To deliver such an one unto Satan

To deliver such an one unto Satan...

[23/07/2022 14:12]
Sir, I have a couple of questions on 1 Corinthians 5.
v2 And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.

Q1. What is meant by "he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you"?

v3 For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,

Q2. What had Apostle Paul judged already?

v5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Q3. If this refers to apostolic authority only, no longer relevant to us, then what MUST the church do?

Appreciate your response.
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[23/07/2022 17:12] 

Q1. What is meant by "he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you."

Apostle Paul expresses his disgust and disappointment concerning the situation:
- they are puffed up about the hideous sin; they likely boast of their openness and progressiveness, e.g. “we are loving, we aren’t censorious, we respect people’s private life, blah, blah, blah.”
- they have not mourned for such grievous sin in their midst, and do the needful, "that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you."
- they have not exercised the authority, i.e. power to act; Christ has vested in the church the authority to deal with such matters, to remove an unrepentant member from the church body; they did not excommunicate such an unrepentant sinner. Excommunication is the responsibility and prerogative of the church, not any one individual, not even apostle Paul. So, even the Apostle Paul needed to instruct the church to do the excommunication.

Q2. What had Apostle Paul judged already?

“For I verily… have judged already… concerning him that hath so done this deed”
– Apostle Paul, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, has already exercised his apostolic authority on the matter; he has executed his judgment upon the man; this is a sharp slap in the face of the church for their inaction against, and tolerance of the hideous deed.

What is the judgment Apostle Paul has executed? What’s the basis of Paul apostolic authority? It is, “in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” – verse 5.

1Co 5:4 “In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Verse 4 has two distinct parts:
- “For I verily… have judged already… concerning him that hath so done this deed, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…”
- “when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
- “In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” is related to what the Apostle Paul has already done;
- “in the power of our Lord Jesus Christ” is related to what the church MUST do: administer excommunication, when they are gathered together.

Apostle Paul exercised his apostolic authority on the matter, and instructed the church to perform her duty: "he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you." No further need for prayers and seeking God’s will

Q3. If this refers to apostolic authority only, no longer relevant to us then what MUST the church do?

“No longer relevant” implies it was relevant before! It never was in the church’s power to execute such a judgment, i.e. “to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh…”

It’s the standing duty of the church to execute the power of our Lord Jesus Christ vested in the church to remove such a one from the fellowship and communion of the church, excommunicate. “… but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.” Mt 18:17b

The privileges of Apostolic authority belong to the Apostles alone; the privileges of church power, vested by Christ alone in each local church, belong to the church alone; each church is held responsible by her Lord Jesus Christ to administer that vested power according to the mind of Christ. ( We have touched on this somewhat in our study on 1689.26 on “Concerning the Church.”

Thank you for these excellent questions.

Keep asking; it will help all of us to learn and know the Scriptures better.

Appearance versus Reality

 "Judge not according to the appearance,
but judge righteous judgment." John 7:24

 

Luke 23 KJT
8 And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was desirous to see him of a long season, because he had heard many things of him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him.
9 Then he questioned with him in many words; but he answered him nothing...
11 And Herod with his men of war set him at nought, and mocked him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent him again to Pilate.
12 And the same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together: for before they were at enmity between themselves.

One moment Herod was exceedingly glad to see Jesus; he even engaged Jesus in conversation. However, some time later he showed his true self.

What happened in between?
What explains the change?

He did these despicable things:
"questioned": eperōtaō: interrogated
"set at nought": exoutheneō: to make of no account, despise utterly, to treat as worthless.
"mock": empaizō: to play with, trifle with, make fun of...

 

Hate not thy brother - Leviticus 19:17

Hate not thy brother;

but love him - i.e. make an effort to convert him from the error of his way.

Lev 19 KJT
17 ¶Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.

James 5 KJT
19 ¶Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him;
20 Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

These Scriptures have been completely perverted by some: an attempt to correct an error is now seen as HATEFUL and UNLOVING.

Love me by converting me from the error of my way. To leave me in my error without making a sincere effort to convert me is HATEFUL... "thou shalt not hate thy brother..." by leaving him in the error of his way, that is to "suffer sin upon him."

