Homily 15 — First Corinthians 5, verses 1 to 8

“It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles: that one of you has his father’s wife. And you are puffed up, and did not rather mourn, so that the one who had done this deed might be taken away from among you.” [a]

When he was speaking about their divisions, he did not come at them hard at once. He began more gently, and only afterward ended in accusation, saying, “For it has been made known to me about you, my brothers and sisters, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are quarrels among you” (First Corinthians 1, verse 11). But here it is not so. Here he lays about him at once, and makes the reproach of the charge as general as possible. He did not say, “Why did such a man commit sexual immorality?” but, “It is reported that there is sexual immorality among you.” He did this so that they would not take it lightly, as people who had nothing to do with the charge, but would be filled with the anxiety that was natural when the whole body had been wounded and the church had fallen into disgrace. “No one,” he says, “will put it this way: ‘Such a man has committed sexual immorality.’ They will say: ‘In the church of the Corinthians this sin has been committed.’”

And he did not say, “Sexual immorality is being committed,” but, “It is reported” — “such as is not even named among the Gentiles.” For he continually uses the Gentiles to shame the believers. So, writing to the Thessalonians, he said, “Let each one of you possess his own vessel in holiness, not in the passion of lust, like the rest of the Gentiles” (First Thessalonians 4, verses 4 and 5). And to the Colossians and the Ephesians: “that you should no longer walk as the other Gentiles walk” (Ephesians 4, verse 17; compare Colossians 3, verses 6 and 7). Now if it was unpardonable for them to commit the same sins as the Gentiles, what place can we find for them, tell me, when they even outdid the Gentiles? “For among the Gentiles,” he says, “not only do they not dare anything of the kind; they do not even give it a name.” Do you see how far he pressed the charge? When they are convicted of inventing kinds of uncleanness that unbelievers, far from venturing on them, do not even know of, the sin must be exceedingly great, beyond all words.

The words “among you” are also said with emphasis. That is, “Among you, the faithful, who have been honored with such high mysteries, who share in secret things, who are guests invited to heaven.” Do you notice with what indignation his words overflow? With what anger against them all? If he had not been full of great wrath, and had he not been setting himself against them all, he would have spoken like this: “I have heard that such and such a person has committed sexual immorality; I charge you to punish him.” But as it is, he does not do that; he calls them all to account at once. Indeed, if they had written to him first, this is probably what he would have said. But since, far from writing, they had even thrown the fault into the shade, he frames his words the more vehemently.

“That one of you has his father’s wife.” Why did he not say, “that he should defile his father’s wife”? The sheer foulness of the deed made him shrink back. So he hurries past it, with a kind of delicacy, as though it had been spelled out already. And by this again he makes the charge heavier, implying that things were being ventured among them that even to speak of plainly was more than Paul could bear. That is why, as he goes on, he uses the same manner of speech, saying, “the one who has done this thing,” and again is ashamed and blushes to say it outright — which we too usually do with things that are extremely disgraceful. And he did not say “his stepmother,” but “his father’s wife,” so as to strike far harder. For when the bare terms are enough to carry the charge, he goes on with them simply, adding nothing. [e]

“Do not tell me,” he says, “that the immoral man is only one. The charge has become common to all.” That is why he immediately added, “And you are puffed up.” He did not say “with the sin,” for that would imply they had lost all reason, but with the teaching you have heard from that person. Yet he did not set this down himself; he left it open, so as to strike a heavier blow.

And notice Paul’s good sense. First he overthrew the wisdom from outside and showed that it is nothing in itself, even if no sin went with it; then, and only then, he speaks about the sin as well. For if he had upheld the greatness of his own spiritual gift by comparing it with the immoral man, who was perhaps one of the wise, he would have done nothing great. But to bring down the wisdom of the pagans and show it to be nothing even when no sin went with it — that was to show how utterly worthless it is. That is why, as I said, he first made the comparison, and afterward mentions the man’s sin too.

With the man himself he does not even stoop to argue, and by this he shows how deep his disgrace is. But to the others he says: “You ought to weep and wail and cover your faces, but now you do the opposite.” And this is the force of the next words, “And you are puffed up, and did not rather mourn.”

