1Cor 5:1-5 - Part 2 - Burning and Beelzebub

1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. 2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. 3 For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. 4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.


Finally, we must consider what is meant by the concept of turning someone over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. Who can doubt that this has formed the basis for some terrible atrocities in the church wars of history. Both Protestants and Catholics tortured, killed and burned their opponents on the pretext that such threats and persecutions would lead to the salvation of the soul, through the destruction of the physical body. Some of these persecutors were sincere men. Some were deceived and worldly. God is the judge.

I like to think that I could never take such an understanding from the text as to sanction the torture of a human being. But I am a fool. What can I know of their times and their pitfalls? What of the spirit of their age? And what is there within me that could possibly make me to differ from those people except that I should receive something from God? I would be and do far worse, apart from the grace given to me - and may yet, unless I abide in that grace.

There is an element of truth in the idea that what happens to the body can be the means by which a person finds repentance. Imagine a murderer on death row who finds Christ while waiting to die for his crimes. Who could deny that man’s salvation, and who could say that his final circumstances may not have been instruments in God’s hands to bring him to repentance? But we must not overlook that they were lawful circumstances commanded by God and given as instruments for order in society. So long as we have only the temporal view, then the man’s eventual death by execution is seen as a tragedy, or as unfair. But the eternal view rejoices in the salvation of that soul, and the fact that he has gone to be with his Saviour, even while God’s will was done on earth.

In any event, with the light that I have, in the age in which I live, I see the destruction of the flesh in this context as the "natural" result of sin and God's curse. Unrepented sin has temporal and physical consequences. The life becomes entangled, confused, futile, unfruitful, conflicted, guilty - perhaps even hardened unto death. Though some might outwardly seem to enjoy or to prosper in their sin, it can be certain that no true believer will ever be at rest in the bonds of iniquity. This is a reason to examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith - if indeed Christ is truly in us working and doing so that we abide and grow in Him.

These things can be made plain to onlookers and to the subject himself when matters are handled according to the revealed will of God. A man put outside the fellowship of the body will either harden or repent, and so be known for what he is. And he will know himself for what he is. It is the truth that will make all involved free. But it will not happen through misplaced loyalty, or sentiment, or even naked compassion.

Satan is a tool in the hands of God. He does God’s work for Him. Not willingly, of course, but inevitably. Satan will be very pleased to get his clutches on a saint outside the fellowship of the church. If the man is not a saint Satan gains nothing in truth, for that man already belonged to his dominion and was merely a professor of religion. As such he is better off outside than inside the church. Outside he can be evangelized. Inside he does not know he needs to come to Christ because he pretends or thinks that he already has.

But if the man is a true believer the cruelty of Satan will be turned upon the man in sometimes extraordinary ways. He will be racked with guilt. He may be within an inch of losing all hope. He may be brought to the brink of despair and the very edge of perdition. And yet he may glance over the edge and the terror of that vision itself be the very means by which he runs to Christ for grace and mercy and forgiveness. The cruelty of the tormentor under the overshadowing grace of God can be made to serve the heavenly aim of the preservation of the saint. Will he be saved if he dies in his sin? That is for God to say. But the scriptures tell us that no one who habitually commits immorality has any part in Christ.