In a bible study, I referred to Hebrews 2:14 KJT — "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil" - to make the point that the suffering of Jesus was as real as could be because He is the Word made flesh.

A student of the Hebrew language said that his Reverend instructor taught that the text reads as "blood and flesh" and not "flesh and blood" and that the blood and flesh refer to atonement by animal sacrifices in the OT and Jesus's incarnation respectively.

I said, "My KJT has the order of 'flesh and blood,' and the context speaks of the incarnation of the Word, John 1:1,14.

- It is lacking common sense, i.e. stupid, to say that "blood and flesh" refers to atonement by animal sacrifices in the OT and incarnation in the NT; this would necessarily make the children spoken of to be partakers of animal sacrifices and incarnation too.

The student went berserk because I corrected the bizarre idea of her revered instructor, a complete stranger to me; I haven't the slight idea who the instructor is.

She raved against me: "You do not love your brothers in Christ. So I am afraid that you are not an Elect. Because if you have loved your brothers in Christ, you would not have written to run them down with SO MUCH HATRED in your heart.

I replied: Thank you for your kind words...
May the Lord bless you in the days ahead. Amen.

 

The Seventy Weeks in Daniel's Prophecy

 

Some figures for us to wrap our minds on.

Daniel 9
24 “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.

“Seventy weeks are determined" upon thy people and upon thy holy city for these specific events:
1. to finish the transgression, and
2. to make an end of sins, and
3. to make reconciliation for iniquity, and
4. to bring in everlasting righteousness, and
5. to seal up the vision and prophecy, and
6.. to anoint the most Holy.

NOTE carefully that the city's destruction is NOT within the seventy weeks determined upon city and people.

The command to restore and build Jerusalem was given by Cyrus the Persian in 456 B.C.

The 70 weeks is divided up into three parts: 7 weeks, 62 weeks, and 1 week.

The 7 weeks (49 years) of rebuilding Jerusalem by those who returned from exile are covered by Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Zechariah, Haggai, Malachi.

Then, it was followed by the 62 weeks (62x7=434years) of intertestamental silence and darkness. The appearance of John the Baptist broke the long dark silence; his appearance also signalled the imminent appearance of the promised Messiah, the Prince.

The 70th week commenced with the public appearance/ministry of the Messiah. In the midst of the week (30AD), the Messiah was cut off, having fulfilled all the six things stated in 9:24.

At the beginning of the 70th week, some spiritual-minded Jews, understood from Daniel's 70-week prophecy, were expecting the imminent appearance of the Messiah. See Luke 3:15.

456 BC (the years Cyrus issued the imperial edict) + 483 (69 x 7) = 27AD
The Messiah was sent into the world at His water baptism in 28AD (28 comes after 27).
Jesus's ministry lasted around 3.5 years; then He was cut off in the midst of the last week of 7 years.

 

it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance

Sir, how would you interpret this passage?
Hebrews 6
4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
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Here are some observations:
Hebrews was written to Hebrew believers in Jesus Christ who were under the temptation of reverting back to their old covenant religion, that is, of falling away from their faith in Jesus Christ. Apostle Paul wrote to exhort them to hold fast.

Hebrews 10:23 KJT
"Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised."

"For it is impossible... If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame."

The subjects of the passage are described as those
- that were enlightened
- that tasted of the heavenly gift
- that were partakers of the Holy Ghost
- that tasted the good word of God
- that tasted the powers of the world to come

1. Of whom are these statements describing?
- those still dead in trespasses and sins, or,
- those who are effectually called by God, AS WELL AS converted to Jesus Christ by the ministry of the word?
- another group?

2. "If they shall fall away..."
- those described in 1 above CAN fall away.
- fall away from what? (take careful note that falling away from their faith in Christ and falling away from the state of grace into which they have been effectually called are vastly different!)
- What does it mean to fall away?
- How does the passage describe the falling away?
("... they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh,
and put him to an open shame.)
- Do you see the heinousness of falling away?

3. Why is it impossible to renew them again to repentance IF they should fall away?
- What's the relationship between repentance and faith in Christ?
- How does this relationship explain the impossibility of renewing them, IF they fall away, unto repentance?

The above may help you to do your own interpretation.
After rightly dividing (interpretation) the word of truth,
make your own applications of the truths learned.