"It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father's wife." (5:1)

My Note: Paul addresses a specific problem in the church: incest. Perhaps incest/sexual immorality is the main topic Paul discusses in this chapter.

"For my part, even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already passed judgment in the name of our Lord Jesus on the one who has been doing this." (5:3)

My Note: This verse seems odd. Didn't Paul argue against judging others? I understand the first part of the verse. Though Paul isn't always present at the church, his messages never leave the church members. However, why would Paul pass judgement?

After research: Remember Matthew 7:3? We are allowed to judge, but we must not be hypocritical. We must notice and deal with the plank in our eye before we point out the speck in someone else's eye. In this situation, Paul judged the Church since its members disobeyed Paul's teachings when Paul left. That makes sense to me.

https://bible.org/seriespage/13-how-handle-scandal-1-corinthians-51-13

"So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord." (5:4)

My Note: I don't believe Paul wants the church to literally let the man go to Satan. I also don't think Paul wants to destroy his flesh. I believe this is a phrase meaning "Let this man understand and face the consequences of his sexual immorality, so that he doesn't make the same mistakes." God doesn't want to cast this man away. God just wants the man to learn from his mistakes so that the man can be with Him in the future. In the same way, God wants to hold us accountable for our mistakes so that we can learn from them and avoid them in the future.

"Your boasting is not good. Don't you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed." (5:6-7)

My Note: I like Paul's use of comparison. Boasting about how great we are will stir up a lot of sin, just like how a little bit of yeast will leaven a whole batch of dough. Therefore, we must become an unleavened and new (aka not boastful) batch of dough. We are new people with Christ. Old dough probably tastes gross anyways.

"Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." (5:8)

My Note: Man, I'm really loving Paul's use of literary text structures in this text structure. Paul contrasts our old selves, filled with malice and wickedness to our new selves, filled with sincerity and truth. Once again, God transforms us into new, better people.

"I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world." (5:9-10)

My Note: Remember how Jesus spent time with immoral people? Paul builds upon this idea, claiming that if we were to avoid immoral people, we would have to leave the world. It's impossible to avoid evil and immorality. We should not pretend to be superior to others, claiming that they are "more immoral than us."

"But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people." (5:11)

My Note: What? Immediately, I thought Paul contradicted himself. I learned that by saying "anyone who claims to be a brother or sister..." Paul references Christians, not the people he addressed in 5:9-10. But why would Paul want to expel Christians who struggle with sexual immortality, alcoholism, etc? Shouldn't we be helping them?

After Research: Paul realized that the Church was allowing these Christians to continue acting immorally. In this verse, Paul wanted to set the Church apart from the world. The world commits immoral actions, but the Church must avoid committing those immoral actions. Christians are supposed to overcome  the world with Jesus Christ as their guide, yet this wasn't happening in the Church. Therefore, people who call themselves Christians, yet continue to act like the world, must be expelled from the church. Yet this doesn't mean we automatically kick out anyone who struggles with sin. Sounds odd, doesn't it?

Better explanation: http://www.thywordistruth.com/questions/Question-158.html#.WraoJYFHaEc

"What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. 'Expel the wicked person from among you'" (5:12-13)

My Note: Instead of focusing all our attention on the world's corruption, we must first focus our attention on corruption among Christians. Paul writes how we should allow God to judge the world and instead judge people in our community.

Conclusion: So far, this chapter of Corinthians has been the hardest chapter to study and to analyze. At first, I believed Paul kept contradicting himself throughout the chapter. Though the chapter contained valuable messages about why boasting is bad and why we shouldn't hide away from sinful people, I didn't understand why Paul wished to expel anyone who struggled with sin.

However, after researching and thinking about this chapter, the pieces fit together. I remember times on my other books, where angry commenters, including Christians, would grow angry at me and refuse to learn. They would insult me and refuse to acknowledge my arguments. In the same way, some Christians in the Church refused to grow with Christ. They continued to act immorally.

At some point, there's nothing you can do to change a person's mind. You have to acknowledge that these people aren't willing to grow, so you must expel them. When we expel people that don't want to learn or grow, our church and our relationship with God strengthens. However, we also must take a good look at ourselves, making sure that we aren't constantly defying God.

Finally, we should remember not to boast about how great we are, since we often forget about the specks in our eyes. We shouldn't harshly judge the world, since it is God's job to judge. We should also be willing to repent and grow from our mistakes. Pretty straightforward.

Wow, this was a long chapter. I really need your feedback and analysis for this chapter of Corinthians. Don't forget to comment!