Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Corinthians 5:12
For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?
12, 13. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? ] The connection of thought in this and the next verse is as follows: “You have supposed me to have been urging you to abstain altogether from any kind of intercourse with sinners. You misunderstood my meaning. I only meant to refer to the members of your own community. As you might have gathered from your own practice, which is confined to the Christian body, I have no authority to deal with those without. They are in the hands of God.” And then he abruptly adds, ‘Cast out the wicked man,’ or ‘the evil thing.’ The word therefore (literally ‘and’) is absent from many MSS., and has been supposed to have been introduced from the Septuagint version of Deu 13:5; Deu 17:7; Deu 21:21, &c. In the Greek the word ye in 1Co 5:12 is emphatic, and the words those that are within scarcely less so ‘it is those that are within that ye judge.’ Some editors would read the following words as a question, ‘Doth not God judge those that are without?’
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For what have I to do … – I have no authority over them; and can exercise no jurisdiction over them. All my rules, therefore, must have reference only to those who are within the church.
To judge – To pass sentence upon; to condemn; or to punish. As a Christian apostle I have no jurisdiction over them.
Them also that are without – Without the pale of the Christian church; pagans; people of the world; those who did not profess to be Christians.
Do not ye judge … – Is not your jurisdiction as Christians confined to those who are within the church, and professed members of it? ought you not to exercise discipline there, and inflict punishment on its unworthy members? Do you not in fact thus exercise discipline, and separate from your society unworthy persons – and ought it not to be done in this instance, and in reference to the offender in your church?
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Co 5:12-13
For what have I to do to Judge them also that are without?
Without and within
I. Those without.
1. Have no share in Church privileges.
2. Are exempt from Church jurisdiction.
3. Are liable to the judgment of God.
II. Those within.
1. May be unworthy of fellowship.
2. Are subject to discipline.
3. Must be excluded when their wickedness is proven. (J. Lyth, D. D.)
The judgment of God and the judgment of the Church
1. The one is limited, the other universal.
2. The one is partial, the other absolute.
3. The one is disciplinary, the other infallible.
4. The one is provisional, the other will be final.
5. The effects of the one are temporary, of the other eternal. (J. Lyth, D. D.)
Limitations of apostolic discipline
1. Even in that age of Divine intuitions and preternatural visitations Paul limits the subjects of expulsion from the Christian society to gross and definite vices. No encouragement is given to pry into the secret state of the heart and conscience, or to denounce mere errors of opinion or judgment.
2. Even when insisting most strongly on entire separation from heathen vices, he still allows unrestricted social intercourse with the heathen. He forbears to push his principle to an utopian extravagance: he acknowledges the impracticability of entire separation as a decisive reason against it, and regards the ultimate solution of the problem as belonging not to man, but to God.
3. Whilst strongly condemning the Christian quarrels as in themselves unchristian (chap 6.) he yet does not leave them without a remedy, and so drive them to the objectionable course of going before heathen judges. He recognises the fact, and appeals to their own self- respect to induce them to appoint judges of their own, thus giving the first apostolic sanction to Christian courts of law; in other words, departing from the highest ideal of a Christian Church in order to secure the purity of its actual condition.
4. He lays down the general truth that between all other outward acts and the sin of sensuality there is an essential difference; that the liberty which Christianity concedes to the former, it altogether withholds from the latter; that those sins are utterly inconsistent not merely with any particular relation existing between Christianity and heathenism, but with the very idea of Christianity itself. (Dean Stanley.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 12. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without?] The term without, , signifies those who were not members of the Church, and in this sense its correspondent term: hachitsonim, those that are without, is generally understood in the Jewish writers, where it frequently occurs. The word also, which greatly disturbs the sense here, is wanting in ABCFG, and several others, with the Syriac, Coptic, Slavonic, Vulgate, and the Itala; together with several of the fathers. The sentence, I think, with the omission of also, should stand thus: Does it belong to me to pass sentence on those which are without-which are not members of the Church? By no means (.) Pass ye sentence on them which are within-which are members of the Church: those which are without-which are not members of the Church, God will pass sentence on, in that way in which he generally deals with the heathen world. But put ye away the evil from among yourselves. This is most evidently the apostle’s meaning, and renders all comments unnecessary. In the last clause there appears to be an allusion to De 17:7, where the like directions are given to the congregation of Israel, relative to a person found guilty of idolatry: Thou shalt put away the evil from among you-where the version of the Septuagint is almost the same as that of the apostle: .
THERE are several important subjects in this chapter which intimately concern the Christian Church in general.
1. If evil be tolerated in religious societies, the work of God cannot prosper there. If one scandal appear, it should be the cause of general humiliation and mourning to the followers of God where it occurs; because the soul of a brother is on the road to perdition, the cause of God so far betrayed and injured, and Christ recrucified in the house of his friends. Pity should fill every heart towards the transgressor, and prayer for the backslider occupy all the members of the Church.
