Sermon by Rev C Bouwman on 1 Corinthians 5:5a held on Sunday Morning 17 August 1997.

THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST MUST DELIVER TO SATAN ANY MEMBER WHO PERSISTS IN SIN.

Singing: (Psalms and Hymns are from the "Book of Praise" Anglo Genevan Psalter)
Psalm 16:1
Hymn 62:3
Psalm 75:3,5
Psalm 101:4,5,6
Hymn 11:1,2,3

Beloved Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Two weeks ago I began a brief series of sermons relating to church discipline. At that time we listened to what the Lord says to us in His Word in Mt 18. The passage taught us that the Lord God did not want a single 'little one' for whom Christ died to perish, and so no one was to set a stumbling block of any sort on the path of any one seeking the Lord in the circumstances of his life. Any who did set a stumbling block before a humbled brother or sister were to be admonished, lest they themselves fall victim to the wrath of God. This admonition, be it by the self or with some witnesses or by the whole church, is pitched to the sinner's salvation; God does not want a single 'little one' for whom Christ died to perish.

The passage I have chosen for today has a different focus. Central to I Cor 5 is the notion of putting the sinner out of the congregation. Whereas the focus of Mt 18 lay on admonition, the focus of I Cor 5 lies on excommunication. The key line of the chapter is vs 5: "deliver such a one to Satan."

The command to "deliver such a one to Satan" sounds harsh to our contemporary ears, very judgmental, and not at all loving. Excommunication: we do not like the sound of that word. We do well, then, to listen in on Paul's inspired instruction to the church of Jesus Christ in Corinth, an instruction that the Lord our God directs to us also. For we too, like the Corinthian brethren of long ago, need to be what God in Christ has made us to be.

I summarise the sermon with this theme:

THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST MUST DELIVER TO SATAN ANY MEMBER WHO PERSISTS IN SIN.

1. the background to Paul's command
2. the content of Paul's command
3. the reasons for Paul's command

1. The city of Corinth had gained for itself in the course of the years an international reputation for being a centre of immorality. To call somebody a "Corinthian girl" was to say that she was a prostitute. The name of the city was also made into a verb, to "corinthianise", and the verb meant as much as "to fornicate". The immorality characterising the Corinthian population used to characterise also those who now belonged to Christ's church in Corinth. After all, Paul says in I Cor 6 that "neither fornicators…, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites…will inherit the kingdom of God." And he adds: "and such were some of you" (vss 9ff).

It appears, now, that the lifestyle which the believers of Corinth had before they came to faith followed them into their Christian lives. Old habits die hard, even for the regenerated. For there was a brother in the congregation who "has his father's wife". The woman concerned will not have been his own mother, but "his father's wife", that is, his step-mother.

This relationship between the brother of the congregation and "his father's wife" is described by Paul with a word translated for us as "sexual immorality". The word used is a general reference to sexual sin, including not just fornication, but also adultery, homosexuality, sodomy (cf Rom 1:18ff). However, the word appears frequently in the prophets of the Old Testament to describe Israel's unfaithfulness to her covenant God when she served the gods of other nations. That also gives the colour of this sin: it is more than a giving in to lust or to feelings of loneliness, etc; fornication symbolises a breaking of one's covenant with God. That explains too why God forbade His people Israel at Mt Sinai from engaging in immorality. As He says in Lev 18: "I am the Lord your God," and therefore the people of Israel were not to do according to the practices of the Canaanites or the Egyptians. Specifically: "None of you shall approach anyone who is near of kin to him, to uncover his nakedness: I am the Lord" (vs 6). There follows an entire list of relations whom the men and boys of Israel were to leave alone; the mother, the sister, the aunt, the grand-daughter, the step-sister, the step-mother: all receive a mention. By the Lord's gracious decree of election, this people was His by covenant, and therefore to enter no sexual relations with "near of kin". God also mentioned the penalty that was to be meted out to the person who sinned against this law. I read in Lev 20:11:

"The man who lies with his father's wife has uncovered his father's nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them."

