1 Corinthians 5:6

1Co_5:6-13

Your glorying is not good.

The true Church a feast

These verses lead us to look upon the true Church--

I. In its internal enjoyments. The association of Christly men is a feast, because it contains the choicest elements for--

1. Spiritual nourishment. The quickening and elevating ideas current in such fellowships constitute a soul banquet, a feast of fat things.

2. Spiritual gratification. What higher delight Shah the loving intercourse of kindred souls. The true Church is not a melancholy assemblage, but is the most joyous fellowship on earth.

II. In its external relation to the ungodly. There is a connection with ungodly men--

1. That it must avoid. As the Jews put away leaven at the Passover, so all corrupt men must be excluded from the Church feasts. Their presence, like leaven, would be contagious. No Church that has such leaven in it has any occasion for exultation (1Co_5:6).

2. That it cannot avoid (1Co_5:10). You cannot attend to your temporal affairs without contact with the ungodly, and as Christians you are bound to go among them to do them good. Over such you have no jurisdiction; they are without, and God is to judge them, not you. But if they creep into the Church you are to deal with them (1Co_5:11). Observe here--

(1) That sin takes many forms. What is temptation to one man is not to another. One is tempted to be a fornicator, another a miser, &c.

(2) In whatever form this leaven shows itself it must not be tolerated for one moment. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

The evil of self-complacency

I. The spirit condemned.

1. Self-complacency.

2. Vanity.

3. Pride.

II. The evil of it.

1. Foolish, man has nothing to glory in.

2. Sinful in itself, often in its occasion.

3. Pernicious, it brings shame, humiliation, ruin. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.

The leaven of sin works

1. Constantly.

2. Imperceptibly.

3. Powerfully.

4. Perniciously. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

Sin a malignant leaven

I. In its nature.

1. Corrupting.

2. Spreading.

3. Assimilating.

II. In its effects--

1. Upon communities.

2. Upon individuals. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

Purging out the leaven

What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder. Evermore in Scripture the doctrines of grace are married to the precepts of holiness. Salvation in sin is not possible, it always must be salvation from sin. The apostle, while he was showing the Corinthians how wrong they were to tolerate an incestuous person, compared the spirit of uncleanness to an evil leaven; then the leaven suggested the passover, and turning aside for a moment he applied that, so as to make his argument yet more cogent. Hard by any Scripture wherein you find the safety of the believer guaranteed, you are sure to see needful holiness set side by side with it. The purity of the house from leaven went side by side with its safety by the blood.

I. The happy condition of all true believers in Christ. Christ our passover, &c. The habitual state of a Christian is that of one keeping a feast in perfect security. Observe how the apostle puts it: Christ is our passover--that by which Gods wrath passes over from us who deserve its full vengeance: Christ is sacrificed, for He gave Himself for us. No new victim is expected or required. Let others offer what they will, ours is the Lamb once slain, and there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin. This completeness of sacrifice indeed is the main part of the festival which the Christian should perpetually keep. If there were anything yet to be done, how could we celebrate the feast? Therefore, says the apostle--and it is a natural inference from it let us keep the feast.

1. The paschal lamb was not slain to be looked at, to be laid by, or merely made the subject of conversation; but it was slain to be fed upon. So it is your daily business to feed upon Christ, whose flesh is meat indeed, and whose blood is drink indeed. At the paschal supper the whole of the lamb was intended to be eaten; and thou art to feed upon the whole of Christ. No part is denied thee, neither His humiliation nor His glory, His kingship nor His priesthood, His Godhead nor His manhood.

2. A feast is not only for nourishment, but for exhilaration. Let us in this sense also keep a lifelong feast. The Christian is not only to take the doctrines which concern Christ, to build up his soul with, but he may draw from them the new wine of delight. At the passover the Jews were accustomed to sing. Let us keep the feast in the same way. Let your praises never cease.

3. At the passover the devout Jew was accustomed to teach his family the meaning of the feast. Let it be a part of our continual festival to tell to others what our Redeeming Lord has done. This precept does not refer merely to the Lords Supper; it is of continuous force. Let us keep the feast always, for the Lamb is always slain.

II. A holy duty commended to us. Purge out, therefore, the old leaven. Let us keep the feast; not with old leaven, &c.

1. Leaven is used in Scripture in every case but one as the emblem of sin. This arises from--

(1) Its sourness. Sin, which for awhile may seem pleasant, will soon he nauseous even to the sinner; but the very least degree of sin is obnoxious to God. We cannot tell how much God hates sin.

(2) Its corruption and corrupting influence. Sin is a corruption, it dissolves the very fabric of society and the constitution of man.

(3) Its spreading character. No matter how great the measure of flour, the leaven will work its way. Even thus it is with sin. One woman sinned, and the whole human race was leavened by her fault. If the leaven of evil is permitted in a Church, it will work its way through the whole of it.

(a) A little false doctrine is sure to pave the way for greater departures from truth. The doctrines of the gospel have such a close relation to one another, that if you snap a link you have broken the whole chain. He that offendeth in one point is guilty of all.

(b) The leaven of evil living, too, tolerated in one it will soon be excused in another, and a lower tone of thought with regard to sin will rule the Church. Sin is like the bale of goods which came from the East to this city in the olden time, which brought the pest in it. In those days one piece of rag carried the infection into a whole town.

2. This leaven must be purged out. In consequence of the command the head of the household among the Jews, especially when they grew more strict in their ritual, would go through the whole of the house on a certain day to search for every particle of leavened bread. With as scrupulous a care as the Israelite purged out the leaven from his house we are to purge out all sin from ourselves and in our conduct.

(1) The Jewish householder would very soon put away all the large loaves of leavened bread, just as we gave up at once all those gross outward sins in which we indulged before.

(2) Then perhaps the stray crusts which the children had left were put away. So there may be certain minor sins in the judgment of the world which the Christian man, when converted, may not put away the first week; but when they are seen he says, I must have done with these.

(3) But the most trouble would be caused by the little crumbs. We must not retain even a crumb of the evil leaven; we must earnestly desire to sweep it all out.

(4) The whole house was searched. A Christian man may feel that he has got rid of all the leaven from his shop, yet it may be there is leaven in his private house.

(5) A candle was used to throw a light into every corner of the house, that no leaven might escape notice. Take you the candle of Gods Word, the candle of His Holy Spirit.

(6) To purge out the old leaven many sweepings of the house will be wanted. For, mark you, you are sure to leave some leaven, and if you leave a little it will work and spread. It is hinted in the text that there are forms of evil which we must peculiarly watch against, and one is malice. I have known believers who have had a very keen sense of right, who have too much indulged the spirit deprecated here, i.e., they have been severe and censorious. Take good heed also that every form of hypocrisy be purged out, for the apostle tells us to eat the passover with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Let us leave off talking beyond our experience, let us never pray beyond what we mean.

III. The happiness of the believer acts upon his holiness, and his holiness upon his happiness.

1. The happiness acts upon the holiness.

(1) If I feed upon Christ, who has been sacrificed for me, the happiness I feel leads me to say, My sins slew my Saviour, and therefore will I slay my sins.

(2) Sitting as you do within the house, and knowing that you are all safe because the blood is on the lintel outside, you will say, The firstborn sons of Egypt are slain, and I am preserved. Why I must be Gods firstborn, and must belong to Him. Ye are not your own, &c.

(3) Moreover, the Christian is encouraged to put away his leaven of sin because he has the foresight of a profitable exchange. The Israelite gave up leavened bread, but he soon had angels food in the place of it.

(4) The Christian, too, who knows that his sin is forgiven, feels that the God who could put away his load of sin will surely help to conquer his corruptions.

2. Holiness produces happiness. How quiet doth the soul become when the man feels, I have done that which was right, I have given up that which was evil. What is it that makes Gods people look so sad? It is the old leaven. Let us keep the feast; but it is useless to hope to do so while we keep the leaven. Conclusion: There are some here who are not saved. Notice how salvation comes--not through purging cut the leaven; that operation is to be seen to afterwards, but because the Paschal Lamb is slain. Do not begin at the wrong end, begin with the Cross. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The purification of the Church

I. Its necessity arises from--

1. The existence of sin (1Co_5:1).

2. Pride.

3. Disregard of the corrupting tendency of sin.

II. Its means.

1. The removal of that which offends.

2. Renewal.

3. Through the sacrifice of Christ.

III. Its motives.

1. The full enjoyment of fellowship in Christ.

2. Which is interrupted by malice and wickedness.

3. But enhanced by sincerity and truth. (J. Lyth, D. D.)

Little sins

No man reaches at once an extremity of sin; the descent is not abrupt, but sloped. Little sins must creep in before great sins can find room. First the thin end of the wedge, to make way for the broader part. The ordinary laws of motion seem to apply to the spiritual ease; the speed increases fast after a time. So is the chain of sin slight at first and weak, like a single thread that seems scarcely to hold the soul, and which the soul hardly feels; and then it changes into a twisted skein, and then into a corded rope, and then into links of iron. So it is like a little leaven, that works on from part to part, till it has leavened the whole lump. Speak of a murder to a boy, and he will start in horror at the very word, and his blood run cold, as he thinks of tales of violent death. Yet the murderer was once a boy shuddering at the sight of a little blood, putting his hand with an uneasy conscience to some little sin. Little sins grow into great, first as it were a mere scratch on the flesh, and then a putrefying sore. Satan works like the leaven, not spreading his net over every part at once, but stealing his way to the dominion of our souls. So have we seen a little stream creeping through the fields, and then it has gathered other streams like itself, and these being joined to one another, have gone down together widening into a mighty river, that has swept down to the sea with its broad breast of waters and its strong rushing tide. Even so have we seen a small seed cast into the fruitful earth, and before long the seed has put forth its arms and opened for itself a way through the yielding soil, and the little stalk has risen with its green head above the earth, and the stalk has gradually broken forth into a strong plant, and the plant into a tree overshadowing the field. Allow little sins, suffer them to stay for a moment in our souls, and little they will not remain; open the door of our souls ever so little to any sin, and the sin will be soon master of the house and all that is therein. (J. Armstrong, D. D.)

Little sins--their injuriousness

Some brittle gold, having been accidentally melted with a quantity of well-refined and tough gold, was found to have rendered the whole mass brittle with a highly crystalline fracture, and therefore useless for coinage. The impurity causing brittleness in the whole 75,000 ounces was a small fraction of an ounce, probably one three-hundred-thousandth, or less, of the original weight. It will be seen from this that the saying holds good in metallurgy as well as in morals, A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump, rendering it totally unfit for current uses, until it has been passed through a purifying process. (I. C. Booth, LL. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co 5:6-8. Your glorying — Of the flourishing state of your church, or of your gifts, at such a time as this; is not good — Is very unseasonable, your church being defiled by tolerating such vices, and thereby exposed to God’s judgments, and also in danger of infection from such an example. Know ye not — Who boast so much of your knowledge; that a little leaven — One sin or one sinner; leaveneth the whole lump — Diffuses guilt and infection perhaps through a whole religious society or congregation; that is, this single example, if tolerated, will infect others, and draw them to the like evil practices. Purge out, therefore, the old leaven — Both of sinners and of sin; that ye may be a new lump — That your whole church may be a holy society; as ye are unleavened — As, by profession, you are obliged to be saints, and separated from sin, or that, being unleavened, ye may be a new lump, holy unto the Lord. For even Christ our passover — Who was represented by the paschal lamb, Joh 1:29; is sacrificed for us — Has been slain to make satisfaction for our sins, 1Co 15:3. As if he had said, It concerns you to let nothing of leaven, nothing of sin, be found about you, because as Christians we are now keeping a perpetual passover, of which the Jewish passover (about the time of which this epistle was written) was only a type. What exquisite skill, both here and everywhere, conducts the zeal of the inspired writer! How surprising a transition is here! And yet how perfectly natural! The apostle, speaking of the incestuous criminal, slides into his darling topic, a crucified Saviour! Who would have expected it on such an occasion? Yet when it is thus brought in, who does not see and admire both the propriety of the subject, and the delicacy of its introduction? Therefore let us keep the feast — Let us feed on him by faith; or let the whole of our lives be like the Jewish feast of passover and unleavened bread. Here is a plain allusion to the Lord’s supper, which was instituted in the room of the passover; not with the old leaven — Of heathenism or Judaism; or with such errors and vices as we were formerly addicted to, and influenced by: neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness — Nor allowing ourselves in any unkind and corrupt affections, or sinful practices, or tolerating among us any scandalous conduct. Malice is ill-will in the mind; but wickedness is ill-will expressed by actions, especially such as are accompanied with treachery. Hence the devil is styled ο πονηρος, the wicked one. But with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth — With the most simple and sincere desire of knowing and practising every branch of our duty; which if we really have, it will keep us from all these evils, and will ensure such a uniformity of behaviour, as will be honourable to our profession, and agreeable to the design of its glorious author. The apostle gives the epithet of unleavened to the graces of sincerity and truth, in allusion to the emblematical meaning of the unleavened bread, which the Israelites were to eat during the feast of the passover; for thereby they were taught to celebrate that feast with pious and holy dispositions.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

b. Sin, like a pervading leaven, must be purged from the Church, 1Co_5:6-8.

