The holiness of Christ's church requires the loving but firm exercise of church discipline. Because Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed for us, believers are called to pursue purity both personally and corporately.
“Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.”
1 Corinthians 5:7, NKJV
Having addressed divisions within the church, Paul now confronts a far more serious issue: open, unrepentant sexual immorality within the Corinthian congregation. A man is living in a sinful relationship with his father's wife—an act so grievous that Paul observes it was condemned even among the Gentiles.
“It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you... that a man has his father's wife!”
1 Corinthians 5:1, NKJV
What grieves Paul most is not merely the man's sin, but the church's response. Rather than mourning over the sin and calling the offender to repentance, the Corinthians have become arrogant, apparently tolerating or even boasting in their misguided view of grace and liberty.
Paul declares that although he is absent physically, he has already rendered judgment concerning the matter because the sin is public, persistent, and destructive. He instructs the church, when gathered together in the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, to remove the man from their fellowship.
“Deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.”
1 Corinthians 5:5, NKJV
This difficult statement refers not to eternal condemnation but to removing the protection and fellowship of the church so that the painful consequences of sin might lead the offender to genuine repentance and ultimate restoration. This interpretation is strengthened by Paul's later instructions in 2 Corinthians, where a repentant offender appears to have been restored to fellowship (2 Corinthians 2:5–11).
Paul then illustrates the danger of tolerated sin by using the imagery of leaven.
“Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?”
1 Corinthians 5:6, NKJV
Just as yeast permeates an entire batch of dough, unchecked sin influences the entire congregation. The purity of the church cannot be preserved if deliberate rebellion is ignored.
Drawing from the imagery of the Passover, Paul reminds the Corinthians that Christ has fulfilled the Old Testament sacrifice.
“For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.”
1 Corinthians 5:7, NKJV
Because believers have been redeemed through Christ, they are called to celebrate the Christian life not with the "old leaven" of sin but with the "unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (1 Corinthians 5:8). The Passover becomes a powerful picture of the believer's new life in Christ—a life separated from the corruption of sin.
Finally, Paul clarifies an earlier instruction that had been misunderstood. He is not commanding believers to avoid all association with immoral people in the world, which would make ordinary life impossible. Rather, he commands the church not to maintain normal Christian fellowship with someone who claims to be a believer while openly persisting in serious, unrepentant sin.
“But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral... not even to eat with such a person.”
1 Corinthians 5:11, NKJV
Paul concludes by distinguishing between the church's responsibility and God's. The church is responsible for maintaining holiness within its own fellowship, while God will judge those outside the church.
God calls His church to reflect His holiness by refusing to tolerate persistent, unrepentant sin within the fellowship (1 Corinthians 5:1–2).
Church discipline is an act of loving correction designed to bring about repentance, restoration, and the protection of the congregation (1 Corinthians 5:3–5).
Like leaven in dough, tolerated sin gradually affects the entire body of believers (1 Corinthians 5:6).
Jesus fulfills the Passover sacrifice, delivering His people from sin and calling them to lives characterized by holiness and sincerity (1 Corinthians 5:7–8).
Believers are called to exercise discernment within the church while recognizing that God alone judges those outside the covenant community (1 Corinthians 5:9–13).
The goal of biblical discipline is never revenge or humiliation. Its purpose is repentance, restoration, and the spiritual good of both the individual and the church.
The gospel proclaims forgiveness for repentant sinners, but it never endorses persistent rebellion against God's commands.
The church is not merely a collection of individuals but the covenant community of God's people. Public, unrepentant sin affects the health and witness of the entire congregation.
Paul identifies Jesus as the ultimate Passover Lamb whose sacrificial death secures redemption and establishes a new covenant people called to holiness.
Christ is revealed as our Passover Lamb, whose sacrificial death has delivered His people from the bondage of sin. Because His blood has redeemed us, we are called to live as a holy people, separated from the "old leaven" of sin and marked by sincerity, truth, and obedience.
“Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.”
1 Corinthians 5:7, NKJV
The church reflects the holiness of Christ when it lovingly confronts persistent sin, pursues restoration, and guards the purity of the body. Because Christ has become our Passover sacrifice, believers are called to leave behind the old life of sin and walk in holiness, sincerity, and truth.