In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ— That ye, being gathered together in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 1 Corinthians 5:5 do deliver such a one to Satan, &c. Some think, that as Satan is considered as the head of all who are not under Christ, as their head, (that is, in the church of Christ) every one who was cut off from the church must of course be delivered over to Satan; but it seems much more reasonable to believe, that this refers to the infliction of some bodily pains or diseases, in which Satan might act as the instrument of divine justice. Comp. 1 Timothy 1:20. And this was for the destruction of the flesh; probably for the emaciating and enfeebling of the powers of animal nature;—"That his body may be afflicted and brought down, and thus through divine grace the man led to true repentance and humiliation, that so his soul may be saved in the last day." See Doddridge, Locke, and Erasmus.

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