#Culture. Flesh Destroys God's Absolutes.

Why would Biblical Paul turn a young man over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh? Good question. However, the answer is in our passage – so that his spirit may be saved in the day of Jesus.

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THE DEEDS OF THE FLESH DESTROY GOD’S ABSOLUTES

The flesh is damaging to the absolutes of God’s Holy mandates. Worse yet, people who are controlled by the deeds of the flesh can rarely be confronted. In our passage, Paul takes an action rarely mentioned by Christendom today. It almost appears ruthless and harsh. Biblical history reveals that the Corinth church was unable to correct a young man practicing incestuous acts with his mother. The young man was arrogant and uncorrectable. He refused to stop pleasing his flesh over what he knew was an abomination to the doctrines of the Church. The actions Paul advanced were not in ex-communication or the removal of him from the communion of the church, which is an act of the whole church, but it was to turn him over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. Paul’s actions were not punitive; they were evangelistic in nature. Paul made use of what Satan does best – to shock the flesh of humanity, buffet it, afflict and torture the flesh in a terrible manner. The goal? To bring the young man back to a sincere conscience – delivering him from his sins through repentance and bringing him back to humility.

Paul’s goal was to save the spirit of the man for the day of the Lord, which was judgment day, which would preserve him on the day of the believer’s judgment after the Rapture of all Saints.

In this passage, the “flesh” doesn’t mean the corruption of spiritual nature; rather, it is a principle of grace by releasing hardship onto the sarx, or flesh – to bring him to repentance. It is basically a New Testament demonstration of Job’s story from the Old Testament. However, in Paul’s case, the young man was not functioning in righteousness. In light of that, the body/flesh of the youth that was sinning without honoring correction was turned over to Satan to destroy his body. Paul knew the principle of afflictions of the sarx often produces deliverance for the soul – mind & will. Paul also knew that when humanity doesn’t respond to the authority of the Church, it becomes a matter of spiritual warfare. It was a matter for the supernatural to conduct God’s business.

While we isolate such spiritual gifting to men such as Paul, the reality is that all born-again believers who are leaders have such ability to release the sarx of the rebellious into the hands of the enemy for the same purposes Paul demonstrated – that is, if God wills it through the Holy Spirit. Remember, this is the first-generation Church. The Spirit of the Living God functions in the same manner expressed by the original apostles in those days, which includes giving up the bodies of rebellious self-proclaimed believers to Satan, for a temporal chastisement, as in delivering them from harmful sins that affect the full Body of the Church. If you find this demonstration of the Spirit to be repulsive or too harsh, you will be tampering with shaming the actions and Personhood of the Holy Spirit. Just because we don’t understand the actions of God doesn’t mean He stops using such practices.

God has been turning people over to Satan since the days of Cain, who killed Abel. God has been using the choices of humanity to turn themselves over to Satan since Adam and Eve. In fact, that nasty habit started with God turning Lucifer over to himself, which got him removed from Heaven. This method of discipline is as old as God. Since flesh hates God, the flesh of humanity, saved or not, will always default to its master – Satan. In knowing this, why not turn the sarx/flesh over to its master as a disciplinary tool to guide the rebel back to submitting to the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus? In my mind, this is why it isn’t weird for Paul to do what he did with this incestual young man.  

Overly Grace-oriented people have the tendency to keep severe sinners in their congregations too long – hoping the person will not “feel” rejected. That is not an appropriate or Biblical way of handling people who practice immorality. Paul’s initial dogma points out that incest is not tolerated among pagans, so why is the Church tolerating such practices? He goes on to tell these church members that they are arrogant for doing so. Then comes the mandate and solution. Let him who has done this be removed from among you. Sin is likened to cancer. If left with other cancer cells, it will metastasize. It is a normal and natural phenomenon of the flesh. It is no different within churches that refuse to address the fleshly deeds of their congregants. When church leaders choose acceptance over confrontation, it produces a cancerous church. This young man was not only turned over to Satan, but Paul also removed him from the fellowship. Paul did this to save the fellowship. When was the last time you heard of a church managing members like Paul? I would say few, very few. Our churches are filled with immoral leaders and followers because most churches are as arrogant as the church Paul was addressing. The cancer of immorality within their congregants has crept up to the pulpit. So, today, most of our churches are led by immoral pastors who claim their immorality is Biblical in nature.     

