1 Corinthians 5:3

3 Although I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit, and I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present.

1 Corinthians 5:3 Meaning and Commentary

1 Corinthians 5:3

For I verily, as absent in body
As he really was, being now at Philippi, if any dependence is to be had upon the subscription of this epistle; or rather at Ephesus; however, wherever he was, it is certain he was not at Corinth:

but present in spirit;
in his affection to them, care of them, and concern for their good, and the glory of God:

have judged already;
he had considered of the matter, thought very deliberately about it, and was now come to a point, to a determination concerning it, what to do in it:

as though I were present;
upon the spot, in person, to do what he had resolved upon:

to him that hath so done this deed;
this infamous one, and in so scandalous a manner, and which was continued in: what that was which the apostle, upon mature deliberation and judgment, determined to do with this wicked man, is expressed in ( 1 Corinthians 5:5 ) which is to be connected with this, the whole fourth verse being to be read in a parenthesis, and that was to deliver him to Satan.

1 Corinthians 5:3 In-Context

1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is intolerable even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife.
2 And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have been stricken with grief and have removed from your fellowship the man who did this?
3 Although I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit, and I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present.
4 When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, along with the power of the Lord Jesus,
5 hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the Day of the Lord.
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