1 Corinthians 5

Paul reports porneia of an unusually serious kind: a man "has his father's wife." The phrase most naturally refers to a stepmother rather than the man's biological mother, echoing prohibitions such as Leviticus 18:8 and Deuteronomy 22:30. Paul's statement that such conduct is "not even among the Gentiles" is rhetorical rather than a claim that pagan society never witnessed comparable behavior. His chief accusation falls on the congregation's pride: instead of mourning, they should have removed the offender from their midst.

Verses 3-5 prescribe judgment when the church is assembled "in the name of the Lord Jesus" and with Paul's apostolic authority. To "hand such a person over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh" has been interpreted as exclusion into the sphere outside the church, as exposure to physical suffering or even death, or as severe discipline intended to destroy sinful self-orientation. The final purpose clause, "so that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord," gives the act a remedial as well as judicial dimension, though the precise relation between "flesh" and "spirit" remains disputed.

The leaven metaphor in verses 6-8 connects communal corruption with Passover imagery: old leaven must be removed because "Christ our Passover has been sacrificed." Paul then clarifies a previous letter, now lost, in which he had forbidden association with sexually immoral people. He explicitly limits the prohibition to professing believers whose conduct contradicts their confession, not to society at large. The final command, "Remove the evil person from among yourselves," adapts Deuteronomic formulas for purging evil from Israel and applies covenantal disciplinary language to the Corinthian assembly.

1 Corinthians 5 turns from Paul's critique of Corinthian boasting to a concrete case of sexual misconduct within the church. A man is living with "his father's wife," a relationship Paul says is condemned even by prevailing Gentile standards. The deeper problem is communal: rather than mourning and removing the offender, the Corinthians remain boastful. Paul therefore directs the assembled church to exclude the man, describing the action in severe disciplinary language as handing him over to Satan.

The second half explains this judgment through the metaphor of leaven and Passover. Persistent tolerated wrongdoing threatens the integrity of the whole community, while Christ's identification as the Passover sacrifice supplies the theological basis for the imagery of unleavened purity. Paul then clarifies earlier correspondence about association with sexually immoral people: his concern is not withdrawal from non-Christians but accountability among those claiming Christian identity. The chapter establishes principles of communal discipline that continue into chapter 6.