Commentary on 1 Corinthians
Chapter 5
Against Fornication
Lecture 1
Horror of fornication
5:1 It is absolutely heard that there is fornication among you and such fornication as the like is not among the heathens: that one should have his father’s wife. [n. 228]
5:2 And you are puffed up and have not rather mourned: that he might be taken away from among you that has done this thing. [n. 231]
5:3 I indeed, absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged, as though I were present, him that has so done, [n. 233]
5:4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, you being gathered together and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus: [n. 235]
5:5 To deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. [n. 236]
228. After discussing matters which pertain to the sacrament of baptism, the Apostle begins to consider matters which pertain to matrimony.
First, he attacks a sin contrary to matrimony, namely, fornication;
second, he discusses matrimony itself, at now concerning the things (1 Cor 7:1).
In regard to the first he does two things.
First, he mentions the crime;
second, he censures it, at your glorying is not good (1 Cor 5:6).
As to the first he does two things.
First, he mentions the crime of a certain fornicator;
second, the crime of those who condoned this sin, at and you are puffed up.
229. In regard to the first he mentions three things which pertain to the gravity of the crime.
First, he shows that the sin is notorious, saying: it was not without reason that I asked whether you wish me to come to you with the rod. For there is one among you deserving the rod of discipline, because it is absolutely heard, i.e., publicly known, that there is fornication among you, against which it is said: fornication must not even be named among you (Eph 5:3); they proclaim their sin like Sodom, they do not hide it (Isa 3:9).
230. Second, he amplifies the sin by a comparison when he says, and such fornication as the like is not among the heathens. For example, fornication was not considered a sin among the pagans; hence to rid them of this error the apostles (Acts 15:29) imposed on pagans converted to the faith the obligation to abstain from fornication.
Yet it was a form of fornication regarded as unlawful even among pagans; hence he says, that one should have his father’s wife: unstable as water, you shall not have pre-eminence because you went up to your father’s bed and defiled his couch (Gen 49:4). This was monstrous even among the pagans, being contrary to natural reason. For the laws of every civilization dictated that the natural reverence owed to parents prevents sons and daughters from marrying their father or mother. This is even implied in Genesis: wherefore a man shall leave father and mother (in contracting matrimony) and shall cleave to his wife (Gen 2:24). Furthermore, since it goes on to say that the man and woman will be two in one flesh, the wife of the father is excluded from marrying; just as the person of the father or mother: you shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; for it is the nakedness of the father (Lev 18:8).
231. Then when he says, you are puffed up, he mentions the guilt of those who condoned this sin.
First, he condemns them for condoning it;
second, he supplies what they failed to supply, at I indeed, absent in body.
232. In regard to the first he detects three vices.
First, pride, when he says, and you are puffed up, namely, with the wind of pride, for considering yourselves innocent as compared with the sinner, just as the Pharisee who said: I am not as the rest of men, or even as this tax collector (Luke 18:11); he will dash them puffed up and speechless to the ground (Wis 4:19).
Second, he touches on their injustice, when he says, and have not rather mourned, namely, by suffering for the benefit of the sinner: O that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughters of my people! (Jer 9:1) For true justice, as Gregory says in On the Gospel, homily 34, shows compassion, not disdain.
Third, he touches on their failure to judge: that he might be taken away from among you that has done this thing. For such compassion on the part of a just man bruises the sinner to deliver him: if you beat him with the rod, you will save his life from Sheol (Prov 23:14). This also helps to correct others: the wicked man being scourged, the fool shall be wiser (Prov 19:25). Because sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the sons of men is fully set to do evil (Eccl 8:11). Indeed, if others are to be corrected, the sinner must sometimes be cast out, when there is fear of his conduct spreading: drive out the scoffer, and strife will go out, and quarreling and abuse will cease (Prov 22:10).
233. Then when he says, I indeed, absent in body, he supplies for their failure by pronouncing sentence against the sinner.
In regard to this he does three things.
