Immorality Rebuked (Leviticus 20:10–21; Proverbs 5:1–23)
1 UST I have learned that you are in fact allowing people from your group to have improper sex. Even those who do not worship God do not allow some of the things that you allow.{ The worst thing that I have learned is} that a man from your group is having sex with his stepmother. BSB BSB: It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is intolerable even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife.
2 UST { Despite this,} you still say great things about yourselves instead of lamenting{ that sin}.{ You should have lamented} with the goal of expelling the man who committed this sexual sin. BSB BSB: And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have been stricken with grief and have removed from your fellowship the man who did this?
3 UST { You should expel him} because I have already declared the man who did this evil thing to be guilty. Although I am not with you physically, I think about you and care about you.{ Therefore, when I declare this man to be guilty, it is as valid} as if I were with you. BSB BSB: Although I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit, and I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present.
4 UST When you gather together, and I am thinking of you, we represent our Lord Jesus the Messiah.{ When you gather in this way, you should punish this man} as our Lord Jesus authorizes you to do. BSB BSB: When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, along with the power of the Lord Jesus,
5 UST You should expel this man so that Satan rules over him. That will destroy his sinful parts, and then God will save him when the Lord returns. BSB BSB: hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the Day of the Lord.
6 UST Saying great things about yourselves is not the right thing to do. Surely you realize that one person doing evil things is like fermented dough. Even a little fermented dough makes a whole lump of dough fermented, and even one person doing evil things makes the whole church guilty. BSB BSB: Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven works through the whole batch of dough?
7 UST Just as Jews remove the yeast from their houses{ during the Passover festival}, so you should remove anyone who does evil things from your group. Then, you will be free of sin, just like fresh, unleavened dough is free of yeast. In fact, you live in a time that is like the festival of Passover.{ This is because} the Messiah has died for you, just like the lamb that Jews sacrifice during the Passover festival represents how God delivered them. BSB BSB: Get rid of the old leaven, that you may be a new unleavened batch, as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 UST Since{ the Messiah has died for us}, let us act as if we were participating in the festival of Passover and remove the old leaven. We should get rid of the leaven, which stands for doing what is evil and wicked. Instead, we should eat unfermented bread, which stands for doing what is honest and trustworthy. BSB BSB: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with the old bread, leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and of truth.
Expel the Immoral Brother 9 UST In the letter{ that I sent to you before this one}, I told you not to keep company with people who act in sexually improper ways. BSB BSB: I wrote you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people.
10 UST { I did} not{ mean that you should} entirely{ disassociate} with unbelieving people who act in sexually immoral ways, or with people who want more than they need or who cheat others, or with people who worship false gods. To avoid these kinds of people, you would need to get away from the entire world.{ That is not what I have commanded you to do.} BSB BSB: I was not including the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.
11 UST Now, in this letter, I am telling you not to keep company with any person whom you call a fellow believer who is acting sinfully. This includes having improper sex, wanting more than one needs, worshiping other gods, abusing others with words, getting drunk, and cheating others. Do not have meals with a person who does any of these things. BSB BSB: But now I am writing you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a verbal abuser, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.
12 UST { I want you to act in this way only with fellow believers,} because{ you and} I do not need to decide whether someone who is not part of our group is guilty or innocent. Rather, you need to focus on deciding whether people who are part of your group are guilty or innocent. BSB BSB: What business of mine is it to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?
13 UST { Do not worry about people who are not part of your group because} God is the one who decides whether they are guilty or innocent.{ You should focus on people who are part of your group because the scripture says,}“You must get rid of any evil person who is part of your group!” BSB BSB: God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.