For what do I have to do with also judging those who are outside? Don’t you judge those who are within?
Parallel Translations
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For what do I have to do with also judging those who are outside? Don’t you judge those who are within?
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For what have I to do to iudge them which are with out? Do ye not iudge them that are with in?
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For what haue I to doe, to iudge them also which are without? doe ye not iudge them that are within?
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (8)
Passages linked to 1 Corinthians 5:12 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Mark 4:11 He said to them, “To you is given the mystery of God’s Kingdom, but to those who are outside, all things are done in parables,
- Luke 12:14 But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you?”
- 1 Timothy 3:7 Moreover he must have good testimony from those who are outside, to avoid falling into reproach and the snare of the devil.
- 1 Corinthians 5:3-5 For I most certainly, as being absent in body but present in spirit, have already, as though I were present, judged him who has done this thing. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, you being gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, are to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
- 1 Corinthians 6:1-5 Dare any of you, having a matter against his neighbor, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? Don’t you know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Don’t you know that we will judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? If then you have to judge things pertaining to this life, do you set them to judge who are of no account in the assembly? I say this to move you to shame. Isn’t there even one wise man among you who would be able to decide between his brothers?
- Colossians 4:5 Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:12 that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and may have need of nothing.
- John 18:36 Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not of this world. If my Kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight, that I wouldn’t be delivered to the Jews. But now my Kingdom is not from here.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (20 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 12. For what have I to do to judge…
12. For what have I to do to judge them that are without? There is nothing to hinder us from judging these also — nay more, even devils themselves are not exempt from the judgment of the word which is committed to us. But Paul is speaking here of the jurisdiction that belongs peculiarly to the Church. “The Lord has furnished us with this power, that we may exercise it upon those who belong to his household. For this chastisement is a part of discipline which is confined to the Church, and does not extend to strangers. We do not therefore pronounce upon them their condemnation, because the Lord has not subjected them to our cognizance and jurisdiction, in so far as that chastisement and censure are concerned. We are, therefore, constrained to leave them to the judgment of God.” It is in this sense that Paul says, that God will judge them, because he allows them to wander about unbridled like wild beasts, because there is no one that can restrain their wantonness.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Such as are false brethren, ought to be cast…
Such as are false brethren, ought to be cast out of the Congregation: as for them which are without, they must be left to the judgment of God.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 12 For what have I to do to judge…
12 For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?
Ver. 12. Them also that are without] These come not under the verge of Church censures, Rev 22:15.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain For what have I to do to judge them…
For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? My jurisdiction extendeth not to heathens; God hath intrusted to me not the government of the world, but the government of his church.
Do not ye judge them that are within? Nor would I have you concern yourselves further, than in judging your own members, those that are within the pale of your church, and who, by a voluntary joining with you, have given you a power over them.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain As if the apostle had said, "My jurisdiction extendeth…
As if the apostle had said, "My jurisdiction extendeth not to the heathens, I have nothing to do to judge and censure them that are without the church: but such as are within the pale of the church, your own members, who own your jurisdiction, these you have an undoubted right and power to judge, leaving the other to the judgment of God: therefore I advise, nay, charge you, to put away from yourselves that wicked and incestuous person, by excommunicating and banishing him from your communion."
As banishment is a civil excommunication, so excommunication is a spiritual banishment: magistrates must drive malefactors out of civil societies, and church officers must expel enormous offenders out of their religious societies; for they who are unfit for civil converse, are much more unfit for spiritual communion.
