But now I have written to you, if any one called brother be fornicator, or avaricious, or idolater, or abusive, or a drunkard, or rapacious, not to mix with [him]; with such a one not even to eat.
This verse turns from the world outside to people who share the Christian name, and the line it draws cuts through friendship as well as the assembly. Two questions follow: why is the standard stricter inside than outside, and how far does "not even to eat" reach?
These sins also fill the streets of any city. The sting is not in the sins but in who commits them.
God's people were to have no fellowship with him at all, not even to eat a common meal with him. But there is a necessary distinction here. The believer is not told to avoid the sexually immoral, the greedy, the swindlers and the idolaters of the world, for they are everywhere around. Their evil was not a direct dishonour to God, as it was in someone who was called a brother and lived a sinful life. His life denied the Lord he claimed to serve.
Treat the six words as a legal checklist of offences, and the results turn absurd.
Verse 11 is not a list of those who are to be put out. There is no such list. This would leave a thief or a murderer in communion. It can be hard to know a greedy man. Some cases are plain enough. But care with money in a family sits so close to greed that you can draw no line. If a case arises, and the assembly is spiritual, the Lord will make it clear.
Two of the six words are worth defining. One reaches past statues and images. The other, whom the ESV calls a "reviler," names a sin of the tongue that stands beside drunkenness and immorality.
An idolater is someone who gives divine honour to idols or images, or who gives excessive reverence or love to any human person or thing. A railer is an abusive person. He is quarrelsome, rude, noisy and bad-tempered, and he attacks others with vile slander and abusive language. As William Kelly has said, "A habit of evil speaking marks the man who practices it as a railer, and such a man is unfit for the company of saints, for God's assembly."
This verse guards the assembly, but it could also become a weapon. Commentators point out that its wording carries its own safeguard.
Even a true and holy judgment of evil can become a trap if it is not kept within proper limits. Our hearts are naturally deceptive, so it can turn into mere fault-finding and proud self-righteousness. The directions given here are worded to guard against this serious danger. They call for positive proof of sin: "if he is guilty of sexual immorality," and so on. The sin must be openly known and clearly established by enough reliable testimony. That is the ground for such judgment, whether for public discipline or for private contact. Without this safeguard, a groundless slander could gain the weight and authority of a divine command.
Many read the last clause as barring the offender from the Lord's Supper only. Commentators say it reaches lower than that, to the ordinary table.
If anyone called a brother is impure, or greedy, or idolatrous, or abusive, or a drunkard, or a swindler, we are not to mix with him: "not even to eat with such a one." He does not mean only that we should refuse him the Lord's Supper. We should not eat even the smallest meal with him. Avoid the corrupt or violent man who claims the name of Christ even in an everyday social act, not only at the most solemn moment of Christian worship.
Darby draws out how that works in daily life, including where the ties are closest:
Here in 1 Corinthians 5:11 it says, "not even to eat." I would not dine with such a one; I would give him food if he were hungry, but not eat with him. Take a wife whose husband is put out. It may seem awkward. But she is not keeping company with him by her own will; she is submitting to authority.
This looks cold. Commentators place the love on the other side of the line: a believer who walks with the world is harder to reach than an unbeliever.
With a worldly person who does not bear Christ's name, one at least thinks of speaking to him of grace. But it is hard to speak of grace to a Christian who knows his privileges and walks with the world, because he abuses it. Love does not consist in walking with such people, but in warning them. In the command "not even to eat with such a one" there is love.
The measure has an end in view, and it is not permanent exclusion.
We are to leave such a person alone and make him feel the seriousness of his sin, so that he may break down, repent, and be restored to the Lord.
- Name. The Christian name worn over a sinful course triggers the rule; the world outside is not the target.
- Sample. The six words are examples of wickedness, not a closed legal list; a spiritual assembly will see the case clearly when it comes.
- Proof. The case must rest on open, established evidence, so no rumour can borrow the authority of a divine command.