2. Discipline must be exercised in the Christian Church; without this it will soon differ but little from the wilderness of this world. But what judgment, prudence, piety, and caution, are requisite in the execution of this most important branch of a minister’s duty! He may be too easy and tender, and permit the gangrene to remain till the flock be infected with it. Or he may be rigid and severe, and destroy parts that are vital while only professing to take away what is vitiated. A backslider is one who once knew less or more of the salvation of God. Hear what God says concerning such: Turn, ye backsliders, for I am married unto you. See how unwilling He is to give them up! He suffers long, and is kind: do thou likewise; and when thou art obliged to cut off the offender from the Church of Christ, follow him still with thy best advice and heartiest prayers.
3. A soul cut off from the flock of God is in an awful state! his outward defence is departed from him; and being no longer accountable to any for his conduct, he generally plunges into unprecedented depths of iniquity; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. Reader, art thou without the pale of God’s Church? remember it is here written, them that are WITHOUT God judgeth, 1Co 5:13.
4. Christians who wish to retain the spirituality of their religion should be very careful how they mingle with the world. He who is pleased with the company of ungodly men, no matter howsoever witty or learned, is either himself one with them, or is drinking into their spirit. It is impossible to associate with such by choice without receiving a portion of their contagion. A man may be amused or delighted with such people, but he will return even from the festival of wit with a lean soul. Howsoever contiguous they may be, yet the Church and the world are separated by an impassable gulf.
5. If all the fornicators, adulterers, drunkards, extortioners, and covetous persons which bear the Christian name, were to be publicly excommunicated from the Christian Church, how many, and how awful would the examples be! If however the discipline of the visible Church be so lax that such characters are tolerated in it, they should consider that this is no passport to heaven. In the sight of God they are not members of his Church; their citizenship is not in heaven, and therefore they have no right to expect the heavenly inheritance. It is not under names, creeds, or professions, that men shall be saved at the last day; those alone who were holy, who were here conformed to the image of Christ, shall inherit the kingdom of God. Those who expect it in any other way, or on any other account, will be sadly deceived.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? My jurisdiction extendeth not to heathens; God hath intrusted to me not the government of the world, but the government of his church.
Do not ye judge them that are within? Nor would I have you concern yourselves further, than in judging your own members, those that are within the pale of your church, and who, by a voluntary joining with you, have given you a power over them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12. what have I to doYoumight have easily understood that my concern is not with unbelieversoutside the Church, but that I referred to those within it.
alsoImplying, Thosewithin give me enough to do without those outside.
do not ye, &c.Yejudge your fellow citizens, not strangers: much more should I[BENGEL]. Rather, Is itnot your duty to judge them that are within? God shalljudge them that are without: do you look at home [GROTIUS].God is the Judge of the salvation of the heathen, not we (Ro2:12-16). Paul here gives an anticipatory censure of their goingto law with saints before heathen tribunals, instead of judging suchcauses among themselves within.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For what have I to do to judge,…. To admonish, reprove, censure, and condemn:
them also that are without? without the church, who never were in it, or members of it; to whom ecclesiastical jurisdiction does not reach; and with whom the apostle had no more concern, than the magistrates of one city, or the heads of one family have with another:
do not ye judge them that are within? and them only? The apostle appeals to their own conduct, that they only reproved, censured, and punished with excommunication, such as were within the pale of the church, were members of it, and belonged unto it; nor did they pretend to exercise a power over others; and it would have been well if they had made use of the power they had over their own members, by admonishing and reproving such as had sinned; by censuring delinquents, and removing from their communion scandalous and impenitent offenders; and therefore they need not wonder that the apostle only meant fornicators, c. among them, and not those that were in the world, by his forbidding to company with such: reference seems to be had to ways of speaking among the Jews, who used not only to call themselves the church, and the Gentiles the world, and so them that were without, both their land and church but even those among themselves that were profane, in distinction from their wise and good men. They say q,
“if a man puts his phylacteries on his forehead, or upon the palm of his hand, this is the way of heresy (or, as in the Talmud r, the way of the Karaites); if he covered them with gold, and put them upon his glove (or on his garments without, so Bartenora, or, as Maimonides interprets it, his arm, shoulder, or breast), lo, this is
, “the way of them that are without”:”
on which the commentators s say, “these are the children of men, who walk after their own judgment, and not the judgment of the wise men”: and Maimonides t says, they are such who deny the whole law, and neither believe anything, either of the written or the oral law.
q Misn. Megilla, c. 4. sect. 8. r T. Bab. Megilla, fol. 24. 2. s Jarchi, Bartenora, & Yom Tob, in Misn. Megilla, c. 4. sect. 8. t In. ib.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
For what have I to do? ( ;). “For what is it to me (dative) to judge those without ( )?” They are outside the church and not within Paul’s jurisdiction. God passes judgment on them.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Comments
1) For what have I to do. (ti gar moi) for what (is it) to me? What business of mine is it?
