Chapter Five
1 Cor. 5:1. It is actually reported that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not even heard of among the pagans, that someone has his father's wife in place of a wife.
He accuses everyone in general, so that they would not give themselves over to carelessness, considering themselves free from this sin, but on the contrary, would endeavor to correct it, as a common disgrace. And he did not say: is shamelessly committed, but: "it is actually reported." If it is forbidden even to allow such a crime to reach one's hearing, is it not much more shameless to commit it? All the more "among you," who have been deemed worthy of the spiritual mysteries; and further, intensifying the accusation, he says: "such as is not even named among the Gentiles," he did not say: occurs, but: "is not even named." "That one should have his father's wife." He did not say: stepmother, but "his father's wife," so that by the reminder of the father he might make the blow more forceful. Furthermore, being ashamed to utter the name of adultery, he used the more decent expression "to have."
1 Cor. 5:2. And you are puffed up.
Be proud of the teaching of that fornicator, for he was wise. Note the wisdom of the apostle: he nowhere addresses his word to the fornicator, as a man dishonorable and unworthy of being brought into the open, but speaks with others, as about a common transgression.
1 Cor. 5:2. Instead of rather mourning, so that he who had done this deed might be taken away from among you.
It would have been fitting, he says, to weep, because the reproach spread to the entire Church; it would have been fitting to pray with tears, as over a disease and contagion, "that he might be taken away from among you," that is, that he be cut off from you, as a public evil. Again here too he did not mention the fornicator by name, but said "he who has done such a deed."
1 Cor. 5:3. But I, being absent in body yet present with you in spirit, have already decided, as though being present with you.
Notice the indignation. He does not allow them to wait for his arrival and only then bind the fornicator, but hastens to stop the evil, the contagion, before it spreads to the entire body of the Church. He said "being present with you in spirit" in order to compel them to pronounce the judgment and at the same time to frighten them by the fact that he knows how they will judge there, and that the spirit, that is, the gift of discernment, will reveal to him everything they do. With the words "I have already decided, as though being present with you," he does not allow them to undertake anything else; for I, he says, have pronounced the judgment, and it must not be otherwise.
1 Cor. 5:3-4. Him that hath so done this deed, in your assembly in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, together with my spirit.
In order not to appear proud, he also takes them as partners: for he says, "in your assembly in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ," that is, so that the assembly would be constituted not according to human custom, but according to God; so that Christ Himself would gather you, in whose name you also assemble. Meanwhile, the apostle also placed his spirit over them, so that they would not grant the fornicator forgiveness, but would judge justly, as in the presence of the apostle.
1 Cor. 5:4-5. By the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver unto Satan.
The meaning is twofold. Either this: Christ can give you such grace that you will be able to deliver the fornicator to Satan, or this: Christ Himself together with you will pronounce condemnation on the fornicator. And he did not say "delivered," but "to deliver," covertly opening for him the doors of repentance. And here again he did not mention the name.
1 Cor. 5:5. For the mortification of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
That is, to hand over so that Satan would exhaust him with illness. For since lust is born from the satiation of the body, the apostle wants to punish this body so that the spirit, that is, the soul, would be saved. This should not, however, be understood as though the soul alone were saved, but one must acknowledge that with the salvation of the soul the body too will be saved. And some understand by "spirit" the spiritual gift and explain it thus: so that the gift of the spirit would be preserved in him whole and would not depart from him as from an impious man. Such a sentence expresses more care than punishment. Very fittingly he reminded them of the day of judgment, so that the Corinthians, being frightened, would offer the remedy, and the fornicator would accept it with the same disposition. He sets a limit to the actions of the devil, just as it was with Job, that is, he permits him to touch only the body, but not the soul.
1 Cor. 5:6. Your boasting is not good.
He hints that they themselves did not bring the fornicator to repentance, for they boasted of him; and he was one of their wise men.
1 Cor. 5:6. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?
And about you, he says, and not about him alone do I care; for evil, if left unattended, can infect the remaining members of the Church as well. Leaven, small in itself, leavens the whole lump and transforms it into itself: so too the sin of this man will draw many others after it.
1 Cor. 5:7. Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you are unleavened.
Purge out therefore this fornicator, or rather, drive out all other wicked persons as well (for by "old leaven" he means every kind of evil). In the Greek text it does not simply say "cleanse" (καθάρατε), but "purge out" (ἐκκαθάρατε), that is, cleanse completely, that you may be a new lump, having no admixture of evil. "Since you are unleavened," instead of: as you ought to be unleavened, that is, free from the old evil, which upon repentance proves to be both sour and bitter.
1 Cor. 5:7. For our Passover, Christ, has been sacrificed for us.
Having mentioned the unleavened breads, the azymes, which were eaten as food at Pascha, and having explained allegorically what the unleavened breads signify, namely a life free from evil, he now allegorically explains Pascha itself and says that our Pascha is Christ, slain for us. Therefore, we must take care concerning the unleavened breads, that is, a life pure from all evil.
1 Cor. 5:8. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with the old leaven, nor with the leaven of vice and wickedness.
He shows that every time is a time of celebration for Christians, because of the abundance of gifts bestowed upon them. For the Son of God became man and was slain so that you might celebrate — not with the leaven of the old Adam, and not with a life full of evil, or, what is worse, of wickedness; for evil is everyone who does what is evil, but wicked is the one who does it with a hidden and cunning intent.