When God Writes Twice
There is a detail in 1 Corinthians 5 that most readers pass right over. In verse 9, the Apostle Paul mentions a previous letter — one written before this one, carrying the same basic instructions about separation from immorality. The Corinthians had that letter. They read it. And then they did nothing.
So God wrote again.
That single fact ought to stop every pastor and every church member cold. When a congregation ignores the clear instruction of God’s Word, He does not shrug and move on. He does not lower His standard to meet their comfort. He writes again — this time with greater clarity, greater urgency, and an expanded list of exactly what He requires.
We are holding that second letter in our hands right now.
The Letter They Already Had
Before we examine what this passage commands, it is worth pausing over what it reveals. Paul writes in verse 9:
I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators.
— 1 Corinthians 5:9
There was a prior letter. Scholars sometimes call it “the lost letter to the Corinthians,” and it is lost to us — but it was not lost to them. They had it. They knew its contents. The instruction was plain: do not keep company with fornicators.
Not every word spoken by an apostle, not every letter written to an early church, made its way into the canon of Scripture. That is not a problem; it is a providence. God preserved exactly what He intended us to have. The 66 books of the King James Bible represent everything God determined we needed to know. John himself testified at the close of his Gospel:
And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.
— John 21:25
What we know about that first letter is this: its instructions were clear, its authority was divine, and the church at Corinth chose to disregard it. That is why this letter exists — sharper, fuller, more urgent.
When God repeats Himself, He is not being redundant. He is being merciful. And He is running out of patience.
The Church’s Jurisdiction
One of the most clarifying moments in this passage comes in verses 12 and 13, where Paul draws a firm boundary around the church’s sphere of authority:
For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
— 1 Corinthians 5:12–13
The local church is not called to govern the world. It is not called to police unbelievers, manage the affairs of sister congregations, or answer to any ecclesiastical body erected by human hands. A true New Testament church recognizes no authority over it other than the Lord Jesus Christ — and He has delegated the governance of the local assembly to the pastors and deacons He has placed within it.
This is a liberating truth. The church is not responsible for every sin committed in the surrounding culture. God judges those who are without. What the church is responsible for — fully and without excuse — is the purity of its own membership.
Those who have publicly professed faith in Christ and committed to walk in obedience to His Word have placed themselves under the care and jurisdiction of the local church. That is not a burden. It is a protection. It is how God designed His people to be kept.
Six Sins the Church Cannot Ignore
When Paul expands his instructions in this second letter, he does not speak in generalities. He names sins. He lists behaviors. He gives the church a clear, actionable standard:
But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.
— 1 Corinthians 5:11
The first letter named four: the fornicator, the covetous, the extortioner, and the idolater. This second letter adds two more — the railer and the drunkard.
The fornicator is the person living in sexual immorality without repentance. The covetous is the one consumed by inordinate desire — for money, for power, for what belongs to someone else. The idolater worships something or someone above God — a sin that stretches from ancient paganism to the modern altar of self. The extortioner is a swindler and a thief, taking by force or fraud what is not his. The railer uses his tongue as a weapon, attacking reputations through slander — whether publicly or in private whispers, the guilt is the same. And the drunkard habitually surrenders himself to the control of alcohol. Scripture does not soften this:
Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: And whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
— Proverbs 20:1
What these six share is not merely moral failure — every believer fails morally at some point. What marks this list is a pattern of unrepentant, ongoing sin in the life of someone who names the name of Christ. That combination — the profession of faith on the lips and the practice of wickedness in the life — is what brings reproach on the local church and cannot be allowed to stand.
Not to Eat With Him
Of all the phrases in this passage, perhaps none is more striking than this: with such an one no not to eat.
In the ancient world, sharing a meal was the deepest expression of fellowship and acceptance. To eat with someone was to say: I am for you. I stand with you. You belong at my table. It was not a casual gesture. It was a covenant act.
When the Holy Spirit instructs the church to withdraw that table fellowship from an unrepentant member, He is not calling for cruelty. He is calling for clarity. The unrepentant sinner must feel the weight of what he has forfeited — not the weight of hatred, but the weight of consequence. The warmth of fellowship, the shared meal, the sense of belonging that comes with membership in the body of Christ: these are withdrawn not to destroy him but to awaken him.
This is why discipline is an act of love. It is the most serious and most merciful form of pastoral care a church can offer someone walking in unrepentant sin. The goal is never exclusion for its own sake. The goal is restoration. The door is not locked; it is closed — and it opens the moment genuine repentance arrives.
Execute His Instructions
At the close of this passage, the Holy Spirit moves from explanation to command. There is no more reasoning. No more appeal to emotion. Just a direct, firm word:
Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
— 1 Corinthians 5:13b
The word wicked here carries the sense of active, operating evil — not a temptation resisted but a wickedness embraced and continued. This language was not new to the people of God. Israel heard it repeatedly in the Law of Moses. When false prophets arose, when adultery was discovered, when paganism crept into the camp — the instruction was always the same: put the evil away from among you. The standard was severe under the Old Covenant because the stakes were severe. Leaven spreads.
The stakes have not changed. The instrument of discipline has shifted — from death under the Law to removal from fellowship under grace — but the underlying principle is identical. God still expects His people to act. To act quickly. To act without letting sentiment override Scripture.
A church that talks endlessly about a problem without ever executing the instruction has, in practice, chosen the sin over the standard.
The Cost of Disobedience
There is a graveyard of churches across the Western world that stands as permanent testimony to what happens when a congregation abandons its obedience.
A recent visit to Colonial Williamsburg brought that reality close. That region was once part of a British colonial world — and Britain itself, during the 17th and 18th centuries, was alive with some of the most powerful spiritual revivals in Christian history. Local churches were burning bright across the British Isles. David Livingstone and Hudson Taylor were products of that era. The gospel was moving.
Today, thousands of those church buildings stand empty. Many have been converted into taverns and bars — houses of the very wickedness the church once stood against. The congregations are gone. The candlestick has been removed.
The Lord Jesus warned the church at Ephesus exactly how this happens:
Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
— Revelation 2:4–5
It does not happen overnight. It happens incrementally — one compromise tolerated, one instruction ignored, one unaddressed sin permitted — until the leaven has done its work and there is nothing left worth purging.
The Standard Is Still the Standard
The local church is the pillar and ground of the truth. It is the institution Christ loved enough to die for — the only body on earth authorized to preach His gospel, administer His ordinances, and guard the integrity of His name among men.
That calling demands a church willing to hold the line. Not with harshness. Not with self-righteousness. But with the sober, loving, courageous obedience that God has always required of His people.
God wrote twice to Corinth. The second letter is in your hands. The question is whether this generation of churches will do what that generation would not.
Execute His instructions. Guard the fellowship. Keep the lump clean.
If this study has stirred something in you — a concern for your own walk, a question about what your church believes, or simply a hunger to go deeper in the Word — we would love to hear from you. Leave a comment below or explore more resources here at The Bible Workshop. This is exactly what we are here for.