2) To judge them also that are without? (Greek tous ekso krinen) to judge the ones without – the ones without the church fellowship. A church cannot regulate the moral and social conduct, or even restrict the conduct, the manner of life of any, except her own members.
3) Do not ye judge them that are within. (ouchi tous eso humeis krinete;) Do ye not judge the ones within? meaning within their own company, assembly, or fellowship?
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
12. For what have I to do to judge them that are without ? There is nothing to hinder us from judging these also — nay more, even devils themselves are not exempt from the judgment of the word which is committed to us. But Paul is speaking here of the jurisdiction that belongs peculiarly to the Church. “The Lord has furnished us with this power, that we may exercise it upon those who belong to his household. For this chastisement is a part of discipline which is confined to the Church, and does not extend to strangers. We do not therefore pronounce upon them their condemnation, because the Lord has not subjected them to our cognizance and jurisdiction, in so far as that chastisement and censure are concerned. We are, therefore, constrained to leave them to the judgment of God.” It is in this sense that Paul says, that God will judge them, because he allows them to wander about (308) unbridled like wild beasts, because there is no one that can restrain their wantonness.
(308) “ Et courir a trauers champs;” — “And run across the fields.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(12) For what have I to do . . .?The Apostle in this verse at once explains the grounds of the limitation of his remarks to Christians, and seems to hint also, by the form of expression here, that the Corinthian Church ought to have been able to have understood his remarks as only applicable to themselves and not to the heathen.
Them also that are without.The heathen. It was a common form of expression amongst the Jews to designate the Gentile world (Mar. 4:11).
Do not ye judge them that are within?As the Christian Church could sit in judgment only on its own members, so they should have concluded that only on them had St. Paul passed judgment.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
12. For I limit the application of this rule to a brother, for the following reason.
What to do What right do I possess?
Judge without Church discipline assumes but to govern the Church, whose members have voluntarily placed themselves under its authority. The Church is a holy republic, governed by its own laws.
Do not ye Do not you, as a Church, limit your discipline to your own number, and thereby show that such was the meaning of my letter?
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘For what have I to do with judging those who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside, while those who are outside God judges? Put away the wicked man from among yourselves.’
It is not Paul’s business to act as an official judge on non-Christians, those outside the church, nor is it the church’s. They can be left to the civil authorities. What he means by a judge here is one who passes a verdict which results in civil punishment. Clearly he is to pass judgment on them as being sinners and as being in need of mercy. But it is not for him in that case to exact the punishment. That is in God’s hands.
But those who claim to be Christians and are in the church thereby submit themselves to the judgment of the church, and are subject to the discipline of the church. They are claiming to be under the Kingly Rule of God. Therefore they must put away the man whom he has earlier described, and all who behave openly sinfully, so that they no longer come among them living a life of pretence (1Co 5:1), but come to repentance.
‘Put away (or ‘drive out’) the wicked man from among yourselves.’ Or alternately ‘put away the evil (or ‘wickedness’) from among yourselves’. (‘Poneron’ can be masculine or neuter). For this compare Deu 17:7; Deu 22:24 LXX where the same verb is used and the remainder of the sentence follows exactly. See also Deu 13:5. Paul’s words here are a command to follow that Scriptural example.
Some take the words as meaning ‘put away the Evil One from among yourselves’. But the above direct references from Deuteronomy exclude that as the basic meaning, although the idea is similar. By putting the wicked man out, and by putting away evil they are effectively putting away the Evil One. (On the other hand they are also committing them to the Satan, the Evil One- 1Co 5:5 – which demonstrates that it is not he directly who is being ‘put out’).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
1Co 5:12. For what have I to do, &c. Have I any thing to do to judge those which are without? No, judge ye them that are within; 1Co 5:13. (But those that are without God judgeth) and ye shall take away THE EVIL from among you. See Deu 13:5; Deu 17:7. In the words those that are without, Dr. Whitby thinks there is an oblique reference to the mother-in-law of the incestuous person, who was a heathen; which, from the Apostle’s giving no direction concerning her, is not improbable. However, the views of the Apostle in this clause, if they took in this particular, seem to have been still more extensive. “Those who are without the pale of the Christian church, God judgeth; and, he will find a way sooner or later, to testify his aweful displeasure against them, for crimes which they have committed against the law of nature, (or rather the law of grace) and that acquaintance with it, which he knows they actually had or might have attained through the secret influences of the Spirit of God.”
