1 Corinthians 5:11

νῦν δὲ ἔγραψα, “But now I have written” in contrast to the Εγραψα … ἐν τῇ ἐπιστ. of 1 Corinthians 5:9 : “If any one doubted the purport of the former letter, it shall be impossible to mistake my meaning now ”. The logical (not temporal) sense of νῦν (or νυνί) is preferred by some interpreters: “But now after this, as things now appear (you must understand that) I wrote,” etc., this ἔγραψα thus repeating the former. Νυνὶ δὲ bears the like emphatic temporal sense in 2 Corinthians 8:11; Ephesians 2:13. ἐάν τις ἀδελφὸς ὀνομαζόμενος, “if any one bearing the name of brother ” the point of the amended rule, which P. in writing before had apparently left to the common-sense of his readers, but is compelled to make explicit. So the μὴ συναναμίγνυσθαι clearly signifies not to hold fraternal, friendly commerce with vicious men: cf. 1 Corinthians 15:33. Such a one may be “named,” but is not, “a brother”; cf. Revelation 3:1. Among the kinds of sinners proscribed P. now inserts the λοίδορος (see note on 1 Corinthians 4:12), the “railer,” “reviler” the foul-mouthed abuser of others; and the μέθυσος, “drunkard” a word bearing in earlier Gr [871] a comic sense, tipsy, afterwards seriously used (Lt [872]): these sins are companions; cf. 1 Corinthians 6:10. τῷ τοιούτῳ μηδὲ συνεσθίειν : “with him that is such (I bid you) not even to eat”. The inf [873] is pr [874] of usage, practice; cf. Galatians 2:12. “Eating together is a sign of friendliness; business transactions are not. If the ref [875] be restricted to Christian fellowship (sc. the Agapé), the emphatic not even is out of place” (Ed [876]). To forbid intercourse to this extent implies expulsion from the Church, and more; cf. 2 Thessalonians 3:14 f. (milder treatment), Matthew 18:17. That it should be possible for an actual “idolater” not merely one who “sits in an idol's house” (1 Corinthians 8:10) as a place indifferent, or who still in some sort believes in its power (1 Corinthians 8:7) to be in the Church is evidence of the laxity of Cor [877] Christianity. That this was really the case, and that some Cor [878], perhaps of philosophical, semi-pantheistic tendencies, wished to combine the worship of the heathen temple with that of the Christian Church, appears likely from 1 Corinthians 10:14-22; the same syncretism is found in India now; cf. the case of Naaman, 2 Kings 5:17 f.

[871] Greek, or Grotius' Annotationes in N.T.

[872] J. B. Lightfoot's (posthumous) Notes on Epp. of St. Paul (1895).

[873] infinitive mood.

[874] present tense.

[875] reference.

[876] T. C. Edwards' Commentary on the First Ep. to the Corinthians. 2

[877] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

[878] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.