1 Coríntios 5

1 Coríntios 5

Stedman - “Why does the church take action? Well, not just to get rid of a trouble-maker or not merely to show itself clean in this regard, but rather in order to reach the individuals involved and so deal with them that eventually they will see their wrongdoing and repent. And all judgment ends at repentance; all discipline ceases when repentance occurs. Therefore, the hope here is that when you put someone back into the world, as it were, under Satan's control, that he will learn what worldings will learn if they live long enough -- that the philosophies they are following are delusive, empty and vain, and when they find themselves drained, jaded and empty of heart, they will turn back to the living Lord and their spirits will be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. When He comes or when they meet Him in death, their spirits will be saved even though their lives have been wasted. This is the hope and that is the purpose for church discipline" (1 Corinthians Notes). Some like Warren Wiersbe refer to the incestuous sinner as a Christian. He writes "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." (BEC) Believer's Study Bible on may be saved - Two very different interpretations have been advocated with regard to this admittedly difficult passage: (1) The delivery unto Satan has reference to the ban or excommunication, and the "destruction of the flesh" is to be understood as the destruction of the fleshly nature of the sinner. (2) The delivery unto Satan involves something of an apostolic judgment which would result in actual physical malady and perhaps even death. Support for this position might be marshalled from 1 Ti 1:20, in which Paul delivers Hymenaeus and Alexander unto Satan, and from the deaths of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-11. Certainly the passage as a whole establishes the certainty of the first interpretation, but this does not eliminate the truthfulness of the second one. The necessity of such grave action arises out of the inevitable result of a little leaven in a lump of dough. The whole lump is soon leavened (v. 6). The effect of grave sin tolerated within the church would eventually be a widespread loss of purity. In 1 Cor 1:8+ we read "Who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." This is the "day" when Christ returns to defeat His enemies, reward His saints and set up His kingdom on earth.