1 Corinthians 5:12

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…

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 -…

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…

Here the apostle advises them to shun the company and converse of scandalous professors. Consider,

I. The advice itself: I wrote to you in a letter not to company with fornicators, Co1 5:9. Some think…

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…