Strong’s Greek 1808 depicts the decisive action of lifting out, driving away, or removing something that has no rightful place inside a defined sphere. The verb portrays purposeful extraction, not mere relocation, and carries moral weight when applied to persons or practices.

Biblical Setting: 1 Corinthians 5:13

Paul cites the Septuagint formula for covenant discipline: “God will judge those outside. ‘Expel the wicked man from among you’”. The imperative ἐξάρατε commands the Corinthian church to remove an unrepentant offender whose flagrant immorality threatened the holiness and witness of the congregation. The apostle anchors the directive in Old Testament law, where Israel was repeatedly told, “You must purge the evil from among you” (Deuteronomy 17:7; 19:19; 22:21; 24:7).

Theological Themes

1. Holiness of the Community
• The church is God’s temple (1 Corinthians 3:17). Sin tolerated within defiles the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit.
2. Covenant Continuity
• Paul’s appeal to Deuteronomy shows the moral unity of Scripture. The people of God—old and new covenants alike—must guard communal purity.
3. Redemptive Purpose of Discipline
• Earlier in the chapter Paul aims “that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus” (1 Corinthians 5:5). Removal is medicinal as well as protective.
4. Divine and Human Roles
• God judges outsiders; the church judges insiders (1 Corinthians 5:12-13). The verb reinforces the church’s delegated responsibility to act.

Historical Background in Jewish Practice

In Second-Temple Judaism, flagrant covenant violations could lead to exclusion from the synagogue or community life. Paul, trained as a Pharisee, transfers that corporate ethic into the ecclesial sphere, yet with an explicitly Christocentric goal of eventual restoration.

Ecclesiological Implications

• Membership entails accountability.
• Discipline is performed by the gathered body (1 Corinthians 5:4).
• The action guards the Lord’s Table from profanation (1 Corinthians 5:7-8).
• Restoration remains the desired outcome (2 Corinthians 2:6-8 suggests the offender later repented and was welcomed back).

Practical Ministry Applications

1. Establish clear covenant commitments and expectations for holiness.
2. Confront persistent, public sin with sorrow and firmness, following Matthew 18:15-17.
3. Engage in corporate prayer and lament when discipline becomes necessary.
4. Offer a pathway for repentance and reintegration, modeling God’s grace.

Relationship to Related Terms

• 142 αἴρω (“to take away”) in 1 Corinthians 5:2 concerns the hoped-for result; 1808 ἐξαίρω issues the explicit command.
• 654 ἀποκτείνω (“to kill”) in the Mosaic statutes underscores the seriousness of covenant-breaking, whereas 1808 calls for spiritual, not physical, removal.
• 3801 παιδεία (“discipline”) expresses the formative aim that 1808 serves.

Witness of Early Church and Reformation Voices

• Ignatius of Antioch urged churches to “keep yourselves from all pollution” (To the Trallians 2).
• John Chrysostom saw in 1 Corinthians 5 a pastoral pattern: “Cut off the limb to save the body.”
• John Calvin wrote that church discipline “is the sinew of order” (Institutes 4.12.1) and found its warrant in Paul’s use of ἐξάρατε.

Summary

Strong’s Greek 1808 encapsulates the church’s solemn duty to remove persistent, open wickedness from its midst. Rooted in the holiness commands of the Old Testament and applied by Paul to the New Testament assembly, the term underscores both the purity and the redemptive love that mark a faithful body of believers.