Renewal (Exodus 34)

Written in stone

The LORD said to Moses, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Be ready in the morning, and then come up on Mount Sinai. Present yourself to me there on top of the mountain. No one is to come with you or be seen anywhere on the mountain; not even the flocks and herds may graze in front of the mountain.”

So Moses chiselled out two stone tablets like the first ones and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning, as the LORD had commanded him; and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands.

Exodus 34:1-4

Moses, the prophet of God, the friend of God, who speaks face to face to God, is reduced to the photocopy boy of God. “Chisel out two stone tablets,” God says to Moses, “like the first ones,” in verse 1, and again in verse 4.

I can almost imagine this as the opening scene of a Xerox advertisement. Moses turns around and says to God, “Would you like that double-sided in A4 colour?”

But verse 1 tells us that Moses isn’t making additional copies of the Ten Commandments, but replacements. “Write on them the words that were on the first tablets,” God says, “which you broke”. The originals have been destroyed. New papers have to be drawn up. And these have to be exact copies of the first ones.

The tablets are a contract God that has drawn up with his people: a covenant, as verse 10 calls it. In it God’s promises that (1) He will give the nation of Israel a land to make their home in and call their own, (2) He will bless them as his people, and (3) He will be their God. There are two copies because there are two parties involved in this contract - God and Israel.

But Israel had broken its side of the agreement. By making a idol of God in the shape of a golden calf and bowing down to worship this idol, the people of God had broken the first two commandments: There were to have no other gods; They were forbidden from worshipping idols - The two big ones. In a fit of rage, Moses had smashed the first tablets containing the Ten Commandments. The agreement was off. The covenant had been broken.

But Chapter 34 is about renewal. The renewal of God’s promises. The renewal of God’s love.

The glory of God’s name

Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.”

Exodus 34:5-7

In Chapter 33, Moses asks God for proof that God has forgiven Israel of its sin of idolatry. It was a bold thing to do. “Now show me your glory,” Moses said to God. Moses was asking for proof of God’s power. Proof of God’s promise.

But God says he will show Moses proof of his goodness.

And the LORD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence.”

Exodus 33:19

Here in Chapter 34 we see the fulfilment of that promise. As Moses stands before God on his holy mountain, holding the two tablets of the Testimony, God comes in a cloud and stands there with Moses, proclaiming his name.

Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.”

Exodus 34:5-7

The LORD is God’s personal, holy and divine name. It is written in capitals (“The LORD”) as opposed to verse 9, where Moses says, “O Lord”. The early bible scholars who copied out the Old Testament scriptures by hand considered God’s name so holy that in order to avoid misusing God’s name, they would say, “Lord” (‘Adonay, which means “My master”, or even, “Mr Boss!”) out loud when reading the bible, instead of God’s personal name (YHWH in Hebrew). Often in the bible, to call on God’s name is ask for God’s help in times of serious trouble. The LORD is God’s salvation name.

God is compassionate and gracious - two characteristics which are similar at first glance, but emphasise two distinct truths about God’s generosity. God is compassionate in responding to those in need and trouble. He is the God of the fatherless, the widow and the poor. Grace, on the other hand, is shown to those who do not deserve God’s love.

God is slow to anger. It means he is patient with us. He does not treat us as our sins deserve. One translation has the description “longsuffering”. God waits for us to turn from our sin.

God’s love and faithfulness is abounding. It overflows. The pair of words can also be translated “grace” and “truth” (chesed w’emeth) - the same pair of words we find ascribed to Jesus in the opening verses of John’s gospel which describe the Word which came from the Father “full of grace and truth”. Together they mean that God is always, always loving; always, He is always, always true to his word.