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The last words, Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person, help us clearly to understand the former precept, 1Co 5:7. Purge out the old leaven, &c that they are not in their first and proper sense to be interpreted of particular persons purging out their lusts, and mortifying their corruptions, though that be a very necessary duty; but it is to be understood of every Christian church’s duty to pruge out from among them all flagitious and enormous offenders.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain For what have I to do to judge,.... To…
For what have I to do to judge,.... To admonish, reprove, censure, and condemn:
them also that are without? without the church, who never were in it, or members of it; to whom ecclesiastical jurisdiction does not reach; and with whom the apostle had no more concern, than the magistrates of one city, or the heads of one family have with another:
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do not ye judge them that are within? and them only? The apostle appeals to their own conduct, that they only reproved, censured, and punished with excommunication, such as were within the pale of the church, were members of it, and belonged unto it; nor did they pretend to exercise a power over others; and it would have been well if they had made use of the power they had over their own members, by admonishing and reproving such as had sinned; by censuring delinquents, and removing from their communion scandalous and impenitent offenders; and therefore they need not wonder that the apostle only meant fornicators, &c. among them, and not those that were in the world, by his forbidding to company with such: reference seems to be had to ways of speaking among the Jews, who used not only to call themselves the church, and the Gentiles the world, and so them that were without, both their land and church; but even those among themselves that were profane, in distinction from their wise and good men. They say (q),
"if a man puts his phylacteries on his forehead, or upon the palm of his hand, this is the way of heresy (or, as in the Talmud (r), the way of the Karaites); if he covered them with gold, and put them upon his glove (or on his garments without, so Bartenora, or, as Maimonides interprets it, his arm, shoulder, or breast), lo, this is , "the way of them that are without":''
on which the commentators (s) say, "these are the children of men, who walk after their own judgment, and not the judgment of the wise men": and Maimonides (t) says, they are such who deny the whole law, and neither believe anything, either of the written or the oral law.
(q) Misn. Megilla, c. 4. sect. 8. (r) T. Bab. Megilla, fol. 24. 2. (s) Jarchi, Bartenora, & Yom Tob, in Misn. Megilla, c. 4. sect. 8. (t) In. ib.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain I speak of Christians only. For what have I…
I speak of Christians only. For what have I to do to judge heathens? But ye, as well as I, judge those of your own community.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 12. For what have I to do to…
Verse 12. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without?] The term without, τους εξω, signifies those who were not members of the Church, and in this sense its correspondent term: החיצונים hachitsonim, those that are without, is generally understood in the Jewish writers, where it frequently occurs. The word και also, which greatly disturbs the sense here, is wanting in ABCFG, and several others, with the Syriac, Coptic, Slavonic, Vulgate, and the Itala; together with several of the fathers. The sentence, I think, with the omission of και also, should stand thus: Does it belong to me to pass sentence on those which are without-which are not members of the Church? By no means (ουχι.) Pass ye sentence on them which are within-which are members of the Church: those which are without-which are not members of the Church, God will pass sentence on, in that way in which he generally deals with the heathen world. But put ye away the evil from among yourselves. This is most evidently the apostle's meaning, and renders all comments unnecessary. In the last clause there appears to be an allusion to De 17:7, where the like directions are given to the congregation of Israel, relative to a person found guilty of idolatry: Thou shalt put away the evil from among you-where the version of the Septuagint is almost the same as that of the apostle: και εξαρεις τον πονηρον εξ ὑμων αυτων.
THERE are several important subjects in this chapter which intimately concern the Christian Church in general.
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1. If evil be tolerated in religious societies, the work of God cannot prosper there. If one scandal appear, it should be the cause of general humiliation and mourning to the followers of God where it occurs; because the soul of a brother is on the road to perdition, the cause of God so far betrayed and injured, and Christ recrucified in the house of his friends. Pity should fill every heart towards the transgressor, and prayer for the backslider occupy all the members of the Church.
2. Discipline must be exercised in the Christian Church; without this it will soon differ but little from the wilderness of this world. But what judgment, prudence, piety, and caution, are requisite in the execution of this most important branch of a minister's duty! He may be too easy and tender, and permit the gangrene to remain till the flock be infected with it. Or he may be rigid and severe, and destroy parts that are vital while only professing to take away what is vitiated. A backslider is one who once knew less or more of the salvation of God. Hear what God says concerning such: Turn, ye backsliders, for I am married unto you. See how unwilling He is to give them up! He suffers long, and is kind: do thou likewise; and when thou art obliged to cut off the offender from the Church of Christ, follow him still with thy best advice and heartiest prayers.
3. A soul cut off from the flock of God is in an awful state! his outward defence is departed from him; and being no longer accountable to any for his conduct, he generally plunges into unprecedented depths of iniquity; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. Reader, art thou without the pale of God's Church? remember it is here written, them that are WITHOUT God judgeth, 1Co 5:13.
