Difficult Bible PassagesAnswered

What does Paul mean by handing a man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh in 1 Corinthians 5?

A viewer asks what St. Paul means in 1 Corinthians 5 when he says to deliver the immoral man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh.

Answer

Anything that's inside the Church is protected by the Church. Satan is not inside the Church. And you're protected by the Holy Spirit as long as you receive the sacraments, you maintain the state of grace, and all those things that make you a Christian. But this man is forced out of the Church because he's committed a mortal sin. And in this case it is a mortal sin, because a man is sleeping with his father's wife. And he's not repented of that sin. And the bishops or the priests in the Church are not doing anything about it. That's what has Paul so upset: they're just sort of saying, well, that's the way it is, what do we do? In other words, you excommunicate him. You don't let him live in this sin. Even if he stopped doing it, you don't just allow him to come to the congregation as if everything's fine. You excommunicate him. And that's what throwing him out to Satan means. Because now he's not in the confines of the Church and protected by the Church and the Holy Spirit. He's now out on his own, where Satan is. And if he is not careful, Satan will grab him again and make him sin again and hold him further in his demonic clutches. So that's what it means. The other thing, destruction of the flesh, may mean that the Church is going to allow the man to come under the regimen of the secular society. So if the secular society has a law against sleeping with your father's wife, or any kind of restrictions against sexual immorality, which has to be the case in Corinth, even though it's corrupt, just like it is in the United States. They all sleep with one another in the government, but don't get caught. Because if you get caught, they're all going to rat on you, saying, look, you've been bad. And they know that they've been bad too, doing the same thing, but nobody's caught them. And you could be in prison, you could be fined, all kinds of different punishments, depending on what sexual sin is in view. Same thing with this guy. The Church is not going to be there to protect you. The only time the Church is going to come into play is if you repent of your sin: you come to the Church, you tell them you've done this and you're not going to do it again. The Church takes you back to become a member, and you swear up and down you're not going to do it again, and they'll hold you to it. You can be restored to the Church. Don't criticize him. Don't do anything. That could be the best thing for him, and hopefully he will repent. But don't add on to his suffering, because he's suffering enough, and hopefully he will come to his senses enough that he will repent and get restored to the Church. We just have to exegete it to come to that point.

Answered by Dr. Robert Sungenis

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