Article from the East Main Messenger, dated 7/13/2025.
You are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?
1 Corinthians 5:5-6
The Corinthians had been arrogantly allowing a brother in Christ who was unrepentantly sinning to remain in fellowship with them (1 Cor. 5:1-2). In response, God inspired Paul to rebuke them and direct them to withdraw fellowship – “deliver this man to Satan” – from the sinning Christian (1 Cor. 5:3-5a; cf. Matt. 18:15-17; 2 Thess. 3:6, 14-15; Rom. 16:17-18; 1 Tim. 1:20).
Two reasons are given for the disfellowship. First, Paul says this discipline is “for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord” (1 Cor. 5:5b). “The destruction of the flesh” is not meant literally as a reference to capital punishment for heresy as has been thought in certain Catholic and Protestant circles. Rather, “the flesh” (sarx) is a figurative way to describe the sin in which this Christian had been caught up. This same Greek term is used in figurative ways elsewhere in Scripture to refer to sinful human nature (Matt. 26:41; John 8:15; Rom. 6:19; 8:1, 4-9, 12-13; 2 Cor. 7:1; Gal. 5:13, 16-17, 19, 24; 6:8; Eph. 2:3; Col. 2:11, 13, 18; 2 Pet. 2:10, 18; 1 John 2:16; cf. 1 Cor. 3:3). Therefore, “deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh” means to withdraw fellowship from this man in the hopes that it will cause him to be ashamed of his actions (2 Thess. 3:14). This shame would thus motivate him to repent of his carnal, fleshly, worldly sins (cf. 1 Tim. 1:20), which in turn would bring about immediate and complete forgiveness from the Lord (2 Cor. 7:10; 1 John 1:9; Heb. 8:12). This is why on Judgment Day he would still be saved from his sins (1 Cor. 5:5b) rather than find himself taken out of the kingdom and cast into hell (Matt. 13:41-42).
It should also be said that the motivation to repent of sins given by withdrawing of fellowship will likely not come about unless real fellowship between the erring Christian and his church family had already existed prior to church discipline. If your interaction with brethren is limited to a few words of greeting to bare acquaintances whom you sit next to for 1-4 hours a week in a couple of worship services and Bible classes within a church building, it’s hard to see how your brethren warning you that they will withdraw all association from you unless you repent will motivate you to do what’s right. However, if you really view your brothers and sisters in Christ as family due to how close you are to them due to all the time you spend with them (cf. 1 Tim. 5:1-2; Heb. 3:13; 1 Pet. 4:9), it’s more likely that their admonishments for you to repent (Matt. 18:15-17a; Gal. 6:1), followed if necessary by the withdrawing of fellowship from you, will be more than enough motivation for you to repent and thus be forgiven.
Many have been motivated to repent because of disfellowship, including the erring brother at Corinth (2 Cor. 2:5-11). However, some do not feel the need to repent. This leads some in the church to wonder if disfellowship is truly necessary. It is necessary, even if it does not produce repentance in the heart of the erring Christian. This is because of the second reason given by Paul in which he speaks of “a little leaven leaven(ing) the whole lump” (1 Cor. 5:6). Just as a small amount of leaven (yeast) put within a lump of unleavened dough will quickly leaven all of it, the sin of just one Christian will, if observed to be allowed without rebuke or censure, quickly influence other Christians to purposefully commit their own sins. “Well, if brother or sister so-and-so can sin and no one says a word about it, then I guess it’s okay if I sin too!” However, if kind but firm admonishments are regularly given by spiritually mature brethren when sin is openly committed, followed by disfellowship if necessary, the rest of the church notices and is thus motivated to repent of the sins in their own lives.
We’ll continue this study next week, Lord willing.
— Jon
To read Jon’s series on 1 Corinthians from the beginning and many other articles, visit https://predenominationalchristianity.com.