God maintains love to thousands, forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. It is saying that any sin, and every sin - whether wickedness (the evil in our hearts), rebellion (crossing the line with God; turning against God) and sin (which at the heart of it is making ourselves to be God) - any sin and every sin is in view of God’s forgiveness. At the heart of God’s forgiveness is his love (some translations have “mercy”). At Rock Fellowship, we talked about whether it was easier or harder to forgive someone we truly love. Some of us said that if we loved someone we should at least be inclined to forgive him or her. But we also recognised how painful and difficult it would be to forgive someone especially when the sin they committed is personal, hateful and deeply hurtful. That is the situation with God. He loves us enough to forgive our sin. He loves us enough to be deeply hurt by our sin. Forgiveness is costly for a loving God.

Finally, God will not leave the guilty unpunished. “He punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.” God is holy and just. His holiness means he cannot tolerate sin. His justice means he must punish sin and wrongdoing.

So God is personal, compassionate, gracious, loving, patient, faithful, merciful and just. That is God’s name. That is God’s character revealed in his name.

But there is one more important attribute of God we see in the following verses. God is a jealous God.

Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped. “O Lord, if I have found favour in your eyes,” he said, “then let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.”

Then the LORD said: “I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the LORD, will do for you. Obey what I command you today. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you are going, or they will be a snare among you. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles.  Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

Exodus 34:8-14

The heart of the issue is worship. Israel must be careful not to worship any other god but the God of the covenant; the God who saved them from slavery; the God who spoke to them his words from his holy mountain. This is exclusive worship. Israel would be tempted to worship God alongside the gods of the nations. Israel would be tempted to worship God following the ways of the nations. But God says: Exclusive worship means worshipping God and God alone.

Exclusive worship also means God’s way of worship. And his way alone.

Holy Days

“Do not make cast idols.

“Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in that month you came out of Egypt. “The first offspring of every womb belongs to me, including all the firstborn males of your livestock, whether from herd or flock. Redeem the firstborn donkey with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem all your firstborn sons. “No one is to appear before me empty-handed. “Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the ploughing season and harvest you must rest.

“Celebrate the Feast of Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year. Three times a year all your men are to appear before the Sovereign LORD, the God of Israel. I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your territory, and no one will covet your land when you go up three times each year to appear before the LORD your God.

“Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast, and do not let any of the sacrifice from the Passover Feast remain until morning. “Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. “Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.”
Exodus 34:17-26

This bit should look familiar. Every single point, every law and command, every feast and festival has been covered before, somewhere between Exodus Chapters 20 to 23, when God spoke the Ten Commandments to Israel and gave the contents of the Book of the Covenant to Moses. Why then is it repeated here?

It’s a renewal of the contract. The repetition of the same laws highlight the fact that these are the same terms; it is the same agreement; it is the same contract. And nothing has changed. (Well, except maybe for one exception in verse 17, where God says, “No cast idols” - obviously referring to the cast golden calf in Chapter 32. It is as if God pencilled in this extra bit just to remind the Israelites - “Don’t you do that again!”)

Still, it is worth noticing again that these regulations have to do specifically with prescribed times and divinely-authorised forms of worship. There are to be three main holy days - holidays, if you like - marked in the Jewish calendar when the people of God are to appear before him offering sacrifices and celebrating his appointed feasts.

The first is the Feast of Unleavened Bread, or Passover, commemorating the night of their rescue from Egypt (see Exodus 12). It is held in the first month of the new year - so this was sort of like their version of Lunar New Year. Everyone would gather before God - this would later happen at the temple in Jerusalem - similar to how everyone in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia would rush home for the reunion dinner.

The second holiday is called the Feast of Weeks and this marked the beginning of harvest. It was celebrated seven weeks after Passover, or fifty days later, hence its other name, Pentecost. During this festival, farmers would bring in the first cut of their crops - the first fruits - and offer them to God.

The third holiday is here called the Feast of Ingathering, also called the Feast of Tabernacles, or the Festival of Booths. To remember their time journeying through the desert when the whole nation lived in tents and moved from place to place, this festival was marked by the construction of wooden huts which the people of God would celebrate their meal together under, and perhaps even sleep in. But here in Exodus 34, this festival marks the autumn season when the last of the harvest would be brought in. The people of God would give thanks to God for all that he had blessed them with that year.

