Lessons #145 and 146
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual delivery not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GW = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New English Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Specific case of sexual immorality in Corinth (1 Cor 5:1-8)
... 3 Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present. 4 When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, 5 hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord. 6 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? 7 Get rid of the old yeast that you may be a new batch without yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.
It is our assertion that to avoid tolerating sexual immorality, a local church must deal with specific case of it by assuming at least three responsibilities. A first responsibility is being careful to recognize every unauthorized sexual relationship in its midst. This responsibility is important because it is possible that there could be a sexual relationship that a member of a local church may be involved in that is talked about, but believers may fail to recognize that such sexual relationship is wrong and so tolerate it. A second responsibility of a local church that must not tolerate sexual immorality is to maintain proper attitude towards anyone involved in unauthorized sexual relation. This requires first that a local church never praise or otherwise consider such relationship acceptable or becomes complacent about it. Second, the local church must be in grief regarding a member involved in a perceived sexual immorality. Third, the local church must practice excommunication of such a believer, which leads to the third responsibility that is our concern in our study this day.
A third responsibility of a local church that must not tolerate sexual immorality is the removal from the congregation of a person guilty of such sin by following the proper procedure of doing this, given in the passage we are studying. As we indicated, many local churches fail to carry out this responsibility in part because of the problem of determining true membership in a local church since there are individuals that are admitted into the membership of a local church that may not meet the requirement of being a member of a local church, which is being born again through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Another reason is that some local churches have not seen the necessity for carrying out this responsibility.
Be that as it may, a local church should carry out this responsibility knowing that it is one sanctioned by the Lord of the church through the pen of Apostle Paul. In effect, we are saying that the issue of removal of a person or excommunication from a local church is one that has been prescribed in the Scripture. We say this because of the justification of Apostle Paul for the Corinthians to excommunicate a member that is guilty of sexual immorality. But before the apostle stated the justification, he admitted of not being bodily present with the Corinthians. It is this admission that is given in the first clause of 1 Corinthians 5:3 Even though I am not physically present. The apostle was emphatic in his admission. There are two indicators of him being emphatic in his confession. He used an independent personal pronoun “I” that is not necessary in the Greek since the Greek form helps to identify the subject of the verb. Thus, when a writer uses an independent personal pronoun in the Greek, the implication is that the writer wants to emphasize the subject. Since the apostle used the independent pronoun “I” we are confident he wanted to emphasize himself as the one who gives the instruction that follows.
Why would the apostle want to emphasize that he is the one who gives the instruction that follows? Is he not being arrogant someone may ask? No! Most commentators rightfully state that the apostle emphasized himself because he contrasted his attitude to that of the Corinthians. In other words that the contrast is between “you” in verse 2 and “I” in verse 3. However, there is more to this contrast than meets the eye. The apostle had to emphasize himself as the one who gives the instruction that follows because of his apostolic authority. The apostle had introduced the concept of his apostolic authority to the Corinthians in two ways. He identified himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ in the introduction of this epistle, that is, in 1 Corinthians 1:1:
Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,
He implied his apostolic authority by referring himself as the spiritual father to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 4:15:
Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.
Later, the apostle makes a reference to him being an apostle to the Corinthians since there were probably those who doubted his apostleship, as implied in what he says in 1 Corinthians 9:2:
Even though I may not be an apostle to others, surely I am to you! For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
Hence, when the apostle emphasized what he wrote in the clause of 1 Corinthians 5:3 with the use of the personal pronoun “I,” he implied that the reason for his instruction is his authority as the apostle of Jesus Christ. He was not giving them his opinion but the instruction from the Lord through the Holy Spirit. So, while there is no doubt that he implies a contrast between himself and the Corinthians about the one who is guilty of sexual immorality, his primary purpose is to emphasize his apostolic authority, without which there is no basis for what he wrote.
