1 Corinthians 5 Chapter Study

The chapter opens with a scandal that reveals how thin the Corinthians’ grasp of holiness has become. A man is in a sexual union with his father’s wife, a sin Scripture forbids and even pagans recoil from, yet the church is proud when it should be mourning and acting (1 Corinthians 5:1–2; Leviticus 18:8). Paul speaks with pastoral urgency: when the church assembles in the name and power of the Lord Jesus, it must remove the man from fellowship, handing him “over to Satan” so that the sinful nature is destroyed and his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord (1 Corinthians 5:4–5). The goal is not spectacle but salvation under Christ’s authority and in view of the final day (1 Thessalonians 5:23–24).

Paul then turns to the image of leaven (yeast). Boasting tolerates a yeast that quietly spreads harm, but Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed, making the church an unleavened batch in reality, so the congregation must live what it is and keep the festival with sincerity and truth (1 Corinthians 5:6–8; Exodus 12:15). He clarifies the boundary of judgment: believers do not withdraw from the world’s sinners, or they would have to leave the world, yet they must practice clear discipline toward anyone who claims the name of brother or sister while persisting in flagrant sin (1 Corinthians 5:9–11). God judges those outside; the church must judge those inside and remove the one who refuses to repent (1 Corinthians 5:12–13).

Words: 2479 / Time to read: 13 minutes

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Historical and Cultural Background

Corinth’s reputation for sexual license was not a cliché; it was a civic reality that shaped imaginations. The city’s temples and festivals normalized behaviors the Scriptures condemned, and in that environment a congregation could mistake tolerance for maturity and confuse acceptance with love (Acts 18:1; Romans 12:2). Paul does not measure conduct by local norms but by the revealed will of God, insisting that a union with a father’s wife violates the moral law that predates and surpasses any city’s customs (1 Corinthians 5:1; Deuteronomy 22:30). The shock in his tone highlights how the church had begun to breathe Corinth’s air without noticing the fumes.

Public boasting about spiritual gifts likely fed this complacency. If a church equates the Spirit’s presence with visible giftedness or status, it may downplay ordinary obedience and ignore sins that contradict the gospel’s power, calling it grace when it is actually pride (1 Corinthians 1:5–7; 1 Corinthians 5:2). Paul reverses that instinct by calling for mourning, a community grief that recognizes sin as a wound to Christ’s body and a danger to the sinner’s soul (James 4:8–10). God’s holiness and mercy are not in competition; a people who know the cross will be quick both to weep and to act (Hebrews 12:14; Galatians 6:1).

Paul’s instruction about assembling “in the name of the Lord Jesus” shows that discipline is not a private vendetta but a corporate act under Christ’s kingship (1 Corinthians 5:4). The gathered church bears the Lord’s authority when it acts in line with his word, much as Israel carried out Passover under God’s command as a sign of belonging to him (Exodus 12:1–13; Matthew 18:18–20). The language of handing someone “to Satan” likely names the realm outside the church’s protective fellowship, where the consequences of sin may press the sinner toward repentance under God’s severe mercy (1 Timothy 1:19–20; Job 1:12). Even the hard edge of discipline remains aimed at restoration.

Leaven was a household image with deep roots. During the Feast of Unleavened Bread Israel removed old yeast as a sign of leaving Egypt’s corruption and starting fresh under God’s rule (Exodus 12:14–20). Paul takes that image and applies it to the church’s life now that Christ, the true Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed; through him the bondage from which Israel was delivered finds its greater fulfillment in liberation from sin’s rule (1 Corinthians 5:7; John 1:29). The church stands in a new stage of God’s plan, tasting the life promised by the prophets as the Spirit writes truth on hearts, yet still awaiting the day when holiness will be complete (Jeremiah 31:33; 1 Peter 1:13–16). That timeline corrects both laxity and despair.

Biblical Narrative

Paul begins with the report of egregious immorality and the congregation’s pride. He rebukes their boasting and commands decisive action: when they assemble in Jesus’ name and power, they must remove the offender, handing him over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord (1 Corinthians 5:1–5). The language is frankly severe, yet the aim is rescue within the horizon of Christ’s return, not punishment for its own sake (2 Corinthians 7:10–11). The church is called to act because inaction is a form of participation.