In a way, this last festival might have some relevance to us at the Chinese Church, who are planning a big celebration to mark the Mid-Autumn Festival in just a couple of weeks. How best can we honour God with an event like that? By eating mooncakes to the glory of God? By inviting our friends and entertaining them with skits and performances? By decorating the church with colourful lanterns?

Why not mark the coming celebration with thankfulness; by recognising how much God has blessed us individually as Christians, and corporately as the people of God? It is not wrong to celebrate. It is not wrong to have food. Indeed, here God commands his people to do both. And yet, what is unique to the feasts and festivals commanded in the book of Exodus - compared to say Idil-fitri or Deepavali, or even our Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival - is this: the exclusive worship of the LORD God alone. He alone deserves all the glory, all the thanks and all the recognition for all that he has blessed us with.

Will this be obvious to our friends when they visit us at the celebration in two weeks time? Will it be obvious to our Christians brothers and sisters? That what we are doing is worshipping God and worshipping him exclusively according to his word?

And at the heart of Exodus 34 is God’s covenantal word defining God’s covenantal worship. We must never forget that. Right after God says, “Worship me in this way,” God says to Moses, “Write this down these words.”

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.

Exodus 34:27-28

It is the perfect ending. God re-establishes his covenant with Israel. The Ten Commandments are reinstated. The agreement is signed and sealed.

But the story doesn’t end just yet.

The veil over our hearts

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and he spoke to them. Afterward all the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the commands the LORD had given him on Mount Sinai.

When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. But whenever he entered the LORD’s presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the LORD.

Exodus 34:29-35

Bible experts tell us that the Hebrew word “qaran” here translated as “radiant” - that is Moses’ face had a radioactive glow after his exposure to God’s glory - was once thought to mean “horn”. The word is apparently very rare in the Old Testament (and occurs mostly in this passage only). But for some time it was said that Moses grew horns from his encounter with God (This was even translated as such in the Latin Vulgate). In some churches, you can actually find statues and paintings of Moses with horns on his head!

Today, it’s been established by scholars that the word refers to some sort of a glow (One big reason is the corresponding New Testament passage we will look at in a moment). Moses, having spent so much time alone with God on the mountain, walks down with the two tablets of stone in his hands, but unknown to him, his face is “radiant”. Aaron and the Israelites see this and they are freaked out. Because of this, Moses had to put a covering on his head. It could have been a dish-cloth, or he maybe he had a ninja thing going. But the point is, he covered his face when he was down the mountain speaking God’s word to the Israelites, and when he was up the mountain talking to God, the passage says, he “removed the veil”.

What’s going on here?

Moses is speaking God’s message to the people, but they recoil in fear. They see the effect of God’s presence on Moses and to them it is strange, weird and fearful. So Moses has to cover his face. But when he meets God, he takes off the covering.

The bible says this is a picture of our hearts when we hear the word of God. Something stops us from getting the full picture. Something blinds us from seeing God’s glory.

Paul writes the following words in his second letter to the church of Corinth:

We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
2 Corinthians 3:13-16

Notice that Paul says (twice) that “to this day” a veil remains over our hearts. This is something that happens today. Yet, he is obviously referring to past events we just read about Moses and the renewal of the law in Exodus 34. The apostle Paul is saying that Exodus 34 is a picture of what goes on every time we open our bibles and yet miss the glory of God. He is saying that it is possibly to hear the words of the bible and come away completely clueless!

Who is Paul talking about? Some suggest he is talking about Jews - the same way the original hearers in Moses’ day could not bear to see the full glory of God as they heard the word of God being read.

But a few verses later, Paul clarifies that this phenomenon of blindness is not restricted simply to hearers of the Old Testament. Rather, Paul is describing anyone and everyone who hears the gospel but turns away from Jesus Christ.