6. Your glorying—Rather, your ground of boasting; namely, an entire forgetfulness of your disgrace from this sensuality.

Not good—Not honourable or noble. It was a base insensibility to moral reproach.

Know ye not—A solemn phrase indicating a truth it behooved them well to know: used by St. Paul in this epistle ten times.

Leaven—Is a portion of old dough in a high state of fermentation, which, added to a new mass of dough, spreads the fermentation through the whole lump, and so renders the bread, upon baking, porous and light. As this fermentation is a sort of disintegration, and proves so pervasive, the ancients saw in it an image of moral corruption. So Plutarch (quoted by Wetstein) says: “Wherefore is it unlawful for the priest of Jove, called Flamen Dialis, to touch leaven? Because leaven itself comes of putrefaction, and being commingled corrupts the mass; and leaven itself seems, indeed, a putrifying; for by abounding, it altogether acidifies and corrupts the flour.” Wetstein also thus quotes a Jewish author: “Our rabbins call lust a leaven in the lump; for as a little of the yeast impregnates the whole mass and corrupts it, so lust corrupts the whole man.”

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

X—[B. The duty of Church purification in general. Its motives, grounds, and limitations. Rectification of misconceptions as to his meaning in an earlier Epistle]

1Co_5:6-13

6Your glorying [That in which you glory] is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?14 7Purge out therefore [omit therefore15] the old leaven, that ye may he a new lump, as ye are unleavened. ] For even Christ our pass over is sacrificed for us [omit for us16]: 8Therefore let us keep17 the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; hut with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 9I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with for 10nicators: Yet [omit Yet2] not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or [and18] extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs19 go out 11of the world. But now20 I have written [I wrote] unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be21 a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such a one no not to eat. 12For what have I to do to judge them also22 that are without ? do not ye judge them that are within ? 13But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore [omit therefore] put away23 from among yourselves that wicked person [τὸν πονηρὸν, the wicked one].

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

[In this section the specific duty of excommunicating an incestuous church member is expanded into the broader one of individual and social purification in general. And this is exhibited under a familiar metaphor, and enforced by reasons drawn from it. In entering upon it Paul starts with alluding to that state of mind which presented so strange a contrast to their actual condition.]

1Co_5:6. That in which you boast is not good.—In view of the word here rendered, ‘boasting’ (καύχημα), the question arises, whether it is the act, or the ground of boasting that is intended. The latter meaning is certainly the one which prevails in the New Testament, even 2Co_9:3, [and this is in accordance with the passive form of the noun]. Then we should render it: ‘that of which you boast;’ and while with the other signification οὐ καλόν would mean: ‘it does not become you,’ etc., it would in the other case be rendered: ‘is not seemly or beautiful,’ implying that it is, rather, hateful. It is not, however, the incestuous person that is meant [as Hammond and Whitby singularly suggest, supposing him to have been a man of some reputation for wisdom and eloquence], but the whole condition of the Church, the complete corruption of which he proceeds to illustrate by a familiar comparison.—Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?—In like manner, he implies, that the whole Church was infected by one crime, tolerated in the midst of it. The “little leaven” here refers not so much to the person in question, as to the vice of fornication, which had broken out upon him in its worst form. “It denotes some impurity of the former state, not yet purged out,—a little remnant of which, if allowed, was sufficient to corrupt again the salvation already obtained, and render it ineffective.” Burger. [It is not, however, says Alford, the “danger of corruption hereafter” by the future spread of the tolerated evil, that he here speaks of, but “the character already tainted” by its presence among them in this one instance.” But are not the consequences merely anticipated in their certainty, and the future and present all included under one view? The leaven and is working must here be taken together]. The same comparison, used to illustrate a corrupting influence, occurs in Gal_5:9, and Mat_16:6, and the parallel passages. On the other hand, it appears in Mat_13:33, and in the parallel passages, to illustrate the penetrating and pervading power of Divine grace.

In consequence of the contagious effects of tolerated evil, Paul gives the following exhortation:—Purge out.—’Εκκαθαίρειν sometimes is followed by the Accus. of the thing cleansed, and sometimes, as here, with that of the thing removed. [Stanley calls it “a strong expression,” and remarks that the duty it enjoins was “carried out in later times with such extreme punctiliousness, that on the fourteenth day they searched with candles into the darkest holes and corners to see whether any leaven remained.”]—The old leaven.—This, in accordance with what has been said, does not indicate the incestuous person, so that the command would only be a repetition of that in 1Co_5:2; 1Co_5:13, but the moral evil which was defiling the Church. This he calls ‘old,’ because it was the remains of their former unregenerate state which, like leaven, was still at work vitiating their character.—That ye may be a fresh lump, νέονφύραμα,—wherein there is no leaven, hence a complete whole, morally renewed by purification—a Church holy and free from sin, evincing its early love and zeal. (Starke). (Νέος, fresh differs from καινός, which means new, entirely different from what it was before).—What follows clearly shows that the Apostle had in mind the practice of the Israelites removing leaven from their houses before the Passover began.—As ye are unleavened.—Thus he designates the Church ideally considered, and as it can become only through the power of Divine grace, and shows the divinely postulated character of its member ship; and hence it presents an argument for removing the existing evil, as he enjoins them to do. They are to come up to their true ideal. [Conybeare and Howson, however, interpret this clause literally, as alluding to the condition in which the Jewish portion of the Church were at that moment, it being the time of Passover: “Even as ye, at this Paschal season, are without the taint of leaven.” This view Alf. combats at length. His strongest argument, and one which must be deemed conclusive, is that it is “wholly alien from the habit and spirit of the Apostle. “The ordinances of the Old Law,” he says, “are to Paul not points, on whose actual observance to ground spiritual lessons, but things passed away in their literal acceptance, and become spiritual verities in Christ.” Kling’s view is the one generally adopted, and in refutation of the one above suggested, he adds further]. It would evidently transcend the meaning of the term, ἄζυμοι to make it mean those who eat no leaven, or observe the festival of unleavened bread, i.e., the Jews, nor would such a meaning be applicable to the case of a Church composed mainly of heathen converts. But it may be fitly used of all professing Christians, inasmuch as they are themselves supposed to be free from those sinful corruptions which prevail without in the world, and which are here denoted by the leaven. And such an interpretation accords with the previous phrase “a fresh lump.” The translation of ἐστε by: ‘ye ought to be,’ instead of by: ‘ye are’ [as Chrysostom, Theoph., and after them Billroth, Flatt and Pott, and many others suggest], though in itself incorrect, would point to the ideal view of Christians expressed in the word ‘unleavened.’ [But the strongest argument for the interpretation given, above of the clause before us, is in what follows, where we see that the Apostle’s mind was moving not in the sphere of Jewish carnal ordinances, but among the higher verities which they typified].—For our Passover also has been sacrificed even Christ.—[Such can only be rendering of the words, καὶ γὰρ τὸ πάσχαἡμῶν ἐτύ θη Χριστό ς. The main subject is evidently to τὸ πάσχα; and the intent of the Apostle is to show the propriety of speaking of Christians as unleavened, since they, too, had a paschal offering, which was Christ. Kling, however, goes on to raise the question]. Does this declaration furnish the ground of what Immediately precedes ? or is it a further argument for the whole exhortation? In the former case, the sense would be: ye are free from that corruption by virtue of that redemption achieved by Christ. But such connection would suit, provided only, that we took the term “unleavened” In the sense rejected above. [But why so ? Why not consider it as justifying the application of the term to Christians also, on the ground that they likewise had a passover which obliged them to be free from the corruption which the leaven symbolized?] We, therefore, refer the clause to the whole exhortation, as furnishing an argument for that. [And such, no doubt, is the more extended bearing of it.] As among the Israelites from the first day of the feast to the slaying of the Paschal lamb, it was the rule to put away all leaven and all unleavened bread from their houses, so likewise were Christians under obligation to put away all former sinful practices—the leaven of wickedness—inasmuch as their Paschal lamb, even Christ, had been slain. And here we have an evidence that the ancient Paschal lamb was a type of Christ. And to this also Joh_19:36, plainly conducts us. The point of comparison is, primarily, the redeeming power of the blood of the victim. It was with this that at the time of their departure from Egypt, the lintels and doorposts of the Israelites were sprinkled, and by reason of this that those within were preserved from the destroying sword, while the Egyptians fell under its stroke. In like manner under the new dispensation, which fulfils the old, it is said the hearts of believers are sprinkled by the blood of Christ (Heb_10:22; Heb_12:24; 1Pe_1:12), and thus saved from destruction. The slaying of the Paschal lamb accordingly obtains the character of a sacrifice (θύειν), and indeed of an expiatory, covenant kind, forming a distinction between the members of the covenant, whose sins are covered with its blood, and the others who are left to their doom. Worthy of consideration, though somewhat problematical, is Lücke’s and Meyer’s observation, that this designation of Christ accords with John’s account of the crucifixion which places it on the day of the slaying of the Paschal lamb24 (contrary to the account of the Synoptists), and can only be explained on this ground. But, however this may be, a powerful motive is found in this fact for moral purification. (comp. 1Pe_2:24).—This is further carried out in

1Co_5:8. Let us therefore keep the feast.—The previous command in a milder form—that of an exhortation to a social solemnity, for which the expression, “our Pass-over,” forms a fit transition. The whole context alludes to the Easter festival; and it is highly probable that the Apostle wrote the Epistle at or near the approach of Easter (comp. 1Co_16:8), and, being full of the idea, gave to his exhortation a corresponding form. That the Christian festival of Easter, commemorating the resurrection of our Lord, had already been established, can hardly be affirmed. But that Gentile converts united with the Jewish, to celebrate the Passover in commemoration of its fulfilment through Christ, is too probable to be denied. In any case, it is safe to assert with Osiander, that it was solemnized in spirit. As for the rest, the language is figurative. The duty indicated is not the outward, but the inward spiritual observance, namely, the united offering of praise to God for His redeeming grace, through the maintenance of a Christian conversation (comp. Osiander). [Hodge, Alf., Stanley, agree in the opinion that there is no reference here to the keeping of the Passover festival, nor yet to the observance of the Lord’s Supper (though Wordsworth regards “the text as specially applicable to a consideration of the privileges and duties” connected with this), but, as Kling, to that “continued Passover feast,” that “sacred festival” of a consecrated life, which should follow upon our union to Christ in His death, even as a feast, professedly of holy joy and gladness, protracted through seven days always followed upon the observance of the Pass over among the Jews].

