I have written to you in the epistle not to mix with fornicators;
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the avaricious and rapacious, or idolaters, since [then] ye should go out of the world.
Paul's line falls around the Christian's fellowship, not the Christian's contacts. Avoiding every immoral or greedy person alive would mean leaving the world — so what does "keep company" forbid, and where does the real boundary fall?
One writer weighs the obvious reading of Paul's words against the clause that closes the verse.
At first sight, "company with" and "keeping company with" look as if they mean the outside contact a man has with a worldly man in business of any kind. But the apostle sets that reading aside when he adds, "not of this world, for then you would have to go out of the world."
The same writer breaks the Greek word into its three parts.
The meaning and use of the word is much stronger than casual, outside contact. It is a compound word made from three words: SUN, together with; ANA, thoroughly; and MIGNUMI, mingled. Matthew 27:34 uses that last word for the sour wine mixed with gall given to our Lord on the cross. … To me the compound word expresses what we call "the intimacy of loving friends" more than anything else.
The ESV reads "not at all," where older versions read "not altogether." One commentator settles the sense from the last clause of the verse.
The best versions, ancient and modern, that I can access… seem to give the same sense as the Authorised Version. In my opinion that sense must follow from the last clause of the verse. What is "for then you must go out of the world," but proof of how useless it is to try to avoid all worldly bad men? The apostle goes on to show what the command not to keep company means. It refers to fellowship of any kind with guilty so-called brothers.
Many say that daily work makes some sharing in the world's ways unavoidable. One writer denies it, and points to this verse.
The Word does not allow the possibility of our living out of the world. On the contrary, it teaches us that we are left in it, but that we are kept from the evil (John 17:15; 1 Corinthians 5:10). … A true Christian works honestly at his trade to earn his bread, but his real aim is everlasting glory with Christ.
Another writer marks the difference between mixing with people and being tied to them.
It is a question, note, of a yoke. The believer is left in the world, and comes into contact with all sorts, as 1 Corinthians 5:9-10 shows. While mixing with all sorts he must be careful to avoid a yoke with any. The most intimate and permanent yoke the world knows is that of marriage. A believer may yoke himself with an unbeliever by a business partnership.
Leaving the world is the escape route many sincere people have tried, shutting themselves away in monasteries. One commentator warns that the attempt defeats itself.
People may follow that idea with walls of thick stone, or without them. The result is the same. If we turn God-ordained separation into monastic isolation, we will always end up breeding the very evils we are supposed to be avoiding, right inside our own seclusion. … The world does present, so to speak, infectious germs from outside. But the main trouble lies in ourselves — the weakness of the flesh within.
If not around the world, then where? The boundary runs through the Christian company itself.
The apostle urges Christians to exercise holy discipline and live a life of sincerity and truth. He shows that he means the Christian circle. To extend either of these to the man of the world would be unreal and impossible. … It is no business of the Christian to try to put the world right by judging its evil. God will do this in His own time.
The same sin carries a different weight when the sinner wears Christ's name.
The believer is not told to avoid the world's sexually immoral people, the greedy, swindlers and idolaters, since they are everywhere around. Their evil was not a direct dishonour to God. It was otherwise with one who was called a brother and was living in ongoing sin. This was a denial in practice of the Lord he claimed to serve.
- Word. "Keep company" comes from a word meaning thoroughly mingled together. It means the closeness of intimate friends, not daily business contact.
- World. The verse itself rules out avoiding every immoral person. You would have to leave the world to do it.
- Walls. Separation turned into seclusion breeds the very evils it flees. The trouble is the flesh within.
- Yoke. The believer mixes with all sorts but ties himself to none. Marriage and business partnership are the strongest ties.
- Within. The line falls inside the Christian company. A professing believer's sin dishonours the Lord he claims, while God Himself judges those outside.