1 Corinthians 5

In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul addresses a severe moral failure within the Corinthian church involving sexual immorality, specifically incest, which the community had been tolerating. Paul critiques their arrogance in ignoring such sin and instructs them on the necessity of church discipline. He emphasizes the importance of maintaining purity within the church body to ensure its collective holiness.

1 Corinthians 5:1 (NKJV) It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s wife!

Paul expresses shock and dismay that a member of the Corinthian church is in an incestuous relationship with his stepmother, a type of sexual immorality not even condoned by pagans.

1 Corinthians 5:2 (NKJV) And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you.

Paul criticizes the Corinthians for their pride and failure to mourn this sin. He suggests they should have acted to remove the offender from their community to protect its purity.

1 Corinthians 5:3-4 (NKJV) For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Despite not being physically present, Paul has made a spiritual judgment about the offender. He instructs the congregation to come together in the authority of Jesus to address this issue formally.

1 Corinthians 5:5 (NKJV) deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Paul advises the Corinthians to expel the sinner from the church, symbolically handing him over to Satan. This harsh measure aims to confront the individual with the consequences of his sin, ideally leading to repentance and salvation.

1 Corinthians 5:6 (NKJV) Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

He reprimands the Corinthians for their pride and uses the metaphor of leaven, where a small amount affects the whole dough, to explain how a single sin can corrupt the entire community.

1 Corinthians 5:7 (NKJV) Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.

Paul urges them to cleanse themselves of this corrupting influence, reminding them that they are to live as those made pure by Christ, likening Him to the Passover lamb whose sacrifice brings salvation.

1 Corinthians 5:8 (NKJV) Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

In this verse, Paul employs the metaphor of leaven (yeast) which, in Jewish tradition, symbolizes sin and corruption, particularly during the Passover when Jews were to remove all leaven from their homes as a symbol of purifying themselves from sin. This instruction to "keep the feast" by Paul is not a directive to observe the Old Testament feast days literally but is rather an admonition for moral and ethical purity among believers in Christ.

The phrase "let us keep the feast" can be misleading if taken out of its metaphorical context. Here, Paul is extending the symbolism of the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread to teach a spiritual lesson, not to reinstitute or maintain Jewish feast practices. Instead, he's encouraging the Corinthians to purge the sinful behaviors among them ("old leaven") and to live out their Christian faith with sincerity (genuine, honest intentions) and truth (alignment with God’s truths revealed in Jesus Christ).

Paul's intent is to teach that Christians should live in a state of continual moral purity and integrity, reflecting the transformative power of Christ's sacrifice, much like the Passover lamb, which brought about deliverance for the Israelites. Thus, "keeping the feast" here is a call to live a life characterized by the absence of malice (intention to harm) and wickedness (evil actions and behaviors), replaced by sincere and truthful living as a daily, ongoing practice.

Using this verse to advocate for the observance of Old Testament feast days in a literal sense diverges from the intent of Paul's message in the context of New Testament teachings, which emphasize that Christ fulfilled the Law, including the ceremonial aspects related to feasts and sacrifices.

1 Corinthians 5:9-10 (NKJV) I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.

Paul clarifies earlier instructions about avoiding immoral people, explaining that he was referring to people within the church, not the secular world, acknowledging the practical impossibility of complete separation from all sinners.

1 Corinthians 5:11 (NKJV) But now I have written to you not to keep company, if anyone named a brother is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person.

He specifies that the prohibition against associating with sinners applies to those within the church who openly engage in serious sins, highlighting the need for church discipline to maintain community purity.

1 Corinthians 5:12-13 (NKJV) For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges. Therefore “put away from yourselves the evil person.”

Paul distinguishes between judging those within the church and those outside it, insisting that church members must address internal issues while leaving the judgment of outsiders to God. This reinforces the responsibility of the church to self-regulate and uphold its moral standards.