Please Support the Bible Translation Work of the Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

$5.00

1 Corinthians 5:5 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)
5 you must hand such a man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

Edward D. Andrews writes,

When one is unrepentantly living in gross sin and is ex-communicated from the church, he becomes part of the fallen wicked world of Satan again. (1 John 5:19) Hence, he is said to be handed over to Satan. The person’s removal from the church results in the destruction, or the expulsion, of the corrupting influence from the congregation and in maintaining its spirit or prevailing mental disposition.—2 Tim. 4:22.

John MacArthur writes,

5:5 deliver . . . to Satan. “Deliver” is a strong term, used of judicial sentencing. This is equal to excommunicating the professed believer. It amounts to putting that person out of the blessing of Christian worship and fellowship by thrusting him into Satan’s realm, the world system. See note on 1 Timothy 1:20. the destruction of the flesh. This refers to divine chastening for sin that can result in illness and even death. See notes on 11:29–32; cf. Acts 5:1–11. spirit . . . saved. The unrepentant person may suffer greatly under God’s judgment, but will not be an evil influence in the church; and he will more likely be saved under that judgment than if tolerated and accepted in the church. day of the Lord Jesus. This is the time when the Lord returns with His rewards for His people. — MacArthur, John F. The MacArthur Bible Commentary (p. 1573). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

Richard L. Pratt Jr. writes,

5:5. Second, the church must temporarily give the offender over to Satan. To do this is to exclude the wayward brother from the Christian community and to treat him as “a pagan or a tax collector” as Jesus instructed (Matt. 18:17). It is to deliver him into Satan’s sphere of influence (John 12:31; 16:11; Eph. 2:2). Paul used similar terminology to describe other church discipline cases as well (1 Tim. 1:20). The purpose of this action is destruction of the sinful nature. In Scripture, Satan occasionally receives permission from God to test and trouble believers by weakening their physical conditions (Job 2:4–6; 2 Cor. 12:7), so it is possible that Paul referred to this type of destruction here.

In cases of church discipline, the goal of the process is that the person’s spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord. Here Paul used an Old Testament term describing the day on which God destroys all of his enemies and blesses his people. The New Testament often uses this term for the second coming of Christ (1 Thess. 5:2; 2 Pet. 3:10). Although a true believer under discipline may endure hardship, the goal of that hardship is repentance that will lead to salvation on the day of final judgment. Discipline should ultimately be redemptive.[1]

Albert Barnes writes,

You must hand such a man. This is the sentence that is to be executed. You are to deliver him to Satan, &c.

Over to Satan. Bezae, and the Latin fathers, suppose that this is only an expression of ex-communication. They say that in the Scriptures, there are but two kingdoms recognized—the kingdom of God, or the church, and the kingdom of the world, which is regarded as under the control of Satan; and that to exclude a man from one is to subject him to the dominion of the other. There is some foundation for this opinion, and there can be no doubt that ex-communication is intended here and that, by ex-communication, the offender was, in some sense, placed under the control of Satan. It is further evidence that it is here supposed that by being thus placed under him the offender would be subject to corporal inflictions by the agency of Satan, which are here called the “destruction of the flesh.” Satan is elsewhere referred to as the author of bodily diseases. Thus in the case of Job, Job 2:7. A similar instance is mentioned in 1 Tim. 1:20, where Paul says he had delivered Hymeneus and Alexander to “Satan, that they might learn not to blaspheme.” It may be observed here that though this was to be done by the concurrence of the church, as having a right to administer discipline, yet it was directed by apostolic authority; and there is no evidence that this was the usual form of ex-communication, nor ought it now to be used. There was evidently miraculous power evinced in this case, and that power has long since ceased in the church.

For the destruction of the flesh. We may observe here (1.) That this does not mean that the man was to die under the infliction of the censure, for the object was to recover him. It is evident that, whatever he suffered as the consequence of this, he survived it, and Paul again instructed the Corinthians to admit him to their fellowship, 2 Cor. 2:7. (2.) It was designed to punish him for the licentiousness of life—often called in the Scriptures one of the sins, or works of the flesh (Gal. 5:19), and the design was that the punishment should follow in the line of the offense or be a just retribution—as punishment often does. Many have supposed that by the “destruction of the flesh,” Paul meant only the destruction of his fleshly appetites or carnal affections; and that he supposed that this would be affected by the act of ex-communication. But it is very evident from the Scriptures that the apostles were imbued with the power of inflicting diseases or bodily calamities for crimes. See Acts 13:11; 1 Cor. 11:30. What this bodily malady was, we have no means of knowing. It is evident that it was not of very long duration since when the apostle exhorts them (2 Cor. 2:7) again to receive him, there is no mention made of his suffering then under it.—This was an extraordinary and miraculous power. It was designed for the church’s government in its infancy when everything was fitted to show the direct agency of God, and it ceased, doubtless, with the apostles. The church now has no such power. It cannot now work miracles, and all its discipline now is to be moral discipline, designed not to inflict bodily pain and penalties but to work a moral reformation in the offender.

So that the spirit may be saved. That his soul might be saved; that he might be corrected, humbled, and reformed by these sufferings and recalled to the paths of piety and virtue. This expresses the true design of the discipline of the church, and it ought never to be inflicted but with a direct intention to benefit the offender and to save the soul. Even when he is cut off and disowned, the design should not be vengeance or punishment merely, but it should be to recover him and save him from ruin.

In the day of the Lord. The day of judgment when the Lord Jesus shall come and shall collect his people to himself.[2]

[1] Richard L. Pratt Jr, I & II Corinthians, vol. 7, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 75.

[2] Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament: I Corinthians, ed. Robert Frew (London: Blackie & Son, 1884–1885), 85–86.