Verse-by-Verse Commentary
The Book of 1 Corinthians
Chapter 5: Christ Our Passover
1 Corinthians 5 turns from pride to a scandal the church had tolerated: 'fornication... as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife.' Worse, 'ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned.' Paul acts with apostolic authority, 'in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ... with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,' 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.' He warns that 'a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump,' and calls them to 'purge out... the old leaven,' for 'Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.' Then he clarifies his earlier letter: they must not keep company with a so-called brother who lives in open sin, but 'put away from among yourselves that wicked person.' The chapter shows us the danger of tolerated sin, the power in the name of Jesus, Christ our Passover Lamb, and the holiness the church must guard.
About This Commentary
This is a verse-by-verse study of 1 Corinthians chapter 5. For each section you will find the KJV text, the Greek words that sharpen the meaning, plain explanation, and a Gospel Focus. Here Paul confronts a sin the church had ignored, acts in the name and power of the Lord Jesus, and calls the church to purge out the old leaven because Christ our Passover has been sacrificed. Every Scripture quotation is from the King James Version.
Setting the Stage
Sin the Church Tolerated
A grievous immorality was present, and the church was proud instead of grieved.
In the Name of the Lord Jesus
Discipline is exercised in the name and power of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ Our Passover
Christ our Passover is sacrificed; therefore purge out the old leaven.
Put Away the Wicked Person
The church must not tolerate open, unrepented sin in its midst.
In the Name of Our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 5:1-5)
A grievous sin was being tolerated with pride; Paul acts in the name and power of the Lord Jesus to discipline it.
Present in Spirit, with the Power of Our Lord Jesus Christ
"It 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. And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. For 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, In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 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."
Word Study
"in the name," Greek en to onomati (ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι). To act "in the name of" someone is to act by his authority, as his representative, with all that his name carries. Paul disciplines the sinning man "in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ... with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ." The name of Jesus is not a formula but the presence and authority of the Lord Himself, and Apostolic faith does everything in that name, for salvation, baptism, healing, and here, righteous judgment, because "there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). That one name carries all the authority of the one God, for Jesus is the LORD come in flesh; to gather "in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" is to gather in the presence and power of God Himself. Notice too "the day of the Lord Jesus", the great day of reckoning, which the Old Testament calls "the day of the LORD," is here the day of the Lord Jesus, for Jesus is that same LORD before whom all will stand. The whole act of discipline is done under His name, by His power, and toward His day.
Explanation
A scandal festers in Corinth — a man living with "his father's wife," immorality "not so much as named among the Gentiles" — and worse, the church is "puffed up" instead of grieved. Paul commands decisive action: gathered in the Lord's name and power, they are "to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved." The severe discipline is not vindictive but redemptive — putting the unrepentant outside the church's shelter, that the shock might bring him to repentance and final salvation.
Gospel Focus
The report was shocking: "fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife." A man in the church was living with his stepmother, a sin so gross that even the pagan world recoiled from it. But the deeper scandal was the church's response: "ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned." They should have grieved and acted; instead they were proud, perhaps mistaking their tolerance for broad-mindedness. Sin in the camp is never a private matter; it calls for mourning and action, not indifference. Paul, "absent in body, but present in spirit," had "judged already," and he directs the church to act "in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ." This is not a personal vendetta but the solemn exercise of the Lord's own authority, in His name and by His power, when the church assembles. The verdict is severe: "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." To be put out of the fellowship is to be handed back into the world's realm, Satan's domain, so that the man, stripped of the church's covering and brought low, might come to repentance and be saved in the end. The aim of the harshest discipline is redemptive, "that the spirit may be saved." The church that loves the sinner does not wink at sin that will destroy him, but acts in the name of the Lord to break the pride of sin and, if God grants repentance, to recover the soul.
Christ Our Passover Is Sacrificed for Us (1 Corinthians 5:6-8)
A little leaven spreads through the whole lump; because Christ our Passover is sacrificed, the church must be unleavened.
