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Church discipline and the concept of “Handing over to Satan”

Brad Julihn

The March 17 MB Herald included an article by Barbara Armstrong entitled “A Story of Restoration”. Barbara told the story of her daughter Alison, who walked away from Christ and was disciplined by our church. That article stirred some strong letters to the editor because the church not only removed Alison from fellowship, but also took the step of “handing her over to Satan”. The purpose of this article is to broaden the discussion by describing what we did and why.

In the fall of 1988, Alison was clearly walking away from Christ. The most significant manifestation of this was her decision to move in with her boyfriend. She was a member of Richmond Bethel Church. Over a period of months, the pastors and others met with Alison to discuss their concern for her and implore her to change the direction of her life. Our meetings were always cordial, but she made it clear that she did not intend to change her mind.

The matter was finally brought before the church, with a recommendation that the church exercise discipline. 1 Corinthians 5:1-13 and Matthew 18:15-20 give specific instructions to the church on discipline. The Corinthians passage teaches that a person who claims to be a follower of Christ but continues in willful disobedience is to be put out of the fellowship of the church (5:2). It then adds: “When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord” (5:4-5).

The Matthew 18 passage describes the process for confronting someone who is sinning. If the person finally refuses to listen even to the church, we are to “treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector”. In the Jewish context of this passage, this means to avoid fellowship with that person. This is immediately followed by the promise that: “I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by My Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in My name, there am I with them” (18:18-20).


Our understanding

It was our understanding that both of these passages teach that two steps should be taken when a person refuses to repent of sin. The first step is excommunication from the church’s fellowship. The second step is a specific act of binding and loosing whereby the church gathers in the name and power of the Lord Jesus and takes authority to “hand the person over to Satan”. The Bible does not clearly define what this means. I take this to mean something like the removal of the protection of the Holy Spirit and the angels of God around a person, so that they may experience more fully the consequences of following the master they have chosen to serve. This does not mean the removal of the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Two historical views

Biblical interpretation is not easy. The usual practice of most Mennonite Brethren churches has been to simply excommunicate people from the church. One reason for this is that the concept of “handing a person over to Satan” has traditionally been interpreted in one of two ways.

View # 1: Excommunication equals “Handing over to Satan” One view is that excommunication from membership is “handing a person over to Satan”. Here, removal from fellowship in the church is equated with putting a person out into the world and into Satan’s hands. The disciplined party no longer has the encouragement of other believers, the preaching of God’s Word or the experience of worship to protect him or her from Satan’s influence. In this sense, the person is seen as having been “handed over to Satan”. Response I think this is true but incomplete. The procedure described in 1 Corinthians for handing someone over to Satan implies more than just a business decision by the membership of the church. It states that the church is “assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus, and the power of the Lord Jesus is present” (1 Corinthians 5:4). Why the emphasis here on the presence of the power of the Lord Jesus? I believe it is because this discipline is supposed to go beyond the plane of human relationships to the spiritual plane. I suggest that “handing over to Satan” is a specific instance of the binding and loosing spoken of in Matthew 18. What is being bound on earth is being bound in heaven, and what is being loosed on earth is being loosed in the heavenly realms (Matthew 18:15-20). We are exercising spiritual authority, and that is why the power of the Lord Jesus must be present in order to “hand someone over to Satan”. View #2: “Handing over to Satan” is for extreme cases A second view of the concept of handing a person over to Satan is that it is a drastic step to be used only in cases of extreme sin or hardness. This view was expressed in some of the letters to the Herald in response to the original article. Those who argue this view emphasize the extreme nature of the sin referred to in 1 Corinthians 5. Response In 1 Corinthians 5, “handing over to Satan” is presented as a specific part of the process of “putting someone out of your fellowship”, and Paul goes on to make it clear that putting someone out of the fellowship is not limited to extreme cases (5:6-12). It is also worth noting that in 1 Timothy 1:20 Paul mentions two other individuals he handed over to Satan, I think that many who hold the “extreme case” view, do so more as a way to dismiss a difficult concept than out of consistent biblical interpretation and application. I say this because, even in extreme cases, handing over to Satan is rarely, if ever, attempted.