The brother of the church in Corinth, however, did not act according to the instruction of the Lord in the Old Testament. Though the Lord had forbidden that one uncover "the nakedness of your father's wife" (Lev 18:8), this brother did precisely that, and did it not just once but habitually. Here was the licentiousness of the city -and that's this brother's background- brought into the church.

What made things worse, though, was that this particular sin -to have one's father's wife- was considered offensive even by the Gentiles - as Paul says in vs 1. Here is a church of Jesus Christ in the city of Corinth, a church sanctified by the blood of the Saviour (I Cor 1:2) and so meant to be a light in the world (Mt 5:16). More, according to Paul's instruction in I Cor 3, the church of the Corinthian saints is "the temple of God", yes, and "the Spirit of God dwells in" the members of this church (vs 16). The church: that's a place different from the world.

But in Corinth not all the people of God were different from the people of town. Though town was characterised by blatant sexuality, and though the Lord had forbidden such conduct among His own, yet the very church Christ bought with His blood had within her members a brother whose transgression was below what even the Gentiles considered acceptable. At stake here is God's good reputation in the community!

To make matters still worse, the congregation tolerated this brother; they did nothing about him. That may puzzle us today, but it appears, from what Paul wrote earlier, that this inactivity on the part of the congregation was rooted in their sins of self-satisfaction. Paul says in vs 2 that the Christians of Corinth were "puffed up", arrogant. Well, from what Paul wrote earlier, we need to conclude that arrogance characterised the Christians of Corinth. Listen to the sarcasm in Paul's words as he flatters the Corinthian Christians with words they claimed for themselves. Chap 4:8: "You are already full! You are already rich! You have reigned as kings…" (vs 8). And Paul continues with his sarcasm in vs 10:

"We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished…."

That was the sentiment the Corinthians had about themselves, and with their smug satisfaction they saw no need to do anything about the brother in their midst who lived in blatant sin.

In the face of that arrogance on the part of the Corinthians, the apostle gives instruction to the congregation. His first instruction concerns humility; the congregation should be humble that such sin could occur in their midst. That's vs 2: instead of being puffed up, the congregation has to mourn.

It's an intriguing command. Why should the congregation as a whole mourn in the face of sin in the life of one of its members? That, brothers and sisters, is because sin has no place amongst God's people at all; God's people are holy, are the "temple of the Holy Spirit" (I Cor 3:16). When sin finds a home in God's people, there is something wrong, something very wrong. For the congregation as a whole has not adequately looked after each other! One of those little ones for whom Christ died -Mt 18- is hindered in his service to the Lord, and the brothers and sisters of the congregation are not helping him; they let him keep on stumbling. The congregation as a whole has to take responsibility for the fact that sin like this has gained a place in their midst. Hence the need to mourn, to be broken-hearted in the face of our failure.

Such humility, such mourning for own failure, is supposed to have a particular effect. Vs 2: the mourning, the humility should produce as reaction -says Paul- that "he who done this deed might be taken away from among you." That's the instruction of God in the Old Testament, and it's equally the example of God's people in the Old Testament. Recall, for example, the reaction of the returned exiles once they understood that their act of taking heathen women into their homes was sin before the Lord. "The people," we read, "wept very bitterly" (Ezra 10:1), and then proceeded to action: they sent the women away (10:3).

That's the reaction there is supposed to be amongst the Christians of Corinth too. But the congregation has to date done nothing, they've tolerated sin in their midst, have become used to sin in their midst, and they're quite proud of it too. So Paul takes the bull by the horns. As apostle of Jesus Christ he tells the congregation that, when they are assembled together, they are to "deliver such a one to Satan". That action is to be done both "in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" and with Paul's presence, that is, his presence as apostle of Jesus Christ, one through whom God the Holy Spirit is pleased to speak. In a word: with the authority of none less than God Himself the congregation is to deliver the man to Satan.

2. That, congregation, brings us to our second point: what is this delivering to Satan all about? What is the content of Paul's command to Christ's church in Corinth?

The words "deliver to Satan" are plain enough. This sinner is forthwith to be handed over to Satan. Without delay, without hesitation, he is to be placed in Satan's hands, Satan's camp, Satan's control.

