“It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.”
It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate: A man is sleeping with his father's wife — the charge is gravely specific: incest (with stepmother, or possibly biological mother). The report (akouō, 'heard') is public knowledge; even 'pagans' (ethnē, non-believers) consider it abhorrent. Roman law condemned such unions. The Corinthian church's tolerance of this sin is shocking. Sexual immorality (porneia) is not peripheral; it violates the temple's sanctity (3:16-17).
Church Fathers on 1 Corinthians 5:1
When he was discoursing about their divisions, he did not indeed at once address them vehemently, but more gently at first; and afterwards, he ended in accusation, saying thus, 1 Corinthians 1:11 “For it has been signified unto me concerning you, my brethren, by them which are of the household of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.” But in this place, not so; but he lays about him immediately and makes the reproach of the accusation as general as possible. For he…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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