1 I t is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father’s wife.

Someone has told me about a sex sin among you. It is so bad that even the people who do not know God would not do it. I have been told that one of the men is living with his father’s wife as if she were his wife.

2 Y ou have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst.

Instead of being sorry, you are proud of yourselves. The man who is living like that should be sent away from you.

3 F or I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present.

I am far from you. Even if I am not there, my spirit is with you. I have already said that the man is guilty of this sin. I am saying this as if I were there with you.

4 I n the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus,

Call a meeting of the church. I will be with you in spirit. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by His power,

5 I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

hand this person over to the devil. His body is to be destroyed so his spirit may be saved on the day the Lord comes again.

6 Y our boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough ?

It is not good for you to be proud of the way things are going in your church. You know a little yeast makes the whole loaf of bread rise.

7 C lean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.

Clean out the old yeast. Then you will be new bread with none of the old yeast in you. The Jews killed lambs when they left Egypt. Christ is our lamb. He has already been killed as a gift on the altar to God for us.

8 T herefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Bread with yeast in it is like being full of sin and hate. Let us eat this supper together with bread that has no yeast in it. This bread is pure and true.

9 I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people;

I told you in my letter not to keep on being with people who do any kind of sex sins.

10 I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world.

I was not talking about people doing sex sins who are bad people of this world. I was not talking about people of this world who always want to get more or those who get things in a wrong way or those who worship false gods. To get away from people like that you would have to leave this world!

11 B ut actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one.

What I wrote was that you should not keep on being with a person who calls himself a Christian if he does any kind of sex sins. You should not even eat with a person who says he is a Christian but always wants to get more of everything or uses bad language or who gets drunk or gets things in a wrong way.

12 F or what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church ?

It is not for me to judge those outside the church. You are to judge those who belong to the church.

13 B ut those who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves.

God will judge those outside the church. So you must put that sinful person out of your church.