A shift in metaphor unfolds the corporate stakes. A little leaven leavens the whole lump, so they must cleanse out the old leaven to be a new batch, as indeed they are, because Christ, the Passover, has been sacrificed; therefore the church keeps the festival with sincerity and truth rather than with malice and wickedness (1 Corinthians 5:6–8). The logic moves from what God has done to what the church must be: identity in Christ establishes responsibility, not the other way around (Ephesians 5:2; Romans 6:17–18). The imagery of bread and festival turns an ancient household chore into a communal renewal project.

Paul clarifies a previous instruction to avoid a cruel misreading. When he told them not to keep company with sexually immoral people, he did not mean the people of the world, or they would need to leave the world; he meant anyone who bears the name brother or sister while living in unrepentant patterns—sexual immorality, greed, idolatry, slander, drunkenness, or swindling—and with such a one they should not even eat (1 Corinthians 5:9–11). Table fellowship in the first century carried the weight of endorsement and belonging, especially when linked to the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 10:16–17). The instruction guards the church’s witness and the offender’s conscience.

The concluding lines distinguish spheres of judgment. The church has no mandate to police the morality of outsiders; God judges those outside. Inside the church, however, the congregation must exercise judgment that matches Scripture and remove the wicked person from among them, a phrase echoing the covenant’s call to purge evil from the community (1 Corinthians 5:12–13; Deuteronomy 17:7). The removal is not an erasure of hope but a border meant to awaken repentance, with the aim of future reconciliation when repentance bears fruit (2 Corinthians 2:6–8). Holiness and hope walk together.

Theological Significance

Holiness is a corporate calling grounded in a new identity. The church is not a society of self-improvement but a people set apart by the sacrifice of Christ, the true Passover, which makes them an unleavened batch in reality before they ever act on it in practice (1 Corinthians 5:7; Titus 2:14). That order matters: God declares his people holy in Christ and then calls them to live as what they are, removing what contradicts the gospel and keeping the feast of sincerity and truth as a way of life (1 Corinthians 5:8; Colossians 3:9–10). Corporate neglect of holiness denies the very identity grace has given.

Discipline is an act of love aimed at restoration. Paul’s directive to remove the offender and “hand him over to Satan” sounds harsh until we see its purpose: “so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 5:5). The removal places the sinner outside the church’s shelter so that the pain of sin and the absence of fellowship might bring him to repentance under God’s severe mercy (Hebrews 12:10–11; Luke 15:17–20). The pattern echoed later in Corinth—where a disciplined person is urged to be forgiven and comforted—shows that the goal of every hard step is re-entry through repentance, not permanent exile (2 Corinthians 2:6–8).

The Lord Jesus rules the church’s assemblies. Discipline happens “in the name of the Lord Jesus” and “with the power of our Lord Jesus,” which frames congregational action as obedience to the King, not as a popularity vote (1 Corinthians 5:4; Matthew 18:18–20). The church exercises keys of the kingdom by binding and loosing in line with Scripture, trusting the Lord to honor faithful obedience even when it is costly (John 20:23). Where Christ’s name governs, personal vendettas and partisan motives must die.

Leaven exposes the contagious nature of tolerated sin. A little yeast worked through dough does not stay little; it changes the whole loaf. In the same way, public, unrepentant sin tolerated in Christ’s name spreads confusion about grace and permission for rebellion, so the church must cleanse out the old leaven to match its true status in Christ (1 Corinthians 5:6–8; Galatians 5:9). The metaphor carries hope as well as warning: sincerity and truth are also contagious when a congregation keeps the festival not as a date on a calendar but as a way of life under the risen Lord (Romans 12:1–2).

Judgment belongs in its proper circle. Paul forbids moral policing of outsiders while commanding discerning judgment inside the church, because accountability attaches to those who confess the Lord’s name (1 Corinthians 5:12–13; 1 Peter 4:17). This protects mission by keeping the church engaged with the world in mercy and truth and protects holiness by refusing fellowship claims that deny obedience. The distinction keeps grace from becoming indulgence and witness from becoming withdrawal (John 17:15–18; 1 Corinthians 9:20–22).

