Church fornicators worse than outsiders; judge those inside (1 Cor 5–6)

this letter itself: that in this letter I wrote that you should not associate with the sexually immoral—and by “immoral” I mean these, not those. The apostle seems by comparison of fornicators to say that those among us who are immoral are far worse. For the outsider who fornicates does not destroy a temple of God, does not make the members of Christ members of a prostitute, and does not leaven the whole lump. And that one, whenever he wishes, repents and has forgiveness of sins; but the one who fornicates after the faith, even if he later repents, does not have forgiveness of sins in the same way, though he can cover the sin. For he says: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven”—of those who came over from the nations—“and whose sins are covered”—of those who sin after the faith yet cover them with good works, for example covering license with abundant self-control (Psalm 32:1).

And not at all with the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy, or robbers, or idolaters. Just as there are fornicators of the world and fornicators called to Christ, so also there are greedy people of this world and of the church. Let us therefore guard against greed even in the smallest matters; for it too is yoked to the sin of fornication. And third he names certain robbers, when they seize what belongs to their neighbors. And there are also some idolaters among us besides the idolaters of this world—those who want to teach that idolatry is a matter of indifference. This sin is found especially among those in military service. They say: Necessity is laid on me; the army requires this; I risk my head if I do not sacrifice or, dressed in white, offer frankincense according to the customs of the world’s army—and such a one still calls himself a Christian. With such a one, he says, do not even eat. And the denier of God in a time of persecution is also an idolater among us. So he says: I wrote to such a one who is not yet out of the world not to associate, since otherwise you would need to go out of the world. But now I have written to you not to associate if anyone is named a brother. Well does he no longer call such a one a brother, but a brother only as far as the name.

These evils many of us can know in ourselves that we do not have. But at what follows I fear for myself as well, lest somehow I be liable to the other sins. For he says: or a reviler or a drunkard or a robber—with such a one do not even eat. With how great evils he numbered the reviler together with the fornicator, the greedy, and the idolater! Therefore the reviler too is already an enemy of the church. For this reason we hear the Lord saying: “Bless those who curse you” (Luke 6:28), and the apostle saying: “When reviled, we bless” (1 Corinthians 4:12); for a reviler will not inherit the kingdom of God. We must therefore keep the mouth clean. For what is it to me to judge those outside? Let drunkards be outside; I eat and spend time with fornicators—does their little leaven not harm me? Does it not leaven this whole lump?

For what is it to me to judge those outside? Is it not those inside you judge? And those outside God will judge (1 Corinthians 5:12–13). He has permitted all of us to judge those inside who sin. We ourselves bring the sin up to the bishop, that such a one may be cast out of the church by law. And you will remove the wicked person from among yourselves. From these too remove the wicked one; but seek lest, while wishing to remove the wicked from outside, you have the wicked one within yourself. Therefore do everything to remove the wicked from yourself; for when that one has gone out, Christ Jesus will dwell in you.

Does any of you, having a matter against another, dare to go to law before the unjust and not before the saints? Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are you unworthy of the smallest courts? Do you not know that we will judge angels—how much more matters of this life? (1 Corinthians 6:1–3).

He puts to shame those in Corinth who sin and are busy with law courts and worldly needs and miseries, and says: You were called to this, that when perfected you may judge angels; will you not rather be able, if ever a brother goes to law with a brother, to judge the brothers’ worldly affairs? So if you have worldly courts, and so on. Truly sometimes the cases of those judged are such that they do not need a wise judge, but rather you should seat those who are despised in the church; yet sometimes the cases of those on trial may be such as to need a wise judge as well. What I mean will be clear thus: if those on trial need worldly laws and experienced judges—not Scripture and the law in Scripture, but as it were sons of this age who seem wiser—then the judges will be the faithful who are despised in the