New Testament · Letter

1 Corinthians 5

Removing the Leaven

A man is sleeping with his father's wife, and the church is proud of its tolerance. Paul is appalled. Some boundaries must be enforced.

Berean Standard Bible BSB KJV

1It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is intolerable even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife.

2And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have been stricken with grief and have removed from your fellowship the man who did this?

3Although I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit, and I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present.

4When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, along with the power of the Lord Jesus,

5hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the Day of the Lord.

6Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven works through the whole batch of dough?

7Get rid of the old leaven, that you may be a new unleavened batch, as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

8Therefore let us keep the feast, not with the old bread, leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and of truth.

9I wrote you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people.

10I was not including the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.

11But now I am writing you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a verbal abuser, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.

12What business of mine is it to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?

13God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”

Understand This

1 Corinthians 5, explained

What 1 Corinthians 5 is saying

Paul confronts a case of porneia so extreme that even pagans would find it scandalous—a man living with his father's wife. More shocking than the sin itself is the congregation's arrogance about it. Paul commands excommunication, delivering the offender to Satan 'for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved.' He invokes Passover imagery: Christ our Paschal lamb has been sacrificed, so purge the old leaven.

The background behind it

The sexual relationship described likely violated both Roman law (lex Iulia) and Levitical prohibitions (Lev 18:8). The phrase 'deliver to Satan' may reflect Jewish ban formulas and suggests removal from the protective sphere of the covenant community into the domain of the adversary.

Themes running underneath

Corporate holiness and communal responsibility are paramount—individual sin tolerated becomes corporate contamination. The Passover-leaven metaphor transforms church discipline from punitive action into paschal identity: the community must live as the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Why it still matters

This passage insists that grace without accountability distorts the gospel. The church's calling to holiness requires the courage to address sin within its own household, always with the ultimate aim of restoration.

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Scripture text: Berean Standard Bible — used by permission, Bible Hub.