Inferences.This chapter contains a very important doctrine,the necessity of discipline in the church, and especially that part of discipline which consists of excommunication. St. Paul reproves the Corinthians for not removing the incestuous person from among them; which teaches us, that when persons who call themselves Christians, fall into sins which dishonour the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ, the whole church ought to mourn for it, and should not suffer those persons to remain in her communion, but chase from it such as are its reproach and scandal.
St. Paul most expressly declares, that we ought not to acknowledge for brethren, for Christians, the unclean, unjust, slanderous, drunkards, or other scandalous or avowed sinners; nor to have any familiar dealings with them. This is the law of Christ; this is what the Apostles have commanded in his name; this is the rule appointed by them in all churches, for the honour of the Christian religion, and the saving of the sinners themselves, as well as to prevent their evil examples from corrupting other members of the church; and this is what the first Christians religiously practised: on which account, we are forced to own that the church is not now governed as it ought to be, since this kind of excommunication is exercised hardly any where, except in some peculiar societies. Nevertheless, the duty of all true Christians is, to avoid as far as possible all correspondence with wicked men, and to distinguish themselves from them by a holy and exemplary life; nor should we ever vainly imagine, that being joined in communion with a Christian church, can excuse the guilt of immoral and scandalous practices, for which the wrath of God comes even upon the children of disobedience among the heathen.
God will have his time to judge them that are without; and not only “Christians at large,” as some may fondly, and perhaps profanely, be ready to call themselves, but Mahometans and Pagans too will find articles like these sitting upon their souls with a dreadful weight; and, if sincere repentance do not make way for pardon, plunging them into the lowest abyss of misery;into a state of everlasting separation from the blessed God, and all his holy and acceptable servants.
REFLECTIONS.1st, The Apostle, after reproving their party disputes, passes on to other gross offences which subsisted among them.
1. A most gross and scandalous crime had been committed by one of the members of the church; that he should have his father’s wife, (see the Annotations;) a species of fornication abominable even in the eyes of civilized heathens, and bringing the greater reproach on their profession as Christians.
2. What had been one man’s sin in the commission, had become the sin of the whole by their connivance. Ye are puffed up. Perhaps, their outward prosperity made them negligent of inward purity among the members of the church; and therefore, without mourning over such a scandalous offender, and casting him out of the church, as they ought to have done, he still continued to assemble with them, and they countenanced him in his wickedness. Note; (1.) In the most flourishing churches corruptions have crept in. (2.) A Christian’s heart mourns over the offences of his brethren, and cannot but sensibly feel the wounds given thereby to the Redeemer’s cause.
3. The Apostle pronounces sentence upon this incestuous Corinthian, and enjoins them to put it in force against him by an immediate excommunication. I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, having my heart ever solicitous for your welfare, and knowing by revelation the true state of this case, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed, that he be without delay cast out from among you. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together to consult on this affair; and my Spirit is among you with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has left this authority to his church for the maintenance of holy discipline among the professing members of it; I have determined that you are in duty bound to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, expelling him from the society of the faithful, and delivering him back into the world that lieth under the dominion of the wicked one. And perhaps some signal mark of wrath was suffered to be inflicted upon his body, that, thus exposed to shame and suffering, he might yet perhaps be brought to repentance, and that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Note; It is as necessary for the backslider as it is for the glory of God, that he should smart for his unfaithfulness: such chastisement is for his salvation, not destruction.
4. He exhorts them to purge out the leaven of wickedness from among them. Your glorying is not good, it is peculiarly unseasonable and strange, when such offences are committed among you with impunity: know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? And that in like manner corrupt principles and practices, connived at in the least measure, may soon spread, and communicate universal infection to the church. Purge out therefore the old leaven, search out and remove all scandalous persons from among you, as carefully as the Jews examine their houses before the passover, that ye may be in reality a new lump as ye are in profession unleavened, in simplicity and truth devoted to the Lord Jesus as his peculiar people, and departing from all iniquity as the evidence that you belong to him. Note; (1.) The beginnings of evil are to be watched against and checked, lest, like the spreading mortification, the whole body become infected. (2.) They who are Christ’s are new creatures. If we say we abide in him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.
5. He urges his exhortation by the strongest argument. For even Christ our passover, who was signified by the paschal Lamb, is sacrificed for us, that he might cleanse us from all iniquity, this being one great end of his death. Therefore let us keep the feast which he hath instituted instead of the paschal supper, not with old leaven, admitting profane and scandalous offenders to the table of the Lord; neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, not harbouring allowed sin, or living under the power of corruption, defiled in body, or soured with pride and party disputes; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, with real attachment of heart to the Saviour, and unfeigned love to the brethren. Note; (1.) The sacrifice of Christ, which we commemorate, should be a rich feast to our souls; since thereby every blessing in time and eternity is prepared for the faithful. (2.) They who approach the Lord’s table, should examine themselves, whether their old leaven be purged out, and their hearts in simplicity brought to the spirit and temper of the Gospel.
