1 Corinthians 5:9

1 Corinthians 5:9. I wrote unto you in my epistle not to company with fornicators. This statement raises a question which has occasioned not a little discussion What Epistle is here referred to? ‘The present Epistle,' say some, viewing what follows as a sort of postscript to the preceding verses. (So Chrysostom, Erasmus, Middle ton, Stanley.) But the objection to this is that neither in the preceding verses nor in any previous chapter is any such general injunction given. The only alternative is, that there is here a reference to some previously-written letter to that church not now preserved.

(So Calvin, Beza, Estius, Bengel, De Wette, Meyer, Alford. [1]) Nor is this unworthy of Inspiration, as is evident from the Old Testament prophetic writings, which are very far from containing all that the prophets uttered by inspiration. And though all that our Lord spoke and acted must have been pre-eminently worthy of permanent record, yet the last Evangelist says that “the world would not have contained it.” Why, then, should everything which an apostle found occasion to write require of necessity to be recorded for all time? Certain it is that the Corinthians sent written questions to the apostle on points of practical difficulty, and even on this very subject (1 Corinthians 7:1); and if one of these related to what intercourse, if any, they should keep up with their heathen friends and fellow-citizens, and a messenger was then going to Corinth who could take his answer, how naturally might he send a hasty reply by him, with the promise to write more fully thereafter! In this case, would he not refer to that letter very much as he here does? and of course the present letter would be understood as superseding the other.

[1] It is replied to this, that since the same tense (the aorist) is used both in 1 Corinthians 5:9 and in 1 Corinthians 5:11, they must be rendered alike in both either “I wrote” or “I write.” But the shade of thought in the latter case is in English most intelligibly conveyed by our present tense, and Greek usage sufficiently bears this out.