Table fellowship is covenantal, not casual. Paul’s “do not even eat” does not forbid kindness or conversation; it restricts the signs of shared Christian fellowship—especially the Lord’s Supper—for those who stubbornly reject repentance while claiming Christ (1 Corinthians 5:11; 1 Corinthians 10:16–17). The table proclaims the Lord’s death and our union with him and one another; to welcome unrepentant, flagrant sin to that table lies about the gospel’s purpose to cleanse and renew (1 Corinthians 11:27–29; Ephesians 5:3–5). Clear boundaries preserve the table’s comfort for the penitent and its warning for the hard-hearted.

Passover fulfilled in Christ shapes the church’s calendar of the heart. Israel removed leaven for a week each year; the church lives the feast continually because the Lamb has been sacrificed and the Spirit indwells a people who anticipate a future fullness when sin is no more (1 Corinthians 5:7–8; Revelation 21:27). We taste the powers of the age to come while we fight the remnants of the old yeast in this present age, a tension that breeds vigilance, humility, and hope (Hebrews 6:5; Romans 8:23). The church’s purity project is not nostalgia; it is forward-looking worship.

Spiritual Lessons and Application

Grieve before you act, and act because you grieve. Paul calls the church to mourn the scandal in their midst and then to assemble under Christ’s name to take faithful steps, because sorrow without action leaves the cancer to grow and action without sorrow becomes harsh (1 Corinthians 5:2; 1 Corinthians 5:4–5). Leaders and members alike can cultivate this posture by praying Psalm 139:23–24 together, confessing sin, and then obeying Scripture’s path that aims at rescue (James 5:19–20). Love tells the truth with tears.

Make restoration the goal and clarity the method. When a professing believer persists in open, serious sin, private appeals come first; if these fail and the sin remains public and defiant, removal from fellowship may be necessary for a time, with the door left wide for repentance and return (Matthew 18:15–17; 2 Corinthians 2:7–8). Churches should communicate what repentance looks like in concrete steps—breaking with the sin, seeking counsel, bearing fruit consistent with change—so that grace has a shape and not merely a slogan (Luke 3:8; Acts 26:20). Clear paths make hope believable.

Keep mission open to the world while guarding the church’s table. Paul expects believers to work, befriend, and bless neighbors who do not know Christ; he forbids pretending there is fellowship in Christ where repentance is refused (1 Corinthians 5:9–11; Luke 5:29–32). Ordinary meals can be contexts for witness and care, but the Lord’s Supper and other signs of Christian partnership should align with the gospel’s call to holiness (1 Corinthians 10:16–21; Amos 3:3). This distinction allows mercy to flow outward and discipline to work inward without confusion.

Let the cross define what counts as love. The Corinthians called tolerance maturity; Paul calls holiness love because it protects souls, preserves witness, and honors the Lamb who was slain (1 Corinthians 5:7–8; Ephesians 5:25–27). Churches that keep Christ’s sacrifice at the center will find courage to remove old leaven and joy to celebrate new obedience, all while holding out the promise that the day of the Lord will vindicate grace’s hard work (1 Corinthians 5:5; Jude 24–25). Love is tender toward the repentant and truthful toward the unrepentant.

Conclusion

1 Corinthians 5 refuses to let the church baptize Corinth’s permissiveness. Paul confronts a flagrant sin and a proud shrug, and he calls the congregation to assemble under the Lord’s authority to act for the sinner’s rescue and the church’s health (1 Corinthians 5:1–5). The leaven image exposes how quickly tolerated sin spreads and how urgently a people shaped by the Passover Lamb must remove what contradicts their new identity, keeping the festival of sincerity and truth in daily life (1 Corinthians 5:6–8). The letter’s clarity about judging insiders and leaving outsiders to God keeps mercy moving toward the world and holiness guarding the family (1 Corinthians 5:12–13).

The chapter’s hard words are aimed at hope. The same Lord who commands discipline supplies the grace that makes repentance possible and the day that will make salvation complete, so congregations can tell the truth with tears, set boundaries without spite, and welcome back the penitent with comfort and renewed fellowship (2 Corinthians 2:6–8; Galatians 6:1). Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed; therefore we live as an unleavened people, a community where holiness guards love and love pursues holiness until the day when the church’s festival never ends (1 Corinthians 5:7–8; Revelation 19:7–9).

“Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” (1 Corinthians 5:7–8)