First, he shows the authority of the judge;
second, the method of judging, at you being gathered;
third, the sentence of the judge, at to deliver such a one
234. As to the first he does two things: first, he shows the authority of the minister, i.e., himself. Here he seems to act contrary to proper judicial procedure by condemning an absent person, for it was not the custom of the Romans to give up anyone, before the accused met the accusers face to face (Acts 25:16). But the Apostle justifies this, saying, I indeed, absent in body but present in spirit, i.e., with love and concern: for though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ (Col 2:5). Or, present in spirit, because by the spirit he knew what was taking place among them as if he were there, as Elisha also says: did I not go with you in spirit when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? (2 Kgs 5:26) Because I am present in spirit, I have already judged, i.e., I have passed a sentence of condemnation on the one who has acted in this manner.
Second, he mentions the authority of the principal lord, saying, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, i.e., in his place and by his authority, or with the power and invocation of his name: whatever you do in word or in deed, do all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (Col 3:17).
235. Then when he says, you being gathered together, he shows the manner of judging, and touches on three things: first, the assembling of the congregation when he says, you being gathered together. For serious offenses should be punished according to the considered agreement of many persons; hence in old times judges sat on the gates where the people were gathered together: you shall appoint judges in all your gates (Deut 16:18); in the company of the upright, in the congregation (Ps 111:1); where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them (Matt 18:20).
Second, he indicates his assent when he says, and my spirit, i.e., with my will and authority, according to what he had said, present in spirit.
Third, he presents the authority of the principal lord, namely, Jesus Christ, saying, with the power of our Lord Jesus, the power which gives strength and validity to the judgment of the Church: whatever you bind on earth shall be bound also in heaven (Matt 18:18).
236. Then when he says, to deliver such a one, he delivers the sentence of condemnation, in regard to which he does three things. First, he assigns the punishment when he says, to deliver such a one to Satan. This can be understood in two ways.
First, that just as the Lord gave the apostles power over unclean spirits to cast them out (Matt 10:8), so by the same power they could command the unclean spirits to torment in the body those whom they judged deserved it. Accordingly, the Apostle commanded the Corinthians on his own authority to deliver this fornicator to Satan to be tortured.
Hence, second, he discloses the effect of this sentence when he says: for the destruction of the flesh, i.e., for the torment and affliction of the flesh in which he sinned: one is punished by the very things by which he sins (Wis 11:16).
Third, he mentions its fruit when he says, that the spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, i.e., that he may be saved on the day of death or on the day of judgment, as was explained above: but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire (1 Cor 3:15), i.e., of temporal punishment.
For the Apostle did not deliver the sinner over to Satan’s power forever, but until the time when he would be converted to repentance by bodily torment: vexation alone shall make you understand what you hear (Isa 28:19). This sentence of the Apostle corresponds to what the Lord observed, when he said to Satan: behold he is in your hand (namely, his flesh), but yet keep his life unharmed (Job 2:6).
237. To deliver this man to Satan can also be understood as referring to the sentence of excommunicating by which a person is cut off from the community of believers and from partaking of the sacraments and is deprived of the blessings of the Church, by which a man is defended against the attacks of Satan. Hence it is said of the Church: terrible as an army set in array (Song 6:10), i.e., to the devils.
For the destruction of the flesh would mean that, being cut off from the Church and exposed to the temptations of the devil, he might more easily fall into sin: let the filthy still be filthy (Rev 22:11). Hence he calls mortal sins the destruction of the flesh, because he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption (Gal 6:8). But he adds, that the spirit may be saved, i.e., that the sinner, recognizing his vileness, may repent and thus be healed: I was ashamed, and I was confounded, because I bore the disgrace of my youth (Jer 31:19).
This can also mean that his Spirit, namely, the Church’s Holy Spirit, may be saved for the faithful in the day of judgment, i.e., that they not destroy it by contact with the sinner: for a holy and disciplined spirit will flee from deceit and will rise and depart from foolish thoughts (Wis 1:5).