- Table. "Not even to eat" reaches past the Lord's Supper to the everyday meal, because shared food is the sign of fellowship.
- Return. The whole measure is love aimed at repentance; the separation lasts only until the person returns.
For what have *I* [to do] with judging those outside also? *ye*, do not ye judge them that are within?
Paul has just told the Corinthians to stay away from anyone who calls himself a Christian and lives in open sin. His question draws a line: there is a circle he is responsible for, and a world outside it that he is not.
The words "inside" and "outside" were not vague to the first readers. They described two known spheres, and everyone could tell which side they stood on.
In the early days, everyone who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ understood the terms "within" and "without" (1 Corinthians 5:12-13; Colossians 4:5), and the limits were clear. Within were all who claimed to be believers in the Lord, and who, as far as anyone could tell, really were. Without were all who had not taken Christian ground. Within was the sphere where the Spirit of God ruled and lived. Without was the region where the god of this world was in control.
Paul's question rules something out. The standards of Christian discipline were never meant for people who never claimed Christ.
In the verses that follow, the apostle urges Christians to exercise holy discipline and live a life of sincerity and truth. He shows that he is speaking about the Christian circle. To extend either to the man of the world would be unreal and impossible… It is not the Christian's job to put the world right by judging its evil. God will do that in His own time. Our responsibility is to judge any evil that shows itself in the Christian company.
No one can read another person's heart. What counts is the position a person openly takes.
We are not to judge those "without," but we are to judge those "within." That is, all who take the ground of being Christians — of being members of God's assembly — come within the range of judgment. The very moment a man enters the assembly, he takes his place in that sphere. There discipline deals with everything contrary to the holiness of the One who dwells there.
Many Christians quote the Lord's words in Matthew 7 as if all judging were forbidden. Commentators note that the same sermon calls for discernment.
Few passages in the New Testament are so misunderstood and misapplied as Matthew 7:1: "Judge not, that you be not judged." In the very same chapter we read, "Beware of false prophets… you will recognize them by their fruits." Now, how are we to "beware" if we do not exercise judgment?
The line falls between two spheres, not between judging and not judging. Another writer shows why this duty exists and what it costs:
There is no call to discipline the evildoers of the world. But Christians must deal with offenders in God's assembly. Though absent, Paul had to judge that the wicked person should be put out. It was due to Christ and His sacrifice. God must be vindicated, since the assembly is His. The saints had to clear themselves in the matter, taking up the offender's sin as their own. Yet even here the aim was his ultimate good.
Leaving the world alone is not leaving it safe. Paul leaves that whole sphere to God, and the timing is His.
The world is not yet the sphere of divine judgment, but His children are. The Father judges them without favouritism, and the church is bound to do the same. By and by the world will be not only judged but condemned. So the believer should be all the more eager to judge himself. Otherwise grace would get a bad name, as if it tried to cover up evil. But even if he fails, the Lord does not. The Lord disciplines him with a divine judgment, so that he will not be condemned with the world.
Because those outside belong to God's judgment, discipline has a limit. Once someone is put out, the assembly has no further case to try — but it still has something to do.
When exclusion is the only way left to keep the assembly holy, discipline ends there, for God judges those who are "without." But godly concern and prayer still have their place, in keeping with the grace that seeks the lost in the world. And there will be a watching to see how God continues His work in the soul of one who has failed. Then the longed-for moment can be welcomed with joy.
- Boundary — Scripture draws a line: those who have taken Christian ground, and those who have not.
- Assignment — The world is not the church's case to try. God will judge it in His own time.
- Entry — A person comes under this judgment the moment he takes the place of being a Christian. No one can read his heart; the position he takes is what counts.
- Obligation — Inside the circle, judging is a command, not an option. "Judge not" never excuses tolerating evil.
- Limit — Discipline ends at exclusion. God takes over those outside, leaving the assembly with prayer and watchfulness, not verdicts.