How the feast was to be kept is explained still further; first, negatively.—not with old leaven,—which he had just told them to purge out. (1Co_5:7), and which he goes on further to describe in words which are to be understood, not as introducing a new thought, but as explanatory of the former.—neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness.—What, in point of fact is one, is here formally distinguished; or we may say with Meyer, that of the kind in general one particular is selected and made prominent. The preposition ἐν with, indicates that with which the feast was accompanied, or in which its character was violated. [The Genitives are those of apposition, ‘the leaven which is,’ &c. See Winer, § 59, 8, a], Κακία denotes the opposite of that love which seeks the welfare of another—a desire and effort to injure a neighbor (Eph_4:31); πονηρία [“is a still stronger word” Hodge], and denotes wickedness, villany [“the performance of evil with persistency and delight. Hence Satan is called ὁ πονηρός”—Hodge]. In contrast with these we have the true method expressed.—but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.—Εἰλικρίνεια is purity—the quality of having been proved in the sunlight (εί̔λη) and found (κρίνεται) genuine; ἀλήθεια, the harmony of man with himself, and with Divine truth, which is made known in the uprightness of conduct. To distinguish these terms as indicating, the one the substance, the other the manifestation of goodness, and thus as expressing the opposite to κακία, the substance, and πονηρία, the manifestation of evil would be too abstract. Bengel’s distinction: “κακία is vice, as contrary to virtue, and that virtue unalloyed, or insincerity, and πονηρία, wickedness, as in those who strenuously defend and retain κακίαν, and is opposed to the truth”—is very uncertain. We can better accept the distinction he makes between εἰλικρίν and ἀλήθεια—“the former takes care not to admit evil with the good, the latter not to admit evil instead of good.” For other attempts to discriminate between these words, see Starke in loco. [Also Trench “Syn. of the New Testament.” § 11, and W. Webster “Syntax and Syn. of the New Testament,” pp. 194, 195].

1Co_5:9-13. We here have an episode to the proper subject of this paragraph, which is resumed again in 1Co_5:13 The exhortation given above suggests the correction of a misunderstanding in regard to the meaning of a certain passage in a previous letter, which he had written to them about holding intercourse with fornicators.—I wrote to you in the Epistle.—The stringency of theological dogmatism, which refuses to admit the loss of any Apostolic writing, insists that the reference here is to a previous passage in this Epistle, viz., 1Co_5:2; 1Co_5:6. But such reference neither suits the expression “in the Epistle,” nor yet the contents of the verses cited. The allusion must therefore be to some earlier letter now lost. [This is the conclusion of Calvin, Beza, Bengel, de Wette, Meyer, Wordsworth, Alford, Hodge, Barnes, and most other modern commentators, and as Words. argues, “is perfectly consistent with the position, ‘that no Canonical Book of Holy Scripture has been lost.’ ” Stanley, however, ingeniously argues for the other view, advocated mainly by the Greek Fathers, also by Hammond and Whitby, and asks whether there are not indications that the whole passage from 1Co_5:9 to 1Co_6:8 is, in some sense, a distinct note, a postscript not merely to 5 :6–8, but also to 1Co_6:9-20? This he says has been already conjectured by two Englishmen, J. Edwards and Dr. Thos. Arnold, and he alludes in the way of comparison to a remarkable passage in Livy. 1Co_4:20, called by Niebuhr, the only instance of a note in any ancient author. Similar digressions he thinks he finds elsewhere, also in Paul’s Epistles. To say the least, he makes a very plausible case, and his arguments, if not convincing, are very interesting].—not to keep company with fornicators.—Συναναμίγνεσθαι, to mingle oneself up with, as in 2Th_3:14; the Inf. after verbs of counselling, or commanding. The warning thus conveyed they had interpreted to mean, that they should hold no intercourse at all with persons of the sort mentioned; and they did this perhaps from a secret disinclination to follow Paul’s instruction, and in their letter had pointed out the utter impracticability of the thing. He therefore goes on now to explain himself more exactly upon the subject.

1Co_5:10. Not altogether with the fornicators of this world.—The ellipsis here is certainly to be supplied from the foregoing—‘I wrote not to mingle with.’ But the question is, whether these words are to be inserted after ‘not,’ so as to separate it from ‘altogether’ (πάντως), or whether these two words are to be taken together; and then, in the latter case, whether the two are to be joined with ‘I wrote,’ or with the nouns following. In our opinion, the separation of ‘not altogether’ (οὐ πάντως), ought, if possible, to be avoided. But if we connect the words unitedly, to ‘I wrote,’ and render the clause: ‘I did by no means write to you not to associate with the wicked,’ then it has the appearance of promoting directly such intercourse. [“And this, although perhaps the more common explanation, does not give so good sense.” Hodge]. They had better therefore be joined with what follows, in the way of limitation; ‘not entirely and under all circumstances’ with the fornicators of this world. By the epithet, ‘of this world,’ the persons alluded to are distinguished from those of the same class found in the Church.—Since he is treating, in this paragraph, of moral purification in general, he adds yet other sorts of persons who presented a decided contrast to the Christian character, and with whom it was unbecoming in them to associate—persons whom he had already spoken of in his previous letter.—or with the converts and extortioners.—These two classes go together, as may be seen by the καὶ and, which connect them—a reading better supported than ἤ, or of the Rec. The πλεονέκτης is one who means to have more than his neighbors, or, more than belongs to him, and who therefore indulges in frauds, and over-reaching, and oppression. This trait is more prominently brought out in the second term, ἅρπαξ, which denotes one who manifests his greed of gain in robbery and plunder. [Conybeare renders the former of these words: ‘lascivious person,’ and says that “πλέονεξία in St. Paul almost invariably means impurity.” And Stanley advocates this interpretation as being more in accordance with the drift of discourse. And there is not a little to justify the view taken. Sensuality and rapine most frequently go together as branches from the same root of covetousness, and stand in close connection with idolatry. The same view is also maintained by Hammond, who explain πλεον́κταις to mean ‘men of inordinate lusts;’ and in consistency with this, supported by no small show of classic authorities, translates ἅρπαγες, ravishers. But there is no special reason why “the extraordinary sense” should be adopted here; and the conjunction ‘and’ seems to affiliate the words in meaning with the other to which it is thus connected. See Trench, N. T. Syn. § 24]—or with idolaters.—To those who violate the rights of neighbors, he joins such as violate the highest right—that of God. And in this religious aberration is found the source of all moral aberration. [“This is said to be the earliest known instance of the use of the word εἰδωλολάτρης; it is never used in the LXX., although εἴδωλον is constantly employed in that version to denote ‘false gods.’ ” Hodge]. That the prohibition which he had formerly given could not have been meant in the broad sense supposed by his readers, he now shows apagogically by exhibiting the absurdity of the thing.—Since, indeed, ye must then have gone out of the world.—The ἄρα, in that case, following upon ἐπεὶ, since, shows yet more definitely the consequence which would ensue upon the interpretation put on his language. Properly a protasis is here to be supplied. ‘If it were so as you say, why then in that case,’ etc. [For the force of ἄρα, see Winer § LIII. a], Κόσμος, world, in this last clause, is to be taken in its physical, not, as in the first clause, in its ethical sense. The world is full of bad people, with whom we are compelled to deal, in some form, in business or traffic, by the very exigencies of our earthly lot; and if we would avoid them altogether, we can only do it by quitting the world altogether.

1Co_5:11. But now I wrote to you.—He cannot here be repeating what was in the former Epistle, for had the words which follow been there, the misunderstanding could not have arisen. Νῦν δὲ ἔγραψα must accordingly imply: ‘but now my meaning was,’ νῦν being taken in its logical sense, as referring back to the previous statement (comp. 1Co_15:20; 1Co_12:18; 1Co 19:6). In like manner λέγω and ἔεγον often stand for: ‘this is what I mean, or meant, by what I say, or said.’ Son_1:12 and elsewhere. This interpretation is better suited to the context. We have here the positive explanation of a former declaration, following upon the negative one in 1Co_5:10,—and not a new declaration made ‘now’ (νῦν), differing from that made “in the Epistle,” 1Co_5:10; in which case the aorist ἔγραψα: I wrote, must be taken after the old epistolary style as referring to what was said in process of writing (see Meyer in loco). [“Thus by the right rendering, we escape the awkward inference deducible from the ordinary interpretation, that the Apostle had previously given a command and now retracted it.” Alf.].—not to keep company, if any one called a brother be a fornicator.—The participle ὀνομαζόμενος, called, forms an antithesis to ῇ, is, as contrasting profession with reality. To connect the participle with the following noun [as Augustine, Ambrose, Estius, and others], so as to read: ‘be a reputed, or notorious fornicator,’ would be alike opposed to the drift of the passage, and to the usage of language. ’Ονομάζεσθαι can mean only: to be called, or, to be honorably mentioned. Besides in this case the text would have been: ἀ δελφός τις,—or a covetous, or an idolater.—The term idolater, as applied to one called a brother, must denote, [not an open worshipper of idols, for such a person would hardly have been found among the brethren], but one who ate of the heathen sacrifices, and participated in the heathenish customs connected therewith—a practice alluded to in 1Co_10:14. Then enlarging his catalogue beyond that of 1Co_5:10, he adds,—or a railer, or a drunkard,—μέθυσος, a term which in old Greek was used of women only,—or an extortioner; with such a one neither to eat.—This does not refer to communion at love-feasts, or at the Lord’s Supper; but to association at ordinary meals, a practice which would indicate intimate companionship. The characters described, they were not to entertain as guests, nor visit as hosts, nor unite with them at a party in the house of a common acquaintance; but they were to cut them off from their society and give it to be understood that they would have nothing in common with them. “Here we learn what sins justify excommunication. We must also suppose that among the converts at Corinth, here and there, a reaction towards their former state had already taken place.” Neander.

1Co_5:12-13. A further reason why he could have designed his exhortation only in a limited sense. The contrary would have been an assumption of authority over those not Christians, an application of discipline to them which was not allowed him.—For what have I to do,—τί γάρ μοι.—The expression is pure Greek. It means, ‘what concern is it of mine? It does not belong to my office.’—to judge also those Without.—Οἱἔξω, was a designation applied by the Jews to the heathen, and by Christians to unbelievers. The latter are without, because they are outside the pale of God’s Church—not to be found among His people. In like manner Col_4:5, 1Th_4:12. His refusal to judge such he sustains by a reference to their own procedure.—do not ye judge them that are within?—The τοῦς ἔσω, holding the emphatic place, forms the antithesis to τοῦςἔξω, and ὑμεῖς to μοι. Then the argument is: ‘since you yourselves confine your jurisdiction to those within the Church, you had no reason to ascribe to me advice which went beyond this limit.’ It would be clearly wrong to separate, as some [Theoph. Hammond, Michaelis, Rosenmuller] do, ὂυχί from what follows, and then take the verb in the Imper. q. d., ‘No, judge ye,’ etc. It would then have read, οὐδέν, nothing, as the reply to the previous question; and ἀλλἀ, but, would have appeared after it. In saying ‘ye,’ Paul does not mean to exclude himself. This would be contrary to what he had just enjoined in 1Co_5:3-5.—But those without God will judge, or judgeth.—This clause is best taken by itself, affirmatively, and not as continuing the previous question: ‘The right to judge unbelievers belongs solely to God, not to you or me.’ Whether the verb here is to be taken in the present or future is doubtful, for the accentuation is uncertain—whether κρίνειͅ or κρινεῖ. If the latter—the future, the reference is to the last judgment. But this is not what Paul has exclusively in mind. Taken in the present, it corresponds best with the previous clauses.25 [“These remarks about judging form a transition point to the subject of the next chapter. But having now furnished his explanation of the prohibition formerly given, and with this subject of the fornicator among them, he gives, before passing on, a plain command in terms for the excommunication (but no more) of the offender. And this he does in the very words of Deu_24:7, from which the reading καὶ ἐξαρεῖτε has come.” Alf. and this he does without any connecting word, the abruptness being characteristic].—Put away the wicked one from among your own selves.—In this he but resumes the chief topic of this section, which had not been altogether abandoned. Even during the seeming digression, Paul clinches it. There is no sign of that momentary passionate outburst which Rückert detects. The reference in τὸνπονηρόν: that wicked one, is to fornicator, not to the devil, as Calvin supposes, whose power was to be averted by the removal of what was evil and impure. Such a reference is disproved by the plain citation here from Deuteronomy 26 ’Εξ ὑμῶν is emphatic: ‘from out of the midst of yourselves.’

