1 Cor 5:5

[thyrodandstaff]

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.

See St. Chrysostom, hom. xv. and this is said to be done for the destruction, or punishment of the flesh, that the spirit, or soul, may be saved.

What does this mean? They deliver the sinner to the devil (excommunicate) for punishment so that he may be saved “in the day” of Jesus? Does “in the day” mean the last day or judgment day?

How does this purification by the devil work? Does the devil do God’s will in this regard even though he said “non serviam, I will not serve”? What is the function of the devil?

Glory Be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, amen.

 

[MarcoPolo]

Precisely, St. John Chrysostom says this about the verse:*For the destruction of the flesh. As was done in the case of the blessed Job, but not upon the same ground. For in that case it was for brighter crowns, but here for loosing of sins; that he might scourge him with a grievous sore or some other disease. True it is that elsewhere he says, Of the Lord are we judged, 1 Corinthians 11:32 when we suffer these things. But here, desirous of making them feel it more severely, he delivers up unto Satan. And so this too which God had determined ensued, that the man’s flesh was chastised. For because inordinate eating and carnal luxuriousness are the parents of desires, it is the flesh which he chastises. (Homily 15 on 1 Corinthians)*St. John Chrysostom is here recalling Job, who was given to Satan for a time (Job 1:1-12) And of course, Job incurred all kinds of physical trials, skin problems, death of his family members, his livestock, etc… Theologically speaking, it seems St. John Chrysostom is suggesting to leave the matter for God to give the person to Satan, not for innocent suffering in the case of Job, but that the sinner be awakened by the cruel slavery of the evil master - or something to that effect - in order to get the person running back to God’s love.

 

[animalis]

The following is from the Commentary of St. Thomas Aquinas on First Corinthians,

1. – Then when he says, you are to deliver, he delivers the sentence of condemnation, in regard to which he does three things. First, he assigns the punishment when he says: you are to deliver this man 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, secondly, 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). Thirdly, he mentions its fruit when he says: that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus, i.e., that he may be saved on the day of death or on the day of judgment, as was explained above (3:15): “but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire,” 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” (Is 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” (Jb 2:6).
2. – 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. Hence it says in S. of S. (6:10): “Terrible as an army set in array,” 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 his 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, because it says in Wis (1:5): “For a holy and disciplined spirit will flee from deceit and will rise and depart from foolish thoughts.”

josephkenny.joyeurs.com/CDtexts/SS1Cor.htm#51