1 Corinthians 5:11 - Exposition

But now I have written unto you. The tense used is, perhaps, the epistolary aorist, and is therefore equivalent to "but now I write to you;" otherwise the sense is, "but what I meant in my letter was," etc. The position of the words rather favours this view. St. Paul expressly tells them in 1 Corinthians 10:27 that he never intended to forbid all intercourse with heathens. They were not to be "taken out of the world," but to be free from evil ( John 17:15 ). If any man that is called a brother. The word "brother" was used before the name "Christian" was accepted by the members of the Church. Or an idolater (see 1 Corinthians 5:10 ; 1 Corinthians 10:7 , 1 Corinthians 10:14 ). He might call himself a Christian, and yet be in reality an idolater ( Ephesians 5:5 ; Colossians 3:5 ; Galatians 5:20 ; 1 John 5:21 ). With such a one no not to eat . If the phrase be pressed, it would involve exclusion from all privileges of the body, for the Holy Communion was celebrated in connection with the agapae. But the general meaning is that of 2 Thessalonians 3:6 , "We command you... that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly."