1 Corinthians 5:2

Ye are puffed up. The surprising thing was that the church members were self-complacent, proud of their spiritual status, instead of hanging their heads in shame that such great wickedness had broken out in their midst. This does not mean that they were elated or proud because of this evil thing in the church, but they were filled with spiritual pride in spite of it. They should have humbled themselves before the Lord and taken steps to remedy the situation.

Mourned. The presence of gross wickedness in the church is always a cause for sorrow to those members who have the best interests of their brethren at heart, and who are jealous for the good name of the church (see Jer. 13:17). The Lord makes it plain that those who truly mourn on account of the wrongs that prevail in the church will be spared in the time of test (see Eze. 9:4-6; 2 Peter 2:8, 9). The righteous cannot be self-satisfied and happy when a brother in the church loses his way and falls into grievous sin. The Corinthian believers should have been much concerned over the evil in their midst and should have proceeded to remove the offender from the church. Such disciplinary measures should be conducted from proper motives. Never should anger, pride, revenge, party feelings, dislike, or any carnal sentiment of the natural heart prompt the church members to take action against an offending brother. On the contrary there should be compassionate love and tender pity manifested toward him, together with care lest anyone else fall into the same error (see Rom. 15:1; Gal. 6:1; James 5:19, 20).

Taken away. A person living in such deliberate and dreadful immorality should be expelled from the church. God does not bless His people when they knowingly permit open transgression of His law to continue among them (see Joshua 7:1, 5, 11, 12; Acts 5:1-11; 3T 265, 266, 269-272).