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

[1. Christ the antitype of the Paschal Lamb. Thus the Old Testament pours light upon the New, and reveals to us the meaning of Christ’s mission. As the Paschal Lamb saved the Israelites from destruction through the sprinkling of its blood upon their habitations, so Christ saves His people, not by instruction, not by example, not by the converting grace of His Spirit, though these means are included in His work—but primarily, by giving His blood for their ransom. He is our Redeemer in virtue of His having made Himself a sacrifice for us. This truth is involved in the very word employed to designate the nature of His death, ἐτύθη—a word appropriated to denote the slaying of victims at an altar. And should it be objected that the Paschal Lamb was not, properly speaking, a sacrifice, it not having been offered at an altar, nor through a priest, nor in a consecrated place, thus answering to the requisitions of a sacrifice, it is enough to reply that it is so called in Scripture in various places (Exo_12:27; Exo_23:18; Exo_34:25; Deu_16:2; Deu_16:4-6), and had all the effect of an expiatory offering. Indeed, it seems to have been the root out of which the whole sacrificial system grew. And as its offering was the very condition on which the Israelites escaped the doom of Egypt which set them free, and as its observance was the condition of continued membership in the ransomed nation, so is the death of Christ the ground of the sinner’s exemption from the condemnation and curse resting upon the world, and the continued commemoration of that death is a duty imposed on all that would be numbered among His saints].

[2. Both the sanctification of the individual believer, and the purification of the Church as a body, necessarily follow from the fact of our redemption through the sacrifice of Christ. As the Israelites were redeemed to be a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exo_30:6), so is the Church redeemed to be “a royal priesthood and a holy nation” (1Pe_2:9). And this purpose is realized under the inspiring motive of grateful joy for the deliverance vouchsafed. Hence the whole of every truly Christian life becomes a holy festival, an offering of praise to God for the glorious works He hath done for us through Christ. His redemption was nothing less than the achievement of a Divine love that condescended to take upon itself the doom of the sinner, and expiate his guilt by the sacrifice of a life assumed in his nature 1. Now where this fact is known and felt, there the sin thus atoned for can no longer be tolerated in its selfishness and lovelessness. He who truly believes that Christ died for him in love, himself becomes “dead unto sin” (Rom_6:11). In him the body of sin with all its affections and lusts is nailed upon the cross of his Lord, and the life he henceforth leads, is maintained in fellowship with that Saviour who loved him and gave Himself for him. Thus it is that malice and wickedness are purged away, and instead thereof we see a life of simplicity and truth manifesting itself in word and deed; and this, not under the constraints of legal obligation and fear, but under the actuating power of devout gratitude and joyful devotion. Such is the ideal of a Christian life. And so far as this ideal is realized, both the Church as a whole, and every individual in the Church becomes a temple of God where He is perpetually worshipped and where a true and lasting festival goes on].

3. It follows from the above that wherever the Christian life is in full and vigorous exercise, there the Church will, as far as possible, maintain a discipline, which shall separate between the holy and the profane, and preserve its own consistency and integrity; there Christians will withhold the title of ‘brother’ from every professor that walketh disorderly, and will take heed how they countenance by their friendlysociety those who openly dishonor the name after which they are called; there the vices which stain the Christian character will be regarded with greater abhorrence and put under severer censure than those which are openly practised by the world. And this discipline will be the natural operation of that holy love which the death of Christ enkindles, manifesting itself both in the ordinary intercourse of life, and through official acts. Without this vital power, Church discipline, however exercised, may indeed succeed in maintaining a creditable external order, and in carrying on a creditable conflict with public immoralities, but it never can accomplish an inward renovation, or bring to pass deep and lasting results.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

[1. The Church of God, as a body redeemed from condemnation by the death of Christ, is thereby put under obligations to purge itself from all sin and immoralities, and to preserve a saintly character and appearance. The inflation of vanity is one evidence of the working of the leaven of wickedness, and should excite suspicion of its presence 1Co_5:6.—No immoralities should be tolerated under the pretext that they are small, because—1, the toleration of them indicates a general laxity of principle; and 2, endangers the purity of the whole body by a vicious infection 1Co_5:6; 1 Corinthians , 3, is contrary to the ideal character of the Church 1Co_5:7. The sins of our former state are especially to be guarded against, and the remains of them to be searched for and cast out. They both desecrate the purity and mar the joy of what should be the Christian’s life-long feast 1Co_5:7. The Church, though separate from the world, is yet to exist in the world; and one of the problems it must solve is so to mingle with the ungodly and profane as not to compromise its character or countenance iniquity, and yet so as to maintain peace with all men and win the worst to Christ. The principles which should regulate its intercourse with the world are thus given by Barnes: ‘a. The Church is not to be compared to the world in any of its peculiar and distinguishing features; b. It must treat all men justly and righteously; c. Its members must discharge all obligations and duties belonging to the social relations; d. They must do good to all men; e. They must so associate with sinners as to be able to work for their salvation’ (1Co_5:9-10).—Those that are justly liable to church censure, and must be excommunicated, are the openly immoral and profane. But while these characters in the Church are to be judged by the Church, the world without is to be left to the judgment of God. And this judgment is to be exercised in the Church in order that those who are judged by it may, if possible, escape the condemnation awaiting the world (1Co_5:12).]

Starke:—If evil be allowed free course, the result will be a settled wantonness of character, leading the person to commit iniquity without reserve—yea, even with pleasure and determination; and then to ignore guilt, or so to varnish it over that the villain beneath shall not be suspected under the fair outside. Sin has its lurking holes, and must be hunted out through them all. Alas, for the few genuine Easter days which Christians enjoy, 1Co_5:8.—Of what profit is it to leave the world and skulk away in the mountains and clefts of the wilderness? The old Adam will skulk with thee even there. Drive him out, and then will thy heart itself be a blessed solitude, where Christ will come and converse with thee. So associate with open sinners as to teach, not learn—warn, not confirm—help to life, not hasten to death (1Co_5:9-10).—Look out for home; God will take care of things abroad.—In order to effective Church discipline, the majority of the Church must themselves be sound 1Co_5:13.

Berlen. Bibel:—If thy wrong is made public and judged, count it not as an injury; for a genuine purification requires that we do not withdraw our iniquity from condemnation and destruction. Now that Christ has died for our justification, and sent us His Spirit for our sanctification, this personal purification may be justly required. We ought to do it, because now we can do it—not, however, in our own strength, but in that of our risen Saviour (1Co_5:7).—The true Passover festival of Christians is followed by a constant succession of Sabbaths, wherein they daily rise with Christ to newness of life. He who has learned this, keeps Easter all the time, Christ’s life is his life; and this life is peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. His festival will terminate only when Christ ceases to be 1Co_5:8.—If we must be surrounded by the world, let us take care to abide with ourselves through a constant inward intercourse with God. In such a case the world will not harm us.

Heubner:—The Pericope on Easter. To the worthy celebration of Easter there belongs—1, repentance 1Co_5:6-7; 1 Corinthians 2, faith and joy, because of redemption 1Co_5:7; 1 Corinthians 3, new resolves for greater sanctification (1Co_5:8).—The life of a Christian is a continuous Easter—1, in ceaseless repentance and sorrow for man’s fall; 2, in constant looking to Christ, the risen, reigning Lord.—Easter as the festival of a spiritual resurrection—1. Its necessity as a memorial of the Apostacy, since from one sin the whole race has been corrupted 1Co_5:6; 1Co_7:2. It shows the possibility of redemption. Only One, Christ, can raise us from our fall 1Co_5:7. 3. It is a general demand to walk in newness of life, in order to become fit for eternal life through sanctification (1Co_5:8). Heubner.

F. W. Besser:—We, too, have a Paschal Lamb. It was a gift from God. What has God from us in return? We have the true-Paschal Lamb. God requires of us the true Easter-cake. What vile ingratitude, if we are disobedient! (1Co_5:7). Daily would we celebrate Easter in spirit, provided we daily acknowledge, enjoy and praise our Paschal Lamb, ‘who was slain for us once for all’ (Heb_10:10). “The time of the N. T. is a perpetual festal period,” says Augustine. God’s word exhorts you to purge out the old leaven, and if you refuse, you make your natural- sourness altogether sourer through the vinegar and the gall of your opposition; weakness turns to stiff-neckedness and malice, and indolence, to spite and wickedness. But if, on the contrary, our old leaven is sweetened:—if, we admit the purifying influence of the Spirit, then instead of wicked resistance we show honest repentance; instead of cherishing malice, we accept the truth in love. In the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth we celebrate our Easter by allowing ourselves to be reproved by the light (Eph_5:13), and by giving honor to the truth.

[F. W. Robertson:—’Ye are unleavened.’ Here is the true conception of the Church: regenerated humanity—new life without the leaven of old evil. The Church visible and invisible, however, to be distinguished; the former composed of the men who in this age or that profess Christ, the latter such as every Church is only potentially and conceivably, according to its idea. For want of keeping these distinct, two grand errors arise: 1. Undue severity towards the lapsed. 2. Wrong purism in the matter of association with the world, its people, its business, its amusements. Under, 1. The attempt to make the Church entirely pure must ever fail. Only as a Church visible she must separate from her all visible evil; she must sever from herself all such foreign elements as bear unmistakable marks of their alien birth. Her purity must be visible purity, not ideal; representative, not perfect. Under, 2. We are not to go out of the world, but only to take care, in associating with sinners, not to recognize them as brothers, or as fulfilling in any degree the Christian idea].

[J. Edwards: 1Co_5:11. The Nature and End of Excommunication. I. The nature of excommunication: 1. Wherein it consists: a. It is privative of the charity of the Church, of brotherly society with its members, of its fellowship, and of its internal privileges; b. Positively it is a deliverance unto the calamities to which those are subject who belong to the visible kingdom of the devil, and into the special power of Satan, who may be employed by God for the infliction of such chastisement, as their apostacy deserves. 2. By whom inflicted: a. Primarily, by Christ; b. Ministerially, by the Church. II. The proper subjects for excommunication. 1. Those visibly wicked by gross sin. 2. The obdurately impenitent. III. The ends of excommunication. 1. That the Church may be kept pure, and its ordinances undefiled. 2. That others may be deterred from wickedness. 3. That the guilty parties may be reclaimed. IV. Motives to the duty. 1. The honor of Jesus, and of His religion, and His Church. 2. Our own good. 3. The good of those who are without. 4. Benevolence towards offending brethren. 5. The absolute authority of Christ].

Footnotes:

[14]1Co_5:6.—The variations δολοῖ and φθείρει are glosses.

[15]1Co_5:7.—The οὖν of the Rec. as well as the καί before οὐ, 1Co_5:10, and the καί before ἐξάρατε, 1Co_5:13, are connective particles that are feebly supported. [They are not found in A. B. D. P. Cod. Sin.]

[16]1Co_5:7.—ὐπὲρ ἡμῶν after ἡμῶν is a dogmatic gloss, which has all the most important authorities against it. [This sentence ought to be rendered: ‘For our passover has been sacrificed, even Christ.’]

[17]1Co_5:8.—[“εορτάζομεν, A. D., but εορτάζωμεν, B. C. F L. Cod. Sin.” Alf.]

[18]1Co_5:10.—The Rec. ἤ is feebly supported and is an alteration to conform to the general context. [A. B. C. D1. F. Cod. Sin. all have καί.]

[19]1Co_5:10.—[The Rec. has ὀφείλετε with B3., which Alf. calls “a correction from misunderstanding.” Wordsworth and Meyer retain it. A. B1. C. D. F. L. Cod. Sin. have ὠφείλετε. It would then read: ‘Ye ought to have gone.’ “The necessity would long ago have occurred and the act passed. And this Lachmann, Tisch., Rückert, approve.]

[20]1Co_5:11.—[The Rec. has νυνὶ with C. D. Cod. Sin1.; and so Meyer, Words. But A. B. F. L. Cod. Sin3., have all νῦν, which Alf. adopts.]