The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

2 Corinthians 4:4-6

Unbelievers cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. He doesn’t say that they refuse to see the glory. He doesn’t say that they haven’t had the opportunity to see this glory. Paul writes “they cannot see”. The god of this age (talking about Satan) has blinded their minds. Such that they see but they cannot see.

And what it takes to remove this blindness is nothing less than a miracle of God. A miracle so spectacular, it rivals the first miracle of creation itself, “Let there be light!” Only God can do this. And what God does is make his light shine in our hearts “to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God”.

Notice the last few words: “in the face of Christ”. What you and I need to see in Jesus. God lifts the veil such that we hear the gospel; we read these words and what we see is this: we see the face of Jesus Christ.

Do you see him? When you hear these words - do you see Jesus? That’s the whole point of this book, isn’t it? It is God speaking his glory into our hearts, revealing the fullness of his grace and his truth in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Do you see him?

Make the book live to me, O Lord,
Show me Yourself within Your Word,
Show me my sin,
And show me my Saviour,
And make the book live to me.

(Alistair Begg)

Open the eyes of my heart, Lord

Open the eyes of my heart

I want to see You

I want to see You

(Michael W. Smith, “Open the eyes of my heart”)

Church discipline: why it is difficult and why it is loving (1 Corinthians 5)

When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
1 Corinthians 5:4-5

These verses are hard to accept and even harder to apply. These are verses about church discipline.

It is one thing to warn of sinful behaviour. But to enforce punishment? Is it the place of a church – or anyone, for the matter – to act like the moral police?

These are hard words. But they are often misunderstood words. For here the bible is giving us practical counsel. Here, the apostle Paul is writing out of concern for the church and love for the individual.

A shared responsibility

Firstly, church discipline is the responsibility of the entire church. “When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus,” Paul says. Meaning: it’s not just the pastor. In fact, it’s not even your entire board of elders. The whole local gathering of believers is called to take action.

Which is why you find Paul condemning not simply the individual who has sinned, but the church as a whole who have not responded to this sin. To be sure, the individual’s sin is serious. “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate.” (Verse 1) Even the non-Christians are shocked that such a thing could happen. Yet, the Christian believers in Corinth respond not with grief, but with pride.

And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this?
1 Corinthians 5:2

According to Paul, the problem is pride. Pride is the reason the church has withheld discipline. Now, that sounds strange. Today, you would expect the reason to be indifference. “Oh, it’s really not that serious. I’m sure he can sort himself out. Who is to say what is right or wrong?” Indifference says: sin doesn’t really matter. In that sense, indifference sounds rather humble. “Aren’t we all equally sinful? Discipline – that’s just being holier than thou.”

Tolerating sin is not humble. It is proud. Paul says in verse 6, “Your boasting is not good.” It is a perverse form of pride that justifies the sin. That says: Actually, there a good reason for that sin. That says: I am free to commit that sin.

It is this pride that keeps the church from recognising sin as sinful. And it is pride that is condemned by the apostle Paul; over and above the horrendous sin of the individual. To be sure, Paul does not let the individual off the hook. “I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing,” he says. Yet when it comes to taking action on this brother, Paul – an apostle personally commissioned by the Lord Jesus Christ; the founding pastor of the church in Corinth – does not see his position above that of the church. He casts his vote (I have already pronounced judgement), but calls on the whole assembly of believers to do the same.

Why? Because church discipline is the responsibility of the entire church.

Just as an aside. Are you member of your local church? Yes, I know, I know – you come every week and you sit in the pews. You help out in the children’s ministry and occasionally play the guitar. But, are you a member? It is a formality – but I tell you, it is more than a formality. There are responsibilities given you as a member of the people of God. I know that approving the budget doesn’t sound exciting, nor sitting on some committee to plan the yearly church picnic (groan!). But when it comes to something serious – like church discipline, in this case – are you making it harder for the entire body of Christ to act on what is already a very hard situation? My question to you is this: Is it pride that is keeping you from taking that step? Washing your hands of sticky situations – which the bible says is part of our shared responsibility in the body of Christ? Is it pride?

