I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:
Parallel translations
- WEB I wrote to you in my letter to have no company with sexual sinners;
- BSB I wrote you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people.
- NKJV I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people.
- NASB I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people;
- NLT When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Paul recalls an earlier letter telling them not to associate with the sexually immoral. It matters because his teaching on separation needs clarifying, as the next verses show.
Overview
Paul references a previous, now-lost letter in which he instructed the Corinthians to avoid keeping company with sexually immoral people. The Corinthians had apparently misunderstood his meaning, prompting the clarification that follows. The verse shows ongoing pastoral correspondence and Paul's concern that the church rightly understand how holiness shapes its relationships.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Eph 5:11And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
- 2 Th 3:14And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed.
- 2 Th 3:6Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.
- 2 Cor 6:14Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
- 1 Cor 5:7Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
- Prov 9:6Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.
- 1 Cor 5:2And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.
- Ps 1:1–2Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
- 2 Cor 6:17Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Christ crucified is the wisdom and power of God; he is our Passover sacrificed for us, the firstfruits of resurrection, the foundation on which everything is built.
How 1 Corinthians 5:9 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.