[21]1Co_5:11.—The Rec. ἤ is accented according to the analogy of what follows. But ἥ is best authorized [being supported by nearly all the ancient versions.]

[22]1Co_5:12.—The καί has indeed many important authorities against it. [A. B. C. F. Cod. Sin.] But it might very easily have been omitted as dispensable, and ought to be retained with Meyer arid Tischendorf. [Alf. omits it.]

[23]1Co_5:13.—The Rec. καὶ ἐξάρεῖτε arose from Deu_24:7. Ἐξάράτε is decidedly better supported. A. B. C. D1. F. Cod. Sin.]

[24]See this disproved, and the whole chronology of our Lord’s last acts fully discussed in Andrew’s “Life of our Lord,” pp. 423–460: also Lange on Matth. pp. 456 and 468].

[25]And yet Calvin’s interpretation is more in accordance with the enlarged course of thought pursued in the latter part of the chapter, and carries with it greater force. It also explains the abruptness with which the injunction is introduced. The grand finale of the whole matter is: ‘Put the wicked one away from tho midst of you—the wicked one and all that belongs to him.’ This seems more natural than to suppose a recurrence to a matter already settled].

[26]See Archb. Magee’s conclusive argument on this subject in his “Atonement and Sacrifice,” Note 35 Kurtz Sacrificial Worship, § 180, and articles on “Passover” in Kitto Bib. Ency., and Smith’s Bible Dict. Also Bahr Symbolik, Vol. II., p. 627 ff., Lange Life of Christ, Edinburgh. Tran., IV., p. 149, and Lange Mat_26:1-5].

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5:6-7 Yeast was often a symbol of sin (cp. Matt 16:6, 12; Mark 8:15; Luke 12:1; Gal 5:9). Jews ceremonially cleansed their homes of yeast before the annual Passover meal (Exod 12:19; 13:7). • Get rid of . . . this wicked person: Sin, if unaddressed, could spread throughout the church, just as yeast spreads throughout a batch of dough.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

1Co 5:6. Οὐ καλὸν, not good) The not, is directed against the careless indifference of the Corinthians.—τὸ καύχημα, glorying) This in itself is something good and becoming, 1Co 15:31; but wherever it is not anxiously watched, it is at fault, and comes very near to a puffing up of the spirit, 1Co 5:2.—μικρὰ—ζυμοῖ) an Iambic verse of six feet [Senarius], Gal 5:9.—ζύμη, leaven) even one sin and one sinner.—φύραμα, lump) the assembly of Christians.—ζυμοῖ, leavens) with guilt and its example creeping on to a very wide extent. [Alas! for how long a period of time, and in how great a degree, must the Christian world, if we except those portions of it which are renewed, be a lump, or collection of filth most thoroughly leavened!—V. g.]

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co_5:6. In face of the necessity for such measures as thesehow odious appears that of which ye make boast! Rather ought ye to consider that a little leaven, etc., and (1Co_5:7) sweep out the old leaven! Καύχημα is not the same as καύχησις, but: materies gloriandi (see on Rom_4:2); and what is meant by it is not the incestuous person (Chrysostom, Theophylact, Grotius) as a man of high repute for wisdom in Corinth, but the condition of the Corinthians as a Christian church, inasmuch as they boasted themselves of this so confidently, while morally it was foul enough and full of shameful abuses! αἰσχρὸν κλέος, Eur. Hel. 135.

οὐκ οἴδατε κ.τ.λ[801]] Basis of the admonition which follows in 1Co_5:7. The meaning of the proverbial saying (comp Gal_5:9, and on the figure of the leaven, which is very frequently used elsewhere, and that in different senses, Mat_13:33; Luk_13:21; Mat_16:6; Mar_8:15; Luk_12:1) is ordinarily defined to be this: that a corrupt man corrupts the whole church. But 1Co_5:8 proves that Paul was thinking not of persons, but of abstract qualities in connection with ζύμη and ἄζυμα. The meaning, therefore, must be: Know ye not that one scandal in the church robs the whole church of its moral and Christian character? Comp also Hofmann. In virtue of their relation as members of a common society, all become chargeable with guilt by the toleration among them of a single scandalous offence, and their ἁγιότης is gone!

[801] .τ.λ. καὶ τὰ λοιπά.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co 5:6 . “Your vaunt is not good:” καύχημα , materies gloriandi ( cf. αἰσχρὸν κλέος , Eurip., Helena , 135: Mr [834] ), found in the state of the Church, of which the Cor [835] were proud (1Co 4:6 ff.) when they ought to have been ashamed. καλόν , good in the sense of seemly, of fine quality; cf. 2Co 8:21 , Joh 10:32 , etc. For οὐκ οἴδατε …; see 1Co 3:16 . The Cor [836] might reply that the offence, however shameful, was the sin of one man and therefore a little thing; P. retorts, that it is “a little leaven ,” enough to “leaven the whole kneading”: cf. the Parables of Mat 13:33 and Luk 12:1 . A sin so virulent held an indefinite power of corruption; it tainted the entire community. The φύραμα ( φυράω , to mix ) is the lump of dough kneaded for a single batch of bread: see parls.

[834] Meyer’s Critical and Exegetical Commentary (Eng. Trans.).

[835] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[836] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Co_5:6

Your glorying (is) not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?

Your boasting, (καύξημα) ground of boasting. You have no good reason to boast of your religious state; on the contrary, you have abundant reason to be alarmed. Know ye not; do ye not consider the obvious and certain danger of this evil spreading? A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. This proverbial expression is not here intended to express the idea that one corrupt member of the church depraves the whole, because, in the following verses, in which the figure is carried out, the leaven is not a person, but sin. The idea, therefore, is, that it is the nature of evil to diffuse itself. This is true with regard to individuals and communities. A single sin, however secret, when indulged, diffuses its corrupting influence over the whole soul; it depraves the conscience; it alienates from God; it strengthens all other principles of evil, while it destroys the efficacy of the means of grace and the disposition to use them. It is no less true of any community, that any one tolerated evil deteriorates its whole moral sense.

Charles Hodge — Commentary on Romans (1835), First Corinthians (1857), and Ephesians (1856) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Is naught, and not grounded upon good reason, as though you were excellent, and yet there is such wickedness found amongst you.

Another end of excommunication is, that others be not infected, and therefore it must of necessity be retained in the Church, that the one be not infected by the other.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Your glorying in your own attainments and those of your favorite teachers (Co1 3:21; Co1 4:19; Co1 5:2), while all the while ye connive at such a scandal, is quite unseemly.

a little leaven leaveth . . . whole lump-- (Gal 5:9), namely, with present complicity in the guilt, and the danger of future contagion (Co1 15:33; Ti2 2:17).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 6. Your glorying is not good.] You are triumphing in your superior knowledge, and busily employed in setting up and supporting your respective teachers, while the Church is left under the most scandalous corruptions-corruptions which threaten its very existence if not purged away.

Know ye not] With all your boasted wisdom, do you not know and acknowledge the truth of a common maxim, a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? If this leaven-the incestuous person, be permitted to remain among you; if his conduct be not exposed by the most formidable censure; the flood-gates of impurity will be opened on the Church, and the whole state of Christianity ruined in Corinth.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

6. Your glorying is not good. He condemns their glorying, not simply because they extolled themselves beyond what is lawful for man, but because they delighted themselves in their faults. He had previously stripped mankind of all glory; for he had shown that, as they have nothing of their own, whatever excellence they may have, they owe the entire praise of it to God alone. (1 Corinthians 4:7.) What he treats of here, however, is not that, God is defrauded of his right, when mortals arrogate to themselves the praise of their excellences, but that the Corinthians are guilty of arrant folly in extolling themselves without any just ground. For they proudly gloried as if everything had been in a golden style among them, while in the meantime there was so much among them that was wicked and disgraceful.

Know ye not That they might not think that it was a matter of little or no importance that they gave encouragement to so great an evil, he shows the destructive tendency of indulgence and dissimulation in such a case. He makes use of a proverbial saying, by which he intimates that a whole multitude is infected by the contagion of a single individual. For this proverb has in this passage the same meaning as in those expressions of Juvenal: “A whole herd of swine falls down in the fields through disease in one of their number, and one discolored grape infects another.” I have said in this passage, because Paul, as we shall see, makes use of it elsewhere (Galatians 5:9) in another sense.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(6) Your glorying is not good.—There is possibly a reference here to some boasting regarding their spiritual state contained in the letter which had reached St. Paul from Corinth, and to which part of this Epistle is a reply. (See 1Co_7:1.) So long as there is that one bad person amongst you it gives a bad character to the whole community, as leaven, though it may not have pervaded the entire lump, still makes it not the unleavened bread which was necessary for the Paschal Feast. This Epistle being written shortly before Pentecost (1Co_16:8), it was very likely some time about or soon after Easter, hence the leaven and the Paschal Feast naturally suggest themselves as illustrations. The Apostle passes on rapidly from the mention of the leaven to the whole scene of the feast. As with the most minute and scrupulous care the Jew would remove every atom of leaven when the Paschal lamb was to be eaten, so our Paschal Lamb having been slain, we must take care that no moral leaven remains in the sacred household of the Church while she keeps her perpetual feast of prayer and thanksgiving.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6. Your glorying is not good] Rather, that state of things of which you glory is not good. The word here translated glorying signifies that whereof a man glories, and is so translated in Rom_4:2. Cf. ch. 1Co_9:15-16; 2Co_1:14; 2Co_5:12; 2Co_9:3, &c., where the same word is used, but is variously translated in our version. The Corinthians are once more reminded how little cause they had for self-glorification. As long as they permitted such an offender to defile their society they were in a measure partakers of his sin.

a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump] The presence of a very small amount of evil in the Christian society imparts a character to the whole—a truth only too folly exemplified in the after-history of the Christian Church. From the evil that has crept into the Christian society men have taken occasion to deny its divine origin. The student of history will remember how dexterously Gibbon contrives to throw discredit upon Christianity by enlarging upon the shortcomings of the early Church, and by evading the comparison between its moral elevation and the shocking demoralization of heathen society. The same words are to be found in Gal_5:9.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Your glorying is not good,.... Their glorying in their outward flourishing condition, in their riches and wealth, and in their ministers, in their wisdom and parts when under such an humbling dispensation; and especially if their glorying was in the sin itself, and their connivance at it, it was far from being good, it was very criminal, as the consequence of it was dangerous:

know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? This, in nature, is what everybody knows; and the proverb, which is much used by the Jews (f), was common in the mouths of all, and the meaning of it easy to be understood: thus, whether applied to the leaven of false doctrine, nothing is more manifest, than when this is let alone, and a stop is not put to it, it increases to more ungodliness; or to vice and immorality, as here; which if not taken notice of by a church, is not faithfully reproved and severely censured, as the case requires, will endanger the whole community; it may spread by example, and, under the connivance of the church, to the corrupting of good manners, and infecting of many.

(f) Neve Shalom apud Caphtor, fol. 41. 1.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?

Ver. 6. Your glorying is not good] It is the height of wickedness to glory in wickedness, as Lamech, Gen 4:23-24, and Alexander Pheraeus, who consecrated the javelin wherewith he had slain Polyphron. Protagoras boasted that he had spent forty years in corrupting of youth. (Plato.) Mark Antony vomited out a book concerning his own ability to eat and drink much. Joannes a Casa, dean of the pope’s chamber, wrote a poem in commendation of his own beastly sin of sodomy. And Stokesly, Bishop of London in King Henry VIII’s time, lying at point of death, rejoiced, boasting that in his lifetime he had burned fifty heretics, that is, good Christians. (Acts and Mon.)

A little leaven leaveneth, &c.] One spoonful of vinegar will soon sour a great deal of sweet milk; but a great deal of milk will not so soon sweeten one spoonful of vinegar. One sinner may destroy much good, saith Solomon, Ecc 9:18. He may be a common mischief, if tolerated, by spreading the infection of his wickedness, which is more catching than the plague.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Your glorying - Your boasting; or confidence in your present condition, as if you were eminent in purity and piety.

Is not good - Is not well, proper, right. Boasting is never good; but it is especially wrong when, as here, there is an existing evil that is likely to corrupt the whole church. When people are disposed to boast, they should at once make the inquiry whether there is not some sin indulged in, on account of which they should be humbled and subdued. If all individual Christians, and all Christian churches, and all people of every rank and condition, would look at things as they are, they would never find occasion for boasting. It is only when we are blind to the realities of the ease, and overlook our faults, that we are disposed to boast. The reason why this was improper in Corinth, Paul states - that any sin would tend to corrupt the whole church, and that therefore they ought not to boast until that was removed.

A little leaven ... - A small quantity of leaven or yeast will pervade the entire mass of flour, or dough, and diffuse itself through it all. This is evidently a proverbial saying. It occurs also in Gal 5:9. Compare the note at Mat 13:33. A similar figure occurs also in the Greek classic writers - By leaven the Hebrews metaphorically understood whatever had the power of corrupting, whether doctrine, or example, or anything else. See the note at Mat 16:6. The sense here is plain. A single sin indulged in, or allowed in the church, would act like leaven - it would pervade and corrupt the whole church, unless it was removed. On this ground, and for this reason, discipline should be administered, and the corrupt member should be removed.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Your glorying is not good, when you suffer such a scandal among you: you have little reason to boast of your masters, or even of the gifts and graces you received. A little leaven corrupteth the whole mass; a public scandal, when not punished, is of dangerous consequence. --- Purge out the old leaven. He alludes to the precept given to the Jews of having no leaven in their houses during the seven days of the Paschal feast. For our Pasch, i.e. Paschal lamb, Christ is sacrificed: and Christians, says St. John Chrysostom, must keep this feast continually, by always abstaining from the leaven of sin. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

You boast and glory because you have men of parts amongst you, persons whom the world count wise;

your glorying is not good; what do you glory for, when you have such a scandalous person amongst you, and take no care to cast him out? Can you be ignorant, that as

a little leaven taken into the midst of the meal, and there kept, presently soureth the whole mass, and leaveneth the whole lump; so one notorious, scandalous sinner detained in the bosom of a church, casts a blot upon the whole church?

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Your glorying; rather, the subject of your boasting, the point on which you glorify yourselves. The Greek word does not mean the act of boasting, but the thing of which we boast. Not good. The Greek word is not agathon, but kalon, an almost untranslatable word, which implies all moral beauty, and resembles the English word "fair" or "noble." When he says that it is "not good," he uses the figure called litotes; i.e. he employs an expression intentionally too weak, that it may be corrected into a stronger one by the involuntary indignation of the reader; as when Virgil calls the cannibal tyrant Busiris "unpraised." Hence the clause is equivalent to "the thing of which you are boasting is detestable." Know ye not. This clause is used by St. Paul in specially solemn appeals, and almost exclusively in these Epistles. (1Co_3:16 1Co_6:16, 19 9:13, 24) A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. (Gal_5:9) The taint alluded to is not only the presence of the unpunished offender, but the general laxity and impurity displayed by their whole bearing in the matter (comp. the line of Menander quoted in ch. 15:33, and the "root of bitterness". (in Heb_12:15) (For the word "lump," see Rom_11:16)

Vers. 6-13.

The true Church a feast.

glorying is not good," etc. There are numerous Churches, but only one true Church, viz. that community of men who possess the Spirit and exemplify the character of Jesus Christ. These verses lead us to look upon the true Church

I In its INTERNAL ENJOYMENTS. It is called here a "feast." Truly the association of such Christly spirited men is a "feast" of the sublimest kind, a feast to each and all. A "feast:

1. Because it contains the choicest elements for spiritual nourishment. The quickening, elevating, and suggestive ideas current in such fellowship, current, not only in language, but in looks, and bearing, and acts, and spirit, constitute the soul banquet, a "feast of fat things," etc.

2. Because it contains the choicest elements for spiritual gratification. A feast implies not merely nourishment, but pleasure and delight. What is a higher delight than the loving intercourse of kindred souls, free interchange of the most lofty thoughts and purest sympathies, loving souls flowing and reflowing into each other? The true Church is not a moody, melancholy assemblage, speaking in sepulchral tones, and singing doleful dirges; it is the brightest and most jubilant fellowship on earth. "These words have I spoken unto you, that your joy may be full; Rejoice,... and again I say, rejoice.

II In its EXTERNAL RELATION TO THE UNGODLY.

1. There is a connection with ungodly men that it must avoid. They must not be admitted to its "feasts." "Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us." As the Jews put away leaven at the celebration of the Passover, so all corrupt men must be excluded from the Church feasts. Christ is its Passover, its Feast. It is suggested that the presence of corrupt men at the feast would be contagious. It would be likely to act as "leaven" through the community. As leaven kneaded into a lump of dough spreads from particle to particle, ferments in its process, spreads through the whole, and assimilates all to its own character, so a bad man"s spirit may work through the community of the good. Therefore, because it is so contagious and pernicious, exclude it. "Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." No Church that has such leaven in it, whatever its intellectual, social, or spiritual advantages, has any reason for exultation. "Your glorying is not good," says Paul: "know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?" Be grave, be serious, look well to the moral character of your members.

2. There is a connection with ungodly men that it cannot avoid. "I wrote unto you in an Epistle not to company with fornicators: yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world." You cannot avoid contact and some kind of intercourse with the ungodly men outside. You cannot attend to the temporal affairs of your life without them. Nor can you discharge your spiritual obligations without going amongst them. As a Christian you are bound to go amongst them, to correct their mistakes, to enlighten their darkness, to reprove their wrongs, and to endeavour to "turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God." Over such you have no legal control, you can exercise no jurisdiction; they are without. You have no power to exclude them from your neighbourhood or your country; they are to be left alone in that respect. "Them that are without God judgeth." But if you find such characters inside the Church, you are to deal with them. "But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such a one no not to eat." Observe here:

(1) Sin in man takes various forms. Paul adds to the incestuous man, the "fornicator," the "covetous" man, the "idolater," the "railer," the "drunkard," the "extortioner;" all have to be avoided. Sin is to be avoided whatever form it takes; and it takes many forms. What is a temptation to one man is not to another. Hence one is tempted to be a "fornicator;" another a miser, "covetous;" another an "idolater," worshipping false gods; another a scorner, a "railer;" another a "drunkard," intemperate; another an "extortioner," overreaching, overexacting, tyrannic.

(2) In whatever forms this "leaven" shows itself, it must not be tolerated for a moment. It must be excluded at once.

Vers. 6-13.

Supplementary views and explanations.

Was nothing necessary except to get rid of the offender? That was to be done, but something else was quite as much of an exigency. Here, then, we see the extent to which the enormous evil had spread, for the whole Church had been infected. If the vice had assumed in one man the completest form of social iniquity, what was the state of the atmosphere in which this was possible? Such corruption was not sporadic: the whole air was poisoned; and in this state of things nothing short of a general purification would suffice. For, in the midst of this widespread taint, you are breathing out your complacent self conceits Glorying (boasting) is not good. To glory in a time like this of your privileges, gifts, eloquence, devotion to leaders, is a wretched delusion, bad enough under any circumstances, incomparably worse now, because of the immense contrast between your state of mind and your actual condition. This is St. Paul"s argument. But his logic is not content to be logic only. Buoyant and flexible as are his reasonings, be must have the help of metaphors, since all our greatest thoughts tend to perfect themselves by means of the imagination. Beyond the illustrative imagination (for he is very utilitarian in the use of images) he seldom goes, and he is especially given to the habit of using the interrogatory imagination. "Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?" Purge it out an earnest word; cleanse and purify by ridding the Church of its moral defilement, and so complete the work begun in the excommunication of the incestuous man. It is "old leaven," the relic of the natural man, and it threatens to destroy the new man of Christ"s kingdom. For what now is the Divine ideal of a Christian? A new creature in Christ. And what the ideal of the Church? A new brotherhood of humanity in Christ. Therefore, purge out the old leaven, and be a new lump, remembering that even discipline executed in Christ"s name has its dangers, and may divert us from attention to our own spiritual condition. Inasmuch, then, as St. Paul looked on the excision of the ungodly member of the Church, and the internal purification of the Church in all its members, as branches of one and the same duty, he presses his argument under the idea of a new lump not a mere outer reform, but a thoroughgoing inward renewal by the grace of the Spirit. Such language could have emanated from no man who had not been a religious Jew. Nor could it have proceeded from one who was simply a spiritual Jew. It was a Christian thinker, a thinker of catholic insight, who saw into Judaism from the cross of Calvary, when that cross and its Divine Sacrifice had the great darkness under which they stood cleared away by Pentecost. Once St. Paul had understood the scrupulous removing of the leaven by the Jews from their homes in a very different way. Once he had seen in the Pass over and kindred institutions a life giving and perpetual force. Now, however, the images lingered in his thoughts, only to remind him that Christians were "unleavened," and that all the leaven of impurity must be put away from them. For them the Paschal Lamb had been slain, and in the Victim"s death they had redemption. "Let us keep the feast;" our consecrated life a festival of gladness, and our thanksgiving continually ascending to God. And how shall this long and sacred festivity be observed? No external demonstrations are mentioned. Could the Jew conceive of a festival like this? Would not the pomp and show of national reunions, the booths and palm boughs, the cheer of open air life, and the music and domestic joy of the congregated caravans, rush upon him with their thrilling recollections? And would not the Greek, whose senses were so finely attuned to whatever was beautiful in material nature, and whose very birthright was the luxury of existence beneath skies and amid landscapes that seemed to pour their sympathies into his bosom, would not he recall the theatre and the games? And yet St. Paul tells them of a festival which the renewed soul may keep without any of these things, and be supremely happy. "The old leaven," especially "the leaven of malice and wickedness," must be excluded, and the feast must be kept "with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." The evil in our nature must be destroyed, and, in its place, must be had the genuine excellence which has been tried and proved, and the harmony that comes from self control because the human will is controlled by the indwelling Spirit of God. Virtues such as sincerity and truth need society, and, assuredly, society needs them. Eager to communicate and in turn to receive, what shall be the law of their intercourse with mankind? Fellowship is a Christian designation that cannot have its meaning in the world. But Christians are in the world, and a very important element in its life. To deny its associations and segregate themselves from others is to commit a species of suicide. On a former occasion St. Paul had written an Epistle touching this subject. But he had been misunderstood, and now he would rectify their error. They had blundered, not he. And now he sets the matter clearly before them by impressing on these Corinthians that there was not only a distinction between the Church and the world, but likewise between the good and the evil in the Church itself. Tares must grow with the wheat, but that was no reason why they should treat the tares as wheat. Fornicators in the Church or out of it were fornicators, and the brethren were not to keep company with them. And hence his explicitness, "not to company" with any man who was a fornicator, though he might be "called a brother." Nor does he stop here. Covetous men, idolaters, railers, drunkards, extortioners, they were not to associate with on such terms of social companionship as would be symbolized by eating with them. How could he as an apostle judge those who were without? If he did not do this, could they suppose that he meant to require it of them? The outer world must be left with God. And now St. Paul returns to the matter engrossing his solicitude: "Put away from among yourselves that wicked person." If, indeed, Christ is our Paschal Lamb; if through that offering of expiation and reconciliation in itself forever perfect and by us realized in pardon and renewal and sanctification, life becomes an Easter of glad thanksgiving; we must make this sincerity (purity) and this truth (harmony) visible to the world in our social sympathies. Bodily sins are easily condoned among men: beware of that evil. Extortion and covetousness grow out of the idolatry of the senses, and they must not be countenanced by familiar association. How modern is this Epistle! No thought had St. Paul of us and our century, but these words of his rise from their local connections and assume universality of application. Corinth is at our doors, because its spirit is in all unsanctified hearts. And yet thanks to the grace of the Spirit in all the foremost civilizations of this age and over a wider space than ever before, the Paschal Lamb is precious to thousands. Since the days of the apostle, human life has expanded its outward area. Myriads of things, unknown to it then, are its possession and strength and glory now. Two wonderful enlargements have gone on that of the universe to our comprehension, and this of the globe and the world to which we belong. And, in the midst of all the widening, specially in the fuller opening of human sympathies and the growth of human intercourse, the blessed festival of Christian life repeats its ancient joy and multiplies the participants of its Divine gladness. L.