2nd, Some conceive that the Apostle refers in 1Co 5:9 to a former Epistle which he had written to the Corinthians; others, to one he was writing when he heard from them, and began a new letter in answer to them; though perhaps what he speaks, may have only respect to what he had said before in this same Epistle. I wrote unto you in an Epistle, not to company with fornicators; to be separate from all familiar intercourse with those who bring such reproach on the Christian name. Yet my intention is not that you should be altogether secluded from the world, and refuse all civil intercourse with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world, so few would be left with whom to have any commerce in such an evil world as this is. 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; not only he should be excluded from eating bread with you at the Lord’s table, but even all intercourse and connection with him should be cut off, and he should be shunned and avoided by you more than even the heathen themselves; that, being put to shame, he may yet be brought to repentance, and restored to the bosom of the church. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? As they make no profession of Christianity, they lie under none of our censures; and in civil affairs, as duty calls, may lawfully be conversed with: but do not ye judge them that are within? The professing members of the church come under your jurisdiction, and are, when they answer any of the before-mentioned characters, to be treated with this peculiar distance. But them that are without, who are open offenders, and live carelessly after the fashion of the world, God judgeth; to whose judgment they must be left. Therefore, since your power extends over your own community, put away from yourselves that wicked person.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
1Co 5:12 f. The reason for his having spoken in reference to the Christians, and not those without the Christian pale: for it does not at all concern me to be passing disciplinary judgments upon the latter .
] for what concern is it of mine ? etc. See Wetstein on the passage, and Schaefer, a [847] Bos. Ell. p. 598. The emphasis falls so entirely upon and , that we have not , which is not needed even if the reading ( even, besides ) . be adopted.
] was with the Jews the standing name ( ) for the heathen (see Lightfoot, Hor., a [848] Marc. iv. 11; Schoettgen on this verse; Kypke, II. p. 198); and so, in like manner, with the Christians it was the standing appellation for all who were non-Christians , as being outside the fellowship of the true people of God (Col 4:5 ; 1Th 4:12 ; 1Ti 3:7 ).
;] By this question Paul appeals, in justification of what he has just said: “what does it concern me,” etc., to the exercise of judicial functions by his readers themselves in the administration of church discipline, in so far, that is to say, as that discipline bore upon their fellow-Christians , and not upon those outside of the Christian society. Rckert thinks that Paul means to say: Judging is not my matter at all (seeing that the members of the church were judged by their fellow-members themselves; while those without, again, God would hereafter judge). But judging was doubtless his matter (see 1Co 5:4-6 , 1Co 5:11 ; 1Co 5:13 ), only not respecting those . What he means is rather this: “To judge those who are not Christians is no concern of mine, any more than you take in hand to judge any others except your fellow-believers .” “Ex eo, quod in ecclesia fieri solet, interpretari debuistis monitum meum, 1Co 5:9 ; cives judicatis, non alienos,” Bengel. The simple is altered in meaning by Billroth: Is it not enough that ye? etc., as well as by Castalio, Grotius, al [849] : judicare debetis (we find this interpretation as early as Theophylact). The Corinthians actually judged , every time that they passed a sentence of ecclesiastical discipline. Lastly, it is a mistake to render, as is done by in Theophylact, Knatchbull, Hammond, Michaelis, Semler, Rosenmller, Flatt, Heydenreich: No; judge ye your fellow-Christians ! is not a suitable answer to , and would, besides, require after it (Rom 3:27 ; Luk 1:60 ; Luk 12:51 ; Luk 13:3 ; Luk 13:5 ; Luk 16:30 ), and that with a clause forming a logically correct antithesis to the question put.
[847] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.
[848] d refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.
[849] l. refers to the note of the commentator or editor named on the particular passage.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
12 For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?
Ver. 12. Them also that are without ] These come not under the verge of Church censures,Rev 22:15Rev 22:15 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
12. ] Ground of the above limitation .
. ] for what concern of mine is it ? So lian, Var. H. vi. 11, . . ; see other examples in. Wetst.
] reff. It was among the Jews the usual term for the Gentiles. Cf. Schttgen in loc.
He means, ‘this might have been easily understood to be my meaning: for what concern have I with pronouncing sentence on the world without, or with giving rules of discipline for them? I could only have referred to persons among yourselves .’
