Commentaries:
Robertson's Word Pictures (NT)
Not good (ou kalon). Not beautiful, not seemly, in view of this plague spot, this cancer on the church. They needed a surgical operation at once instead of boasting and pride (puffed up). Kauxhma is the thing gloried in.
A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump (mikra zumh olon to furama zumoi). This proverb occurs verbatim in Galatians 5:9. Zumh (leaven) is a late word from zew, to boil, as is zumow, to leaven. The contraction is regular (-oei=oi) for the third person singular present indicative. See the parables of Jesus for the pervasive power of leaven (Matthew 13:33). Some of the members may have argued that one such case did not affect the church as a whole, a specious excuse for negligence that Paul here answers. The emphasis is on the "little" (mikra, note position). Lump (furama from furaw, to mix, late word, in the papyri mixing a medical prescription) is a substance mixed with water and kneaded like dough. Compare the pervasive power of germs of disease in the body as they spread through the body.
Other commentary entries containing this verse:
Mark 8:15
1 Corinthians 1:10
Galatians 5:9
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