Someone might say: “And why are we to weep?” Because the disgrace has made its way even to the whole body of your church. “And what good will our weeping do us?” “That such a man may be taken away from among you.” Not even here does he mention his name — or rather, nowhere at all — which is our usual way with anything monstrous.

And he did not say, “You have not rather thrown him out,” but speaks as one would of any disease or epidemic: “There is need of mourning, and of earnest prayer, ‘that he may be taken away.’ You should have used prayer for this, and left nothing undone so that he would be cut off.” Nor does he accuse them of not having informed him, but of not having mourned so that the man would be taken away. He implies that even without their teacher this ought to have been done, because the offense was so notorious.

Verse 3: “For I, being absent in body but present in spirit.” Notice his energy. He does not let them wait even for his arrival, nor receive him first and then pass the sentence of binding. Like someone checking a contagion before it has spread into the rest of the body, he hurries to hold it back. That is why he adds, “have already judged, as though I were present.” He said this not only to urge them on to pronounce their sentence, and to give them no room to contrive something else, but also to frighten them, as one who knew what had to be done and had settled it there. For this is what being “present in spirit” means, just as Elisha was present with Gehazi and said, “Did not my heart go with you?” (Second Kings 5, verse 26). How wonderful! How great is the power of the gift, which makes all to be together and as one, and enables them to know things far away! “I have already judged as though I were present.” He does not allow them any other scheme. “I have pronounced my decision as though I were present. Let there be no delays and no putting off; nothing else is to be done.” [f]

Then, so that he would not seem too high-handed and his words would not sound self-willed, see how he makes them partners in the sentence too. Having said, “I have judged,” he adds, “concerning the one who has done this thing, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such a man to Satan.”

Now what does “in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” mean? “According to God”; “not swayed by any human prejudice.”

Some, however, read it this way: “the one who has done this thing in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” They put a stop or a break there, and then add what follows: “When you are gathered together, and my spirit, deliver such a man to Satan.” And they say the sense of this reading is: “The one who has done this thing in the name of Christ,” says Paul, “deliver to Satan”; that is, “the one who has insulted the name of Christ, who after becoming a believer and being called by that name has dared to do such things — deliver him to Satan.” But to me the first way of reading it seems the truer.

What, then, is this? “When you are gathered together in the name of the Lord.” That is, his name, for whose sake you have met, gathering you together.

“And my spirit.” Again he sets himself at their head, so that when they passed sentence they would cut the offender off exactly as though he were present, and so that no one would dare to judge him worthy of pardon, knowing that Paul would be aware of what was done.

Then, making it still more awe-inspiring, he says, “with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ.” That is, either that Christ is able to give you such grace that you have power to deliver him to the devil, or that he himself is there with you, passing that sentence against him. [h]

And he did not say, “Give such a man up to Satan,” but, “Deliver him,” opening to him the doors of repentance, and handing such a man over, as it were, to a schoolmaster. And again it is “such a man”: nowhere can he bear to mention his name.

“For the destruction of the flesh.” This is what was done in the case of the blessed Job, though not for the same reason. In Job’s case it was for brighter crowns, but here it is for the loosing of sins: that Satan might strike him with a painful sore or some other disease. It is true that elsewhere he says, “We are judged by the Lord when we suffer these things” (First Corinthians 11, verse 32). But here, wanting to make them feel it more sharply, he “delivers him to Satan.” And so this too, which God had decided, came about: the man’s flesh was disciplined. For since overeating and bodily luxury are the parents of cravings, it is the flesh that he disciplines.

“So that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus”; that is, the soul. Not that the soul alone is saved; but it was a settled point that if the soul is saved, the body too will, beyond all dispute, share in its salvation. For as the body became mortal because the soul sinned, so if the soul does what is right, the body in turn will enjoy great glory.

But some hold that “the spirit” is the gift of grace, which is put out when we sin. “So that this may not happen,” he says, “let him be punished, so that by becoming better through it he may draw God’s grace down to himself and be found keeping it safe on that day.” So everything comes from one who is acting as a nurse or a physician, not merely flogging or punishing rashly and at random. For the gain is greater than the punishment: the one lasts only for a season, the other forever.