] “Ex eo, quod in ecclesia fieri solet, interpretari debuistis monitum meum, 1Co 5:9 . Cives judicatis, non alienos: quanto magis ego.” Bengel. But I am not quite certain of this interpretation, which is also that of De Wette and Meyer, because it would more naturally correspond to ; A preferable way seems to be this; ‘My judgment was meant to lead your judgment. This being the case, what concern had I with those without? Is it not on those within, that your judgments are passed?’ The arrangement mentioned by Theophylact, and adopted by Knatchbull, Hammond, Michaelis, Rosenm., al., , ‘ No: those within do ye (imper.) judge,’ is clearly wrong, for is no answer to , and would require after it, even supposing and formed any intelligible logical contrast, which they do not.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
1Co 5:12-13 . . . .; “For what business of mine is it ( Quid mea refert? Cv [879] ) to judge those that are outside? (Is it) not those within (that) you judge, while those without God judges?” By these questions P. justifies his excluding the impure . from the communion and social courtesies of the Church. He holds jurisdiction over those within its pale; of their conduct the Church ( ) is bound to take note; the world outside must be left to the judgment of God: “cives judicate, ne alienos” (Bg [880] ). The Ap. places himself and the Cor [881] on the one side ( cf. 1Co 6:4 ; also 1Co 12:25 f.), in contrast with God who judges . “Within” and “without” denoted in Synagogue usage members and non-members of the sacred community (see parls.): = , , , etc. Yet this mutual judgment of Christians by each other has great limitations (Rom 14:4-10 ; Mat 7:1 ff.); its sphere lies in vital matters of character essential to Church life; and there it is subject to the final Court of Appeal (see 1Co 4:3 ff.). (not ): P. is not anticipating the Last Judgment, but laying down the principle that God is the world’s Judge; see Rom 2:16 ; Rom 3:6 , Heb 12:23 , etc. The interrog. holds under its regimen the two clauses linked by the contrastive ; El [882] however reads . . . assertively, as a concluding “grave enunciation”.
[879] Calvin’s In Nov. Testamentum Commentarii .
[880] Bengel’s Gnomon Novi Testamenti.
[881]
[882] C. J. Ellicott’s St. Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians .
From his digression to the lost Ep. and the general social problem, the Ap. returns, with vehement emphasis, to the offender of 1Co 5:1 f. and demands his expulsion in the solemn words of the Deuteronomic law. is not Satan (“scelerum omnium principem,” Cv [883] ), nor “the wicked” in general each case as it arises (Hf [884] ); but “istum improbum” (Bz [885] ), the case of notorious and extreme guilt which gave rise to the whole discussion. ( cf. , 1Co 6:7 ) takes up again the of 1Co 5:2 , with the added thought ( – ) of the riddance effected by his removal. The terrible sentence of 1Co 5:3 ff. had not, in so many words, prescribed ejection, though implying it; and P. needed to be very explicit: see note on 1Co 5:9 . The formal expulsion must proceed from the Cor [886] , ; the Church is a self-governing body.
[883] Calvin’s In Nov. Testamentum Commentarii .
[884] J. C. K. von Hofmann’s Die heilige Schrift N.T. untersucht , ii. 2 (2te Auflage, 1874).
[885] Beza’s Nov. Testamentum: Interpretatio et Annotationes (Cantab., 1642).
[886] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
have I to do. Literally is it to me.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
12.] Ground of the above limitation.
.] for what concern of mine is it ? So lian, Var. H. vi. 11, . . ; see other examples in. Wetst.
] reff. It was among the Jews the usual term for the Gentiles. Cf. Schttgen in loc.
He means, this might have been easily understood to be my meaning: for what concern have I with pronouncing sentence on the world without, or with giving rules of discipline for them? I could only have referred to persons among yourselves.
] Ex eo, quod in ecclesia fieri solet, interpretari debuistis monitum meum, 1Co 5:9. Cives judicatis, non alienos: quanto magis ego. Bengel. But I am not quite certain of this interpretation, which is also that of De Wette and Meyer, because it would more naturally correspond to ; A preferable way seems to be this; My judgment was meant to lead your judgment. This being the case, what concern had I with those without? Is it not on those within, that your judgments are passed? The arrangement mentioned by Theophylact, and adopted by Knatchbull, Hammond, Michaelis, Rosenm., al., , No: those within do ye (imper.) judge,-is clearly wrong, for is no answer to , and would require after it,-even supposing and formed any intelligible logical contrast, which they do not.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
1Co 5:12. ; 😉 Artemonius, p. 212, refers to the conjecture of Le Clerc, and after changing a few words presents it in this form: ; . There are here various changes of letters, by which the word , the most necessary of them all, is cancelled. If the meaning of Paul had been, what have I to do with those that are without? the Greek idiom would have required , not . , viz. ; for what have I to do to judge those that are without? (Verbals [such as Bengels externos judicatio] govern the case of the verb, ex. gr.: Curatio hanc rem, taking charge of this matter.) Expressions very similar occur, , Gen 27:46 : , , , 2Ch 26:18 : , , , Isa 48:22 : , Act 20:16 : , Hippolytus de antichristo, chap. 32. These remarks apply to the whole sentence; we shall now consider the words one by one.-) also, which intimates, that those, who are within, give me enough to do.[44]-, to judge) He judges, who is not mixed up with them, does not keep company with them.-, do not ye?) From what is wont to occur in the Church, you ought to have interpreted my admonition, alluded to in 1Co 5:9, You judge your fellow-citizens, not strangers; how much more should I? You judge, will thus signify righteous judgment. But this may also be a previous [anticipatory], and, that too, a seasonable sting to the Corinthians, who were judging [bringing before heathen courts of justice] them that were within, while [though] they considered the saints removed [exempt] from judgments concerning things pertaining to this life, 1Co 6:1-3.