A Little Leaven Leaveneth the Whole Lump
"Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? 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: 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."
Word Study
"passover," Greek pascha (πάσχα). The word is the Passover, and by extension the Passover lamb, whose blood on the doorposts in Egypt turned away the destroyer so Israel might go free. Paul says, "even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us." Christ is our Passover Lamb; His blood shed on the cross turns away the judgment we deserved and sets us free from bondage. This is why John the Baptist cried, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29), and why the Lamb is worshiped in heaven (Revelation 5). The One who is our Passover is no mere man but the LORD Himself come in flesh, giving His own life as the true and final sacrifice to which every Passover lamb pointed. And because the Lamb is slain, the demand follows: at Passover Israel put all leaven out of their houses, so the redeemed church must "purge out... the old leaven" of sin and "keep the feast... with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." The finished sacrifice of Christ calls for a cleansed people.
Explanation
Paul warns that tolerated sin does not stay contained: "a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump." One unchallenged evil spreads through the whole fellowship. So they must "purge out therefore the old leaven." His logic is Passover logic: "Christ our passover is sacrificed for us," and just as Israel cleared all leaven from the house before the feast, the redeemed are to clear out sin and "keep the feast" of life "with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." Redemption calls for a purged, sincere community.
Gospel Focus
Paul returns to their misplaced pride: "Your glorying is not good." A church cannot boast while sin festers in its midst. Then he gives the reason such sin cannot be ignored: "Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?" Leaven, a bit of fermented dough, works silently through the whole batch; so tolerated sin spreads through a whole congregation, corrupting far beyond the one who commits it. The command is decisive: "Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened." In their true standing in Christ they are already "unleavened," cleansed; so they must become in practice what they are in Christ, putting the old corruption out. The ground of it all is the cross: "For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us." At the first Passover, Israel killed the lamb and purged out every trace of leaven before the feast; now the true Lamb has been slain, and His people must be pure. "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." The whole Christian life is a Passover feast kept in the light of the Lamb's sacrifice, a life to be lived not in the old corruption but in "sincerity and truth." Grace does not make holiness optional; the sacrifice of Christ our Passover is the very reason His church must be clean.
Put Away That Wicked Person (1 Corinthians 5:9-13)
Paul clarifies his earlier letter: the church must not tolerate a so-called brother living in open, unrepented sin.
Put Away from Among Yourselves That Wicked Person
"I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: Yet 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. But 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. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person."
Word Study
"put away," Greek exairo (ἐξαίρω). The word means to lift out, to remove, to take away utterly. Paul closes with a command drawn from the law of God: "put away from among yourselves that wicked person" (echoing the repeated charge of Deuteronomy, "put the evil away from among you"). This is not cruelty but the protection of the flock and the honor of the Lord's name. The church is responsible to judge those "within," its own members who claim the name of Christ yet live in open, unrepented sin; the world "without," God will judge. To "put away" such a person is to remove the corrupting leaven, to make plain that the sin is not owned by the church, and, as with the man of verse 5, to seek his repentance and recovery. It is the same love that disciplines a child, grieved, firm, and aimed at restoration, not the false love that lets sin destroy both the sinner and the church.
Explanation
Paul clears up a misunderstanding of an earlier letter. He never meant total separation "with the fornicators of this world" — that would require leaving the world entirely. Rather, the church is not to keep company with a professing believer who lives in open, unrepentant sin — "with such an one no not to eat." The world's judgment belongs to God; but "do not ye judge them that are within?" The church has responsibility to guard its own purity: "put away from among yourselves that wicked person." Discipline is love for the church and, ultimately, for the sinner.
