1 Corinthians 5

1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles, that one has his father’s wife.

2 You are arrogant, and didn’t mourn instead, that he who had done this deed might be removed from among you.

3 For I most certainly, as being absent in body but present in spirit, have already, as though I were present, judged him who has done this thing.

4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together with my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,

5 you are to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

6 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole lump?

7 Purge out the old yeast, that you may be a new lump, even as you are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed in our place.

8 Therefore let’s keep the feast, not with old yeast, neither with the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

9 I wrote to you in my letter to have no company with sexual sinners;

10 yet not at all meaning with the sexual sinners of this world, or with the covetous and extortionists, or with idolaters, for then you would have to leave the world.

11 But as it is, I wrote to you not to associate with anyone who is called a brother who is a sexual sinner, or covetous, or an idolater, or a slanderer, or a drunkard, or an extortionist. Don’t even eat with such a person.

12 For what do I have to do with also judging those who are outside? Don’t you judge those who are within?

13 But those who are outside, God judges. “Put away the wicked man from among yourselves.”

Around 1 Corinthians 5

Context

Context for this book is being written. A note appears here only once it names its sources.

AI explanation

1 Corinthians 5 · Written by an AI model · Not reviewed by a theological reader

This explanation was written by an AI model to help you get started. It names no sources and can contain mistakes. Scripture comes first, and context with sources is shown separately on this page.

What this chapter says

Paul has heard something shocking and he does not soften it. There is sexual immorality in the church of a kind not even found among the Gentiles: a man is with his father’s wife. What troubles Paul as much as the act is that the church is proud instead of mourning.

He tells them to gather and remove the man from among them. He uses a household picture. “a little yeast leavens the whole lump”. Old yeast must be cleared out before Passover, and Paul says that “Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed in our place.” So the church should keep the feast with sincerity and truth.

He then clears up a misunderstanding about an earlier letter. He never meant that they should avoid the immoral people of the world, for then they would have to leave the world. He meant those who call themselves brothers and live this way. The outsiders God will judge. The insiders the church must deal with.

Background

The phrase “deliver such a one to Satan” is hard. Most readers understand it as putting the man out of the church, back into the world where Satan rules, with the hope that he will come to his senses. Many link it to the later teaching in 2 Corinthians 2 about forgiving and restoring someone who has repented, though scholars debate whether the same man is meant. The chapter is about discipline inside a community that has chosen to follow Christ. It does not authorize judgment of outsiders.

About this explanation

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, on 16 October 2026. It draws on the WEB text and general knowledge and was not checked against sources by a person. Every quotation from Scripture is checked automatically against the WEB text.

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World English Bible. Public-domain source and edition notes