[44] This very particle , also, however, is considered of less importance in the 2d, than in the 1st Ed., and it is entirely omitted in the Germ. Vers.-E. B. ABCG Vulg. Memph. fg (ante-Hieron. Lat.) Versions omit . D and later Syr. retain .-ED.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
1Co 5:12
1Co 5:12
For what have I to do with judging them that are without?-[They should have easily understood his meaning, for it was well known to them that] he had nothing to do with judging those not members of the church. [The phrase them that are without is frequently used by Paul (1Th 4:12; Col 4:5), and their awful condition he graphically describes as follows: Ye were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world. (Eph 2:12).]
Do not ye judge them that are within?-As churches they were to look after and deal with those within that they might be kept from evil influences. [Their own practice should have saved them from misunderstanding him. It is possible that his meaning had been purposely wrested by interested persons to bring discredit upon his teaching concerning fornicators.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
what: Luk 12:14, Joh 18:36
them: Mar 4:11, Col 4:5, 1Th 4:12, 1Ti 3:7
do not: 1Co 6:1-5
Reciprocal: Jos 6:23 – left them Joh 8:11 – Neither 1Co 6:4 – ye 2Co 2:5 – any
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Co 5:12-13. What have I to do means “l have nothing to do with, judging them outside the church.” Hence the church was not expected to be further responsible officially for those who were already of the world, or who would become inhabitants of it by being excluded from the church. The Lord would then be the sole judge of them. But those in the fellowship of the church are subject to the discipline of the congregation. The whole discussion of the case is closed with the direct command to put the wicked person from among them. Nothing is said about the woman, hence we must infer she was not a member of the church and so it would not be responsible.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
1Co 5:12. For what have I to do with judging them that are without (the Christian pale)? As the Jews so described those outside the covenant, our Lord and the apostles borrowed the phrase from them (Mar 4:11; Col 4:5; 1Th 4:12).
do not ye judge them that are within?and that surely is responsibility enough.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
As if the apostle had said, “My jurisdiction extendeth not to the heathens, I have nothing to do to judge and censure them that are without the church: but such as are within the pale of the church, your own members, who own your jurisdiction, these you have an undoubted right and power to judge, leaving the other to the judgment of God: therefore I advise, nay, charge you, to put away from yourselves that wicked and incestuous person, by excommunicating and banishing him from your communion.”
As banishment is a civil excommunication, so excommunication is a spiritual banishment: magistrates must drive malefactors out of civil societies, and church officers must expel enormous offenders out of their religious societies; for they who are unfit for civil converse, are much more unfit for spiritual communion.
The last words, Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person, help us clearly to understand the former precept, 1Co 5:7. Purge out the old leaven, &c that they are not in their first and proper sense to be interpreted of particular persons purging out their lusts, and mortifying their corruptions, though that be a very necessary duty; but it is to be understood of every Christian church’s duty to pruge out from among them all flagitious and enormous offenders.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
1Co 5:12-13. For, &c. I speak of Christians only: for what have I to do to judge them that are without Namely, heathen: do not ye judge them that are within? Ye, as well as I, judge those of your own community: them that are without, God judgeth The passing sentence on these God hath reserved to himself, and they shall not go unpunished, though they fall not under your censure. Therefore In consideration of this, both in one view and the other, let it be your immediate care, as you regard the peace of the church, and the safety of your own souls; to put away from among yourselves Speedily, and with all due solemnity; that wicked person Whom I have mentioned, and any others, whose characters may, like his, be scandalous and infections. The apostle is thought, by some, to have written this, and the preceding verse, to show the Corinthians the reason why, after commanding them to pass so severe a sentence on the man, he said nothing to them concerning the woman, who was guilty with him. The discipline of the church was not to be exercised on persons out of it. Hence it appears that this woman was a heathen.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Vv. 12, 13. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do ye not judge them that are within? 13. But them that are without, God judgeth. And put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
The first question is the justification (for) of 1Co 5:10 : We have not to judge unbelievers. The second is the justification of 1Co 5:11 : But we have to judge believers.
