Hand Them Over to Satan?-Marriage Restoration

Why would Paul the Apostle, a man who had a life-altering encounter with the Lord Jesus, who was dedicated to the mission of Jesus to save the lost, say he was going to hand a man over to satan?

Let’s think about this. If you are working daily in your life to save people from satan, open blind eyes to the darkness so they can see the truth, then why would you hand someone over?

Are we reading the context right?

Paul says there was sexual immorality reported to him. And instead of mourning and grieving over this immoral act of wickedness, the men were proud and boasting. Followers of Christ had missed it!

He asks them to gather together for this man. But not to come in agreement and pray to the Lord on his behalf to be free the way we would think. No, he tells them to gather as one body, he will join them in spirit, and they together will make the call to turn this man over to satan so that he has a fighting chance.

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, 5hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the Day of the Lord. 1 Cor 5

HAND-3860. paradidómi-properly, to give (turn) over; “hand over from,” i.e. to deliver over with a sense of close (personal) involvement.

to deliver one into the power of Satan to be harassed and tormented with evils; to make one a slave of vile passions; to cause one to follow his own corrupt mind — followed by an infinitive of purpose

Timothy did this as well.

19 For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked. 20Hymenaeus and Alexander are two examples. I threw them out and handed them over to Satan so they might learn not to blaspheme God. 1 Timothy 1

 So back to my question. Why would they turn a person over to the very thing they desire them to be saved from?

Because God has designed a PERFECT plan for HIS CHILDREN to not enjoy and be at peace with sin, and living apart from Him. As much as they love and enjoy sin, or certain things in their life, His Chosen ones can’t be ok with it forever. That is what separates the sheep from the goats. The wheat from the tares. His children will bow to the separation that comes from following after their own choices and they will fall on their knees and BEG for Him to set them free from the torment that is eating away at them.

 When you see a child of God in the hands of satan, because God PUT THEM THERE, A GOOD OUTCOME IS being worked out for good for the saving of their soul.

 Is it painful? Absolutely! Do we fight daily ourselves to want to run in and grab them out of the hands of satan? YES! Do we rebuke, and scream at the enemy to let them go to no avail? Yes. Especially if we don’t realize it’s God’s plan for them for the time being and we see them having a GREAT time, because sin is FUN!

I will tell you that there are some things in my life that are stubborn and I was not able to break free until the PAIN of being IN the snare was unbearable to me. Sure, it would have been great for someone to stop me before going in. Or to have been able to talk myself out of it because I loved others to much to hurt them. BUT it didn’t work that way for my wicked heart. I had to go. I had to get snared. I had to experience all it had to offer, to then also experience the consequences and pay the price so my heart would be free of desiring it once and for all.

Children of God that get tempted by lust and perversions will most likely need to be totally engulfed and handed over to it so the weight of the consequences of their sins can be revealed. King David is a great example. Why didn’t God stop him before he walked out on that roof and saw Bathsheba? Because it would not have stopped the moral and ethical flaw that was in his heart.  I have a video on this very subject on our YouTube channel.  “How God Confronts Adultery.”

I have said before, the biggest fight in my stand was against myself.   Where I fought what God was doing because it hurt too much to allow God’s plan to continue. I hated not being in control. I hated to be made a fool of as my spouse lied and seemed to get away with it. I hated having to walk by faith in things I could not see and understand when it was just so much easier to rely on old faithful, you know, walk by what you see, hear, feel, think and believe. I wanted to keep going the way I had always been going, living by what I had come to know and trust in……….MYSELF! But now, this darn stand was asking me to radically, and UNCOMFORTABLY and PAINFULLY alter and change my entire life, and it seemed to be doing it against my will. If I wanted my spouse back, I had to go along with it.

It was asking me to stop relying on and trusting in myself and what I saw, thought, believed, and heard. Stop trusting my husband, stop trusting my parents and friends that always had been a good source of support. He wanted me to let the pain and suffering continue and trust Him through it. Nothing seemed right or normal. NOTHING.

That is why keeping your love for your spouse guarded and protected is so important. It’s the love that makes you keep going and gets you to where God is trying to take you. Anyone who stops loving their spouse, won’t keep doing this. And why is that bad? Because of my love for my husband, I stood and fought for him, for our family, our marriage………….and God used it to capture my heart and radically change my life because He knew that was the thing that would introduce me to Him.

While I was using God to get my husband back, God was using it to win my heart and earn my trust and get me to surrender to Him. 

 Do you see? There is a much BIGGER plan at work here than we can imagine. 

What does it look like for us to “hand them over?” We may not know if God has handed them over, but it’s letting God have it. Trusting Him because God is the one that has a plan, which means He may have done just that. Trusting that He is good, and all His motives and intention for His Children are meant to save us, even if that means turning us over to the very thing that means to destroy us.

Standing with you,
Sheila Hollinger