Then I began to think of possible cases in the Bible. In 2 Kings 5:26 Elisha tells Gehazi that his ‘heart’ went along and witnessed what he did. According to 2 Kings 6:12 apparently Elisha projected his spirit over to the Syrian king's bedroom! How about the Lord Jesus? In Mark 6:47-48 the boat was in ‘the middle of the sea’, or several miles from land (John 6:19), and it was night; yet Jesus ‘saw them straining at the rowing’ (He perceived by the eye). In John 1:48 Jesus tells Nathanael that He saw him ‘under the fig tree’ (perceived by the eye), something that was physically impossible; so much so that Nathanael immediately declares Him to be God. (See also Matthew 17:25, and so on.) How about Paul? In Colossians 2:5 Paul says that he ‘observes’ their orderliness. The basic meaning of the verb rendered ‘observe’ is to observe with the physical eye, which implies being within range and with no obstacles. But Paul obviously was not there as he wrote, in fact had never been there. He affirms that it is his spirit that is doing the seeing and rejoicing.
The Protestant Reformation was a result, in part, of the Renaissance, with its emphasis on reason, so Protestants in general have had trouble understanding the spirit world. So the tendency of commentators has been to ‘spiritualize’ Paul's statement, rather than take it literally. Of course they have done the same with 2 Kings 5:26 and 6:12, not to mention John 1:48. Here in Brazil we have many former Spiritists and Satanists who have been converted and they affirm that they used to project their spirits outside their bodies and go all over the place—several of my former students, now genuinely converted, have told me they used to do it—but they could do so only with the assistance of a fallen angel (demon). Satan's ‘thing’ is to be like the Most High, so he is always trying to imitate Him; perhaps God's servants used to know how to do this, only without such assistance [I have heard of a few in our day who still do].
Returning to 1 Corinthians 5, notice that in verse 4 Paul says, “you and my spirit being together”, which sounds sort of literal to me. though absent in body, have already judged the one who created this situation, as though I were present: 4 in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,‡Perhaps 4% of the Greek manuscripts omit “Christ”, to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc. you and my spirit being together, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,§Perhaps 5% of the Greek manuscripts omit “Christ”, to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc. 5 we must hand such a one over to Satan for a destruction of the ‘flesh’, that the spirit may be saved in the Day of the Lord Jesus.*I do not understand this. If while in the group the man fell into such sin, how can excommunicating him (verse 13) and turning him over to Satan bring about an improvement? I would expect Satan to lock him up tight. Unless it be that the shock treatment would somehow wake the man up. Perhaps 1% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “Jesus”, to be followed by NIV, LB, TEV, etc.
*5:1 It was reported that a man had his father's wife, a type of fornication such that not even the pagans talked about it. However, the eclectic Greek text currently in vogue (following 3.2% of the Greek manuscripts—this includes the earliest ones, that are of objectively inferior quality) affirms that this type of incest does not even exist among the pagans, a plain falsehood. Every conceivable type of sexual perversion has existed throughout human history. Strangely, such evangelical versions as NIV, NASB, LB and Berkley propagate this error.
†5:3 Interpreters have generally spiritualized ‘present in spirit’, but I suspect that it may be literal. A number of people who converted out of Spiritism have told me personally that they used to project their spirits away from their bodies (with demonic assistance), something that Spiritists and Satanists openly avow (they call it ‘astral projection’). When I lived among an indigenous people in the Amazon jungle, the shamans claimed the same thing. At first I resisted the idea, but the accumulated evidence became too strong. Then I began to think of possible cases in the Bible. In 2 Kings 5:26 Elisha tells Gehazi that his ‘heart’ went along and witnessed what he did. According to 2 Kings 6:12 apparently Elisha projected his spirit over to the Syrian king's bedroom! How about the Lord Jesus? In Mark 6:47-48 the boat was in ‘the middle of the sea’, or several miles from land (John 6:19), and it was night; yet Jesus ‘saw them straining at the rowing’ (He perceived by the eye). In John 1:48 Jesus tells Nathanael that He saw him ‘under the fig tree’ (perceived by the eye), something that was physically impossible; so much so that Nathanael immediately declares Him to be God. (See also Matthew 17:25, and so on.) How about Paul? In Colossians 2:5 Paul says that he ‘observes’ their orderliness. The basic meaning of the verb rendered ‘observe’ is to observe with the physical eye, which implies being within range and with no obstacles. But Paul obviously was not there as he wrote, in fact had never been there. He affirms that it is his spirit that is doing the seeing and rejoicing. The Protestant Reformation was a result, in part, of the Renaissance, with its emphasis on reason, so Protestants in general have had trouble understanding the spirit world. So the tendency of commentators has been to ‘spiritualize’ Paul's statement, rather than take it literally. Of course they have done the same with 2 Kings 5:26 and 6:12, not to mention John 1:48. Here in Brazil we have many former Spiritists and Satanists who have been converted and they affirm that they used to project their spirits outside their bodies and go all over the place—several of my former students, now genuinely converted, have told me they used to do it—but they could do so only with the assistance of a fallen angel (demon). Satan's ‘thing’ is to be like the Most High, so he is always trying to imitate Him; perhaps God's servants used to know how to do this, only without such assistance [I have heard of a few in our day who still do]. Returning to 1 Corinthians 5, notice that in verse 4 Paul says, “you and my spirit being together”, which sounds sort of literal to me.
‡5:4 Perhaps 4% of the Greek manuscripts omit “Christ”, to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.
§5:4 Perhaps 5% of the Greek manuscripts omit “Christ”, to be followed by NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.
*5:5 I do not understand this. If while in the group the man fell into such sin, how can excommunicating him (verse 13) and turning him over to Satan bring about an improvement? I would expect Satan to lock him up tight. Unless it be that the shock treatment would somehow wake the man up. Perhaps 1% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “Jesus”, to be followed by NIV, LB, TEV, etc.
†5:7 Some 3% of the Greek manuscripts omit “in our place”, to be followed by NIV, NASB, TEV, etc.
‡5:8 Presumably the Passover (our Easter)—having mentioned Christ as our Passover lamb, he applies the idea to their daily life.
§5:9 Evidently this was a prior missive, so this present letter is really number two. Not everything that Paul wrote was inspired; anything not inspired would not be included in the NT Canon.
*5:11 Since we cannot exit the world, we are obliged to deal with the sinners in it; but we do so without identifying with them and their life style. But within the circle of believers there is identification, communion, mutual commitment, and a life style very different from that of the world [well, at least it is supposed to be]. What is at stake is not only the spiritual power of the congregation, but also its testimony before the world—someone who wants to keep on sinning like the world has not been transformed and does not belong in the circle, and this should be made very clear to one and all. Paul is saying that they should not do anything that could be construed as an acceptance of his conduct.