And he did not simply say, “so that the spirit may be saved,” but “in that day.” Rightly and at the right moment he reminds them of that day, so that they would apply themselves more readily to the cure, and so that the man under censure would the more readily accept his words, not as coming from anger, but from the forethought of an anxious father. For this reason too he said, “for the destruction of the flesh”: he was setting limits for the devil and not allowing him to go one step too far. So in the case of Job, God said, “But do not touch his life” (Job 2, verse 6).

Then, having finished his sentence and pronounced it briefly without dwelling on it, he turns back to rebuke, aiming it at them.

Verse 6: “Your boasting is not good.”

He means that up to this very time it was they who had kept the man from repenting, by taking pride in him. Next he shows that he is taking this step to spare not only that man but also the people he is writing to. To this end he adds, “Do you not know that a little yeast leavens the whole lump?” “Though the offense is his,” he says, “if it is neglected it has the power to ruin the rest of the church’s body too. For when the first wrongdoer escapes punishment, others will soon commit the same faults.” By these words he shows besides that their struggle and their danger concern the whole church, not any one person. That is why he also needs the comparison of the yeast. “Just as yeast,” he says, “though it is only a little, changes the whole lump into its own nature, so too this man, if he is let go unpunished and this sin is left unavenged, will corrupt all the rest as well.”

Verse 7: “Clean out the old yeast.”

That is, this wicked man. Yet he is not speaking about this one man only; rather, he glances at others along with him. For “the old yeast” is not sexual immorality alone, but sin of every kind. And he did not say “clean,” but “clean out”: “Cleanse it thoroughly, so that not even a remnant or a shadow of that sort is left.” In saying “clean out,” then, he shows that there was still wickedness among them. But in saying, “so that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened,” he affirms and declares that the wickedness had not taken hold of very many. And though he says, “as you are unleavened,” he does not mean that all were in fact clean, but what sort of people they ought to be.

“For Christ our Passover has also been sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old yeast, nor with the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” So Christ too called his teaching yeast. And Paul himself dwells further on the metaphor, reminding them of an ancient history — of the Passover and the unleavened bread, of their blessings both then and now, and of their punishments and their plagues. [j]

The whole time we live, then, is a festival. For though he said, “Let us keep the feast,” he did not say it with an eye to Passover or Pentecost coming round. He was pointing out that the whole of time is a festival for Christians, because the good things that have been given are so excellent. For what good thing has not come about? The Son of God became man for you; he freed you from death; he called you to a kingdom. You, then, who have received such things and are receiving them still, how can it not be your duty to “keep the feast” all your life? So let no one be downcast over poverty, or disease, or the schemes of enemies. For it is a festival, the whole of our time. That is why Paul says, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice” (Philippians 4, verse 4).

On festival days no one puts on filthy clothes. Then let us not do so either. For a marriage has taken place, a spiritual marriage. “The kingdom of heaven,” he says, “is like a certain king who wanted to give a marriage feast for his son” (Matthew 22, verse 2). Now when it is a king giving the marriage, and a marriage for his son, what feast can be greater than this one? So let no one go in dressed in rags. Our subject is not clothes but unclean actions. For if, where everyone wore bright clothing, one man alone was found at the wedding in filthy clothes and was thrown out in disgrace, consider how great a strictness and purity entry into that marriage feast requires.

But he reminds them of the “unleavened bread” not for this reason alone. He also wants to show the kinship of the Old Testament with the New, and to show that after the “unleavened bread” it was impossible to go back into Egypt again; if anyone chose to return, he would suffer the same things they did. For those things were a shadow of these, however stubborn the Jew may be. [k]

So if you ask him, he will tell you of nothing great — or rather, what he tells of is great, but nothing like what we tell of, because he does not know the truth. He for his part will say: “The Egyptians who held us were so changed by the Almighty that the very people who had kept us by force before now urged us on and drove us out. They did not even let us leaven our dough.” But if someone asks me, he will hear not of Egypt nor of Pharaoh, but of our deliverance from the deceit of demons and the darkness of the devil; not of Moses, but of the Son of God; not of a Red Sea, but of a baptism overflowing with ten thousand blessings, where “the old self” is drowned.

