Shun is literally “run away from” and may be translated this way in certain languages. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “Avoid immorality at all costs!” Paul uses similar language in 10.14: “shun the worship of idols.” The meaning of Shun is the same in both places. One could also say “Do not commit … at all” or “Have nothing to do with….”

For immorality, see comment on 5.1.

The word for sin is one that Paul uses only here and in Rom 3.25, where he refers to “former sins.” In Romans it may have its original meaning of “the result of sin” rather than “the act of sinning.” However, in this passage Paul is clearly talking about sinful acts themselves.

A man means “a human being.” Paul was clearly thinking of “males” in verses 15-16, but in this verse and for the rest of this chapter he is referring to both males and females (humans). So this phrase Every other sin which a man commits may be expressed as “all other sins that humans commit” or “every sin that a person commits” (New Revised Standard Version).

Is outside: Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch expresses this as “does not soil.” Another way of saying this is “does not make dirty.” Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente translates in such a way as to show that body means “person”: “Any other sin which a man commits remains in a certain sense external to him; but the man who gives himself to immorality fundamentally destroys himself.”

The clause sins against his own body may be translated as “commits sins that hurt his own body.”

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 .