4. Christians who wish to retain the spirituality of their religion should be very careful how they mingle with the world. He who is pleased with the company of ungodly men, no matter howsoever witty or learned, is either himself one with them, or is drinking into their spirit. It is impossible to associate with such by choice without receiving a portion of their contagion. A man may be amused or delighted with such people, but he will return even from the festival of wit with a lean soul. Howsoever contiguous they may be, yet the Church and the world are separated by an impassable gulf.
5. If all the fornicators, adulterers, drunkards, extortioners, and covetous persons which bear the Christian name, were to be publicly excommunicated from the Christian Church, how many, and how awful would the examples be! If however the discipline of the visible Church be so lax that such characters are tolerated in it, they should consider that this is no passport to heaven. In the sight of God they are not members of his Church; their citizenship is not in heaven, and therefore they have no right to expect the heavenly inheritance. It is not under names, creeds, or professions, that men shall be saved at the last day; those alone who were holy, who were here conformed to the image of Christ, shall inherit the kingdom of God. Those who expect it in any other way, or on any other account, will be sadly deceived.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain 1Co 5:12-13. For, &c. — I speak of Christians…
1Co 5:12-13. For, &c. — I speak of Christians only: for what have I to do to judge them that are without — Namely, heathen: do not ye judge them that are within? — Ye, as well as I, judge those of your own community: them that are without, God judgeth — The passing sentence on these God hath reserved to himself, and they shall not go unpunished, though they fall not under your censure. Therefore — In consideration of this, both in one view and the other, let it be your immediate care, as you regard the peace of the church, and the safety of your own souls; to put away from among yourselves — Speedily, and with all due solemnity; that wicked person — Whom I have mentioned, and any others, whose characters may, like his, be scandalous and infections. The apostle is thought, by some, to have written this, and the preceding verse, to show the Corinthians the reason why, after commanding them to pass so severe a sentence on the man, he said nothing to them concerning the woman, who was guilty with him. The discipline of the church was not to be exercised on persons out of it. Hence it appears that this woman was a heathen.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain For what have I to do ... - I…
For what have I to do ... - I have no authority over them; and can exercise no jurisdiction over them. All my rules, therefore, must have reference only to those who are within the church.
To judge - To pass sentence upon; to condemn; or to punish. As a Christian apostle I have no jurisdiction over them.
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Them also that are without - Without the pale of the Christian church; pagans; people of the world; those who did not profess to be Christians.
Do not ye judge ... - Is not your jurisdiction as Christians confined to those who are within the church, and professed members of it? ought you not to exercise discipline there, and inflict punishment on its unworthy members? Do you not in fact thus exercise discipline, and separate from your society unworthy persons - and ought it not to be done in this instance, and in reference to the offender in your church?
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain To judge them that are without. Those who are…
To judge them that are without. Those who are said by the apostle to be without, are those who have never been converted to the faith, and therefore are not within the jurisdiction of the Church.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain what have I to do--You might have easily understood…
what have I to do--You might have easily understood that my concern is not with unbelievers outside the Church, but that I referred to those within it.
also--Implying, Those within give me enough to do without those outside.
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do not ye, &c.--Ye judge your fellow citizens, not strangers: much more should I [BENGEL]. Rather, Is it not your duty to judge them that are within? God shall judge them that are without: do you look at home [GROTIUS]. God is the Judge of the salvation of the heathen, not we (Rom 2:12-16). Paul here gives an anticipatory censure of their going to law with saints before heathen tribunals, instead of judging such causes among themselves within.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 12. For—I limit the application of this rule to…
12. For—I limit the application of this rule to a brother, for the following reason.
What… to do—What right do I possess?
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Judge… without— Church discipline assumes but to govern the Church, whose members have voluntarily placed themselves under its authority. The Church is a holy republic, governed by its own laws.
Do not ye—Do not you, as a Church, limit your discipline to your own number, and thereby show that such was the meaning of my letter?