Anyway, another indicator of the emphasis regarding what the apostle wrote in the first clause of 1 Corinthians 5:3 is the apostle’s use of two conjunctions that the translators of the NIV rendered Even though although the literal Greek of the first clause reads For I indeed being absent in the body. This is because the apostle used two Greek conjunctions. The first conjunction (men) the apostle used in our clause means “indeed” and the second conjunction (gar) he used, has the meaning “for” as a marker of explanation to provide the reason for the apostle’s instruction regarding the offending believer. Both conjunctions when combined may, as here, give the sense of emphasis. So, the apostle emphasized what he wrote.
The first part of Apostle Paul’s admission to the Corinthians involved his bodily absence in Corinth as indicated in the sentence of 1 Corinthians 5:3 I am not physically present or literally being absent to the body. This is because the apostle used a Greek word (sōma) that is used both in literal and in figurative senses. Literally, it is used for the body of a human being or an animal. The body may refer to a dead body or corpse as it is used to describe the corpse of Dorcas in Acts 9:40:
Peter sent them all out of the room; then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up.
The verbal phrase turning toward the dead woman is literally turning toward the body. The body may refer to a living body such as one that is involved in sexual immorality as stated in Romans 1:24:
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.
Figuratively, the apostle uses the word “body” to refer to the Christian community. Hence, he tells the believers in Rome that they form one body in Christ in Romans 12:5:
so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
To the Corinthians, the apostle indicated they were the body of Christ in 1 Corinthians 12:27:
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
The phrase body of Christ here in 1 Corinthians 12 refers to the church of Christ, as Apostle Paul used it in Ephesians 1:22–23:
22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
The word may mean “the thing itself, the reality” in imagery of a body that casts a shadow as the word is used in Colossians 2:17:
These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
The clause the reality, however, is found in Christ is literally and the body is of the Christ. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 5:3, it is used in the sense of a living body.
The literal verbal phrase being absent to the body may be unpacked to read being absent with reference/in regard to the body. This means that being absent is concerned with the living body of the apostle. Hence, when the apostle literally states being absent to the body, he meant to admit that he would not be physically present with them when the action he commands takes place, hence the letter he wrote to them.
The second part of Apostle Paul’s admission to the Corinthians involved his spiritual presence that is given in the next clause of 1 Corinthians 5:3 I am with you in spirit or literally but being present to the spirit. The task is to determine what the apostle means in the literal verbal phrase being present to the spirit. For sure, the apostle in this verbal phrase is not claiming to be entirely a spiritual being so as to allow him to be absent in body while present in the spirit form with them. In other words, the apostle is not saying that his spirit will leave his body and travel to be with the Corinthians. So, what does apostle mean? Several interpretations have been advanced by interpreters such as that the Holy Spirit is present with the Corinthians and Paul is present with them by that same Spirit or that Paul’s spirit must have been given extraordinary insight into the state of the Church in far away Corinth, by the Holy Spirit. These interpretations are not easy to comprehend so it seems to me that there is a simpler interpretation of what the apostle meant. To better understand what the apostle meant, we need to consider two key words in the phrase. The first is the word “present” in the literal translation that is translated from a Greek verb (pareimi) that may mean “to be present” as it is used to describe those who gave to the Lord Jesus the news of the death of some Galileans that died in the hand of Pilate in Luke 13:1:
Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.
The word may mean “to arrive, to have come” as the rioters used the word to describe the arrival of Paul and Silas in Thessalonica as they dragged Jason to the city officials in Acts 17:6:
But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials, shouting: “These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here,
The word may mean “to be available for use,” that is, “to be at one’s disposal” as that is the sense in which the word is used to describe not having at one’s disposal spiritual qualities that believers should have, as implied in 2 Peter 1:9:
But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.
The pronoun them refers to spiritual qualities the apostle listed in preceding verses such as perseverance, kindness, self-control among others. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 5:3, the word is used in the sense of being in a specified place hence, means “to be present.” In addition, the apostle used a present tense with the implication of an action that is continuous or habitual. In effect, the present tense would imply the apostle was continually present with the Corinthians, an understanding that is not physically true since the apostle was not in Corinth when he wrote. That aside, whatever, it means for the apostle to be present in the spirit must account for the fact that the action the apostle had in mind is something that is continuous or habitually taking place.
