1It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles, that one has his father’s wife. 2You are arrogant, and didn’t mourn instead, that he who had done this deed might be removed from among you. 3For I most certainly, as being absent in body but present in spirit, have already, as though I were present, judged him who has done this thing. 4In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together with my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 5you are to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
6Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole lump? 7Purge out the old yeast, that you may be a new lump, even as you are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed in our place. 8Therefore let’s keep the feast, not with old yeast, neither with the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
9I wrote to you in my letter to have no company with sexual sinners; 10yet not at all meaning with the sexual sinners of this world, or with the covetous and extortionists, or with idolaters, for then you would have to leave the world. 11But as it is, I wrote to you not to associate with anyone who is called a brother who is a sexual sinner, or covetous, or an idolater, or a slanderer, or a drunkard, or an extortionist. Don’t even eat with such a person. 12For what do I have to do with also judging those who are outside? Don’t you judge those who are within? 13But those who are outside, God judges. “Put away the wicked man from among yourselves.”
How many letters did the apostle Paul write to the church at Corinth? The evidence indicates that he wrote at least four epistles to the Corinthian believers. Two of them are present in the New Testament canon: 1 and 2 Corinthians. But two other letters written by Paul to the church at Corinth are lost to us: a “previous letter” and a “severe letter.” Paul mentioned the “previous letter” in 1 Cor 5:9-11, whereas he spoke of the “severe letter” in 2 Cor 2:3-4, 9; 7:8, 12.
The occasion behind these letters may have gone like this. Paul’s founding visit to Corinth is in Acts 18 (c. A.D. 50-52). A couple of years later, while Paul was in Ephesus, he wrote the “previous letter” (1 Cor 5). Though the contents of this letter are unknown, it surely dealt with the problem of sexual immorality in the church. Paul’s words in 1 Cor 5 suggest that the Corinthians had misunderstood his directives in this letter. This misunderstanding led to the writing of the canonical 1 Corinthians (c. A.D. 55). This letter was occasioned by several events: (1) Paul has heard from Chloe’s people (1:11) that a factional spirit has developed in Corinth; (2) he also received a letter from the Corinthian church to which he begins to respond in 1 Cor 7. He takes up the items in their letter one by one, most of them introduced by the words “now about” (7:1, 25, 8:1, 12:1, 16:1, 12). Most likely, this letter from Corinth was written as a response to Paul’s “previous letter” and was carried to Paul by three men from Corinth (16:15-17). This Corinthian delegation may have also brought oral reports about the situation in Corinth. After they received 1 Corinthians, the Christians at Corinth probably took care of most of the practical abuses that had Paul mentioned. For example, he says nothing further about abuses of the Lord’s Supper in 2 Corinthians. However, despite this improvement, the situation in Corinth deteriorated. This crisis led to Paul’s “painful visit” (2 Cor 2:1; 12:14, 21; 13:1-2). Most likely, the crisis resulted from the efforts of outsiders who opposed Paul, arrived in Corinth, and had begun to criticize him openly. A particular individual was apparently quite vocal in his opposition to Paul. After returning to Ephesus, Paul penned a “severe letter” in which he instructed the Corinthian church to punish this ringleader (2 Cor 2:4-9; 7:8-12). This letter is sent by Titus. Paul left Ephesus, and eventually he arrived in Macedonia where he meets Titus. Titus reported that the Corinthians had responded positively to the “severe letter” (2 Cor 7:5-16). Then, Paul wrote 2 Corinthians (c. A.D. 56).
Many critical scholars also argue against the integrity of 1 and 2 Corinthians and say that these books themselves each consist of more than one letter. But, the context of 1 and 2 Corinthians and the available manuscript evidence do not support such theories.