1 Corinthians 5 2

1 Corinthians 5:2 kjv

And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.

1 Corinthians 5:2 nkjv

And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you.

1 Corinthians 5:2 niv

And you are proud! Shouldn't you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this?

1 Corinthians 5:2 esv

And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.

1 Corinthians 5:2 nlt

You are so proud of yourselves, but you should be mourning in sorrow and shame. And you should remove this man from your fellowship.

1 Corinthians 5 verses

1 Corinthians 5 2 meaning

The Apostle Paul rebukes the Corinthian believers for their arrogance and complacency in the face of flagrant sexual immorality within their community. Instead of exhibiting humble sorrow and taking disciplinary action against the offender, they had allowed a scandalous sin to persist, thus failing in their communal responsibility to maintain purity and uphold godly standards. Their "puffed up" attitude signified a dangerous spiritual pride that rendered them blind to the gravity of the sin and its corrupting influence on the entire body of Christ, necessitating the removal of the transgressor for the sake of the church's holiness and the individual's potential repentance.

1 Corinthians 5 2 Context

Chapter 5 of 1 Corinthians addresses a profoundly disturbing ethical issue: a man in the Corinthian church was involved in sexual immorality with his father’s wife (likely his stepmother, while his father was still alive), a sin even pagans considered an abomination (1 Cor 5:1). Paul, having received reports, expresses outrage not only at the sin itself but, more significantly for this verse, at the church's response. Far from mourning or acting decisively, the Corinthians were "puffed up" with a misplaced pride, perhaps stemming from their spiritual gifts or a misunderstanding of Christian liberty, which led them to tolerate or even boast about their supposed open-mindedness or advanced wisdom. This specific verse (5:2) highlights Paul’s direct condemnation of their arrogant inaction, presenting it as a failure of basic Christian ethics and community responsibility. The Corinthian church, situated in a licentious port city, had inadvertently embraced the world’s moral laxity, contrasting sharply with the holiness required of God's people.

1 Corinthians 5 2 Word analysis

• And you: This conjunction connects Paul's condemnation of their inaction to the reported sin in 1 Cor 5:1. It emphasizes their direct responsibility.
• are arrogant (Greek: πεφυσιωμένοι - pephysiōmenoi): A perfect passive participle of the verb physioō, meaning "to puff up," "to inflate," "to be proud or arrogant." The perfect tense indicates a settled, continuous state of being "puffed up." This is not just an occasional feeling but a deeply ingrained characteristic of the Corinthian community at that time. It implies intellectual or spiritual pride, possibly an inflated sense of self-importance or a misplaced boasting in their supposed wisdom or tolerance, even amidst scandalous sin. Paul often uses this term in 1 Corinthians (4:6, 4:18, 4:19, 8:1) to address their specific brand of spiritual conceit.
• Ought you not rather to have mourned (Greek: ἐπενθήσατε - epenthēsate): The verb pentheō means "to mourn," "to lament," "to grieve deeply," often with visible expressions of sorrow and distress. The aorist tense indicates that this mourning should have been a decisive, past action that led to a change in behavior. Paul's rhetorical question highlights a sharp contrast between their actual arrogant attitude and the appropriate response: deep, corporate sorrow and spiritual grief over the presence of such heinous sin within the body. This godly sorrow would indicate a healthy recognition of sin’s gravity and its impact on the community and God’s reputation.
• so that (Greek: ἵνα - hina): This is a conjunction introducing a purpose clause. It indicates the intended outcome or goal of their mourning.
• he who did this thing: Refers directly to the man involved in the immoral relationship described in 1 Cor 5:1. Paul uses a stark, depersonalizing phrase to emphasize the deed's severity and distance it from genuine Christian identity.
• might be removed (Greek: ἀρθῇ - arthē): A passive aorist subjunctive of the verb airō, meaning "to take away," "to lift up," "to remove." In this context, it refers to excommunication or formal exclusion from the community. The passive voice implies that this removal is an action done to the individual by the church's judgment, under God's authority. The purpose of this disciplinary action is multi-faceted: to cleanse the church of corrupting influence (as "leaven" in 1 Cor 5:6-8), to protect the purity of the community, and ultimately, with the hope that the disciplined individual might repent and be restored (as seen in 2 Corinthians 2).
• from among you: This phrase specifies the scope of the removal. It denotes a clear and public separation of the offending individual from the communal fellowship and assembly of believers. This is not merely an internal condemnation but a visible exclusion from the visible body of Christ.

• "And you are arrogant!": This short, declarative phrase functions as a stinging rebuke, revealing Paul’s exasperation. It points to a deep-seated spiritual sickness among the Corinthians, where pride had replaced godly sorrow, blurring their moral vision. Their boasting, often a characteristic Paul addresses in Corinthians, extended even to their toleration of profound sin.
• "Ought you not rather to have mourned, so that he who did this thing might be removed...": This entire clause functions as a unified ethical and disciplinary directive. It outlines the expected emotional (mourning) and practical (removal) response. The absence of mourning is linked to the absence of discipline. It shows that for Paul, grief over sin is not just an emotional state but a catalyst for righteous action, aimed at restoring the community’s holiness and potentially the offender's repentance. The sequence is clear: mourning (spiritual state) leads to removal (disciplinary action).

1 Corinthians 5 2 Bonus section

The Corinthian church's arrogance in 1 Corinthians 5:2 may reflect a broader problem of their "over-realized eschatology." They believed they had already arrived at a state of perfection, a "fullness" of salvation (1 Cor 4:8), leading to an inability to see their present failings and a dismissal of sin's gravity. This elevated self-perception created a disconnect from the ongoing need for repentance and discipline within the church. Furthermore, the act of "removing" the evil person serves as a spiritual purge, metaphorically cleaning out "old leaven" to protect the entire batch (1 Cor 5:6-8), symbolizing that sin, if unaddressed, contaminates the whole body of Christ. The disciplinary action wasn't just punitive; it was remedial, aimed at a future state of holiness for the church and the potential restoration of the individual through sorrow and repentance (echoed later in 2 Cor 2:5-11 regarding this same individual). The communal failure to mourn indicated a deeper issue of collective spiritual apathy towards sin and a lack of understanding regarding their identity as the holy people of God.

1 Corinthians 5 2 Commentary

Paul delivers a sharp and passionate rebuke, laying bare the moral hypocrisy and spiritual blindness of the Corinthian church. Their arrogant pride, pephysiōmenoi, stood in stark contrast to the mourning, epenthēsate, that should have characterized a genuinely Christian community confronted with scandalous sin. This pride was not merely self-satisfaction, but a dangerous misinterpretation of their Christian liberty or spiritual gifts, leading them to tolerate what God condemns. Their failure to grieve for the grievous sin among them signaled a fundamental disconnection from God's holiness and an absence of corporate discernment. The natural, Christ-like response would have been deep sorrow, leading directly to the decisive act of removing the unrepentant offender, arthē, from their fellowship. This removal served not as punishment alone, but as an essential step to safeguard the purity of the entire church body and, crucially, to prompt the individual to repentance. The passage teaches that Christian maturity is expressed not in "tolerance" of sin, but in humble grief and resolute action against it to maintain the integrity of the faith.