The second key word is “spirit” that is translated from a Greek word (pneuma) that may mean “wind”, as in the description by our Lord of one that is born again in John 3:8:
The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
The word may mean “breath” as Apostle Paul used it to describe the manner of the destruction of the future lawless one by the Lord Jesus in 2 Thessalonians 2:8:
And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.
The word may mean “spirit” as that which animates or gives life to the body, as the word is used to indicate that without it the body is lifeless in James 2:26:
As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
It may mean “spirit” as part of human personality with various nuances. For example, it may refer to a person’s “very self” or “ego” as it is used by Apostle Paul in describing the assurance of the Holy Spirit to a believer regarding salvation in Romans 8:16:
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
According to the standard Greek English lexicon of BDAG, the sentence The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit is better translated the Spirit (of God) bears witness to our very self. The word may refer to the immaterial part of a person in contrast to the material body, as Apostle Paul used it in his appeal to the Corinthians for holy living in 2 Corinthians 7:1:
Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.
Under this meaning of the immaterial part of a person, it could refer to the source and seat of insight, feeling, and will, generally as the representative part of human inner life so that it may mean “mind”, as the word is rendered in Apostle Paul’s description of his state when he could not find Titus, as we read in 2 Corinthians 2:13:
I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said good-by to them and went on to Macedonia.
The phrase peace of mind is literally rest in my spirit. Still in this meaning, it could refer to “spiritual state, state of mind, disposition”, as it is used to describe the disposition that a believing wife should have to be considered beautiful in 1 Peter 3:4:
Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.
As suggested in the standard Greek English lexicon of BDAG, the phrase quiet spirit may be translated quiet disposition. The Greek word may mean “spirit” as an independent noncorporeal being, in contrast to a being that can be perceived by the physical senses. Consequently, it is used for created spirit-beings whether their function is good or bad. Apostle Paul used it to describe harmful spirits that will attempt to deceive people, as he presented in 1 Timothy 4:1:
The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.
The word may mean God’s being as controlling influence, with focus on association with humans hence means “Spirit.” Accordingly, Apostle Paul used it to describe God the Holy Spirit using different phrases. For example, he described the Holy Spirt as the Spirit of God in Philippians 3:3:
For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—
He described the Holy Spirit as “Spirit of Jesus Christ” in Philippians 1:19:
for I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 5:3, our Greek word means “immaterial part of a person in contrast to the material,” specifically the meaning is that of “the state of mind” or “affection.”
We have examined the two key words used in the verbal phrase being present to the spirit or in the words of the NIV I am with you in spirit, so we can now interpret what the apostle meant. He means that although the apostle was not physically present, his thought was always on the Corinthians and, of course, the other churches of Christ. Hence, the apostle is saying that his mind is always occupied with thoughts about the Corinthians. There is a secondary sense to what the apostle asserts here. It is that he recognizes his close identification with them since he and them are in union with Christ. But then, when this epistle is read the apostle would be present in the sense of his apostolic authority that is behind the epistle. The declaration of the apostle here in his epistle to the Corinthians is similar to what he said to the Colossians in Colossians 2:5:
For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.
Anyway, the apostle conveyed to the Corinthians that his thought was with them and in a sense, the epistle he wrote to them when read will imply his presence with them.
The apostle having directed the attention of the Corinthians to his apostolic authority and having stated that he continually thought about them, provides them the reason to remove the guilty person in their community. This reason is because the apostle had already given his verdict that is final regarding the incident. It is this verdict that is given in the second sentence of 1 Corinthians 5:3 And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present.
The expression “passed judgment” is translated from a Greek word (krinō) that may mean “to judge, pass judgment upon, express an opinion about” as it is used in the Lord’s instruction concerning looking down on others in a condemning way in Luke 6:37:
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
The word may mean “to judge as guilty, condemn” as in Nicodemus’ question to Jewish leaders in John 7:51:
“Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?”
The word may mean “to punish” as in Stephen’s sermon as he referred to God’s promise to Abraham of punishing those who would enslave his descendants in Acts 7:7:
But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,’ God said, ‘and afterward they will come out of that country and worship me in this place.’
