendered his legal decision as though he were present. Paul’s legal perspective on this case would have supported the church body that possessed the authority of the Lord Jesus to render a decision on this sin. They had the authority to remove him (2:2) from their midst for the destruction of the flesh. This may refer to physical judgments such as sickness or even death (11:30). If the person were a true believer, banishment to Satan’s domain would cause misery and possibly repentance. Paul expressed hope for the guilty person’s ultimate restoration with the legal phrase, so that his spirit may be saved on the appointed day of the Lord (Rm 2:6,9).
5:6 Boasting (Gk kauchama) within the corporate body gives rise to tolerance of corporate sins (cp. v. 2, “arrogant”). The leaven of arrogant hypocrisy had spread throughout the Corinthian batch of dough.
5:7-8 With a wordplay on the expression Christ our Passover lamb, Paul offered a threefold solution to this corporate arrogance: (1) their recognition of what Christ as their Passover lamb did to deliver them from death; (2) their acknowledgment that Christ as their Passover lamb rendered them clean (unleavened) before the Lord; and (3) their remembrance that as they observed Christ as the Passover lamb, they were to purge their household of malice and evil to celebrate with sincerity and truth.
5:9 Paul’s prohibition against associating with sexually immoral people was consistent with his warning in a previous letter, which is long since lost.
5:10 Paul corrected a mistaken perception that his admonition in the letter (v. 9) had prohibited them from mixing socially with nonbelievers (the immoral people of this world). He actually had meant not to mix with “insiders” who lived like “outsiders,” believers who live like unbelievers (3:3).
5:11 The Corinthian believers were not to mix with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister and yet is sexually immoral, but they were also to avoid any professing believer who was greedy, an idolater or verbally abusive, a drunkard or a swindler. To eat with such people could be taken as a sign of condoning their worldly lifestyle. The Pharisees had this same impression of Jesus but were mistaken (Mk 2:16-17).
5:12-13 Paul concludes by quoting God’s repeated exhortation in Dt (13:5; 17:7,12; 19:19; 21:21; 22:21,24; 24:7) to show that the church, just as Israel, must remove from their midst those who live in flagrant rebellion against God’s law.