✝
← Bible
ARCBLIVREKJVVBL

1 Corintios 5

VBL · Chapter 5/16

1Escucho informes de que hay inmoralidad sexual entre ustedes, un tipo de inmoralidad que ni siquiera los extranjeros practican. ¡Un hombre viviendo con la esposa de su padre!

2¡Y se sienten tan orgullosos de sí mismos! ¿Acaso no deberían haber llorado de tristeza ante esto y expulsar a este hombre?

3Aunque no esté allí físicamente, estoy allí en espíritu y tal como si estuviera allí ya di mi juicio respecto a este hombre.

4Cuando se reúnan en el nombre del Señor Jesús, estaré allí con ustedes en espíritu y con el poder de nuestro Señor Jesús.

5Entreguen a este hombre en manos de Satanás a fin de que su naturaleza pecaminosa sea destruida y él mismo pueda ser salvo en el día del Señor.

6No deberían estar orgullosos de esto. ¿Acaso no saben que apenas se necesita un poco de levadura para que crezca toda la masa?

7Desháganse de esta vieja levadura para que puedan ser una nueva masa y hagan pan sin levadura. Cristo, nuestro Cordero de Pascua, fue crucificado.

8Celebremos este festival, no con la vieja levadura del mal y de maldad, sino con el pan hecho sin levadura, el pan de la sinceridad y la verdad.

9En mi carta anterior les dije que no deberían juntarse con personas inmorales.

10Y no me refería a la gente inmoral de este mundo que tiene codicia y engaña a otros, o a los que son idólatras, pues de ser así tendrían que irse de este mundo.

11Lo que quise decir cuando les escribí es que no deben juntarse con cualquiera que se haga llamar cristiano y sea inmoral, codicioso, o idólatra; o que sea abusador, borrachón o engañador. ¡Ni siquiera se sienten a comer con alguien así!

12No estoy en autoridad de juzgar a los que están fuera de la iglesia. Pero, ¿no deberíamos juzgar a los que están dentro de ella?

13Dios juzga a los que están fuera de la iglesia. “Expulsen al malvado de entre ustedes”.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Paul rebukes the church for tolerating a serious case of sexual immorality among its members, something not even tolerated among pagans. He orders that the person be disciplined and removed from fellowship, comparing the tolerated sin to leaven that contaminates the whole batch of dough.

Explanation

In Corinthian culture, which was fairly morally permissive, this kind of behavior shocked even pagan standards, yet the church simply ignored the problem, perhaps even taking pride in its 'tolerance.' Paul teaches that church discipline is not cruelty, but an act of love aimed at restoring the person and protecting the integrity of the community, preventing evil from spreading like leaven through a batch of dough. The reference to the Jewish Passover, with the sacrificed lamb and unleavened bread, connects the church's moral purity to the work of Christ. Today this teaches that healthy communities do not confuse love with turning a blind eye to what causes real harm to people.

Fun facts

  • The image of 'leaven' points directly to the Jewish Feast of Unleavened Bread, when every house was carefully cleared of leaven before Passover (Exodus 12) — Paul applies this physical ritual to a moral cleansing of the community.
  • Paul mentions an earlier letter that has not survived ('I wrote to you in my letter,' v.9), showing that he exchanged more correspondence with the Corinthians than the two letters that have survived in the New Testament.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. 1 Corintios 5:1The case involves a man living with his father’s wife, probably his stepmother — a relationship that Roman law and even the pagan customs of Corinth, a city far from puritanical, openly condemned. That is why Paul is shocked that the church tolerates it with pride instead of grief.
  2. 1 Corintios 5:2Instead of grieving over the sin of the brother living with his stepmother (v. 1), the church was “puffed up” with pride, perhaps thinking this tolerance was a sign of advanced freedom. Paul says they should have removed the man, not put their permissiveness on display.
  3. 1 Corintios 5:3Even though he was physically far away, Paul had already made a decision about the case, acting as if he were present — proof that the situation was serious enough not to wait for his visit.
  4. 1 Corintios 5:4Paul asks that the church, gathered together with his apostolic authority present in spirit, carry out the judgment he has already announced against the man in this case of immorality.
  5. 1 Corintios 5:5“To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh” is a harsh and much-debated phrase: it seems to mean putting the person outside the protection of the Christian community, handing him back to the outside world, hoping the shock will lead to repentance before the final judgment. There are different readings of what exactly this “destruction of the flesh” involves.
  6. 1 Corintios 5:6The “glorying” is the church’s pride in tolerating this chapter’s sin. Paul uses the image of leaven, which spreads through the whole batch of dough, to warn that this uncorrected sin will contaminate the entire community.
  7. 1 Corintios 5:7Just as a house was cleared of leaven before the Jewish Passover, the church should get rid of this “old leaven” — the sin being tolerated — because Christ, the true Passover lamb, has already been sacrificed.
  8. 1 Corintios 5:8The image comes from the Jewish Passover, when the whole house was cleared of leaven before the feast and unleavened bread was eaten for a week. Paul uses this as a metaphor — a little tolerated sin, the “old leaven,” contaminates the whole community, which is why he calls for a life without leaven, that is, one of sincerity.
  9. 1 Corintios 5:9Paul recalls an earlier letter, which has not survived to us, in which he had already asked them not to associate with people living in sexual immorality.
  10. 1 Corintios 5:10He clears up a misunderstanding from that letter: he was not talking about avoiding everyone like that outside the church — that would be impossible, requiring you to leave the world entirely — but about a specific case inside the community.
  11. 1 Corintios 5:11Paul had already written before asking them not to associate with those living in immorality. Here he clarifies that he was not talking about avoiding everyone like that outside the church, which would be impossible, but about not sharing a meal with someone who calls himself a brother in the faith yet lives carelessly in that sin.
  12. 1 Corintios 5:12A rhetorical question: Paul has neither the authority nor the interest to judge those outside the church; his point is that the church should indeed take care to judge those within it.
  13. 1 Corintios 5:13God is the one who judges those outside; it is up to the church to deal with what is inside — which is why Paul insists, closing the chapter, that they put away the man from this case of immorality.

Chapters

12345678910111213141516

Our apps

Our apps →

Bible in Stories

The Bible told as a story, with audio and videos.

📱 Get the app

World in Stories

True stories of humanity that sound made up.

App StoreGoogle Play

Feito! Pequenas Vitórias

A light daily routine for people who lose track of the day.

App StoreGoogle Play