5:3
Paul was not with them in person, and some might have thought “while the cat’s away ...”, or considered him to be of no importance. But Paul was with them in spirit, and he prayed for the church. Prayer is not just a pious act, but an act of spiritual power. We speak to the living God, and if we are in step with the Spirit then our prayers will be powerful. The church had taken no action on the matter, but Paul had taken action in the spirit, and this would have effect.
5:4
So Paul urges the church to take action. They should meet together and pass the appropriate judgement on the man. Note here that Paul talks about passing judgement. One of the most common mantras of people is “do not pass judgement”. Most of the talk about not passing judgement is just so much nonsense, and more often than not it is an excuse for sinning, or for not confronting sin. We should be aware that most of the time when we say “do not judge” we are actually advocating disobedience to the Lord. When they did meet together Paul would be with them. He does not mean this in some strange mystical sense, but that they would have apostolic authority behind actions they took that were in line with the word of God.
5:5
The man is to be handed over to Satan. This expression is used only in 1 Tim 1:20. What Paul means is that the man is to be expelled from the church for a time, he is to be put in the world. While in the church he would enjoy some sort of protection, but he had chosen to disobey God in a gross manner and was apparently refusing to repent. So be it then, if he does not want to live under God’s protection then let him experience the full consequences of that sin. The hope is that he would then learn and the power of the flesh in his life would be broken. The goal is that his soul would be saved, ie he would come to repentance. A soft approach to serious sin does not actually do anyone any good, least of all the sinner themselves. Sometimes sinners can be saved by the church taking firm action.
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