FROM

THE

MILLENNIAL HARBINGER,

NEW SERIES.

VOLUME II.--NUMBER XI.

B E T H A N Y, VA. NOVEMBER, 1838.

JAMESTOWN, Ohio, September 6, 1838.      

Dear brother Campbell,

      IT has been a good while since I wrote to you, and now I write for the purpose of learning something. Does the word translated Satan. I Cor. ch. v. ver. 5., mean the Devil? If so, are we to understand the Apostle as commanding the church to deliver the incestuous person over to the Devil in order to reformation, that he might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus? This view of the matter would look very much like Satan casting out Satan--even after the Apostles had failed. Adam Clark supposes the Apostle alluded to the power of punishment which was given to the Apostles--such as that inflicted on Ananias and Sapphira, and on Elymas, &c. But this view of the matter would indicate that the power was derived from Satan, and would make the Apostles cast out devils by Beelzebub. I have been of the opinion that the Apostles never forced men into reformation by punishment of any kind.

      Did or did not the Apostle command the church in Corinth to deliver a live man to the Devil for the purpose of reforming him? If he did not, then the word Satan conveys an erroneous idea to nine-tenths of readers; for it is generally understood that Satan and Devil are synonymous. [523]

      The Apostle in his letter to the Romans, 13th chapter, speaks of one who is appointed of God, to punish such wicked wretches as the one mentioned in Corinthians.

      Query.--Would not the word Satan bear to be rendered punishing? There is a power appointed of God to punish evil doers, and is it not probable that Paul commanded the church to deliver the incestuous person over to him that bore the sword, in order to the punishment of his flesh according to law?

M. WINANS.      

Dear brother Winans--

      As scripture authority alone can have any weight in matters purely religious, such as are the queries you propose; and being, pro tem., engaged in attending to my son's business in his absence; I therefore take the liberty of replying to the above letter, put into my hand for that purpose.

      That our Lord, by the ministry of his Apostles, has appointed in and over his church a responsible executive government, whose province it is to teach and rule, is so conspicuous in the apostolic writings, that no attentive intelligent reader can possibly overlook it. And that it is the duty of the church, as an organized body, to act consistently for effecting all the various purposes of its organization, will appear equally evident. Nor, indeed, do you question these things. But you seem unwilling to admit that the Apostle, 1 Cor. v. 5., by Satan means the Devil, lest the proposed salvation of the excommunicated should be ascribed to that malignant adversary, who goes about, as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. But, my dear friend, if we advert to the scripture account of the actual condition of mankind,--to the obvious design of church censure,--and to the language of the Apostle in the case before us, there will be no apparent reason for your apprehension. As to the first,--The actual condition of mankind, both Jews and Gentiles, see Acts xxvi. 17, 18--"Delivering thee (Saul) from the people, and from the Gentiles, to whom now I send thee, to open their eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them who are sanctified by faith that is in me." And 1 John v. 19--"We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in wickedness, or under the wicked One." Consequently, they, that are rejected by the church, are thrown back again into the kingdom of Satan, out of which they had been mercifully taken. Second--As to the design of church censure, it evidently appears to be intended for the benefit of the offender,--not for his destruction, but for his amendment; and which also appears to have been the effect in the present case: see 2 Cor. ii 5-8.--"But if any have caused grief, he has grieved me but in part; that I may not overcharge you all. Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of the many. So that contrariwise, you ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him; lest, perhaps, such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. Wherefore I beseech you that you would confirm your love toward him." See also chaps. x. 8. and xiii. 10. "For though I should boast somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord has given us for edification, and not for your destruction, I should not he ashamed. Therefore I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness, according to the power which the Lord has given me to edification, and not to destruction." From these quotations it is quite evident, that the sole design of the communication and exercise of the penal authority, with which the Apostles and churches were invested, was the reformation of offenders. I here speak of judicial authority,--not of miraculous powers. Now, there appears nothing miraculous in the case. under consideration. For--If, in the third I place, we duly advert to the awful solemnity of the sentence, can we imagine any thing of the kind, any temporary penalty purely spiritual, better calculated to alarm the guilty,--to arouse him in a sense [524] of his sin and danger, than this? Consider it seriously--"In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, and my Spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." What a tremendous sentence! Still, however, presenting a door of hope to the guilty, upon the destruction of his fleshly lusts; that so the body of sin being destroyed, he might not henceforth serve sin. Rom. vi. 6. And what poor sinner, that has any feeling left, but must be awfully affected with the above sentence? And, of course, powerfully excited to avail himself of the only means of escape; that is, the crucifying of the flesh with the affections and lusts--the mortifying of the deeds of the body. Now this is the very thing that the Apostle proposes as the end of the above process;--as the effect of the united procedure of the church, and himself, by the authority, and with the POWER (dunamei) of the Lord Jesus Christ;--and not by the power, or agency of Satan, or any such influence whatever,--except the fear of a participation in his infernal torments, or, in other words, the fear of hell, might alarm and terrify.

      In the mean time, however, I agree with you in rejecting A. Clark's paraphrase, and also with the reasons assigned for so doing. But cannot so easily coincide with your seemingly wishful application of the term "Satan" to the "powers that he ordained of God for the punishment of evil doers, and for the praise and protection of them that do well;" and this for two reasons,--first, because the scripture styles them gods; "I said ye are gods." Second, because it would make the Magistrate a kind of church officer--an executor of its censures; and would thus be a direct appeal to physical force--the ultima ratio regum--and dernier resort of Popery.

      Yours, dear brother, very respectfully,

THOMAS CAMPBELL.      

[The Millennial Harbinger (November 1838): 523-525.]

      Thomas Campbell's "Answer to Query [of M. Winans]" was first published in The Millennial Harbinger, New Series, Vol. 2, No. 11, November 1838. The electronic version of the essay has been produced from the College Press reprint (1976) of The Millennial Harbinger, ed. Alexander Campbell (Bethany, VA: A. Campbell, 1838), pp. 523-525.

      Pagination has been represented by placing the page number in brackets following the last complete word on the printed page. I have let stand variations and inconsistencies in the author's (or editor's) use of italics, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling in the essay. Emendations are as follows:

            Printed Text [ Electronic Text
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
 p. 523:    I writte [ I write
 p. 524:    matters religiouus, [ matters religious,
 p. 525:    reasus assigned [ reasons assigned
 

      Addenda and corrigenda are earnestly solicited.

Ernie Stefanik
Derry, PA

Created 12 December 1997.
Updated 9 July 2003.