Church discipline is the responsibility of the whole church.

In and out

Secondly, church discipline is a response to sinful behaviour in a professing Christian believer. The church in Corinth had got this dangerously mixed up. They stood in judgement over the world, but tolerated the sin that was within.

I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.
1 Corinthians 5:9-10

It is partly an encouragement; and partly a sobering reminder to me, that even the apostle Paul had to clarify what he said. He had written to these Christians in the past – warning believers of sexual sin – yet, even Paul was misunderstood. The Corinthians thought he meant: stay away from all sinful people. Condemn the world around you.

But Paul says: if that were true, you’d all have to be monks!

No, Paul says stay away from the brother or sister who calls himself a Christian but refuses to repent of his sin to Christ.

But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one.
1 Corinthians 5:11

Because I go to the Chinese Church, but don’t speak Chinese, I find it a constant challenge to remember Chinese names. It is so embarrassing when I forget - or worse, mispronounce - someone’s name (I often have to scribble it down quickly after each Sunday meeting!). Still, one trick that lets me get away with it here in the Chinese Church is by calling out, “Hello brother! Hello sister!” (Or if it’s back in Malaysia and they’re older – Hello uncle! Hello auntie!)

Here in verse 11, Paul says stay away from the sinful unrepentant man, who “bears the name of brother”. He is talking about the Christian. He is describing someone who wants to be in friendship with other Christians – he a “brother”. But he is talking about someone who takes for granted the privilege of being in the family of Christ.

He “bears the name of brother”. Paul could either be reminding us of the status we have as believers in Christ – that is, we become a family of brothers and sisters by virtue of an external privilege. Just as we bear the name of Christ (we are “Christians”); so we bear the name of “brothers” and “sisters” (we are one family in Christ).

Alternatively, Paul could be describing the unrepentant attitude of this Christian. He is in sin yet he wants to be known as a Christian. He calls himself a brother. He wants to be in the loving friendship and fellowship of other believers. But he still wants to continue in actions that destroys himself and endanger the Christians around him.

Paul reminds all of us as Christians – be done with sin.

Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
1 Corinthians 5:6-7

Leaven or yeast is what you use in baking bread. Just a wee bit will do. Leave it in there and it grows, permeates and spreads through the entire dough. Just a wee bit will do.

Paul is saying: sin is like yeast. Just a bit is enough to affect the entire church given time and opportunity. The church is to be unleavened dough – bread without yeast.

But notice: Paul doesn’t say – get rid of the yeast in order to be unleavened. No, he says get rid of yeast, because you really are unleavened. This is a very important point. Christian don’t fight sin in order to be sin-free. Christians fight sin because Christ has freed us from sin. Paul is calling us as Christians to be who we are. Christ, our Passover lamb (the Passover is a reference to Exodus 12), has been sacrificed. He has taken our sin. On the cross, Jesus bore the punishment for our sin.

Paul is saying to Christians: be who you are. Sin-free and sin-fighters. Be who you are in Christ Jesus, who took our sin upon himself to give us freedom from sin and death.

In love

To recap: (1) Church discipline is a responsibility shared by the whole church. (2) Church discipline is a specific response towards sin in a specific Christian brother or sister.

Finally, church discipline is an act of love motivated by the good of the brother and the grace of God. Perhaps you read these verses and think: Loving? How can discipline be loving?

Notice that the discipline Paul calls for is not some kind of physical punishment. The unrepentant brother is not being stoned, jailed, abused verbally or psychologically. Instead, he is to be removed from fellowship.

