1 Corinthians 5:9–10

Context

In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul rebukes the Corinthian church for tolerating a member who was living with his father's wife (5:1–8). This passage is a clarification that follows that rebuke.

Paul had previously written to them "not to company with fornicators." The church members appear to have taken this to mean that they should break off relations with everyone in the world, or at least the instruction was open to that misunderstanding. Paul corrects this, explaining that he did not mean they should avoid "altogether" the fornicators, the covetous, extortioners (those who take the property of others by force), or idolaters outside the church, for then they "must needs go out of the world."

In verse 11 Paul goes on to state that his instruction applies to anyone who is called a brother yet does such things. In verses 12–13 he adds that God judges those outside the church. The Greek word rendered "company with" means "to mix together" or "to associate with."

Interpretation

• Distinguishing those inside and outside the church: Most commentators locate the main point of the passage in the principle that the church's responsibility to judge and correct is limited to those within the church. On this reading, ordinary association between Christians and people of the world is not in itself forbidden.
• Witness in the world: Within evangelicalism, the passage is often read as grounds for believers to live in the world rather than withdraw from it, and to engage in evangelism there.
• The Reformed tradition: The Reformed tradition, including Presbyterianism, cites 1 Corinthians 5 as one of the foundational texts for church discipline (the church's correction of its members' wrongdoing). The Belgic Confession (1561) lists discipline as one of the marks of the true church.
• The Anabaptist tradition: The Anabaptists, in the Schleitheim Confession (1527), strongly emphasized excommunication within the church and separation from the world. This passage is frequently raised in discussions of whether such separation also entails severing ties with people outside the church.

Debates and Issues

• What Paul "wrote" in verse 9: Many scholars take it to be an earlier letter that no longer survives. Some suggest that 2 Corinthians 6:14–7:1 may be a fragment of that letter. Other interpreters, by contrast, hold that it refers to the present letter itself.
• The scope of "no not to eat" in verse 11: Some take it narrowly as exclusion from the Lord's Supper. Others hold that it also includes ordinary table fellowship.
• Quotation out of context: Some point out that isolating verse 9 as grounds for cutting off fellowship with unbelievers repeats the very misunderstanding that verse 10 corrects. Conversely, others note that isolating verse 10 to cover up ethical problems within the church is inconsistent with verse 11.

In the Korean Church

In sermons and Bible studies on the relationship between Christians and the world, fellowship with unbelievers, and discipline within the church, 5:9–13 is often treated as a single unit.

Related Passages

• 1 Corinthians 5:11–13
• John 17:15
• 2 Corinthians 6:14
• 2 Thessalonians 3:14–15
• Galatians 6:1