(1) It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife. (2) And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. (3) 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. (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, (5) To deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
It is well worthy the Reader's observation, as he enters upon the perusal of this chapter, how much disposed the corrupt part of our fallen nature is, to oppose and interrupt the renewed part, in all her progress in grace. Satan is well aware, that he hath no opportunity so effectual, to harass and distress the soul of a child of God, but by his enticements of the body. He, therefore, allures the flesh with its corruptions and lusts, to bring on a coldness in spiritual exercises. And, if he can but accomplish his devilish purpose, by interrupting the soul's access to the throne, his object is soon effected, in drawing off the mind that fleshly pursuits may be the more easily followed. Oh! what a deadness have some precious souls at times found on this account?
It should seem, from what is here said, that some one of no small rank in the Church, on account of gifts and abilities, had fallen into a foul offence of an unnatural and forbidden connection, even to the marrying his Father's wife. And the Church was so elated with the services of this man that they absolutely overlooked in the preacher, the shameful conduct of his life.
The Apostle was now at Philippi, from whence, as we learn at the conclusion of this Epistle, he wrote it to the Church at Corinth. His absence, however, did not lessen his Apostolic authority, nor, his zeal for the Lord's service. And he, therefore, in a sharp and decided manner, passeth judgment upon the person so offending. The sentence is remarkable, and deserves our attention. The offender was to be delivered unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Various have been the opinion of different Commentators on this remarkable sentence. But I confess, that to my view, it appears to mean nothing more, than that this incestuous person should be for a time deprived the privilege of Church communion. And this, indeed, properly speaking, was a delivery to Satan, and to a child of God most painfully afflicting. And I am the more inclined to this opinion, because it was the act of the Church. Paul passed the sentence, by directing, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, what should be done; but the Church, when gathered together, was to perform it. And, as the object intended from it was, that while the flesh was mortified, (which, to a man of great abilities, must have been humbling indeed), the spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus; this plainly proved, that though this man had fallen into this foul offence, yet was he still considered by the Apostle as a child of God.
As the subject is truly interesting, I would take occasion therefrom, to offer an observation or two upon it, which, if the Lord be pleased to bless, may be rendered profitable.
It is very evident, from the Apostle's statement of this man's case, that he considered the spirit and the flesh in this instance, as in the Apostle's general method of explaining this subject, as in opposition to one another. And this I beg may be noticed as an additional proof, that when a child of God is renewed by regeneration, it is the spirit only which is quickened, the body remains the same. The old man, as it is called, the body of sin is wholly unrenewed. Grace makes no alteration here. No part of it is sanctified. So that, while at the new birth or regeneration, the spirit is quickened and made a partaker of the divine nature, and can die no more; and being united to Christ, and part of Christ, and interested in all that belongs to Christ, is as holy in Christ's holiness, as it ever will be to all eternity; the body is the same mass of corruption as it derived from Adam in the fall; the sin generated in the Adam-nature, hath its subsistence in the flesh, and will remain until corruption puts on incorruption, and mortal puts on immortality.
Now it is the blessed state of a renewed soul, to be brought into such a sweet communion and fellowship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ, by the gracious influences of the Holy Ghost; that when the Lord the Spirit hath quickened, and made a child of God a new creature in Christ Jesus, his spiritual part is daily, hourly, aiming through grace, to crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts. Hence, the everlasting warfare in every renewed mind between the flesh and the spirit, between corruption and grace. And it would be well, if every child of God, when brought out of a state of nature, was made sensible of this. He is renewed but in part. He still carries about with him a body of sin and death, which interrupts but too often, his soul's desires and pursuits. And, although, through the divine strength imparted to him, he is enabled, and not unfrequently, to keep down, and restrain, and mortify the old man; yet, daily he knows and feels to his sorrow, that sin and sinful corruptions still retain their dwelling place in the flesh, and which compel him to confess with Paul, that when he would do good, evil is present with him. And, although, he delights in the law of God after the inward man; yet he sees another law in his members warring against the law of his mind, and bringing him into captivity to the law of sin which is in his members, Romans 7:21 to the end.
Such being evidently the case, and which induceth continual soul exercises, and deep groans, at times, in the hearts of the Lord's people: it hath been questioned, and in great humbleness of enquiry; wherefore is it, that since sin is so offensive to the Lord, and so loathsome to every renewed child of God, that the Lord should permit such remains of indwelling corruption to continue? Might not the Lord, when renewing the spirit, have made holy the flesh also? Are not our bodies the Lord's, as well as our souls? Hath not Jesus married both? And will not my body, (saith the child of God), as well as my soul, be Christ's forever in the upper world, and in glory with Him forever? How then is it, that I groan daily, being burdened with sinful flesh, when my Lord knoweth how much I long for deliverance, and how easily my Lord, with a word speaking, could make my body as holy as my soul?
These, and the like questions, have arisen in the minds of God's people, when regeneration-work hath taken place in their souls from the earliest days of the Church, and been brought forward in every generation from age to age. But, after all that hath been said, and after all the earnest cries of the soul, God's dear children feel the same, and groan at times as deep as ever. Reader! pause over the subject. Depend upon it, the Lord hath a gracious design in all his dispensations, and doth, and will, overrule every event of the present time-state of his Church to his own glory, and his people's welfare. The Holy Ghost hath said, by his servant the Apostle, that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose, Romans 8:28. And well we know, that sorrows and afflictions, trials and temptations, wants and weaknesses, in his Almighty hand, minister to this end. And even sin itself, the evil of all evils, though in its very nature and tendency hath everlasting ruin in its deadly fruit; yet like medicine extracted from poison, becomes subservient to the divine glory, when the Lord converts evil into good. Thus the malice of hell, in the ruin of Adam, laid a foundation for the sweetest of all mercies in Christ. Thus the cross of Jesus, when sin brought on his death, became the everlasting salvation and life of his people. And thus all things work together for good to them that love God, and are the called of God. Mark the expression. To them that love God; not that love sin, but hate sin. To them that hate their own bodies, on account of sin, and loath themselves in their own sight. Oh! how a child of God, when fully made acquainted with the plague of his own heart, will hate sin, and hate self, and fly to Christ to seek deliverance from it. Reader! these thorns in the flesh keep souls humble. The consciousness what a mass of evil mingles up with all we say, and all we do, destroys all dependence upon both. And far better is it to be thus humbled in self, that Christ may be all in all, than even if our hearts were more pure, if so be, that this supposed purity made us proud. And how do we sometimes long to be dissolved, and to be with Christ, when any renewed instance of human infirmity makes a child of God go heavily, and in sharp soul distress?