1 Corinthians 5:3Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

See what the power of the spiritual gift is. It makes it possible to be together with all at one time, and gives the ability to know what is far off.

“I have already judged, as though I were present.” He does not allow them to think of anything else. I have already laid it down, he says, as though I were with you.

Do not present me with excuses and delays. Nothing else must be done. And lest his authority seem too great, and his words be received as an expression of pride, see how he makes them participants in the judgment.

After saying, “I have judged,” he continues: “the one who has done such a deed, when you are gathered together in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, together with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such a one to Satan” (1 Cor 5:3-5).

What does “in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” mean? It means according to God, guided not by human judgment.

Some read this passage thus: “the one who has done such a deed in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” After placing a full stop or comma there, they continue: “when you are gathered together, together with my spirit, to deliver him to Satan.”

They give this reading the following meaning: deliver to Satan the one who has done such a deed in the name of Christ. That is, deliver such a one to Satan, who has insulted the name of Christ.

He was faithful and called by such a name, and yet dared such a deed. But the first reading seems truer to me. What is it? “When you are gathered together in the name of the Lord.”

That is, the name itself unites you. Gather together in it. “And together with my spirit.” Again he presents himself to them, so that in giving judgment they might condemn the incestuous man to excommunication, as though in his presence.

Thus no one would dare to judge him worthy of pardon, considering that Paul would know what had happened. Then he adds more fearful words: “with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

This means either that Christ can grant them power to deliver such a one to the devil, or that He Himself will pronounce sentence against him together with them.

He does not say, hand such a one over to Satan, but deliver him, opening to him the doors of repentance and, as it were, handing him over to a teacher.

And again, “such a one.” Nowhere does he allow himself to name him by name. “For the destruction of the flesh,” as with blessed Job, though not with the same aim.

There it was for more glorious crowns, but here for release from sins, so that Satan might punish him with malignant sores or some other illness.

Elsewhere he says, “we are judged by the Lord,” when we endure this (1 Cor 11:32). But here, wishing to touch the sinner more deeply, he delivers him to Satan.

Yet even this depends on God's will, so that his flesh may be punished. Since desires are born of gluttony and the incontinence of the flesh, he punishes the flesh.

“That the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” That is, that the soul may be saved. This does not mean that the soul alone is saved.

Rather, he means the certain truth that when the soul is saved, then the body too will surely share in salvation. The body became mortal because of the soul's sin.

Therefore, if the soul becomes righteous, the body also will again be counted worthy of great glory. Some understand “spirit” here as the spiritual gift, which is quenched by our sins.

So that this may not happen, he says, let him be punished. Then, having been corrected, he may be counted worthy of grace, and may be found to have preserved it whole on that day.

Thus these words signify care and healing more than a simple blow, or a useless and vain punishment. For the benefit is greater than the punishment.

The punishment is temporary, but the benefit is eternal. And he does not simply say, “that the spirit may be saved,” but “on that day.”

He beautifully and fittingly reminds them of that day, so that they too might approach the healing more zealously, and so that the sinner might receive the medicine more quickly.

For he sees that these words proceed not from anger, but from the solicitude of a caring father. For this reason he said, “for the destruction of the flesh.”

Here he prescribed laws to the devil and did not allow him to go beyond the limits. In the same way God said concerning Job: “only spare his soul” (Job 2:6).

One may think that it was an extraordinary act of apostolic authority, belonging to the Apostles alone. After them it was either completely abolished or replaced by other actions more suited to the time.

According to the common opinion, the mentioned delivery to Satan is excommunication from the Church. Christians regarded the Church as the Kingdom of the Spirit of God. They considered all unbelievers to be under the power of the devil.

Therefore excommunication from the Church was recognized as delivery into Satan’s power. According to many fathers and teachers of the Church, Chrysostom, Theodoret, Augustine, Theophylact, and others, this power of the devil over the excommunicated was manifested in illnesses, demonic possession, and, in extreme cases, death.

Compare Acts 5:3-5, Ananias and Sapphira, and Acts 13:8-11, Elymas the sorcerer. Indeed, the Apostle delivers the incestuous man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, by which illnesses may be understood.

As the power to heal infirmities and forgive sins belonged to the Apostles, so, of course, did the power to bind sins and send illnesses. “That the spirit may be saved.”

Some understand here the spiritual gift which the offender had possessed until that time. Others understand his soul. The latter is more probable, because the incestuous man repented and was again received into the communion of the Church, 2 Cor 2:6-8.

By “the day of the Lord,” the Apostle means the day of the Lord’s Coming. As reception into the Church, Baptism, was performed in the name of Jesus Christ, so too was excommunication from Her.