Don’t come to our Sunday gatherings. Don’t even turn up at our mid-week bible studies. “Do not even eat with such people,” Paul says in verse 10. “Let him be removed from among you.” – Verse 2. Do “not associate” with this brother – Verse 11. No social gatherings. No lunches. No emails.

Meaning: it isn’t simply striking someone off the membership list. Taking his email off the weekly prayer bulletin. The whole church is to stay away from this individual.

Today, this is virtually impossible to do. You kick a brother out of a church here in Cambridge – he has ten others to choose from. It is impossible to get this message across. And it is serious, not so much for the church family itself – the individual leaves. But it is detrimental for the brother still in sin. He doesn’t get it! The purpose of this act of discipline is not allowed to take its full course. And the subsequent gathering of believers is unknowingly left susceptible to the same dangers as the first church. 1 Corinthians 5 is a very, very hard passage to put into effect.

And yet, God is sovereign and these are words given us for both prayerful contemplation and practical application. You see, church discipline isn’t simply an action taken by Christians in obedience to the gospel. It is the application of the power of God in the salvation of Christ.

When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
1 Corinthians 5:4-5

Notice that Paul does not leave any room for any action or thought, without clear, repeated references to Jesus. He is Lord. We assemble in the name of the Lord Jesus. We deliver this man in the power of our Lord Jesus. We do all this in expectation of the saving work displayed on the day of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, I must admit I find these words very hard to swallow. You are delivering this man to Satan. Literally, you “hand this man”(paradounai) over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh (sarx can mean flesh; often the NIV translates it as the sinful nature; or even the physical body). These verses are hard not because they are unclear. Quite the opposite – they are hard because they clear instruct us to deliver this brother over the Satan, whom God can even use for the cleansing of sin and the salvation of his spirit.

The same phrase is found in two other passages in the bible – one in the New Testament and the other in the Old. In 1 Timothy 1:20, Paul hands Hymenaeus and Alexander “over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme”. The context there is false teaching and the denial of the gospel.

However, it is in the book of Job that we get a fuller picture of both the sovereign authority of God and the destruction caused by Satan. In Job 2:6, God says to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands (paradidomi, LXX).” Satan strikes Job with painful sores from head to toe. Was God sovereign? Yes. Satan has to ask permission from the LORD before he can lay a finger on Job. Did Satan destroy his body? More than that. His sons and daughters were killed. He loses his fortune. He entire body is afflicted with sores. But not without the sanction of God.

But was Job saved?

My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.
Job 42:5-6

Job encounters the living God and turns to him in repentance and contrition.

These verses tell us: what you are doing in disciplining the unrepentant brother is not simply ignoring him and deleting his text messages. You are praying for his very salvation. “With the power (dunamei) of the Lord Jesus,” Paul says. The same power Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 1:18 – “The word of the cross... is the power (dunamis) of God” for us who are being saved. You are praying that God would save this brother by the power of the cross.

That last phrase “saved on the day of the Lord” reminds us of the certainty of a Day when Christ will return to judge the living and the dead, and that whatever judgement we may encounter this side of eternity pales in comparison with the judgement to come. To ignore the reality of hell is not only foolishness; if you are a Christian – ignoring the reality of God’s real and impending judgement in the light of your brother’s sin is profoundly unloving.

The reason we ignore discipline – church discipline, or any form of discipline for the matter – is the same reason we deny judgement. We are afraid. We fear the consequences of our sins. Even though everything in our own personal experiences and our deepest conscience tells us – it is foolishness. We are running from reality.

But the amazing truth of the bible is: God reveals the depths of his love and power of his saving grace through the judgement poured out on his Son.

Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. He has taken our judgement for sin. There is no more condemnation in Christ. There is nothing that can ever separate us from the love of Christ. But only if we trust in him as our sacrifice for sin – in Christ our Passover Lamb.

And for Christians we look forward to that Day – not as a day of judgement – but as the final day of salvation.

Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

Hebrews 9:27-28