1 Corinthians 15:33 “Do not be deceived, bad company corrupts good character”
The ancient city of Corinth was a cosmopolitan port filled with itinerant philosophers, debaters, and morally lax social circles. There were false teachers and false prophets infiltrating the church, and while some in the church flirted with skeptical ideas about bodily resurrection Paul recognized the need to address the views before the church.
1 Corinthians 15:12 “Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?”
Paul knew that intimate association with those denying the resurrection would erode the ethical integrity of God’s people and doctrinal soundness of the church. For those who began to institute heretical teaching, they were considered bad company.
“Do not be deceived: “Bad company(ὁμιλία) ruins good morals.”
The noun in the greek (ὁμιλία)carries the idea of close association, habitual intercourse, or shared conversation. In classical usage it could describes a company of friends or the discourse that flows within such fellowship. By Paul’s day it conveyed both the people whom they kept company with and the communicative exchanges that naturally arise from close association.
When certain people employ bad doctrine, they walk in a way that blasphemes God’s name, often having such a nominal faith they feel they can sin without any remorse. The encouragement is stay away from such people.
There are many such warnings in the Bible, Paul’s contemporaries were no different than David’s or the people we experience today.
Psalm 1:1 opposes the path of blessing to “the counsel of the wicked” and the “seat of scoffers,” underscoring how association molds one’s walk.
Proverbs 13:20 states, “He who walks with the wise will become wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.”
Proverbs 22:24-25 warns against friendship with a hot-tempered man “lest you learn his ways.”
2 Thessalonians 3:6 commands believers “to keep away from any brother who is idle and disruptive.”
2 Timothy 2:16 exhorts Timothy to avoid “irreverent chatter,” because it “will lead to more ungodliness.”
Together these passages form a consistent biblical witness: companionship and conversation are never neutral—they shape belief and behavior.
People are relational and are therefore susceptible to influence and since moral formation often occurs in community it becomes important in what those influences look like.
God’s people must practice discernment in fellowship, welcoming sinners yet guarding against corrosive patterns that compromise the gospel. A denial of the resurrection leads to moral decline (“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die,”(1 Cor. 15:32)
Right doctrine safeguards right living.
1 Corinthians 5:11 “But now I am writing you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a verbal abuser, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.”
Separation from the world is difficult. How do believers who live next to the godless, work with the godless, and interact with them on a daily basis…separate themselves?
John 17:14-17 “I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.”
Jesus not only prayed for you, but through the prayer made it clear how God not only equips His people, but separates them from the world.
- God’s people are separate because they identify with Christ.
- God’s desire is to protect His people from spiritual attack.
- The Word of God shows how to live separate.
The way of the Lord is pure and it is holy. The people have God have a guide and they have been given the power to walk in God’s way. There will always be evil in this fallen world, but God has a plan to make all things new.
Until then…be found separate.
U.T. 