Here we find the following features of ecclesiastical judgment. 1) It is carried out in the name and power of Jesus Christ. 2) The decisive voice belongs first to the apostles and then, of course, to their successors.

3) The decision is made and announced in the assembly of the faithful, in living spiritual communion between the Church’s presiding shepherds and Her other members.

4) One of the punishments is expulsion from the Church. With this there is naturally joined delivery into Satan’s power, unto sufferings of soul, cf. 1 Sam 16:14, and body, 1 Cor 11:30.

5) The purpose of such punishments is admonition, correction, return to the Church, and the salvation of the condemned person. With these features, ecclesiastical judgment is preserved in the Church to the present time.

Without judgment there can be no Church, as a society that has a definite goal, together with an order and laws corresponding to that goal.

Some interpreters see in the incestuous man a person whose talents the Corinthians took pride in. But the Apostle regards him as already separated from the Church by the very nature of his sin. Therefore he does not address him personally, but all the Corinthian Christians.

He rebukes their indifference and coldness toward such a sinner, who is intolerable in the Church. Since they themselves had done nothing to restrain his immoral conduct, he now urges them to excommunicate the incestuous man from the Church.

By this they would cast him into that realm where the primordial prince of this world rules, the ancient murderer of mankind. He torments his victims according to their surrender to him and according to the power of divine permission.

The incestuous man sinned chiefly in the body. Therefore he was also subject to bodily punishment, the wasting of the flesh, so that the evil spirit might take possession of his body and wear it down. Thus this is a remedy, not an execution.

According to St. John Chrysostom, “something similar happened with righteous Job, though not with the same force: there for more glorious crowns, here for release from sins, so that Satan might punish him with malignant sores or some other illness.”

The weakened flesh would loosen the bonds of sin and give the spirit room to repent. Thus, although the sinner is apparently punished, at the same time the possibility of salvation is opened to him. As is known, he made use of this, fully repenting of his great sin.

Wherever a living member of the Church may be, his absence is unthinkable. Separation by place forms no barrier to union in the Spirit.

Theodoret writes: “The Apostle constituted a tribunal that brings trembling. First he gathered all in the name of the Lord. Then he brought himself in by the grace of the Spirit.

He showed that the Master Himself presides, pronounces the sentence, hands the man over to the executor of punishment, and determines to punish only the body. For in the very punishment He prepares healing medicine for the soul.”

Verse 3. You yourselves should have removed such a man from your midst. Since you did not do this, I do it, and I write my decision for you to carry out.

“I have already judged.” “See his zeal. He does not permit them to wait for his arrival and, after receiving him, punish the incestuous man.

Rather, as though wishing to stop some infection before it has penetrated the whole body, he strives to restrain him” (Chrysostom).

“Though I am not with you in body, yet present in spirit.” “Present” means being there. The Slavonic translation gives the thought that this is not merely mental presence, but living presence.

“It is like Elisha saying that he was with Gehazi: ‘Did not my heart go with you?’ (4 Kgs 5:26). See what the power of the spiritual gift is!

It makes it possible to be together with all at one time, and gives the ability to know what is far off” (Chrysostom).

The ancient prophets were called seers because, by the Spirit living in them, they saw distant things as present. Many of the saints also acquired the gift of clairvoyance, as is shown in their lives.

Some, while remaining in their own place, tangibly appeared in another place for some help or protection. This is more than clairvoyance.

He who was caught up to the third heaven, in reality and not in imagination, and heard words there, certainly knew how one could be in Corinth in spirit while remaining in Ephesus in body.

Therefore, when he says “in spirit,” he means his own spirit, yet not as though this were his natural power. Rather, it was “through the Holy Spirit” (Theophylact).

“He said this not only to move them to carry out the sentence, but also to terrify them by showing that everything that was to happen and be discussed there was known to him” (Chrysostom).

The Apostle writes the decision. Yet it will enter into force when their own ecclesiastical agreement and determination concerning it have taken place.

“I have already judged, as though I were present.” The matter is decided. “He does not permit them even to think of any other decision in the matter.

I have already laid it down, he says, as though I were with you. Do not present me with excuses and delays. Nothing else must be done” (Chrysostom).

“He who has so done this deed.” What revulsion he inspires toward this vice, when he does not even name the one guilty of it. He does not name the vice itself either, but only says, “he who has done this.”

He does not wish the name of the vice to touch Christian hearing. By the word “so” he expresses the shamefulness of the vice.

This man “has insulted the name of Christ, having been faithful and called by such a name, and yet having dared such a deed. Deliver such a one to Satan” (Chrysostom).