Again, if you ask the Jew why he clears all yeast out of all his territory, here he will even fall silent and not so much as give a reason. This is because, while some of the circumstances were both figures of things to come and also due to what was happening at the time, others were not, so that the Jews would not deal deceitfully, and would not remain in the shadow. For tell me: what is the meaning of the lamb’s being “a male,” and “without blemish,” and “a year old,” and of “not a bone of it shall be broken”? And what is meant by the command to call in the neighbors as well (Exodus 12, verse 4), and that it be eaten “standing” and “in the evening,” or by the fortifying of the house with blood? He will have nothing else to say but, over and over, all about Egypt. But I can tell you the meaning of the blood, and of the evening, and of all eating together, and of the rule that all should be standing.

But first let us explain why the yeast is cast out of all their territory. What, then, is the hidden meaning? The believer must be freed from all wickedness. For just as among them the one in whose house old yeast is found perishes, so it is with us wherever wickedness is found — since, of course, when the punishment is so great in what is only a shadow, in our case it cannot help being much greater. For if they clear their houses of yeast so carefully, and pry into mouse-holes, much more ought we to search through the soul, so as to cast out every unclean thought. [n]

This, however, was done by them in times past, but no longer now. For wherever a Jew is found, there is yeast all around, since the Feast of Unleavened Bread is kept in the middle of cities — a thing that is now more a game than a law. For since the truth has come, the types no longer have any place.

So by this example too he drives the immoral man out of the church with great force. For, he says, far from his presence doing any good, he even does harm, injuring the common state of the whole body. For while the corrupt part is hidden, no one knows where the foul smell comes from, and so it is blamed on the whole. That is why he urges them strongly to “clean out the yeast, so that you may be,” he says, “a new lump, as you are unleavened.”

“For Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us.” He did not say “has died,” but, more to the point of his subject, “has been sacrificed.” So do not look for unleavened bread of that kind, since you do not have a lamb of that kind either. Do not look for yeast of that description, since your unleavened bread is not like that.

With material yeast, the unleavened may become leavened, but never the reverse; here, however, there is a chance of just the opposite happening. He has not said this plainly, though — and notice his good sense. In the first letter he gives the immoral man no hope of return, but orders that his whole life be spent in repentance, so that the promise would not make him less earnest. For he did not say, “Deliver him to Satan, so that after repenting he may be received back into the church.” But what does he say? “So that he may be saved in the last day.” He leads him on to that time in order to fill him with anxiety. And what favors he meant to show him after his repentance he does not reveal, imitating his own Master. [o]

For just as God says, “Yet three days, and Nineveh will be overthrown” (Jonah 3, verse 4), and did not add, “but if she repents she will be saved,” so Paul too did not say here, “But if he repents worthily, we will ‘confirm our love toward him’” (Second Corinthians 2, verse 8). He waits for him to do the work, so that he may then receive the favor. For if he had said this at the beginning, he might have freed him from fear. That is why he not only does not say it, but by the example of the yeast does not even allow him the hope of return, and reserves him for that day: “Clean out,” he says, “the old yeast,” and, “Let us not keep the feast with old yeast.” But as soon as the man had repented, he brought him back in with all earnestness.

But why does he call it “old”? Either because our former life was of this sort, or because what is old is “ready to vanish away” (Hebrews 8, verse 13), and is stale and foul, which is the nature of sin. For God neither simply finds fault with the old nor simply praises the new; he goes by the matter in hand. So elsewhere he says, “New wine is like a new friend; but when it has grown old, you will drink it with pleasure” (Sirach 9, verse 10), in the matter of friendship giving his praise to the old rather than the new. And again, “The Ancient of Days sat” (Daniel 7, verse 9): here again he takes the word “ancient” as one of those terms of praise that confer the highest glory. [q]

Elsewhere Scripture takes the word “old” as blame. For since things have many sides, being made up of many parts, it uses the same words in both a good and a bad sense, though not with the same shade of meaning. You may see an instance of this in the blame cast elsewhere on what is old: “They grew old, and they limped away from their paths” (Psalm 17, verse 46, in the Greek numbering). And again, “I have grown old among all my enemies” (Psalm 6, verse 7, in the Greek). And again, “You who have grown old in wicked days” (Daniel 13, verse 52, in the story of Susanna). So too “yeast” is often taken for the kingdom of heaven, though here it is found fault with. But there it is used in one sense, and here in another.