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 12, 13. For what have I to do to…
12, 13. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without?] The connection of thought in this and the next verse is as follows: “You have supposed me to have been urging you to abstain altogether from any kind of intercourse with sinners. You misunderstood my meaning. I only meant to refer to the members of your own community. As you might have gathered from your own practice, which is confined to the Christian body, I have no authority to deal with those without. They are in the hands of God.” And then he abruptly adds, ‘Cast out the wicked man,’ or ‘the evil thing.’ The word therefore (literally ‘and’) is absent from many MSS., and has been supposed to have been introduced from the Septuagint version of Deu_13:5; Deu_17:7; Deu_21:21, &c. In the Greek the word ye in 1Co_5:12 is emphatic, and the words those that are within scarcely less so—‘it is those that are within that ye judge.’ Some editors would read the following words as a question, ‘Doth not God judge those that are without?’
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (12) For what have I to do . .…
(12) For what have I to do . . .?—The Apostle in this verse at once explains the grounds of the limitation of his remarks to Christians, and seems to hint also, by the form of expression here, that the Corinthian Church ought to have been able to have understood his remarks as only applicable to themselves and not to the heathen.
Them also that are without.—The heathen. It was a common form of expression amongst the Jews to designate the Gentile world (Mar_4:11).
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Do not ye judge them that are within?—As the Christian Church could sit in judgment only on its own members, so they should have concluded that only on them had St. Paul passed judgment.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain For what have I to do to judge them…
For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? To pass sentence on heathens is no concern of mine; it is no part of my office. The phrase "them that are without" was originally a Jewish phrase. To the Jews all men were outsiders (chitsonin) except themselves. The phrase was adopted by Christians, but in a less contemptuous sense. (1Th_4:12; Col_4:5) We find a description of "those that were without from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenant of promise in Eph_2:12. Do not ye judge them that are within! An appeal to their own practice and to common sense. Christian rules can, of course, only apply to Christian communities.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain For what have I to do to Judge them…
1Co_5:12-13
For what have I to do to Judge them also that are without?
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Without and within
I. Those without.
1. Have no share in Church privileges.
2. Are exempt from Church jurisdiction.
3. Are liable to the judgment of God.
II. Those within.
1. May be unworthy of fellowship.
2. Are subject to discipline.
3. Must be excluded when their wickedness is proven. (J. Lyth, D. D.)
The judgment of God and the judgment of the Church
1. The one is limited, the other universal.
2. The one is partial, the other absolute.
3. The one is disciplinary, the other infallible.
4. The one is provisional, the other will be final.
5. The effects of the one are temporary, of the other eternal. (J. Lyth, D. D.)
Limitations of apostolic discipline
1. Even in that age of Divine intuitions and preternatural visitations Paul limits the subjects of expulsion from the Christian society to gross and definite vices. No encouragement is given to pry into the secret state of the heart and conscience, or to denounce mere errors of opinion or judgment.
2. Even when insisting most strongly on entire separation from heathen vices, he still allows unrestricted social intercourse with the heathen. He forbears to push his principle to an utopian extravagance: he acknowledges the impracticability of entire separation as a decisive reason against it, and regards the ultimate solution of the problem as belonging not to man, but to God.
3. Whilst strongly condemning the Christian quarrels as in themselves unchristian (chap 6.) he yet does not leave them without a remedy, and so drive them to the objectionable course of going before heathen judges. He recognises the fact, and appeals to their own self- respect to induce them to appoint judges of their own, thus giving the first apostolic sanction to Christian courts of law; in other words, departing from the highest ideal of a Christian Church in order to secure the purity of its actual condition.
4. He lays down the general truth that between all other outward acts and the sin of sensuality there is an essential difference; that the liberty which Christianity concedes to the former, it altogether withholds from the latter; that those sins are utterly inconsistent not merely with any particular relation existing between Christianity and heathenism, but with the very idea of Christianity itself. (Dean Stanley.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 12. For what have I to do, etc. It…
12. For what have I to do, etc. It was not Paul's business, nor ours, to judge those without; hence the rule just given is not one to regulate our intercourse with them. Do not ye judge them that are within? The authority of the church is over those who have been united with it. It can judge them.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain For what have I to do with judging them…
For what have I to do with judging them that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within?
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 5:12-13 Christians are not called to judge (i.e., discipline)…
5:12-13 Christians are not called to judge (i.e., discipline) sin in unbelievers, but in believers.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.