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Pathways Through Paul
Daily Devotional
June 20
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Today's Pathway:
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I Corinthians 5:3-5
- For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,
- In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
- To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
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Yesterday we saw that Paul told the Corinthian church that they needed to take the man who was having an affair with his father's wife and remove him from the church body. Since church discipline has been forgotten in many of our churches today, it would be wise to look at Jesus' teaching concerning it. Matthew 18:15-17 states,
"Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican."
If one member of the church has committed a sin against another member of the church, the offended brother should go to the offender and confront him about it. Of course, he should go with a proper attitude, as is spelled out in Galatians 6:1. If the offender repents, then the issue is resolved. But if he does not, then the offended brother should take two or three others from the church with him to confront the offender a second time. Those witnesses can listen and determine if an offense has truly taken place. If it has, then they tell the offender that he needs to repent. If he does, then the issue is settled. If he still does not, then the matter goes to the church as a whole. The church then tells the offender that he needs to repent, and once again he has the opportunity to respond, and if he does the matter is settled. But if he does not, he is to be treated as a heathen and a publican. The disciples, being Jewish, understood what this meant. The heathen were not allowed access to the temple, and Jews did not associate with publicans socially. So the unrepentant offender was to be removed from the church and to be shunned by the church membership until such a time as he would choose to repent. Once he did that, he could be restored to the church and to fellowship with the other believers.
So, in verse 3, Paul says that because he is familiar with the situation going on in the church at Corinth, he has already made the decision as to what needs to happen just as if he were sitting in the church itself. In verses 4-5, he tells the church that they as a body ("when ye are gathered together"), under the leadership and authority of Christ, need to remove the man from the church. He is to be "delivered unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh." Warren Wiersbe explains it this way,
"What does it mean to deliver a Christian 'unto Satan'? It does not mean to deprive him of salvation, since it is not the church that grants salvation to begin with. When a Christian is in fellowship with the Lord and with the local church, he enjoys a special protection from Satan. But when he is out of fellowship with God and excommunicated from the local church, he is 'fair game' for the enemy. God could permit Satan to attack the offender’s body so that the sinning believer would repent and return to the Lord."
Delivering a man to Satan, allowing for the destruction of his flesh, and removing him from the fellowship of the church and its members seems like a harsh thing to do. However, the purpose for all this is "that the spirit may be saved". Jack Arnold wrote,
"Hopefully, being put back into Satan’s kingdom and through negative experiences in that kingdom, he will see the need for true repentance and confession of his sin, so that he will be restored to fellowship with Christ and the local church."
If there are no consequences for sin, then there is no motivation to stop sinning. However, if discipline takes place, the sinner might make the right choice to repent.
Pastor Mark J Montgomery
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