1 Corinthians 5

1 [Now I want to discuss another matter]. It has been {People have} reported to me, and I believe that it is true, that some people among you have been acting in a sexually immoral way, in a way that is so bad that not even (pagans/people who do not know about God) act that way. People tell me that a man is living with his stepmother (OR, his father’s other wife).

Above all else, it is being said that there is fornication among you, even fornication of a such kind that is not among the Gentiles, so that someone would have the wife of his father.

2 You should be sad about what that man is doing! He should have been expelled {[You] should have expelled him} from your congregation! [But you] have not [done that], so (how can you be proud, [thinking that you are spiritually mature?]/it is disgusting that you are proud, [thinking that you are spiritually mature]!) [RHQ]

And yet you are inflated, and you have not instead been grieved, so that he who has done this thing would be taken away from your midst.

3 As for me, I have already decided [how you should] punish that man. And even though I am away from you, my spirit is with you, and you should do as I would do if I were there with you.

Certainly, though absent in body, I am present in spirit. Thus, I have already judged, as if I were present, him who has done this.

4 [What I have decided is that] when you have gathered together with the authority [MTY] of our Lord Jesus, and my spirit is with you, and the power of our Lord Jesus [is with you],

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, you have been gathered together with my spirit, in the power of our Lord Jesus,

5 you should hand that man over to Satan. Then Satan can injure/punish his body, in order that [he will turn away from his sinful behavior] and his spirit will be saved on the day when the Lord [returns] [MTY].

to hand over such a one as this to Satan, for the destruction of the flesh, so that the spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

6 It is not good that, [while you are letting that immoral man continue to be in your congregation], you are boasting [about being spiritually mature]. (You know that a small amount of yeast affects all the bread dough [MET] [into which it is put] {[a woman puts it]}./Do you not know that a small amount of yeast affects all the bread dough [MET] [into which it is put]?) [RHQ] [Similarly, one person who continues to sin will have a bad effect on all the congregation].

It is not good for you to glory. Do you not know that a little leaven corrupts the entire mass?

7 So, [just like we Jews] expel the old yeast [from our houses during the Passover celebration] in order that we may have a fresh batch of dough without yeast in it [MET], [you must expel such evil people from your congregation]. Do [that so that you can truly be holy people], as [I know that] you really are. Remember that Christ was sacrificed {sacrificed himself} [so that God could spare us from being punished for our sins, just like the Jews sacrificed lambs during] the [first] Passover celebration [so that God would spare their firstborn sons from being killed].

Purge the old leaven, so that you may become the new bread, for you are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover, has now been immolated.

8 So let us celebrate [the fact that God has freed us from being punished us for our sins] [MET], [just like the Jews] in [later years] celebrated Passover [to celebrate God freeing them from being slaves in Egypt. They made sure that there was] no old yeast in the dough. [They ate bread that] had no yeast in it. [Similarly], [we should make sure that there are no people in our congregations] [MET] [who act] maliciously [toward others] or [act] wickedly. Instead, [make sure] [MET] [that all those in our congregations are ones who act] sincerely and [speak] truthfully.

And so, let us feast, not with the old leaven, not with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

9 In the previous letter that I wrote to you, I said that you should not associate with sexually immoral people.

As I have written to you in an epistle: “Do not associate with fornicators,”

10 I did not mean that you should not associate with unbelievers who are immoral, or who desire things that belong to others, or who (forcefully seize things that belong to others/are swindlers), or who worship idols. You would have to leave this world [to avoid all people] like that.

certainly not with the fornicators of this world, nor with the greedy, nor with robbers, nor with the servants of idolatry. Otherwise, you ought to depart from this world.

11 But now [I am stating clearly that] when I wrote, I [meant that] you should not associate with those who say that they are fellow believers, if they are sexually immoral or if they desire and forcefully seize things that belong to others, or worship idols, or slander others, or become drunk. You should not associate with people like that, and you should not even eat with them!

But now I have written to you: do not associate with anyone who is called a brother and yet is a fornicator, or greedy, or a servant of idolatry, or a slanderer, or inebriated, or a robber. With such a one as this, do not even take food.

12 It is certainly not [RHQ] my business to judge people who are not believers and who do not belong to [Christian congregations]. But it certainly is [RHQ] your business to judge those who are in [your congregation]!

For what have I to do with judging those who are outside? But do not even you yourselves judge those who are inside?

13 God is the one who will judge those who are not believers. [Do as the Scriptures command]: “Expel the wicked person from your midst!”

For those who are outside, God will judge. But send this evil person away from yourselves.