We learn from this that there are different kinds of immorality, some of which are more serious than others. When God judges it, he will take extenuating factors into account and vary the punishment accordingly. In this case, Paul is teaching us that even when there has been a legal marriage ceremony, if it goes against the law of God, it is immoral and will be condemned accordingly.

This person was clearly deserving of death for his crime,^[1] but those who supported him were not innocent either.

The extreme foulness of the deed causes Paul to shrink. He hurries over it with a sense of embarrassment, aggravating the charge by implying that even to speak about it was intolerable.

Paul humbles their pride, but in such a way that instead of making them angry he makes them willing to cooperate with him.

None would expect anything else, implies Paul, once again showing how important the matter was.

The Corinthians were to eject this man not only by common consent among themselves but also in the power of Christ, whose deputy Paul was.

Paul does not allow the Corinthians to wait for him to come but passes sentence from afar. He did this so as not to give the Corinthians any leeway for making excuses. They were to act immediately and in the very precise manner described.

If this man were not thrown out, the spirit of the church would not be saved on the day of judgment, because the source of the contamination was infecting them all.

Paul has delivered over to Satan those who had already blasphemed of their own free will.

This is not to be taken literally. What Paul means is that the person concerned should be put out of the church and forced to live in the world, which is ruled by Satan. That way he will learn to fear God and escape the greater punishment that is to come.

When Paul says that this man must be delivered to Satan, he does not mean that he should be handed over to the power of the evil one. Rather, all the evils of this life, for example, diseases, sorrows, sufferings, and other circumstances, were attributed to Satan, and it is in this sense that Paul uses the term here. What he means is that this man should be exposed to the hardships of life.

We are taught by this that the devil invades those who are separated from the body of the church because he finds them deprived of grace.

Just as the sin of one person contaminates many, if it is not dealt with once it is known, so also does the sin of the many who know what is happening and either do not turn away from it or pretend that they have not noticed it. Sin does not look like sin if it is not corrected or avoided by anybody.

Paul says that the Corinthians are to blame, because by taking pride in this man they have hindered him from repenting. Here he indicates that the problem is one for the whole church, not just for an individual. This is why he uses the symbol of the leaven, which, although a small thing in itself, transforms the whole lump into its own nature. This man will do the same thing if he is allowed to go unpunished.

Paul is not referring to this man only but to others as well. The old leaven is not just fornication but sin of every kind, which must be rooted out if the lump is to be pure.

The old leaven has a double meaning here. On the one hand, it refers to false teaching, just as Jesus warned his disciples to beware the leaven of the Pharisees.^[1] On the other hand, it also refers to the sin of fornication being dealt with here. Paul teaches that the passover is the sacrifice, and not the exodus, as some people think. The sacrifice comes first, and then it is possible to make the transition from the old life to the new. For this reason it is the cross that is the saving reality signified by the passover in the Old Testament.

The old leaven refers among other things to the priests who allow an enormous amount of the old leaven to remain within the church, namely, the covetous, the extortioners and those guilty of doing anything that would keep them out of the kingdom of heaven.

Just as a little leaven leavens the whole lump, an evil life corrupts the whole man. Therefore Paul wants us to avoid not only evil acts but all interest in sin, so that sincerity may cleanse our lives and truth may exclude all deception.

Paul tells us here that he has already written to the Corinthians once. Because they failed to take action then, he is now writing a second time.

Paul is not referring to another letter but to this one, for he has just said that a little leaven leavens the whole lump.

Immoral unbelievers cannot harm the church, but immoral believers corrupt it from within, which is why they must be avoided and expelled.

Paul means that it would be better to die than to mix with fellow believers who sin like the fornicator in question, because death would put an end to it sooner rather than later.

Note that none of this applies to relations with unbelievers.

Obviously if we are not to eat ordinary food with such people, we are not to admit them to the Lord’s table either.

A bishop cannot do anything about unbelievers. But a brother who is caught doing such things he can bar not only from the sacraments but also from common intercourse with his fellows, so that when he is avoided he may feel ashamed and repent.

Did Paul not care about those who were outside the church? Of course he did! But it was not until after they had received the gospel and he had made them subject to the teaching of Christ that he laid down requirements for them. As long as they despised Christ, it was pointless to speak to them about his commandments.

Do all you can to expel the wicked person, for once he is gone, Christ will dwell in you.

Paul uses an expression taken from the Old Testament,^[1] partly because he is hinting that the Corinthians will be great gainers in being freed from a kind of plague and partly to show that this kind of thing is no novelty but goes right back to the beginning. Even Moses the lawgiver thought that people like this should be cut off, but he did it with greater severity than is shown here. Moses would have had the man stoned, but Paul thinks only of trying to lead him to repentance.