The Journal of Biblical Accuracy

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1 Corinthians 5:5: "so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord"

Moving now to 1 Corinthians 5 and starting from verse 1 we read about some great sexual immorality that was going on in the Corinthian church.

1 Corinthians 5:1-5
"It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 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."

Among whom was there sexual immorality? "Among you", among the believers, Paul says. This immediately tells us that a believer is indeed capable of such things as practicing sexual immorality of the worst kind that even the pagans could not tolerate. Now I would like to ask us the following: would the people who practiced these things and who were obviously "believers", be saved, if they did not repent for what they were practicing? This is a rather rhetorical question as the answer is in the text and the way Paul reacted to the situation. Let’s see it again:

1 Corinthians 5:4-5
"When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 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."

The reason that this man should have been delivered to Satan was to lead him to repentance, through the "destruction of the flesh" that this would bring, "so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord". To say it differently: if the flesh, the old man, of this person was crushed and he repented then his spirit, he himself, would be saved in the day of the Lord. From this it is obvious that if this "destruction of the flesh" would not happen and this person would not repent, then his spirit would not be saved in the day of the Lord. Paul, in order to avoid this and bring repentance, says deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. But did those who were practicing such and similar sins finally repent? In 2 Corinthians Paul follows up on the matter of sexual immorality in the Corinthian church. Here is what he says:

2 Corinthians 12:21
"I fear that when I come again my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity and fornication and lasciviousness that they have practiced."

As we see it was not just one but many who were living in impurity, fornication and lasciviousness. As we also see, many of these people had NOT repented and we do not know whether they ever really did.

A couple of things that I would like us to notice concerning these people: what they were doing was not a sin while being on the right way. This was not an episode of sin, but, as the text says, their practice, what they did habitually and as a way of life. They were working lawlessness to use the words of the Lord (Matthew 7:23). If they would not repent, would they find the door of the Kingdom open and the King waiting for them to welcome them in, just because once upon a time they believed? The answer is no. Because it is clear from Matthew 7:21-23 that the King will not welcome but rather send away those who work lawlessness:

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'"

In contrast to many today who have chosen to ignore the above reality, Paul did not ignore it. That is why he was rather upset that the church in Corinth was arrogant and had not taken action to discipline these people so that they might repent and their spirit "may be saved in the day of the Lord".

Next section: Peter 2: "It would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness"

 

Author: Anastasios Kioulachoglou