Vers. 6, 7.

Purge out the old leaven.

The apostle sought the illustrations with which he enforced Christian doctrine and duty from every source, Hebrew and Gentile alike. In this passage he derives, from the practices of his countrymen during the festival of the Passover, a figure by which he brings before his readers the necessity of moral purity in life and in fellowship. As the Jews were accustomed at the approach of the feast to search out every scrap of leaven to be found in their houses, that they might duly keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, so were the Corinthians exhorted to clear themselves of all moral taint, that they might be a people meet for the fellowship and the service of the holy Redeemer.

I THE IDEAL STATE OF THE CHRISTIAN HEART AND OF THE CHRISTIAN SOCIETY IS ONE OF PERFECT FREEDOM FROM ALL TAINT OF SIN. It was a high and noble aim that which the Divine Founder of Christianity set before him the formation of a society which should be pure with his own purity, i.e. both of life and of heart. It is to such an aim that he himself, and after him his inspired apostles, encourage all Christians to aspire: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.

II THERE IS A LEAVEN OF SINFUL INFLUENCE IN HUMAN NATURE AND IN HUMAN SOCIETY WHICH ENDANGERS THE PURITY OF THE CHURCH.

1. The presence of such a leaven was very painfully manifest in the society at Corinth. But where is the Christian community which is absolutely pure? There are societies which make great professions in this matter; but their "glorying is not good." Where is the individual Christian in whose nature there is no trace of the old, worldly, sinful, corrupt humanity? The purest and the best are foremost to acknowledge that this is so.

2. Leaven furnishes an illustration of the diffusive, contagious, corrupting power of sin. A little leaven leavens the lump. A sin tolerated, a sinner countenanced, in a Christian society, may imperil the general purity. "One sickly sheep infects the flock;" "Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth!" These and other proverbial intimations of the power of this principle are sufficient to put us upon our guard. Each heart is aware of the secret temptations to evil to which it is most exposed; and perhaps every one"s experience can show how evil habit grows when unchecked and indulged.

III THE DIVINE SUMMONS REQUIRES THAT THE LEAVEN OF SIN BE REMOVED THAT THE MASS MAY BE PRESERVED IN PURITY.

1. The case of the Corinthians reminds us that the excision of an offending member may be necessary in order to vindicate Christian purity and to protest against the encroachments of sin. The old leaven must, in this sense, be "purged out.

2. There is, however, a wider application of this principle. Corruption creeps into every nature, into every society. And the apostle here enjoins that we submit to no truce, to no compromise with sin, but that, for the sake of our own spiritual and eternal interests, we keep a watch upon ourselves, lest the sour leaven steal in unobserved, and corrupt our nature ere we be aware of its operation, or at all events its power. Holiness becometh the house of the Lord forever. T.

The lesson of the leaven.

It is very confidently affirmed that leaven is always used in a had sense in Scripture, and is the illustration of the working of evil principle. Some forcing of Scripture is, however, necessary if a bad sense must be always found; and while we must admit that leavening is, in measure, a corrupting process, we should also recognize that the permeating influence of leaven may be used to illustrate the advance and extension of good principle. Undoubtedly it is the tendency of evil to propagate itself rapidly, and infect all around it, on which the apostle here dwells a tendency which may be also illustrated by the insidious spreading of contagious and infectious disease. It may be helpful to give some account of the character and action of "leaven." Hugh Macmillan says, "It consists of myriads of the cells of the common green mould in an undeveloped state. If a fragment of the dough with the leaven in it be put aside in a shady place, the cells of the fungus in the leaven will vegetate, and cover the dough with a slight downy substance, which is just the plant in its complete form. The swelling of the dough, and the commotion which goes on in the leavened mass, are owing to the multiplication of the plant cells, which takes place with astonishing rapidity. By this process of vegetation, the starch and sugar of the dough are converted into other chemical products. But it is only allowed to go to a certain length, and then the principle of growth is checked, by placing the dough in the oven and baking it into bread. Leaven is thus a principle of destruction and construction of decay and of growth of death and of life. It has two effects, which are made use of as types in Scripture. On the one side, the operation of leaven upon meal presents an analogy to something evil in the spiritual world; for it decays and decomposes the matter with which it comes into contact. On the other side, the operation of leaven upon meal presents an analogy to something good in the spiritual world; for it is a principle of life and growth, and imparts a new energy and a beneficent quality to the matter with which it comes in contact." Archbishop Trench says, "In some passages, the puffing up, disturbing, souring propotries which leaven has are the prominent points of comparison; in others, its warmth, its penetrative energy, the power which a little of it has to lend its own savour and virtue to much wherewith it is brought in contact.

I LEAVEN IS A FIGURE OF MORAL EVIL IN THE CHURCH. It suggests

(1) the insidious nature,

(2) the rapid propagation,

(3) the corrupting influence, of evil.

the evil was not a matter of example, but of contagion. Such a one as this incestuous man wicked, impenitent, and unpunished would infect the rest of the Church. Who does not know how the tone of evil has communicated itself? Worldly minds, irreverent minds, licentious minds, leaven society. You cannot be long with persons who by innuendo, double meaning, or lax language, show an acquaintance with evil, without feeling in some degree assimilated to them, nor can you easily retain enthusiasm for right amongst those who detract and scoff at goodness." The corrupting influence of evil in the Church may be illustrated from the history of the great heresies, more especially those which have been started by immoral and unworthy men.

II SUCH MORAL EVIL IS SURE PRESENTLY TO ATTRACT PUBLIC ATTENTION. And so it brings a wrong estimate of the Chinch, and excites prejudice against it. The Church has most gravely suffered, in every age, from her unworthy members, who have been only too readily regarded, by outsiders, as the Church"s representatives. "The student of history wilt remember how dexterously Gibbon contrives to throw discredit upon Christianity by enlarging upon the shortcomings of the early Church, and by evading the comparison between its moral elevation and the shocking demoralization of heathen society.

III SUCH MORAL EVIL HAS A DANGEROUSLY ACTIVE AND PERVASIVE INFLUENCE, "It leaveneth the whole lump." It spreads in the soil as the roots of bindweed. Therefore, as, in preparation for the Paschal feast, the Jews carefully and minutely searched forevery particle of leaven, to turn it out of their houses, so must the Christian Church watch lest any bad person come into its membership, and must strictly exclude those who may take bad ways after joining its membership, lest their evil influence should be found to pervade the whole lump. The very first symptoms and indications of moral evil demand resolute dealing, and should be immediately met by the strong yet charitable discipline of the Church. In simple language, suited for children, the poet expresses the danger dealt with in this homily.

One sickly sheep infects the flock, And poisons all the rest. R.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Your glorying - Either in your gifts or prosperity, at such a time as this, is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven - One sin, or one sinner. Leaveneth the whole lump - Diffuses guilt and infection through the whole congregation.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

The general need of purification in the Christian congregations:

v. 6. Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

v. 7. Purge out, therefore, the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us;

v. 8. therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

This case of the incestuous person was not the only matter which was wrong in the congregation at Corinth. It was true, in general, that their vaunt, that in which they made their boast, was not good, not of an acceptable quality. Among the members at Corinth there were many who led anything but model, pure lives, for which reason all vaunting and boasting on their part should have been omitted. That their boasting was no credit to them, and that the corruption which was to be found in their midst should rather have caused the deepest humility among them, Paul proceeds to illustrate by a familiar comparison, by a proverbial saying: A little leaven leavens the entire mass, the whole kneading. A sin of this kind tainted the entire community. Just as the individual Christian cannot tolerate any sin, even the smallest, without corrupting his entire nature, just so an entire congregation will suffer the consequences if it permits so much as one of its members to continue in an open and flagrant offense. "And herein this is the worst feature, that such corruption gains ground so powerfully and maintains its position so stubbornly that it cannot be eradicated again; just as the leaven, no matter how little is added to the dough, eats through it, so that everything is soon sour and no one can hinder it from becoming so, or make it sweet again"

For this reason Paul gives the advice: Clean out thoroughly the old leaven. He reminds his readers of the preparations for the ancient celebration of the Passover Festival. The removal of the leaven, Exo 12:18-19, was done on the 13th or at the very latest on the morning of the 14th Nisan, and carried out with the most minute care. All the places in the house where bread was kept or where crumbs might have fallen were searched with lighted tapers, and all the dark corners scraped out carefully, lest any leaven remain to spoil the festival for the family. In just the same way the Corinthians must put from their midst the incestuous person and remove all open offenses. And even so the Christians of all times clean out the old leaven of sin by daily contrition and repentance in themselves and insist upon the application of the power to bind in case of notorious transgressions in church-members. And the object of such purging, according to God’s will, shall be: That you may be a new mass, just as you are unleavened. If a Christian uses care to keep down his own old Adam, and does all in his power to maintain the purity of the Christian congregation, then the will of God is realized in the gradual production of a hallowed mass, from which all evil ferment is removed, which is governed by the Spirit of God only. And the ability to accomplish so much is based upon God’s gift of grace, the fact that all Christians are looked upon as unleavened, clean, and pure for the sake of Christ’s atonement, Joh 15:3. "The apostle commands the old leaven to be swept out, and gives this reason: For you are a new mass and unleavened. To be a new or sweet mass he calls having the faith which clings to Christ and believes that it has forgiveness of sins through Him; as he shortly afterwards will say of Christ, our Passover, sacrificed for us, etc. Through the same faith we are cleansed of the old leaven, that is, from sins and an evil conscience, and have now begun to be new men. Behold, that is one thing which this text teaches us, that also in the saints there yet remains weakness and much that is unclean and sinful, which is to be cleaned out, and yet is not imputed to them, since they are in Christ and purge out such leaven. " That the Christians are considered clean and pure before God through the merits of Christ, and should therefore endeavor to maintain this purity and keep their garments unspotted, is all based upon one fact: For our Passover also, Christ, is sacrificed for us. To people familiar with the customs of the Jewish festival the very suggestion must arouse their attention: The Passover lamb slain, and the leaven not yet cast out! It was intended to make them eager for all progress in Sanctification, and in every form, since all Christians are partakers of this wonderful gift. Christ is the true Passover Lamb, and all the festival lambs of the Old Testament were but types, pointing forward to the great fulfillment, Isa 53:1-12. Christ was sacrificed, slain, as a lamb that bore the sins of the world. So great and terrible are the sins of the world that the great, serious, and terrible wrath of God because of sins, as Luther says, could not stop short of carrying out the decree of death in the case of the Substitute of all men. God spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. Thus Christ truly became our Passover; for His sake, for the blood which He shed, and which has been painted on the portals of our hearts, the angel of destruction passes by the believers, so that the plague of everlasting damnation cannot come nigh our dwelling.

All conditions being fulfilled in this manner: Let us, therefore, keep the feast, let us celebrate the festival meal and continue in the enjoyment of its blessings. And since, as Luther writes, we Christians have Easter always, since our Passover Lamb lasts forever, therefore the work of Sanctification which was begun in us in regeneration should continue throughout our lives; a consecrated life naturally follows from the intimate union between Christ and the believers. This the apostle explains: Not in the old leaven, neither in the leaven of badness and meanness, but in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. The old leaven, very thing that savors of the old sinful nature, has been purged out, it shall never again assume the rule in the hearts of the believers. And two specific manifestations of this old Adam are mentioned: the leaven of badness, of malice, of every trespass by which harm is inflicted upon our neighbor; and the leaven of meanness, of wickedness, whose object is to seduce men from the proper understanding of the Word and to work every manner of offense. To this vicious disposition and the active exercise of it is opposed the keeping of the feast in the unleavened bread of purity and truth, a proper inward disposition that knows no guile, with which also accords a person’s entire outward life, "that we both keep the pure doctrine of the Gospel and also with a holy life and example comport ourselves accordingly, and thus continually live properly, as on an eternal Easter festival,... wherein we, as new men in the faith of Christ, live and continue righteous, holy, and pure, in peace and joy of the Holy Ghost, as long as we are here on earth."