The word may mean to make a judgment based on taking various factors into account, hence means “to judge, think, consider, look upon,” as in Apostle Paul’s statement to the Jews who rejected the gospel message, as stated in Acts 13:46:
Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles.
The word may mean “to criticize, find fault with, condemn” as in the instruction of proper attitude of a believer towards the matter of food in Romans 14:3:
The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him.
The word may mean “to prefer, select” as it is used to describe the preference of believers regarding day of worship in Romans 14:5:
One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.
The word may mean to come to a conclusion after a cognitive process and so means “to decide, propose, intend,” as it is used in Apostle Paul’s instruction to Titus because of his decision, as stated in Titus 3:12:
As soon as I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, because I have decided to winter there.
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 5:3, the sense of the word is to declare guilty, that is, “to condemn” with the implication of punitive sentence involved.
The recipient of the apostle’s guilty verdict or condemnation is described in the clause of 1 Corinthians 5:3 the one who did this. The word “did” is translated from a Greek word (katergazomai) that may mean “to bring about, produce, create” as it is used to indicate what suffering can bring about in the believer in Romans 5:3:
Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
The word may mean “to achieve, accomplish, do,” that is, to bring about a result by doing something as Apostle Paul used it to indicate that the only thing he wanted to discuss with the believers in Rome is what Christ achieved through him, as we read in Romans 15:18:
I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done—
The word may mean “to prepare someone” as Apostle Paul indicated that God had prepared him and other believers for a change from mortal body to immortal one in 2 Corinthians 5:5:
Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
The sentence it is God who has made us for this very purpose is translated in the NET as the one who prepared us for this very purpose and so reflects the meaning “to prepare.” In our passage of 1 Corinthians 5:3, it is in the sense of bringing about a result by doing something that the word is used, hence the meaning in our passage is “to accomplish, do.” By the way, the apostle used an aorist tense in the Greek not to imply that the action in view was done with or that it was continuing. No! He used it simply to state a fact regarding the sinful conduct that was his concern.
The apostle was concerned with the one who carried out the immoral sexual relationship since the demonstrative pronoun “this” in the clause the one who did this refers to the incestuous relationship of one of the members of the local church in Corinth.
It is not only that the apostle declared the believer in incestuous relationship guilty of a sin that should be punished by the members of the congregation, but he indicated that his verdict should be carried out as if he were present witnessing the situation as in the clause of 1 Corinthians 5:3 just as if I were present. This clause is the apostle’s way of indicating that the verdict he rendered would be exactly the same if he were present. He would not mince words in declaring the incestuous believer guilty of sin that demands the punishment he stated. Furthermore, the clause indicates that the apostle accepted the report he received about the incestuous relationship to be true. There is a sense that the clause indicates that the apostle wrote under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. This is because the Holy Spirit would not direct the apostle to state that which is false. In other words, if the report of incestuous relationship was false and the apostle assumes it to be true when he wrote then the Holy Spirit would have directed him to write what was false. As it stands, his verdict is based not just on those who gave him the report but the leading of the Holy Spirit. The apostle knew his Scripture that indicates that no one should be condemned to punishment without two or more independent witnesses. Therefore, since he pronounced judgment on the one reported to be guilty of incestuous relationship, it must be that his confidence on the correctness of his sentence is one given to him by the Holy Spirit.