We find the thought frightening, radical. We are thankful that the Lord has given His only Son to ransom us from Satan's power, to ransom the saints of Corinth also from Satan's clutches (cf LD 11). This brother in the congregation of Corinth has professed the faith, claimed that Jesus died for him. He's joined with the congregation in the Lord's Supper celebration, received the signs and seals that Christ died for him. Is he now to be handed back to Satan?? We cringe at the thought of one of our loved ones -let alone ourselves!- being delivered back to the Satan from whose hands we were delivered through Jesus Christ!

We need to realise, brothers and sisters, that the concept of being delivered to Satan appears elsewhere in holy Scripture. Of importance to us is the Lord's word concerning Job. For when the devil appeared in God's presence and challenged God about why Job serves the Lord, God responded to Satan like this: "Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person" (Job 1:12). And again, when Job still did not curse God, the Lord gave Job's person into Satan's hand with these words: "Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life" (2:6). That is to say: God delivered Job to Satan.

We know what happened to Job. Satan was given free reign to do with Job whatever he wanted. As a result, Job lost all his abundant possessions, lost his ten children, lost his health (for he had "painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head" so that he "took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself" (vs 7f), lost his wife also (for she told him to "curse God and die", vs 9). Handed over to Satan Job was, and he felt it horribly.

Well now, the sinning brother of the Corinthian church was, said Paul, to be "delivered to Satan". Satan, then, could do with this man what he wanted.

And yet: there are limits to what Satan can do. It is true that Jesus has called the devil "the ruler of this world" (Jn 12:31; 16:11). In II Cor 4 Paul describes Satan as "the god of this age" (vs 4). Elsewhere he is moved by the Holy Spirit to describe Satan as "the prince of the power of the air" (Eph 2:2). Terms like that lead us to think that Satan really can do with this sinning brother in Corinth what he wants, and so we shudder. But: there are limits to what Satan can do. For the Scriptures proclaim that Christ on the cross of Calvary did more than deliver a people from Satan; He also defeated Satan himself. The Scriptures would have us know that the devil is bound, cannot do whatever he would like (cf Rev 20; see Jn 12:31). Satan, in fact, cannot do a thing unless the sovereign God of heaven and earth permit. When this brother from the congregation, then, is delivered to Satan, we are not to understand that he will invariably go to hell, that he is condemned eternally to Satan's evil clutches. We are instead to understand that God Himself continues to work on this sinner, and God uses as tool for his operations on the man none else than the devil. As Job's afflictions at the devil's hand served ultimately to draw out God's greatness and majesty (see Job 38ff), so this sinning brother of the congregation should be handed over to Satan so that God's goodness and severity (Rom 11:22) might in some way be pointed up.

Please remember, congregation, that within the church of Jesus Christ there is a far greater protection from the attacks of the devil than there is outside. In the church is the preaching of the gospel, in the church is the use of the sacraments, in the church is the communion of saints, in the church is the oversight of the officebearers. All of that serves as a wall of protection, a shield around the children of God so that they are both equipped to resist Satan's attacks and protected from Satan's attacks (cf Eph 6:10ff). But outside the church of Jesus Christ there is not the preaching of the gospel, and there is not the use of the sacraments, and there is not the functioning of the communion of saints, and there is not the oversight of the officebearers. So there's no protection from Satan's attacks; it is to be "delivered to Satan". But as God is sovereign also outside the church, so the 'delivering to Satan' does not mean that God washes His hands of the sinner; it means instead that God uses not the church but the devil as His tool to do for the expelled sinner what He in wisdom has ordained should become of the sinner.

That, then, is the concrete action the church of Corinth was to undertake. They need to "expel this offender from the fellowship of the church." As the apostle also says in vs 13: "put away from yourselves the evil person."

