Chapter 5
V1 cf Lev 18:6-8. The word ‘holos’ translated ‘commonly’ in the Greek is actually ‘completely’ or ‘wholly’. ‘Porneia’ translated ‘fornication’ is a Greek term that covers all illicit sexual intercourse, which by Torah’s standards means sex in any form outside of divinely acceptable marriage between a man and a woman. This includes adultery, homosexuality, lesbianism, bestiality, sexual intercourse with close relatives, sexual intercourse with a divorced woman/man. Ethnos translated Gentiles means those of other nations outside of Israel or heathens i.e. those who do not acknowledge YHVH as their Elohim.
Hence it was wholly reported that illicit sex was rife within the ecclesia of Corinth, the ecclesia clearly having been comprised of Hebrews, and possibly Gentiles grafted into the commonwealth of Israel through belief in Yeshua. Hence why Paul referred to them as brethren i.e. fellow Israelites. The point being stressed here is that once one accepts Yeshua as his Messiah, he is grafted into the congregation of Israel and must hence abide by the laws in Torah that Israel ascribes to.
V2 Excommunication of wilful sinners from the ecclesia is to be practised more, in order not to corrupt the body of Messiah. Love of money has bred a culture of tolerance of sin in churches of today, especially in mega churches that thrive on quantity of the congregants, at the expense of quality. Two or three devout followers of Yeshua, can far exceed a whole congregation of 10 000 in righteousness and be more acceptable in His eyes through their quality of commitment to him. We must never be fooled by church figures when considering the quality of a church.
V3-4 It is totally scriptural to krino/judge wilful sinful behaviour, especially that which is blatant rebellion by self-professed Christians against the laws of Elohim. Those judging such, must do so in the spirit and name of Yeshua the Messiah, who gives us authority and power in His name cf Lk 10:19 and not in their own spirit, in order for judgement of such open transgression be deemed divinely legitimate. This judgement differs from that of 4:5 in that:
a. judgement/condemnation against sinful actions is permitted where the intents of that sinful heart are physically manifested as open rebellion against Elohim.
b. Judgement of one’s degree of faithfulness to YHVH i.e. for the sake of scrutiny leading to preference of a genuine minister or steward of Elohim over another, without proof of the intents of their hearts, is impermissible, as only Elohim knows the thoughts of man’s heart and shall reveal all at the throne of judgement by YHVH the Son, Yeshua our King.
V5 cf 1 Tim 1:18-20. This is a pivotal verse in that it sanctions the renunciation of one’s evil carnality back to Satan, in order for the spirit to be saved. Also, essential to note is that this is one of several verses in scripture that proves that salvation occurs at the end of one’s race of life, not at the beginning. Redemption, often spuriously translated as salvation in the KJV occurs at the beginning of one’s walk in Messiah. The Greek word sozo can either mean redemption or salvation, and is wholly dependent on the context of the text cf 1 Pet 1:5.
For wrong translation of sozo in KJV cf Joel 2:32 and Acts 2:21 where the original Joel prophecy in Hebrew rightly translates sozo as delivered in this context, whereas when repeated in Acts is wrongly translated saved. This verse also precisely says the destruction of this person’s flesh is in order for THE spirit to be saved. It does not say his spirit, because our spirits do not belong to us but to Elohim. Hence why throughout scripture when one died, they would be referred to as giving up the ghost/spirit. We have a physical body that dies and returns to dust, a soul that is immortal and awaits judgement, and a spirit that returns to Elohim, its rightful keeper Eccl 12:7.
V6-8 cf Gal 5:9; Jm 4:16; 1 Cor 15:33. Sinning is bad enough but for one to kauchema/boast in it is much worse, as the chances of repenting become nil. Leaven is an image of sin and bad doctrine Matt 13:33; 16:6,11,12. Sin, like leaven spreads rapidly and as leaven causes bread to puff up, so does sin and bad doctrine lead to puffing up or boasting in the sin. Haughtiness and pride are the cause of all sin, Lucifer having been the instigator of sin through pride. The ecclesia must ekkathairo/clean thoroughly the sin which is compared to palaios/worn out leaven. This means excommunicating those who bring rot to the ecclesia. Paul then connects our Passover lamb, Messiah with the feast of unleavened bread which runs concurrently with Passover.
Being members of the body of Messiah, who lived a sinless life, we are admonished to honour our Passover lamb by being antitypes of the feast of unleavened bread, our conduct being bereft of malice and wickedness which are the antitypes of leaven too. Rather our deportment must needs exude sincerity and truth which are the antitypes of unleavened bread. It is imperative that the ecclesia expunge sin from its midst lest they be held accountable for the moral decay within the congregation cf Ex 12:15 with Zeph 1:12.
V9 The great commission Matt 28:19-20 commands us to bring lost souls in the world i.e. those who are unaware of the gospel truth, into the kingdom of Elohim. This does not however permit us to sunanamignumi/mix up together with sinners in the ecclesia who have knowledge of truth yet choose to rebel and wilfully sin to the open shame of their Messiah’s grace and mercy. In v9 Paul relates this to pornos/men indulging in unlawful sexual intercourse. Paul ties in the concept of leaven with the man found sleeping with his father’s wife, who was a member of the Corinthian ecclesia.
V10 Paul carefully expresses that we should not company with fornicators, but not entirely excluding those outside the body of Messiah who are in need of gospel truth. To evangelize gospel truth to the lost, it is necessary to associate with them in some capacity for that truth to be verbalized to them. If one were to try to evangelize to people free from bondage of covetousness, extortion and idolatry, then they would need to preach on another planet altogether. Yeshua came to proclaim the gospel to the lost sinners of this world, and so should we cf Lk 19:10.
V11 cf Heb 6:4-6. However, like the attitude of Yeshua towards the Pharisees and Sadducees, we must not keep company with those who have known truth and then willingly sin in open rebellion to the redemptive power of the blood of Yeshua shed on the cross. Paul gives a non exhaustive list of such sin that leads to spiritual shipwreck. Such members of the ecclesia must be summarily excommunicated without delay, separating ourselves to the extent of not even dining with them. Such rigid exhortation is to rid the ecclesia of spiritual filth.
V12-13 It is the absolute responsibility for the ecclesia to keep itself clean by condemning wanton sin within its midst, and casting out members who revel in shamelessly open rebellion to Elohim. However, it is not our business to judge the lost who are outside of the body of Messiah, but rather our duty is to preach the gospel to them in order for them to wilfully choose or reject Messiah as their Saviour. Those worldly lost souls who reject the truth, being non-members of the body of Messiah, are outside our jurisdiction of judgement, and are only subject to the judgement of YHVH Elohim. It must be borne in mind that the context obviously does not condone sin in the outside world of which the secular courts would obviously deal with. Paul was simply majoring on the need for fastidious discipline within the body of Messiah, with complete intolerance of wilful sin.