But I am firmly convinced that the saying about the yeast also applies to the priests, who allow a great deal of the old yeast to remain inside and do not clean out of their borders — that is, out of the church — the greedy, the robbers, and whatever else shuts people out of the kingdom of heaven. For greed is surely an “old yeast.” Wherever it lands, whatever house it enters, it makes that house unclean. Even if what you gain by your injustice is small, it leavens your whole estate. That is why a small dishonest gain has often driven out a store honestly laid up, however large. Nothing is more rotten than greed. You may lock up that man’s storeroom with key and door and bolt, but it is all for nothing while you shut greed up inside — the worst of robbers, able to carry off everything. [t]

You may say: “But what if there are many greedy people who never experience this?” In the first place, they will experience it, even if the experience does not come at once. And if they escape now, be all the more afraid, because they are being kept for a greater punishment. Besides, even if they escape themselves, those who inherit their wealth will have the same to endure. You will say: “But how can that be just?” It is entirely just. The man who has come into an inheritance full of injustice, even if he has committed no plunder himself, is still holding on to other people’s property. He knows it perfectly well, and it is fair that he should pay for it. Suppose someone robbed, and you received the thing, and then the owner came and demanded it back. Would it help your defense to say that you had not seized it? Not at all. Tell me, what would your plea be when you were accused? That someone else seized it? Very well — but you are the one keeping it. That he was the one who robbed? But you are the one enjoying it. Why, even the laws of the pagans recognize these rules. They let those who seized and stole go, and tell you to demand satisfaction from whoever you happen to find holding your property, all laid up.

If, then, you know who has been wronged, give it back, and do what Zacchaeus did, with a large increase. But if you do not know, I offer you yet another way; I do not shut you out from the remedy. Give all these things away to the poor, and in this way you will lessen the evil. And if some have passed these things on even to their children and descendants, they have still suffered other disasters as punishment.

But why do I speak of things in this present life? On that day, at any rate, none of these things will be said, when both stand naked, the robbed and the robbers. Or rather, not equally naked. Both will be stripped of their riches alike, but the one will be covered with the charges his conduct gave rise to. What, then, will we do on that day, when before that dreadful judgment seat the man who was wronged and lost everything is brought forward into the middle, and you have no one to say a word for you? What will you say to the Judge? Now, perhaps, you can even corrupt the court, since it is only a court of men. But in that court, at that time, it will not be so any longer. No — and not even now will you be able to. For even at this moment that judgment seat is present, since God sees what we do and is near to the wronged, even when no one calls on him. It is certain that whoever suffers wrong, however unworthy in himself of any redress, still has someone who will surely avenge him, since what is done does not please God.

You will say: “How is it, then, that such a man, a wicked man, is doing well?” No — it will not be so to the end. Hear what the prophet says: “Do not fret because of evildoers, for like grass they will quickly wither away” (Psalm 37, verses 1 and 2). For where, tell me, where is the man who lived by plunder, once he has gone from here? Where are his bright hopes? Where is his grand name? Have they not all passed away and gone? Was not everything that was his a dream and a shadow? And this is what you must expect in the case of every such person, both for himself while he lives and for the one who comes after him. But the state of the saints is not like this, and you will not be able to say the same things of them — that what belongs to them is a shadow and a dream and a tale.

