1 It is reported commonly, that there is fornication among you, and such fornication, as is not so much as named amongst the Gentiles, that one should haue his fathers wife.
2 And yee are puffed vp, and haue not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed, might bee taken away from among you.
3 For I verily as absent in body, but present in spirit, haue iudged alreadie, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,
4 In the Name of our Lord Iesus Christ, when yee are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Iesus Christ,
5 To deliuer such a one vnto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saued in the day of the Lord Iesus.
6 Your glorying is not good: know ye not that a little leauen leaueneth the whole lumpe?
7 Purge out therefore the olde leauen, that ye may be a new lumpe, as ye are vnleauened. For euen Christ our Passeouer is sacrificed for vs.
8 Therefore let vs keepe the Feast, not with old leauen, neither with the leauen of malice and wickednesse: but with the vnleauened bread of sinceritie and trueth.
9 I wrote vnto you in an Epistle, not to company with fornicators.
10 Yet not altogether with the fornicatours of this world, or with the couetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must yee needs goe out of the world.
11 But now I haue written vnto you, not to keepe company, if any man that is called a brother bee a fornicator, or couetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner: with such a one, no, not to eate.
12 For what haue I to doe to iudge them also that are without? doe not ye iudge them that are within?
13 But them that are without, God iudgeth. Therefore put away from among your selues that wicked person.
The apostle blames the Corinthians for connivance at an incestuous person; (1-8) and directs their behaviour towards those guilty of scandalous crimes. (9-13)1-8 The apostle notices a flagrant abuse, winked at by the Corinthians. Party spirit, and a false notion of Christian liberty, seem to have saved the offender from censure. Grievous indeed is it that crimes should sometimes be committed by professors of the gospel, of which even heathens would be ashamed. Spiritual pride and false doctrines tend to bring in, and to spread such scandals. How dreadful the effects of sin! The devil reigns where Christ does not. And a man is in his kingdom, and under his power, when not in Christ. The bad example of a man of influence is very mischievous; it spreads far and wide. Corrupt principles and examples, if not corrected, would hurt the whole church. Believers must have new hearts, and lead new lives. Their common conversation and religious deeds must be holy. So far is the sacrifice of Christ our Passover for us, from rendering personal and public holiness unnecessary, that it furnishes powerful reasons and motives for it. Without holiness we can neither live by faith in him, nor join in his ordinances with comfort and profit.
9-13 Christians are to avoid familiar converse with all who disgrace the Christian name. Such are only fit companions for their brethren in sin, and to such company they should be left, whenever it is possible to do so. Alas, that there are many called Christians, whose conversation is more dangerous than that of heathens!
Commentary by Matthew Henry, 1710.