1 Corinthians 5:5 – to give up

… in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (you being gathered, and my spirit, together with the power of our Lord Jesus), to give up such a one to Satan for the extermination of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

“a one” is here the man who had relationship with the wife of his father (: 1). The Corinthians were proud of their tolerance and so they preserved the evil (: 2). But Paul denounces this explicitly. Not the man, but the evil is named. In the letter that would be read out in Corinth, the one who stick with the evil, is given up. By Paul’s words the ecclesia is purged. Of course because in this words Christ’s own words resound. And that word has a purging effect. So the ecclesia becomes in practice, what it is already in GOD’s eyes (5: 7).

 The giving up of the one intends reforming the man himself. Paul’s words may be painful for his ‘flesh’ (ego), at the end it will save him spiritually. That will be revealed in the day of the Lord!

Delen: