1 Corinthians 5:4Meaning & 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).

“With the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,” [...] The meaning is twofold. Either Christ can give you such grace that you will be able to deliver the fornicator to Satan. Or else Christ Himself, together with you, will pronounce condemnation upon the fornicator.

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.

“With the power of our Lord Jesus Christ.” That is, when you and my spirit are gathered, this assembly, being in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, will also be with His power, as the Head of the Church.

Thus He Himself, together with us, will pronounce sentence against the one who sinned and will give it divine power. Or these words mean that “Christ can grant the judgment power to deliver such a man to the devil,” says St. Chrysostom.