1 Corinthians 5:4,5 (NIV)
[ Footnotes: a. 1 Corinthians 5:5 // In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit.
b. 1 Corinthians 5:5 // Or of his body ]
We don’t like to think about consequences for Christians who sin, but 1 Corinthians 5 and Revelation 2 force us to think. Even if these two passages are not so clear, we have the story of the beginning of temple worship (Lev. 10), the story of beginning to possess the Promised Land (Joshua 7), and the story of the beginning of the Spirit-filled church (Acts 5).
Some people teach that Nadab, Abihu, Achan and his entire family and Ananias and Sapphira were not God’s people; that these accounts are about God getting rid of pagans in our midst and yet Revelation 2 teaches us that the Lord of the church will kill Christians in order to remove sin from the local church. This is a hard blog post to write, and it is a hard text to teach and yet the TRUTH is: God punishes His people, with sickness and death. (I hurry to add that under no circumstances are we to repeat the mistakes of Job’s friends and apply this TRUTH to other people’s lives, for we are then trying to sit in the seat of God) No! It is enough for us to apply the truth to ourselves and continually seek to be obedient servants of the Lord, and stay as far away as we can from sin. He punishes us as a LOVING Father, and if we challenge His LOVE because physical death is part of the punishment, then we have forgotten that our Lord taught us that the life of the soul is more important than the life of the body (Matt 10), and we have forgotten the lesson of Hebrews 12 that teaches that discipline proves LOVE.
Some say if death is the punishment, then it doesn’t matter WHY God does it, for death from God’s hand is no different than death from Satan’s hand. David knew better than that; 2 Samuel 24 records that David was given a choice between having his enemies punish him or having God punish him. Verse 14 records David’s answer: “David said to Gad, “I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but do not let me fall into human hands.”” To which all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ would say AMEN!
May I fall in the hands of the Man of Sorrows for His mercy is great! May I fall into the hands of the Son of Man for His love overwhelms me! May I fall into the hands of the Lamb of God, for He knows my struggle! May I fall into the hands of the Great Physician, may He cut the sin out of my life!
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