Question: Read 1 Corinthians chap 5 vs 5. What does it mean?

Answered by: Dawn James, who has been a volunteer with us since June, 2012.

Answer: Just to be clear, the sentence in 1 Cor. 5:5 starts in v. 4, so 1 Cor. 5:4-5 says, “In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 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.” Most of the book of 1 Corinthians deals with serious issues within the church in Corinth and chapter 5 is not an exception.

The beginning of chapter 5 discusses a situation where a man was having an affair with his father’s wife (v. 1). In vv. 4-5, Paul is dealing with the man who initiated the relationship and how the church should treat him. The church had been congratulating themselves for being so tolerant and accepting (v. 2-3) rather than calling the man to repent of his actions.

So, in v. 5, Paul pronounces what sounds like a very harsh punishment, yet it is meant to bring the man to repentance and allow the church to realize just how serious sin within the church is. By saying, “deliver such a one to Satan”, he is talking about removing the man from fellowship with the church, so he is, in effect, outside the church and fully back in the world, outside the protection of the church. And the rest of the verse, “for the destruction of the flesh”, refers to the destruction of the sin in the flesh, that the man must repent of, not to that his physical body would be destroyed. The intent was, ultimately, to restore him to fellowship in the church after his flesh was purged of this sin (2 Cor. 6-8).

The Corinthians had developed an inaccurate view of sin and Paul was seeking to correct that within the church and within this man’s life. They could no longer ignore or tolerate the sin, but needed to deal with it honestly.

We, like the Corinthians, may have the wrong idea about sin. Like the Corinthians, we live in a society that, for the most part, tolerates and even encourages sin. As Christians, we are forgiven by the blood of Jesus, yet, when we do sin, we should repent and not ignore or tolerate sin. We do this so the Lord can cleanse us from the unrighteousness in our life (1 John 1:9) and because we don’t need to allow sin to dominate us (Rom. 6:14).

The Lord didn’t intend for us to tolerate sin on a personal level or on a corporate level, in our local churches. The world is watching us – whether we realize it or not – to see how we behave. We should hold ourselves to a higher standard, God’s standard, than the world holds itself. We should always look to the word of God as our guide when judging issues of sin in our lives.

It is interesting to note that even though Paul did deal with many serious issues in his first letter to the Corinthians, yet in chapter 15, we find perhaps the greatest teaching on the resurrection in the New Testament. He wanted them to look beyond their issues and know for certain that Christ died for them and what that meant to them in this life and the next. He wanted them to change their behavior within the church, but he also wanted them to have hope, just as he wanted the man who repented of his sin welcomed back into fellowship.

I hope this helps to answer your question.

Question:Explain what ‘The Eye of the Storm’ means spiritually. So I am doing a devotion and need some help with this topic I know the eye of the storm is the calm centre of the storm and everywhere else is damaged and in trouble. However how can u connect that spiritually? Thank you God bless

Answered by: Esther Pearson, who has been a volunteer with us since June, 2013.

Answer: Devotionals are meant to teach and to give a message to meditate on for spiritual growth and understanding. In Biblical times most of society was based around agriculture. So, the weather was important and most people kept close track of it. The weather provided opportunity for growth of food and survival. So, storms were viewed more as the action of God, rather than a scientific phenomenon of cold air colliding with warm air and causing storm conditions of clouds, winds, rain, and other conditions of the atmosphere.

We can see comparisons between the ‘Eye of the Storm’ and the ‘human eye’. The ‘Eye of the Storm’ is a metaphor. Just like the pupil is the center of the human eye, and the iris adjusts the pupil to allow light to enter through the lens and penetrate the cornea to focus the light upon the retina which converts the lighted image to the optic nerve and the optic nerve sends the image to the brain to interpret what we see. And vision is not possible without light entering the eye.

The ‘eye of the storm’ is a place of peace and calm. So, spiritually God in Jesus Christ is the center of a Christian’s life. Jesus makes adjustments in our life through prayer in stormy times. The light of Jesus gives us focus and is our peace. He brings calm to our nerves. He gives us peace that surpasses all (human) understanding (Phil 4:7) and His peace gives us sight and insight that we must trust Him in all conditions in life. When we trust Jesus we understand that all is well even in a storm of life. But, we have to pray to let the light of Jesus Christ give us vision in all situations that all is well.

So, when the storms are surrounding Christians they go to the center, which is Jesus, and He brings peace and calm. There are scriptures that tell us about the peace Jesus provides. So, that is a way to spiritually connect ‘The Eye of the Storm’ in your devotional to keep Jesus in the center; depending and trusting in Him to give you peace and calm; and trusting Him through the good and the bad times in life through prayer.