Again I say: this cutting off from the congregation is not meant to state that the expelled person is now definitely going to hell. The apostle says in the second half of vs 5 that this delivering to Satan is to result in "the destruction of the flesh", with as ultimate goal "that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." That's the goal: the sinner's salvation. Meanwhile, his membership within the Church of Jesus Christ in Corinth did not at all assure his salvation, for he lived in the sin of fornication, and -as Paul says in 6:9f- "fornicators…will [not] inherit the kingdom of God." To leave him unrepentant in the church was to fool him, to mislead him, to let him think that Yes, he was saved, whereas in fact he would end up in hell. For his salvation's sake, then, the sinner is to be expelled from Christ's church, delivered to Satan, given to the devil so that the devil -with God's permission- may do with him whatever he wants - "that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus."

3 It's not an easy command for the Church of Corinth to carry out; who knows what sort of emotional bonds the members of the congregation had with the sinner. Paul, therefore, proceeds to explain why the Church in Corinth must expel, excommunicate this member. That's our last point this morning: the reason for Paul's command to the Corinthians to deliver this brother of the congregation to Satan.

The reason for Paul's instruction is recorded in the vss 6-11. The apostle comes back to the Corinthians' sense of self-sufficiency, their high thoughts of themselves. He tells them that their "glorying is not good," that they should not feel content with themselves for letting this sinner carry on in their midst. Paul explains why: "Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?" That's common knowledge: place some leaven in a batch of dough, and in due time the entire batch is permeated with the leaven. We would say: "a bad apple spoils the whole barrel." The illustration makes clear to the congregation how dangerous it was for them to keep this sinner in their midst. Here was no place for boasting, here was need for action. So: "purge out the old leaven." That is: put away this sinner. Cut him out of the body of Jesus Christ in Corinth, lest the whole body be infected. The result of purging out this leaven would be this: "that you may be a new lump," that is, people without the leaven of sin in their midst.

No, the apostle does not want the Corinthians to think that at the moment they are only leaven, only evil. So he adds the last words of vs 7: "since you truly are unleavened." That's what the Corinthians, by God's grace, had been made through the work of Jesus Christ. After all, "Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us." The lamb sacrificed in the Old Testament to stop the angel of death from killing the first-born of the Israelites in Egypt foreshadowed the sacrifice of the Lamb of God. Well now, says Paul, that Lamb has been sacrificed -Christ died on Calvary- and so the Corinthians are acceptable to God, holy. Since that's the way it is, be rid of sin, be rid of leaven, be what God in Christ has made you to be. "Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (vs 8).

The apostle's reasoning, beloved, comes down to this: the sacrifice of Christ Jesus on the cross means that there is no place for sin in the midst of the Christian congregation of Corinth. Since Christ died for sin, His people are to drive the sinner out from their midst.

This same point is drawn out in the last number of verses of the chapter. In a previous letter Paul had written to Corinth (it's lost, we haven't got it), he had given instruction to stay away from sexually immoral people (vs 9). The point of that letter was somehow lost on the Corinthians, and so the apostle explains his point: do not "keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner - not even to eat with such a person" (vs 11). The focus of Paul's point is not the Christian's relation to the world as such; the focus of Paul's point is how the congregation is to interact with one who claims to be a Christian but lives in sin. Since Christ has died, there is no room for the leaven of sin in the church of Christ, and so, says Paul, you cannot act toward a sinful member as if everything is normal. So: drive him out, "put away from yourselves the evil person" (vs 13).

You see, brothers and sisters: that's Paul's argument for his instruction to deliver this brother to Satan. The congregation's identity as God's people means that there is no room for sin amongst the membership; the sinner is to be driven out, "delivered to Satan". This, we understand, is the point of the chapter that we need to take home with ourselves. If the Free Reformed Church of Kelmscott may rightly be called Christ's church, there is simply no room in this congregation for the member who lives in sin. Christ's people are on their way to heaven. But one who lives in sin is on his way to hell. So he has no place in the Church of Jesus Christ; to keep him as a member is to mislead him. Far better it is, for his salvation's sake, to be honest, straight forward. Drive him out, deliver him to Satan; then he knows what he's up to.

Then Yes, we may have all kinds of understanding for why somebody lives in sin, but, beloved, it is all human reasoning; in the church of Jesus Christ there is no room for sin at all. God in Jesus Christ has made His people a new lump, free of the infectious leaven of sin. It is for us to appreciate His work, and so make sure we remain what God has made us to be.
AMEN.