In any case, the apostle’s verdict on the incestuous believer supports our explanation that when the apostle focused attention on himself in the use of an independent pronoun “I” in the Greek of the clause that begins 1 Corinthians 5:3 Even though I am not physically present that that was a way to draw attention to his apostolic authority. You see, without reminding the Corinthians of his apostolic authority then some would question what right he has in giving his verdict regarding the believer in incestuous relationship and the action he expects the Corinthians to take. His implied reference to his apostolic authority explains the reason the apostle could be so bold as to render a judgment on a member of the congregation in Corinth and to stipulate the punishment that should be meted out to the guilty individual. My point is that without the Corinthians recognizing the apostle’s authority then they would not pay any attention to his epistle, especially as he demanded from them an action that is not easy to take. That aside, the apostle by indicating that he had passed judgment provided a cover or justification for the Corinthians to act in the removal of the person. The local church would have the boldness to act because they believed that since the apostle instructed them that it must be the Holy Spirit that directed him to do so. Hence, the members of the local church in Corinth have a firm foundation for the action they were required to take. The firm basis for the action of the Corinthians regarding the removal of a member from their community the apostle provided is one that the local churches of today should latch onto. In effect, the authority for excommunication of any member of a local church is the word of God. It is not something based on sentiments of those in the local church or even on the reaction of those outside of the church but on the word of God. Of course, we should be reminded that the basis of our conduct should always be the word of God. People may not like what we do but that should not perturb us if we act in accordance with the word of God. The Corinthians were to remove a member guilty of incestuous relationship because the Holy Spirit through the apostle had demanded them to do so as that is conveyed in the sentence of 1 Corinthians 5:3 I have already passed judgment on the one who did this.
The apostle did not stop with providing the basis or reason for the Corinthians to remove the offender from their midst, but the Holy Spirit guided him to provide the details of how the removal should take place. The main point the apostle wanted to convey to the Corinthians is that the removal of such a person from the community or the treatment of such a thing should not be a private matter. In other words, the excommunication is not to be carried out privately, say by some of the elders of the church in Corinth. No! It should be done publicly in the congregation of believers. We are sure that the apostle wanted to convey that the removal of the person involved should be carried out publicly in the local church because of the descriptions involved in the first clause of 1 Corinthians 5:4 When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus.
There is a problem with the Greek sentence regarding how to translate it into the English. The problem is because the Greek sentence begins with a Greek phrase that translates into the English as in the name of our Lord Jesus. The problem is to determine which verb and so the expression that relates to it. There at least three possibilities. The Greek phrase may be connected to the sentence I have already passed judgment of verse 3. It is this approach that is reflected in such English versions as the NRSV, the NASB, the TEV and the NAB. For example, the TEV reads I have in the name of our Lord Jesus already passed judgement on the man who has done this terrible thing. A second approach is to connect the phrase to the sentence you are assembled resulting to the translation you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus as in the NIV, NJB, REB, NET, among others. A third approach is to connect the phrase with the expression hand this man over to Satan. This will lead to the translation in the name of our Lord Jesus hand this man over to Satan. I am not aware of an English translation that follows this approach. Each of these approaches makes sense but it seems to me that the second approach found in the NIV is probably the way the apostle wants us to understand it despite that some perceive this approach to be redundant to the next sentence of 1 Corinthians 5:4 the power of the Lord is present. Nonetheless, it is this approach that would be most natural to the way the early church would have understood it as being in keeping with their assembly that would conform to what the Lord Jesus stated in Matthew 18:20:
For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.”
Furthermore, the word “assemble” is the nearest verb following the Greek phrase although the word “did” is closest appearing before the phrase. It is the word that comes nearest to the Greek phrase that makes better sense since the only other usage of the phrase to begin a verse in the Greek is associated with a verb close to it. I am referring to Philippians 2:10:
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
Based on the reasons we have stated; we adopt the reading found in the NIV When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus.
The word “assembled” of the NIV is translated from a Greek word (synagō) that may mean “to gather,” that is, to cause to come together. It could be used of things such as gathering and storing of food that birds do not do in the illustration of our Lord concerning believers not worrying about their sustenance on this planet in Matthew 6:26:
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
The sentence they do not sow or reap or store away in barns is literally they do not sow or reap or gather into barns. The gathering could refer to bringing or calling together of persons as in the gathering of the church in Jerusalem for a special meeting to decide troubling matters for Gentile believers as we read in Acts 15:30:
The men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where they gathered the church together and delivered the letter.
The word may mean “to invite” as Jesus used it to indicate concern for Him in the sense of meeting the needs of suffering or poor believers in Matthew 25:35:
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,
In our passage of 1 Corinthians 5:4, the sense of the word is “to assemble,” that is, to gather together in one place.
