UTN uW Translation Notes:

1 Corinthians 5 General Notes

Structure and Formatting

3. Against sexual immorality (4:16–6:20) * Paul condemns a sexually immoral man (5:1–5) * Passover festival metaphor (5:6–8) * Explanation of previous letter (5:9–13)Some translations set quotations from the Old Testament farther to the right on the page to make them easier to read. The ULT does this with the quoted words of verse 13. Verse 13 quotes from Deuteronomy 17:7.

Special Concepts in this Chapter

Sexual immorality

This chapter deals mostly with what Paul calls “sexual immorality” (5:1, 9–11). The word Paul uses for “sexual immorality” is a general term for sexual behavior that is considered improper. The specific type of “sexual immorality” that Paul addresses in this chapter is a man having sex with his step-mother. In some languages, there is a specific word for this. English uses the word “incest.” However, since Paul uses a general term and then brings up a specific situation, you also should use a general term for “sexual immorality” in this chapter. (See: fornication)

Judgment

Paul refers to “judgment” or “judging” in 5:3, 12–13. “Judging” refers to deciding whether someone is guilty or innocent. Paul emphasizes in this chapter that Christians should “judge” other Christians in the proper setting (See: 5:3–5). However, they do not need to “judge” people who are not Christians. Paul states that “judging” them is God’s responsibility (5:12–13). (See: judge)

Excommunication

In 5:2, Paul speaks about “removing” the person who committed the sexual sin from among the Corinthians, and he makes a similar command in 5:13. The phrase “hand this man over to Satan” in 5:5 has a similar meaning. Finally, when Paul tells them to “clean out the old yeast” (5:7), this is a metaphor for the same action. Paul is commanding the Corinthians to stop including in their group the man who committed the sexual sin. It is not totally clear whether the man can be accepted back into the group if he stops committing the sin.

Important Figures of Speech in this Chapter

Euphemisms

As is the case in many cultures, sexual behavior is a delicate topic. Paul thus uses euphemisms to avoid sounding crude or nasty. When he says that “someone has his father’s wife” (5:1), this is a delicate way to refer to someone consistently having sex with his father’s wife, whether married or not. He later on calls this behavior “a deed” (5:2) or “such a thing” (5:3). These phrases are ways of referring back to the man having sex with his father’s wife without using crude words. If your language has similar euphemisms for delicately referring to sexual behavior, you could use them here. (See: figs-euphemism)

Passover metaphor

In 5:6–8, Paul speaks of “yeast” and “Passover.” Passover was Jewish festival in which the people celebrated how God delivered them from serving as slaves in Egypt. The Israelites sacrificed lambs and spread the blood on their doors, and they ate bread without yeast in it because they would have to leave quickly, before the bread could rise. Then, God sent a destroying angel who killed the firstborn child in every house that did not have blood on its door. When this happened, the ruler of Egypt told the Israelites to leave immediately. you could read about these events in Exodus 12. Later generations of Israelites celebrated this day by removing the yeast from their houses and by sacrificing a lamb. Paul refers to this festival in these verses. He uses the festival of Passover as a metaphor to encourage the Corinthians to remove sinful people (“yeast”) from their group (“their house”). There is even a “Passover lamb,” who is Jesus himself. Since this metaphor is drawn from the Old Testament, you should preserve it in your translation. If necessary you could include a footnote that gives some extra information, or you could refer your readers to Exodus 12 if they have access to the book of Exodus. (See: yeast, passover, and figs-metaphor)

Rhetorical questions

In 5:6 and 5:12, Paul uses rhetorical questions. He is not asking these questions because he wants the Corinthians to provide him with information. Rather, he is asking these questions because he wants the Corinthians to think about how they are acting and what they are thinking. The questions encourage them to think along with Paul. For ways to translate these questions, look for the notes on each verse that includes these kinds of questions. (See: figs-rquestion)

Present in spirit

In 5:3–4, Paul speaks of being with the Corinthians “in spirit.” While this could be a reference to the Holy Spirit, who would connect Paul with the Corinthians, more likely Paul is referring to his own “spirit,” which refers to the aspect of Paul that can connect with the Corinthians even when he is not physically present. When he says that he is with them “in spirit,” that means that he is thinking about them and that they should act as they would if Paul was physically present. You could either use a comparable idiom in your language or explain in some other way what “spirit” means in these verses. (See: spirit)

Other Possible Translation Difficulties in this Chapter

Structure of 5:3–5

In 5:3–5, Paul uses a long and complicated sentence structure. In 5:3, he describes how he has “passed judgment” as if he were present. In 5:5, he tells them what the response to that judgment should be: “hand this man over to Satan.” In 5:4, then, he describes the situation in which they should hand the man over: they should be gathered together and acting with the authority of both Paul and Jesus. Finally, in 5:4, “in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” could describe how Paul has “passed judgment” in 5:3, or it could describe how the Corinthians have “assembled” in 5:4. In order to translate these verses clearly, you may need to rearrange some clauses or add explanatory information that clarifies what Paul is saying. For more details and translation options, see the notes on those verses.

Structure of 5:12–13

In 5:12–13, Paul alternates between talking about judging “those outside” and “those inside.” If alternating between these two ideas would be confusing in your language, you could rearrange the clauses so that the verses deal with “those outside” first and then “those inside.” Here is an example of how you could do this: “For what to me to judge those outside? God will judge those outside. But do you not judge those inside? “Remove the evil from among yourselves.”