Gospel Focus
Paul clears up a misunderstanding of an earlier letter. When he said "not to company with fornicators," he did not mean believers should withdraw from all sinners "of this world", "for then must ye needs go out of the world." Christians are sent into the world to reach the lost, and cannot do so by hiding from them. The command is different: "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", one who claims to be a Christian yet persists in such sin, "with such an one no not to eat." The issue is not the sinner outside but the unrepentant sinner inside who wears the name of Christ while dishonoring it. Toward such a one the church must not maintain the ordinary fellowship, even at table, that would signal all is well. Paul draws the line clearly: "what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth." The church is not charged with policing the morals of the world; God will judge those outside. But the church is responsible for its own, and must not let open sin stand unchallenged among those who bear the Lord's name. So the chapter ends with the plain charge: "Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person." Holiness within the household of faith is not optional; the church that would honor Christ our Passover must keep itself unleavened, disciplining in love and hope, that the sinner may be restored and the church kept pure.
Chapter 5 in Review
1 Corinthians 5 confronts a sin the church had tolerated with pride, "fornication... that one should have his father's wife," while they were "puffed up, and have not rather mourned." Paul acts with the Lord's own authority, "in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ... with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ," 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." He warns that "a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump" and calls the church to "purge out... the old leaven," for "Christ our passover is sacrificed for us," so they must "keep the feast... with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." Finally he clarifies that the command is not to shun the sinners of the world but not to keep company with a so-called brother living in open sin: "put away from among yourselves that wicked person."
For the Apostolic reader this chapter presses the holiness of the church. Sin tolerated is sin that spreads; love does not ignore it but grieves and acts, in the name and power of the Lord Jesus, always seeking the sinner's repentance and salvation, not his ruin. The name of Jesus carries all the authority of the one God, for He is the LORD come in flesh, and His day is "the day of the Lord Jesus." At the heart of the chapter stands the cross: "Christ our passover is sacrificed for us," the true Lamb whose blood sets us free, and whose finished sacrifice is the very reason His people must be clean. So keep the feast in sincerity and truth, guard the fellowship from corrupting sin, and honor the Lamb who was slain by living as an unleavened people.
- Tolerated sin calls for mourning and action, not pride (5:2).
- Church discipline is exercised in the name and power of the Lord Jesus (5:4).
- The harshest discipline aims at repentance, "that the spirit may be saved" (5:5).
- "A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump"; purge out the old leaven (5:6-7).
- "Christ our passover is sacrificed for us," so keep the feast in sincerity and truth (5:7-8).
- The church must judge its own, not the world; "put away... that wicked person" (5:12-13).
Questions for Reflection
- Do you grieve over sin, or excuse it in the name of tolerance?
- Is there "old leaven" you need to purge out of your own life?
- How does "Christ our passover" being sacrificed motivate you to holiness?
- Do you understand the difference between reaching the world and tolerating sin among believers?
References & Sources
Scripture is quoted from the King James Version (KJV). Supporting passages are listed so every claim can be verified in its own setting. Immorality and the call to mourn and act: 1 Corinthians 5:1-2; Leviticus 18:8; 2 Corinthians 7:9-11. Discipline in the name and power of the Lord Jesus: 1 Corinthians 5:4-5; Matthew 18:15-20; Acts 4:12; 1 Timothy 1:20. Christ our Passover, the Lamb of God: 1 Corinthians 5:7; Exodus 12:1-13; John 1:29; 1 Peter 1:18-19; Revelation 5:6-9. Purge out the leaven; sincerity and truth: 1 Corinthians 5:6-8; Galatians 5:9; Matthew 16:6-12. Judging those within, not those without; put away the wicked: 1 Corinthians 5:9-13; Deuteronomy 17:7; 2 Thessalonians 3:6, 14-15. If anything here does not look right, a verse, a reference, or a wording, please tell us at info@FruitBearers.net. Thank you for helping us keep Bible Learning error free.
- Sin tolerated and disciplined in the name of the Lord Jesus: 1 Corinthians 5:1-5; Matthew 18:15-20; Acts 4:12.
- Christ our Passover; purge out the old leaven: 1 Corinthians 5:6-8; Exodus 12:1-13; John 1:29.
- Judge those within; put away the wicked person: 1 Corinthians 5:9-13; Deuteronomy 17:7; 2 Thessalonians 3:6.