1 Corinthians 5:12,13

τί γάρ μοι τοὺς ἔξω κ. τ. λ.; “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 ἀδελφὸς ὀνομαζ. from the communion and social courtesies of the Church. He holds jurisdiction over those within its pale; of their conduct the Church (ὑμεῖς) 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. 1 Corinthians 6:4; also 1 Corinthians 12:25 f.), in contrast with God who judges τοὺς ἔξω. “Within” and “without” denoted in Synagogue usage members and non-members of the sacred community (see parls.): οἱ ἔσω = οἱ ἅγιοι, οἱ οἰκεῖοι τῆς πίστεως, οἱ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, etc. Yet this mutual judgment of Christians by each other has great limitations (Romans 14:4-10; Matthew 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 1 Corinthians 4:3 ff.). ὁ Θεὸς κρίνει (not κρινεῖ): P. is not anticipating the Last Judgment, but laying down the principle that God is the world's Judge; see Romans 2:16; Romans 3:6; Hebrews 12:23, etc. The interrog. οὐχὶ holds under its regimen the two clauses linked by the contrastive δέ; El [882] however reads τοὺς δὲ ἔξω κ. τ. λ. assertively, as a concluding “grave enunciation”.

[879] Calvin's In Nov. Testamentum Commentarii.

[880] Bengel's Gnomon Novi Testamenti.

[881] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[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 1 Corinthians 5:1 f. and demands his expulsion in the solemn words of the Deuteronomic law. τὸν πονηρὸν 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. ἐξάρατε (cf. ἐκκαθάρατε, 1 Corinthians 6:7) takes up again the ἵνα ἀρθῇ of 1 Corinthians 5:2, with the added thought (ἐξ - … ἐξ ὑμῶν αὐτῶν) of the riddance effected by his removal. The terrible sentence of 1 Corinthians 5:3 ff. had not, in so many words, prescribed ejection, though implying it; and P. needed to be very explicit: see note on 1 Corinthians 5:9. The formal expulsion must proceed from the Cor [886], ὑμεῖς κρίνετε; 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.