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

As if the apostle had said, "You Corinthians are prone to pride yourselves, in the numbers of wise and wealthy men that are found among you; you glory that Corinth is the eye of Greece, and Greece the eye of the world; but what do you glory in this for? When you have such a scandalous person among you, (the incestuous man,) who is a blot and a blemish to your whole society, know ye not that as a little leaven leaveneth and soureth the whole lump; so such a member continued among you, will defile the whole body or society of Christians with you? Therefore purge out this old leaven, (cast this scandalous person out of your communion,) that ye may be a new lump (your whole church an holy society) as ye are unleavened; that is, forasmuch as ye are by your profession of Christianity obliged to be unleavened, that is, separated from sin and sinners."

Learn hence, 1. That all sin in general, but the sin of uncleanness in particular, is as leaven in regard of its spreading and diffusive nature: old leaven it is here called, because the Corinthians had been long infamous for this sin of uncleanness, even to a proverb.

Observe next, That the apostle having used this similitude of leaven, he pursues it in allusion to the Jewish custom before the celebration of the passover, who were to cast all leaven out of their houses with detestation and cursing, upon penalty of being cut off from the congregation of Israel. Thus the holy profession of Christianity obliges every one of us to cut off every notorious sinner from our society, every lust from our hearts, every member of the old Adam, that we may be a new lump, answering our holy and heavenly calling.

Observe here, The apostle’s reason why the old leaven of uncleanness and malicious wickedness should be put away by us; namely, because Christ our passover is sacrificed for us. We should therefore be as careful to put away sinful lusts out of our hearts, as the Jews were to cast the material leaven out of their houses.

Learn hence, 1. That Christ is our passover, or paschal lamb, in allusion to which he is often called a lamb in the New Testament. We do not find him expressed in the New Testament by the name of any other animals which typified him, but only this of a lamb, this being more significant of his innocency and sufficiency than any other. Joh 1:29 He is called God’s lamb; here he is called our passover or paschal lamb; God’s in regard of the author, ours in regard to the end; God’s in regard of designation, ours in regard of acceptation.

Learn, 2. That Christ is our sacrifice. A sacrifice was necessary for a sinful creature, to atone divine displeasure: a sacrifice for sin must be pure and sinless; no such sacrifice could be found but the eternal Son of God; for whatever any creature could do or suffer, had been but a debt or duty, and that could never have made compensation or satisfaction for a debt of rebellion.

Learn, 3. That Christ was a sacrifice for us, not for himself; for being perfectly sinless, he needed no sacrifice. Now the notion of all sacrifices, both among Jews and heathens, was this, that they were substituted in the room and place of the offender, to appease an offended deity, and exempt the guilty person from punishment.

Accordingly our sins were imputed to Christ, and he died under the imputed guilt of them, as a reputed sinner; for we cannot conceive how divine justice should inflict the punishment upon Christ, had it not first considered him under guilt. The weight of all our sin was laid upon his innocent shoulders: our guilt became his, by a voluntary susception of the punishment, and consequently the sufferings of this sacrifice are imputed to us. He took our sins upon himself, as if he had actually sinned; and gave us the benefit of his sufferings, as if we had actually suffered and satisfied.

Observe next, The inference drawn by the apostle from Christ’s dying a sacrifice for us: Therefore let us keep the feast; not an anniversary, or yearly, but a daily feast, even all the days of our Christian life; let the whole of our lives be as the Jewish feast of passover was, free from leaven, from the leaven of malice and wickedness, and full of sincerity and uprightness both towards God and man.

Learn hence, The duty of every particular and individual Christian; seeing Christ has died as a sacrifice for his sin, his duty is to live unto Christ, by living up to the rule which Christ has given him, abhorring all malice, abandoning all wickedness, acting all that sincerity towards God, and exercising that truth and uprightness towards man, which will be an ornament to our profession whilst we are upon earth, and will bring us at length to the fruition of God in heaven.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6. “Your boasting is not beautiful.” Oh! What a rebuke is this on the proud boasting of the popular churches over their numbers! Could they only see the eliminations of the Judgment Day, when their mighty host will be cut down to a corporal’s guard, their feathers would fall. “Do you not know that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?” Leaven in the Bible always means corruption, i. e., sin; the woman and the meal in the parable of the kingdom is no exception, as the woman there is Mother Eve after the Fall, and the meal humanity in its three divisions, Ethiopian, Mongolian and Caucasian, including the whole human race, and all becoming so interpenetrated with the leaven of sin as in the awful finale to expedite destruction and doom in the great tribulation; the kingdom of God simultaneously existing in the world in mystery.

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Your glorying is not good . [Their glorying was sinful enough at best, but much more so when it was so inopportune.] Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

6–8. Your glorying is not good. Boasting, in such a state of affairs, was unseemly. A little leaven, etc. As a little leaven leavens the whole mass of dough, so one sinner suffered to go on in impurity sends a corrupting influence through the whole church.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Your boasting is not good

"Your boasting is bad"

Do you not know that a little yeast leavens the whole loaf?

Just as a little yeast spreads throughout a whole loaf of bread, so can a little sin impact the entire fellowship of believers. (See: Metaphor)

Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed

As the Passover lamb covered the sins of Israel by faith each year, so did Christ's death cover the sins of all who trust in Christ by faith for eternity. This can be stated in active form. AT: "the Lord has sacrificed Christ, our Passover lamb" (See: Metaphor and Active or Passive)

translationWords

boast

know

yeast

clean

unleavened bread

Christ

Passover

lamb

sacrifice

festival

evil

true

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

6. οὐ καλὸν τὸ καύχημα ὑμῶν. That state of things of which you glory is not good. καύχημα properly signifies that whereof a man glories, and is so translated in Rom 4:2. Cf. ch. 1Co 9:15-16; 2Co 1:14; 2Co 5:12; 2Co 9:3, &c., where the same word is used, but is variously translated in our version. It is impossible always to insist on its strict sense. It is very frequently equivalent to καύχησις. The Corinthians are once more reminded how little cause they had for self-glorification. As long as they permitted such an offender to defile their society they were in a measure partakers of his sin.

μικρὰ ζύμη ὅλον τὸ φύραμα ζυμοῖ. The presence of a very small amount of evil in the Christian society imparts a character to the whole—a truth only too fully exemplified in the after-history of the Christian Church. From the evil that has crept into the Christian society men have taken occasion to deny its divine origin. The student of history will remember how dexterously Gibbon contrives to throw discredit upon Christianity by enlarging upon the shortcomings of the early Church, and by evading the comparison between its moral elevation and the shocking demoralization of heathen society. The same words are to be found in Gal 5:9. φύραμα signifies a mass of dough, from φύρω to mix.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6.] ‘How inconsistent with your harbouring such an one, appear your high-flown conceits of yourselves!’

καύχημα, your matter of glorying.

Are you not aware that a little leaven imparts a character to the whole lump? That this is the meaning, and not, ‘that a little leaven will, if not purged out, leaven the whole lump,’ is manifest from the point in hand, viz. the inconsistency of their boasting: which would not appear by their danger of corruption hereafter, but by their character being actually lost. One of them was a fornicator of a fearfully depraved kind, tolerated and harboured: by this fact, the character of the whole was tainted.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6. Οὐ καλὸν τὸ καύχημα ὑμῶν. ‘Not seemly is your boast’: it is ill-timed, and it is discreditable to all who share in it.* Where a revolting crime is bringing disgrace and peril to the community, there can be no place for boasting. St Paul does not mean that the subject of their glorying, the thing they glory in (e.g. their enlightenment, or their liberty) is not good; but that in such distressing circumstances overt glorying is very unsuitable. As Evans elaborately points out, καύχημα is not materies gloriandi, but gloriatio (Beza, Beng.), or (more accurately) gloriatio facta, boasting uttered.† So also in 2Co 5:12.

μικρὰ ζύμη. The μικρά comes first with emphasis, and hence implies an argument a fortiori: if even a little leaven is so powerful, if even one unsatisfactory feature may have a septic influence in a community, how much more must a scandal of this magnitude infect the whole life of the Church. The simile of leaven is frequent in the N.T. See Gal 5:9. Here the stress of the argument lies less in the evil example of the offender than in the fact that toleration of this conduct implies concurrence (Rom 1:32) and debases the standard of moral judgment and instinct. To be indifferent to grave misbehaviour is to become partly responsible for it. A subtle atmosphere, in which evil readily springs up and is diffused, is the result. The leaven that was infecting the Corinthian Church was a vitiated public opinion. Cf. 2Th 3:6; also the charge of Germanicus to his soldiers as to their treatment of insubordinate comrades: discedite a contactu, ac dividite turbidos (Tae. Ann. i.43).

Both here and in Gal 5:9 we find the reading δολοῖ for ζυμοῖ in D with corrumpit in Vulg and other Latin texts.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Glorying [καυχημα] . Not the act, but the subject of boasting; namely, the condition of the Corinthian church.

Lump [φυραμα] . See on Rom 12:21. A significant term, suggesting the oneness of the Church, and the consequent danger from evil - doers.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vv. 6. “Your glorying is not good; know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?”

There are two ways of understanding the connection between the following passage and that which precedes: either the apostle continues to dwell on the disciplinary obligation of the Church,—and we must then regard the leaven to be taken away as either the incestuous person, or rather the vicious in general,—or it may be held that Paul, after upbraiding the Church with its negligence, seeks to guide its finger to the true cause of the mischief: the want of moral sincerity and firmness. This is the state which must be remedied without delay. Then reaction against the presence of the vicious will take place of itself. The first words are better explained in the second sense, for they relate to the present state of the Church in general. I have translated καύχημα by vanterie (boasting), as if it had been καύχησις (the act of boasting), because we have no word in French to denote the object of boasting. Chrysostom thought the word should be applied to the incestuous person himself, assuming that he was one of the eminent men in whom the Church gloried. Grotius and Heinrici have reproduced this explanation. It seems to us untenable: the Church was satisfied with its state in general, and in particular with the wealth of its spiritual gifts, on which Paul himself had congratulated it (1Co 1:5-7), and of which chaps. 12-14 will furnish proof. But this abundance of knowledge and speech was no real good except in so far as it effected the increase of spiritual life in the Church, and the sanctification of its members. As this was not the case, the apostle declares to them that their ground of self-satisfaction is of bad quality; a being vainly puffed up (1Co 4:19): “Ye are proud of the state of your Church; there is no reason for it!” He thus returns to the idea of 1Co 5:2.

This judgment is called forth by the softness of their conduct in regard to the evil which shows itself among them. Should they who are so rich in knowledge fail to know the influence exercised on a whole mass by the least particle of corruption which is tolerated in it?

Paul clothes his thought in a proverbial form (Gal 5:9). Leaven is here, as in many other passages (Mat 13:33; Luk 12:1), the emblem of a principle apparently insignificant in quantity, but possessing a real penetrating force, and that either for good (Mat 13:33) or for evil (Mat 16:6; Gal 5:9). Does Paul understand by this little leaven (the literal sense), the incestuous person or any other vicious member of the same kind, whose tolerated presence is a principle of corruption for the whole community? This is the meaning generally held. Or is he rather thinking of evil in general, which, when tolerated even in a limited and slightly scandalous form, gradually lowers the standard of the Christian conscience in all? It does not seem to me likely that Paul would designate as a little leaven a sinner guilty of so revolting an act as that in question (1Co 5:1), or other not less scandalous offenders. It is therefore better to apply this figure to all sin, even the least, voluntarily tolerated by the individual or the Church. This meaning, held by Meyer, de Wette, Hofmann, Gerlach, is confirmed by 1Co 5:7-8.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.