When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin.
Parallel translations
- WEB I wrote to you in my letter to have no company with sexual sinners;
- KJV I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:
- 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;
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 5:11Have no fellowship with the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather even reprove them.
- 2 Th 3:14If any man doesn’t obey our word in this letter, note that man, that you have no company with him, to the end that he may be ashamed.
- 2 Th 3:6Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother who walks in rebellion, and not after the tradition which they received from us.
- 2 Cor 6:14Don’t be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?
- 1 Cor 5:7Purge 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.
- Prov 9:6Leave your simple ways, and live. Walk in the way of understanding.”
- 1 Cor 5:2You are puffed up, and didn’t rather mourn, that he who had done this deed might be removed from among you.
- Ps 1:1–2Blessed is the man who doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand on the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers;
- 2 Cor 6:17Therefore “‘Come out from among them, and be separate,’ says the Lord. ‘Touch no unclean thing. I will receive you.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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.