But those without God judges. Remove the wicked person from amongst yourselves.
The chapter ends by drawing a line: God judges the world outside, and the gathering of believers must judge itself. The closing command is sharp, and it raises hard questions: who can be removed, how far the separation goes, and whether it still applies.
(The writers below quote an older translation: "Put away from among yourselves that wicked person." The ESV says, "Purge the evil person from among you.")
Paul refuses to judge outsiders. He tells the assembly to judge everyone who claims a place inside it.
We are not to judge those "outside," but we are to judge those "inside." That is, anyone who takes the ground of being a Christian — of being a member of God's assembly — comes within the range of judgement. The moment a man enters the assembly, he takes his place in a sphere where discipline deals with everything contrary to the holiness of the One who dwells there.
The wording is narrow, and that protects people. Only proven wickedness counts — not a single fault, and not a suspicion.
It is important to notice that it is wicked persons and only such that are to be put away from the company of believers. "Put away from among yourselves that wicked person." It would be very wrong to put away someone who had slipped into a fault, or someone who had only committed a single offense. When the assembly applies this discipline, its first duty is to be sure the person is really wicked. This must be proved and clear to all. Mere suspicion of evil will not do.
It is also wrong to use the label on someone who has already left.
It is a mistake in any case; in some it would be a gross wrong. The assembly cannot put out one who has already gone out; it makes no sense. Sometimes leaving is only an act of ignorance. Someone used to a sermon every Sunday morning may grow tired of worship in spirit and truth. How cruel and unjust to brand the weak one, unspiritual though he may be, as "a wicked person"!
The phrase is not "from the Lord's table" but "from among yourselves," and that difference matters.
Some object to saying "from the Lord's table," but the command goes even further. It says, "from among yourselves." Putting someone away from the table alone might, for a careless person, fit quite well with treating that person as one of themselves in every other way. But the apostle Paul shows how much farther this "putting away" goes. He adds, "with such a one, no, not to eat." They were to refuse all association, even an ordinary meal!
The aim is not punishment. It is protection.
Putting one away as a wicked person is like cutting off a limb of one's own body. It is a very painful and grievous thing, and only done when there is no hope of saving the limb. The amputation is performed to preserve the body from the poison in the diseased limb. In the same way, putting away an evil person is necessary to prevent the leaven from spreading in the assembly.
Does this command still stand today? One writer answers by separating a command from an act of power.
"Put away from among yourselves that wicked person" has its own simple authority that nothing can take away. It applies to an assembly. Wherever a wicked person is in an assembly, the case it applies to is there, and it is a simple matter of obedience. There are acts of power, as in "I have judged to deliver to Satan." Paul does not say, You do it. He does it in all the solemnity of the assembled saints, but there is no command — it is a personal act of power.
Putting away comes last, and it still has a goal beyond itself.
Many have said and agreed that putting away from among yourselves should be the last measure we turn to. We use it only when all patience and all grace have run out, and when letting the evil continue any longer would only dishonour the name of the Lord. On the other hand, putting away always aims at restoring the person it falls on. It is never done to get rid of him. So it is in God's ways with us.
This command sits between two others that are often confused with it, and each governs a different situation.
The first speaks of evil professors of the Lord, who are not our objects of extermination, but living in the field of the world till judgment falls at the end of the age. The second commands the wicked man to be at once put out of the church. The third provides for the day when the professing church sanctions vessels to dishonour, from which the faithful soul is bound to purge himself.
- Inside — the assembly judges those who claim a place within it; God judges the world outside.
- Established — only proven wickedness qualifies; a fault, a suspicion, or a quiet departure does not.
- Among yourselves — the separation covers ordinary social contact, not just the Lord's table.
- Obedience — it is a plain command to the gathered saints, distinct from Paul's personal act of delivering to Satan.
- Restoration — the last resort exists to recover the person, never to be rid of him.