Jesus is Present

 DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

JESUS IS PRESENT

1 Cor 5:1-5

5:1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father's wife. 2 And you are proud! Shouldn't you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this? 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.

NIV

This is one of the more troublesome portions of this letter. Paul’s letter to this church which was called out of a pagan society, that most of the believers in Corinth were Greeks who lived as all pagan Greeks lived. This would connect with us in that many believers came from a life in this pagan culture we live in. Within this letter, Paul deals with a variety of issues within this church that was struggling, and having problems because of the pressures of the pagan culture they came from. He dealt with factions, lawsuits, questionable practices, abuse of the Lord’s supper and of spiritual gifts, along with sexual immorality which is what is now the passage we must deal with. From our studies, we have found many different ideas about what actually happened. Questions like, was the son’s father alive when he married his mother? Was this a stepmother rather than the son’s birth mother? Because of the phrase that Paul uses, a man has his father’s wife, is the reason for these varied ideas of its meaning. However, the point is that such behavior, however, it is defined, was not acceptable. Certainly, the idea of handing him over to Satan is not a practice of the church today nor is that any apostolic authority to do such a thing. We recount this apostolic authority in the case of Ananias and Sapphira. Handing this man over to Satan is another one of those thoughts which are troublesome to deal with. We would have to think the son’s body could have been inflicted with pain, suffering from some disease, so as to bring him to repentance. This does make us wonder if any of our inflictions are a result of letting loose our sinful nature, and thus the infliction was meant to bring us to repentance. That is not to mean every time we have some illness, we have committed sin. But it is something to think about. The second thought expressed in this portion of the letter is of a different nature. That is being able to be with someone in the spirit, although not with them physically. This has also been seen as a true fellowship even when we are all assembled, we are joined together in the Spirit. However, to be like that with someone who is distant from us physically carries so much power in the Spirit bringing us together as though we were so in body. However, when we have assembled together the power of our Lord Jesus is present. This should bring us great comfort as well as give us reason to be present not just in bodily form, but present in our spirit, being in fellowship with our Lord, in the spiritual realm. This then would be true worship. This should also give raise to the question of letting loose our sinful nature, for being a believer in Christ Jesus, having the  Spirit dwelling within, we are in constant fellowship with our Lord, and he is always present. Yes, we still sin, and we still fail at being perfect, but we have not allowed our sinful nature to have full rein in our lives, because we love the Lord and desire to live in him and have him live in us. We make every effort to live uprightly because Jesus is present.