A significant reservation

Many people find it difficult to see “handing a person over to Satan” as having anything redemptive or loving about it. This was a major concern expressed in the letters to the Herald. In fact, it sounds like we are condemning the person to hell. After all, isn’t Satan an evil creature bent on deceiving and destroying people? How can it be redemptive to hand someone into his power? And if, as I suggest, the purpose is so that they will experience the full consequences of following the god they have chosen to serve and thus turn back to Christ, why is that necessary? Doesn’t Hebrews 12 teach us that God is already disciplining believers?

Response

First, both passages which refer to “handing over to Satan” (1 Corinthians 5 and 1 Timothy 1:20) clearly state that the purpose is redemptive. In 1 Corinthians 5:5, the purpose is so that they will repent of their sin and be saved. In 1 Timothy 1:20, the purpose is so that they will be taught not to blaspheme.

Second, I understand “handing a person over to Satan” to be part of the Lord’s loving discipline (Hebrews 12), which the church is instructed to implement when there is continued willful sin.

Third, the book of Job may be somewhat instructive. It records that God placed Job “in Satan’s hands”. God’s purposes for doing so were much different from those in 1 Corinthians 5. But while God gave Satan great rein to afflict Job, He also maintained clear boundaries beyond which Satan could not go. When the church “hands someone over to Satan”, it is done by the authority of Jesus’ name (1 Corinthians 5:4). It is the Lord’s authority that gives such an act any validity. He is still the sovereign and loving Lord who places boundaries on how far Satan can go. And God even uses what Satan intends for evil to accomplish His good purposes (Romans 8:28).

What we did

On June 13, 1989, we gathered as a church, with Alison’s parents and grandparents present, and did two things: 1) We made a business decision to remove her from the membership of the church, and 2) we prayed in the name of the Lord Jesus and “handed her over to Satan so that the sinful nature might be destroyed and her spirit saved on the day of the Lord”. There were many tears shed by this church and particularly by her family. A letter was written, informing Alison of our actions and emphasizing that whenever she was ready to turn back to Christ, His arms were open wide, and so were ours.

Later, other cases of church discipline arose in our church. Some family members opposed dealing with them in the same way. The argument was raised that the meaning of “handing a person over to Satan” had traditionally been interpreted in Mennonite Brethren churches as excommunication from the church. Appeals to the Conference leadership for clarification on the issue produced little result because, frankly, nobody wanted to go there.

The elders decided that we should go slowly in an area where we seemed to hold an unusual view. Thus, since that time, we have not actively promoted that position, in submission to the “broader interpretive community” of Mennonite Brethren. As a result, there arose a painful disparity between how we had dealt with Alison and how we dealt with subsequent discipline cases in the church, which were limited to excommunication.

Nearly eight years later, Alison began to turn back to Christ. After a time, we raised with Alison the fact that we took seriously the authority of the church and the prayer we had prayed handing her over to Satan. We felt that we saw evidence of clear repentance and that perhaps it was time for the church to enter a process of restoration, culminating in a prayer of restoration binding Satan’s authority over her life and asking God’s blessing and protection on her and her family. Barbara Armstrong’s previous article describes well that joyous occasion.

The concept of “handing over to Satan” scares people. Thus, the concept gets rejected before it is even examined, and the biblical passages tend to get skipped over. Our church has only disciplined a few people in the last 12 years, and Alison is the only one we “handed over to Satan”. It is interesting to me that she is the one who has returned to Christ and continues to grow in grace and obedience to our Lord. Maybe it’s time we talked about this issue.

Brad Julihn is senior pastor of Richmond Bethel Church in Richmond, B.C.

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Last modified September 18, 2000.

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