5:7
Paul is using the feast of unleavened bread (Ex 23:14,15) and the Passover (Ex 12) as an analogy. There they had to make absolutely sure that there was no leaven in the house at all (Ex 12:19). The church in Corinth is to get rid of all the old leaven. This included sexual immorality, and their attitudes of boasting and pride. In Christ they have become an “unleavened batch” through His sacrifice. We can sometimes go down one of two wrong roads. One is to think that because Christ has purified us we don’t need to do anything, the other is to think that it is all down to us. To put this in theological terms , there is the indicative and the imperative. Christ has purified us through His blood (the indicative), but we have a responsibility to live up to our calling (the imperative). The two go together, they are not in conflict.
5:8
So Paul urges the Corinthians to act and live properly. And he is not just thinking of sexual sins, but is concerned with the whole attitude of the Corinthian church. Naming malice and wickedness in addition to the other sins already mentioned. Sin rarely comes alone or remains alone. Instead, we are to get rid of these things and replace them with “sincerity and truth”.
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