The flesh is the perfect mirror to the boastings of Satan. In most of Paul’s writings, he worked relentlessly to assist the believers in separating their flesh from their walk and identity in Christ. I believe this was the primary mission of Paul’s life. Even though it is common sense for many believers, Paul helped believers see this reality by sharing the following principle and Truth.

I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. (1 Corinthians 15:50)

It is a simple principle. The flesh, our human bodies, will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Anything that is in the flesh will die with the flesh. In this, we discover why the Word of God tells us that God will give us a new body once we arrive on Heaven’s side. However, the soul of man, if indwelt by Jesus, does participate in the inheritance of eternal Life – the Kingdom of God. Paul’s passion in his writings was to assist the believers in keeping these two life principles separate. He knew if the believer blended these two principles, each would default to the deeds of the flesh.

Here is a statement many believers find confusing.

For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. (2 Corinthians 4:11-12)

Our mortal flesh is being given over to the death process that Satan is the master of. Believe it or not, it is for Jesus’ sake, not ours. Jesus is required by His Father to do this to provide an opportunity for Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, to manifest His Life while we live in the mortal flesh. If the believer’s focus is on their flesh, be assured, the manifestation of Jesus within you WILL remain dormmate. As for my observations, this is the case for most authentic Christians. I agree with Paul’s conclusion. Death needs to be at work within us so that we lodge our identity in Christ Jesus versus the deeds of the flesh.

THE GOOD NEWS

There is great news in all of this. Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God. (2 Corinthians 7:1)

First, if you lack the fear of God, you are dead in the water!

No question, the flesh, and its deeds are filthy. When we walk after our flesh, the deeds of the flesh will dominate our lives. These deeds will quickly surface as outward actions that replicate Satan’s actions. All impure words, filthiness, and foolish talking, all rotten and corrupt communication, which defile a man's own body & mind; by way of the tongue, a little member, when yielded to the flesh, will set us against the indwelling Life of Jesus. When you encounter a believer who refutes the Godly modalities of the Spirit fronting their flesh, it is their confession that they are covertly despising the fullness of God, let alone acting like a spoiled child.

We need to pull up our “big boy” pants and cleanse ourselves from every defilement of the flesh and its deeds.

When the apostle says, "Let us cleanse ourselves,” this does not suppose that believers have the power to cleanse themselves through efforts of self-disciplined flesh or the defilement of their actions; for this is Jesus’s job within each authentic believer. He alone is the One who can fulfill His promise to conduct this redemptive work. If I remember correctly, this is why He shed His blood, and the potency of it, through the sanctifying influences of the Spirit, and from the decision of yielding to Christ’s Life versus ours. This action will clean our hearts, which is the mind. The process washes our depraved minds by renewing them with the mind and thoughts of Jesus Himself. Thus, we become cleansed from the deeds of the flesh – our sins. The irony is that all this cleansing took place on the Cross. However, the believer must appropriate this Truth in daily decisions to allow the Holy Spirit to renew our minds. I call it aligning yourself with the existing inward sanctification of Jesus.

The joy of the Lord erupts from a cleansed heart. Joy is not something you pray for. It is the end result of a heart/mind that has yielded itself to the mind of Christ. If you are alive, you suffer with the deeds of the flesh. Although, if you understand that you are dead TO the deeds of the flesh, you will surface with an attitude that Paul spoke of, For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. (2 Corinthians 10:3-4) Folks, that means if you want to conquer your nasty flesh, you will shift your focus to the indwelling Divine power of Jesus Christ from within – that is, IF you are authentically indwelt by Him. Until next time.

More details within the docudrama.