The Greek word for I wrote can mean either “I wrote” or “I am writing” (see the comments on “sent,” 4.17). In this verse Paul’s reference to another letter means that the verb I wrote must be a real past tense. I wrote to you in my letter is literally “I wrote to you in the letter.” Revised Standard Version expands this to in my letter to make the meaning clear. In some languages it may be necessary to say “in my earlier letter” or “in my first letter.” Wrote implies the meaning “ordered” or “instructed,” as Good News Bible‘s rendering “I told you” shows. So it may be necessary to translate this sentence as “I instructed you in the letter that I wrote to you not….”

Associate translates a rare word that is used only by Paul in the New Testament, although it occurs in other Greek literature. Another translation could be “have nothing to do with.”

The Greek for immoral men (Good News Bible‘s “immoral people”) is related to the abstract noun for “sexual immorality” used in verse 1, and has a similar meaning here.

Men, of course, refers to people in general, including both men and women.

Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2nd edition. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1985/1994. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .