From time to time I receive questions regarding difficult passages in the Bible. Since the pandemic, I now have a backlog of questions to answer. I’ll try to get to each of them over the coming weeks. I received this one: Can you please help me understand what the scriptures are talking about regarding Paul “handing some over to satan”?
The scriptures they are refering to are:
1 Corinthians 5:5 (NKJV)
5 deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
1 Timothy 1:19-20 (NKJV)
19 having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck,
20 of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.
I will deal with the man in 1 Cor. 5:5 first. This was a man who was in the church at Corinth, yet he was not a believer. He was sleeping with his father’s wife (1 Cor 5:1). The Corinthians were indifferent to what was going on and had failed to act, so Paul stepped in. The Apostle Paul said , “So when you are assembled … hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord” (1 Cor 5:4-5). Short version: put this man out of your church.
Three people in scripture were handed over to Satan (the other two were Hymenaeus and Alexander in 1 Tim 1:20), and in each case the purpose was not to harm but to help. Paul hoped that the Corinthian man may be saved and that Hymenaeus and Alexander might learn not to blaspheme. What did these three guys have in common? There was no evidence of grace in their lives. The Corinthian man was sleeping with his father’s wife (1 Cor 5:1); the other two aspired to be teachers of the law (1 Tim 1:7).
Paul dealt with these three with wisdom and he treated them all the same way: Since they refuse grace? Give them law! Let them suffer under the harsh accusations of the Accuser then maybe then they will learn to value Christ’s gift of Grace.
What did Paul mean when he spoke of the destruction of the man’s flesh? He was saying the law and flesh do not get along. “For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death” (Rom 7:5). Sin under law and you’ll soon be wretched and miserable.
This man was sinning shamelessly and the church, instead of being appalled at the man’s conduct, was giving approval by doing nothing. Perhaps they thought they were giving him grace. But God’s grace teaches us to say no to ungodliness, not yes. This man had refused God’s grace, so it was time to give him law. “Your boasting is not good,” said Paul. “This sin yeast will spread. Get rid of it so that you may be a new batch without yeast” (1 Cor 5:6-7).
We must keep in mind that the Corinthian man was not saved. True, the man went to church and called himself a Christian. But his fruit told a different story. Significantly, Paul hopes that the man may be saved, which indicates that he isn’t.
People get confused about this because they think Paul is talking only about two kinds of people (sinners and saints), when he is really talking about three: (1) unsaved people in the world (v.10), (2) unsaved people who are among you and who call themselves brothers (v.11), and (3) Christians. This man is in the middle group, as are two other people that Paul handed over to Satan.
Now we will look at Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom Paul handed over to Satan so they would be taught not to blaspheme. (1 Tim 1:20)
What do we know about these two guys?
We know they were part of a group of false teachers that saw themselves as teachers of the law. They taught that people needed to work for salvation/sanctification, etc. The finished work of Jesus on the Cross was not being preached and people’s faith was being shipwrecked. They were distracting their hearers from “God’s work – which is by faith”.
Paul said Hymenaeus and Alexander were blasphemers. To blaspheme is to slander or speak falsely of someone. They were teaching that the blood of Jesus did not really matter. This kind of teaching promotes controversy and distracts people from trusting in God’s finished work.
I hope you understand that when it comes to saving you and making you acceptable to God, Jesus did it all and His perfect work cannot be improved upon. This is the gospel truth and it is worth fighting for!
I will end with this; God is a good Father who will protect His own. I honestly do not know what the intricate details are of what Paul did in handing these men over to satan, but I do know he did it under apostolic authority with the intention of teaching them, not condemning them.
God’s continued and never-ending blessings on each of you!
Thank you God Bless you as well. Very Good Word.