If you like, let the man who spoke these words — the tentmaker, the Cilician, the man whose very parents are unknown — be the example we bring forward. You will say: “How is it possible to become like him?” Do you really want it, then? Are you truly eager to become like him? You will say: “Yes.” Well then, go the same way that he went, he and those who were with him. And what way did he go? One of them says, “In hunger and thirst and nakedness” (Second Corinthians 11, verse 27). Another says, “Silver and gold I do not have” (Acts 3, verse 6). So they “had nothing, and yet possessed all things” (Second Corinthians 6, verse 10). What could be nobler than this saying? What more blessed, or richer? Others pride themselves on the opposite, saying, “I have so many talents of gold, and acres of land without end, and houses, and slaves.” But this man prides himself on being stripped of everything. He does not shrink from poverty, as the unwise do, or hide his face over it; he even wears it as an ornament. [w]

Where now are the rich — those who count up their interest, simple and compound, who take from everyone and are never satisfied? Have you heard the voice of Peter, the voice that shows poverty to be the mother of wealth? The voice that has nothing, and yet is richer than those who wear the diadem? For this is the voice that, having nothing, raised the dead, set the lame upright, drove out demons, and gave such gifts of grace as those who are clothed in the purple robe and lead the mighty and terrible legions have never been able to give. This is the voice of those who have now been taken up into heaven, of those who have reached that height.

This is how the man who has nothing can possess the goods of all. This is how the man who owns nothing can acquire what belongs to everyone, while we, if we were to get everyone’s goods, are stripped of everything. Perhaps this saying seems a paradox; but it is not. You will say: “But how does the man who has nothing possess everyone’s goods? Does not the man who has what belongs to everyone have far more?” Not at all — just the opposite. The man who has nothing commands everyone, just as they did. All over the world every house was open to them. Those who welcomed them counted their coming a favor, and they came to them as to friends and relatives. That is how they came to the woman who sold purple cloth (Acts 16, verse 14), and she, like a servant, set before them what she had. So too with the keeper of the prison, and he opened his whole house to them. And so with countless others. In this way they had everything and had nothing. For “they said that none of the things they possessed was their own” (Acts 4, verse 32); and that is why all things were theirs. The one who regards everything as common will use not only his own things but other people’s too, as though they were his. But the one who divides things off and makes himself master of his own alone will not be master even of those. [z]

This is plain from an example. The man who owns nothing at all — no house, no table, not a spare garment — but has given up everything for God’s sake, uses what is common as his own, and he will receive from everyone whatever he wants. So the man who has nothing possesses what belongs to everyone. But the man who has some things will not be master even of these. First, no one gives to a man who has possessions; and second, his property will belong to robbers and thieves and informers and the turns of fortune, and be anyone’s rather than his. Paul, for example, went up and down the whole world carrying nothing with him, and he was not going to friends or relatives either. In fact, at first he was everyone’s enemy. Yet once he had made his way in, he had the goods of all. But Ananias and Sapphira, in their hurry to gain a little more than their own, lost everything, and their lives as well. So let go of what is your own, so that you may use other people’s goods as your own.

But I must stop. I do not know how I was carried away so far as to say such things to people who think it a great thing to share even the smallest part of what they own. So let these words of mine be counted as spoken to the mature. To those less mature, this is what we may say: Give from what you have to those in need. Make your wealth grow. For he says, “He who gives to the poor lends to God” (Proverbs 19, verse 17). But if you are in a hurry and will not wait for the time of repayment, think of those who lend money to men. Not even they want to get their interest at once. They are eager for the principal to stay a good long while in the borrower’s hands, as long as the repayment is secure and they have no reason to distrust the borrower. [ab]

Let the same be done in this case too. Leave your money with God, so that he may pay you your wages many times over. Do not try to get it all here; for if you recover it all here, how will you receive it back there? That is why God stores these things up there, because this present life is full of decay. Yet he gives even here as well, for he says, “Seek the kingdom of heaven, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6, verse 33). Well then, let us look toward the kingdom and not be in a hurry to be repaid in full, so that we do not shrink our reward. Let us wait for the right time. For the interest in this case is not of that kind; it is the kind that befits God. Having gathered this interest together in great abundance, let us depart from here in that state, so that we may obtain both the present and the future blessings, by the grace and love for humankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom be glory, power and honor to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, now, from this time on, and forever. Amen.