The word “name” in the clause of 1 Corinthians 5:4 When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus is translated from a Greek word (onoma) that can refer to the proper name of a person, that is, the distinctive designation of a person or an object as in the identification of the apostles of Jesus Christ in Matthew 10:2:
These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John;
The word may mean “person, people” with the possible implication of existence or relevance as individuals, as it is used in Revelation 3:4:
Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy.
The phrase a few people is literally a few names. Related to this meaning of “person” is the sense of “authority” since the name of a person can represent that person himself, his authority, and all he is and does. Thus, to do anything in or by the name of a person or using the person’s name implies the person’s authority. It is with this meaning of “authority” that our Greek word is used in Jesus’ question to the Jews in John 10:25:
Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me,
The phrase in my Father’s name refers to the authority of the Father, that is, the reason some English versions such as the CEV and the TEV rendered the phrase as by my Father’s authority. It is this sense of “authority” that the Jewish authorities used our word to question Apostle Peter regarding the authority he used in healing the crippled man, as we read in Acts 4:7:
They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this?”
The UBS handbook on this passage suggests that the expression what name may be translated “by whose authority” or “who gave you the right”, implying that our Greek word may mean “authority.” The Greek word may mean “category” in the sense of the classification under which one belongs or based upon an implied designation for a class of entities. Thus, it is this meaning of our Greek word that is used in the Lord’s promise to those who are kind to prophets in Matthew 10:41:
Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward.
The clause who receives a prophet because he is a prophet is literally who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet. But according to the standard Greek English lexicon of BDAG, it can be translated whoever receives a prophet within the category ‘prophet’, i.e. because he is a prophet, as a prophet. Our Greek word may mean recognition accorded a person on the basis of performance, hence means “reputation, fame, name”, as it is used to describe some members of the local church in Sardis in Revelation 3:1:
“To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.
The sentence you have a reputation of being alive is more literally you have a name that you are alive. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 5:4, our Greek word means “name” with the implication of the attributes associated with a person such as authority.
The name associated with the gathering of believers in Corinth is given in the phrase in the name of our Lord Jesus. The phrase is one that should remind the Corinthians that they are assembled because of Jesus Christ and by His authority. It is because of His authority that the apostle has the authority to write and command the Corinthians to act. Anyway, the mention of the name of the Lord Jesus should remind the Corinthians and so all believers of at least two important facts. A first fact is that the assembly of believers consists of those whose sins have been forgiven because of the person of Jesus Christ. The first preaching of the gospel by Apostle Peter referenced the forgiveness of sins in the name of Jesus Christ in Acts 2:38:
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Apostle Paul in his fully recorded sermon makes a reference to the forgiveness of sins that is obtained through the name or person of Jesus Christ, as we read in Acts 13:38–39:
38 “Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. 39 Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses.
A second fact the phrase in the name of our Lord Jesus should remind the Corinthians and so all believers is that the assembly in the name of the Lord Jesus should consist of those who have eternal life. For after all, the Holy Spirit through Apostle John reminds us that those who have believed in the name of Jesus Christ have eternal life, according to 1 John 5:13:
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
The understanding of these two facts is important for the Corinthians and so all believers in understanding the necessity for excommunication from the community of believers of any believer who lives a sexually immoral life. It does not make sense that the congregation of believers should have in their midst a person who ignores the fact of the original forgiveness of sins for eternal life.
In any event, the apostle was concerned that the Corinthians understand that the removal of the sexually immoral believer from their midst is something that should be done publicly in the church of Christ. This means that the best time to do such a thing is when believers have assembled to worship their Lord. It is true that the apostle did not immediately state the reason this removal should be done publicly but from the Scripture we should deduce that one of the reasons for the public removal of such a person is so that other believers would recognize that sin is not to be tolerated among believers. This reason is similar to that which the apostle gave for public rebuke of those who sin, as stated in 1 Timothy 5:20:
Those who sin are to be rebuked publicly, so that the others may take warning.
In any event, we should remember that the point the apostle wants to convey to the Corinthians and so to all believers, is that removal of a sexually immoral person from a local church is not a private matter but one that should involve the entire local church.
07/12/19