Bible Study Topic- 1 Corinthians 5:5 Explained ("deliver such a one to Satan")

Bible Study Topic- 1 Corinthians 5:5 Explained ("deliver such a one to Satan")
Main Scripture- 1 Corinthians 5:1-5

It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s wife! 2 And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you. 3 For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed. 4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 5 deliver such a one to Satan , that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. -1 Corinthians 5:1-5 (NKJV)

Study Question
What does the Bible mean when it says in verse 5, “deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus,”?

1. In this particular section of the first letter to the church in Corinth, the author Paul is addressing a very specific example of a sin that is happening boldly and in the open at this local congregation. Specifically a man is being sexually intimate with his stepmother. The Biblical text is very explicit in language by saying in verse 1 that Paul has heard reports of a type of sexual immorality that even is not popular among the Gentiles, “that a man has his father’s wife!” The members of the church in Corinth were not offended by the situation the man was in with his stepmother and actually glorified it. That acceptance and lack of rebuking from the congregation is what Paul offered the most stern rebuking and ordered that the congregation, “deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus” according to verse 5.


2. This passage has nothing to do with physical punishment as some religious groups have misapplied the scripture to mean death penalty for people who have been described in the past as “heretics.”


3. The correct application of the expression “deliver such a one to Satan” is to “put away from yourselves the evil person” which is mentioned just a few verses below at verse 13. Verse 13 is actually quoting from Deuteronomy 17:7, 19:9, 22:21, 22:24, and 24:7. The expression “put away from yourselves the evil person” means to sever or cut off the Christian fellowship with that particular person. The expression is instructing “not to keep company with” in verse 9 of 1 Corinthians 5, or the more specifically “not even to eat with such a person” in verse 11 of 1 Corinthians 5. These expressions in these passages are instructions to stop all ordinary social fraternization or to spend time with such a person (2 Thessalonians 3:6).


4. Paul spoke about two people named Hymenaeus and Alexander that had (wording in the past tense) been “delivered to Satan” in order that “that they may learn not to blaspheme” in 1 Timothy 1:20. If Paul was speaking about physical punishment like the death penalty  as some wrongfully apply and believe in error, how would the verse make sense? If the hope in the future was that the 2 people would learn not to blaspheme as a result of the Spiritual discipline how would they do so if they were put to death? The verse would not make sense in its entirety.


5. From various cross reference verses and reading the entire chapter of 1 Corinthians 5 we can gain the understanding that the expression “for the destruction of the flesh” in verse 5 means to turn a person over to Satan (which means turn them back into the World among the lost into the worldly community of sin and debauchery) that the person may reap the consequences of his sinful rebellion against the Lord’s Word (which would be the local congregation's removal of whatever physical or emotional interaction that might involve to create a Spiritual disadvantage to the person who has sinned) along with distress of estrangement from a welcoming, loving association with the church (the fact of no longer being on friendly terms or part of the church body).


6. The goal of this type of Spiritual discipline is that the person who has sinned and turned away from God’s Word may learn how to put away their sinful desires and learn to “destroy” their “fleshly” urges and as a result be reclaimed for Christ’s cause which is the Kingdom of God which is the church.