Our competency to exercise discipline does not extend further than the solidarity established by confession of the common faith. This general truth the apostle expresses in his own person (, mine), as is often done in stating moral maxims (1Co 6:12, for example); this form does not therefore assume, as has been sometimes thought, that the word , to judge, has here a particular meaning, applicable exclusively to the apostle; for example, that of laying down disciplinary rules: The rules which I prescribe to you on this subject are not to be applied to those who are without. This sense of is inadmissible. In any case, had it been the part which he had to take personally on which Paul wished to lay stress, he would not have used the enclitic form (), but the full form (). He speaks of himself, not as an apostle, but as a Christian; and what he says applies consequently to every Christian. Every Christian has individually the mission to exercise the judgment of which he speaks in 1Co 5:11. We have already pointed out the profound analogy which prevails between this chapter and the disciplinary direction given to the apostles by the Lord (Mat 18:15-20). We find in the latter (in Mat 5:17) the same use of the singular pronoun, which strikes us here in the language of the apostle; only the pronoun is in the second person, because it is Jesus who is addressing the believer: Let him be to thee as a heathen and publican. It is therefore every believer who is bound freely at his own hand to pronounce this rupture of relations with the unbelieving brother which Paul prescribes to the Church in general. For if it is in itself the duty of all, it cannot be other in point of fact than a completely individual act.
T. R. with 3 Mjj. reads: What have I to do to judge those also () that are without? This may, after all, be authentic: The competency which I have in regard to my brethren, should I not also extend to others? The Jews called the heathen chitsonim, those without (Lightfoot, Hor. hebr., p. 6). The apostle borrows the name from them to designate, not only the heathen, but the Jews themselves; comp. the analogous term used by Jesus, Mar 4:11. In all the synagogues dispersed throughout heathen countries careful watch was kept over the respectability of the members of the community. Should the Church in this point remain behind the synagogue?
The term judge can only be explained in the context by what precedes. It can only therefore refer to the means which have just been indicated, viz. private rupture.
The second question (1Co 5:12 b) is in the same relation to 1Co 5:11 as the first (1Co 5:12 a) to 1Co 5:10. I have not the task of judging them that are without; but have not you that of judging them that are within, the vicious among believers, and that in name of the faith which they profess along with you? We are called to remark the emphasis put on the word , ye, in opposition to , God, the subject of the following proposition.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
For what have I to do with judging them that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within?
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Verse 12
Without; without the church.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
1Co 5:12-13 a. Reason for this different treatment of equally immoral church-members and heathens, viz. that Paul has no business to pronounce sentence on those outside (Col 4:5; 1Th 4:12; 1Ti 3:7) the church.
Whom you judge: an appeal, in support of this reason, to their own church-discipline. It is your business to see, not whether heathens, but whether church-members, are guilty of sin.
God judges: both now, and finally at the great day. The punishments which in this world follow sin, prove that sinners are already condemned.
1Co 5:13 b. After enforcing and guarding the express injunction of a former letter, and a principle involved in 7 of this letter, Paul concludes 8 by urging his readers to carry out this principle with the notorious offender of 1Co 5:1.
Take away etc.; almost word for word from Deu 17:7; Deu 21:21, which refer to the punishment of death for idolatry and for disobedience to parents. Thus the wicked Israelite was removed from the people. The terrible meaning of these words in the Old Testament gives great weight to them when used for the lighter sentence here enjoined; and clothes this sentence with Old Testament authority.
From among yourselves: emphatic contrast to those outside, reminding the readers that the evil to be removed was in their own midst.
The great precept of 8, viz. that we must have nothing to do with those who profess to serve Christ and yet live in sin, was probably more easy to obey in Paul’s day than in ours. For the veneer of a higher general social morality covers up, now more than then, very much actual sin, and makes if often impossible to determine the guilt or innocence of suspected persons. In nothing is Christian wisdom more needed than in our treatment of such. But, wherever it can be applied with certainty, the general principle is valid and important.
Fuente: Beet’s Commentary on Selected Books of the New Testament
5:12 {10} For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?
(10) Those who are false brethren ought to be cast out of the congregation. As for those who are outside of it, they must be left to the judgment of God.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Paul’s authority as an apostle did not extend to judging and prescribing discipline on unbelievers for their sins. He did, of course, assess the condition of unbelievers (e.g., Romans 1; et al.), but that is not what is in view here. His ministry and the ministry of other Christians in judging and disciplining sin took place only within church life. Judging means more than criticizing. It involves disciplining, too, as the context shows.