In 1 Timothy 1:20, what is the meaning of delivering persons to Satan?

Question

1 Timothy 1:20 (KJV);

20. Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.

What is the meaning of delivering persons to Satan?

Does this mean that Satan and his angels are agents to God?, i.e: Satan and his angels acting on behalf of God in Some business, for example: the temptation.

If so, then how Satan and his angels will be cast into the lake of fire?, I mean aren't they agents to God?. Look Matthew 25:41 (KJV);

41. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

Answer 1

In 1 Timothy 1:20, what is the meaning of delivering persons to Satan?

1 Timothy 1:20 (KJV);

Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.

In Corinth, Paul instructed the congregation to expel a man that was living with his father's wife.

1 Corinthians 5 :1-2 (NASB)

5 "It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father’s wife. 2 [a]You have become [b]arrogant and [c]have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst."

This is a command to disfellowship that man and cast him out from the congregation.

1 Corinthians 5:5 (NASB)

5 "I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord [e]Jesus."

Similarly, Paul handed Hymenaeus and Alexander over to Satan, because they did not hold firmly to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck in regard to the faith. 1 Timothy 1:20

Excommunicating them and putting them out of the congregation and into the world over which Satan is the god and ruler, means delivering them to Satan.

The apostle John said that :

1 John 5:19 (NASB)

19 "We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one."

John 12:31 (NASB)

31 "Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out."

Answer 2

'Everything' is an 'agent' of God, that is, used by Him. His enemy is no 'match' for Him. Job was temporarily delivered unto Satan. To deliver Job from himself. Likewise Hymenaeus and Alexander and the First Corinthian 5 brother are not delivered to Satan eternally. That's not the concept, nor is there any need, to 'deliver' the condemned (Jn 3:18) to Satan since they're already with him. Quarantining sinful believers until they repent or slightly longer both protects the Body and them and is done out of love (2 Cor 2:5-10). The object of all this is for all believers to become one with God: His real 'agents' in life and nature (2:10-11; 2 Pet 1:4; 1 Cor 1:9; 2 Cor 4:11)

Answer 3

1 Tim 1:20 is confusing only if we forget the simple principle taught by Jesus in Matt 6:24 and Luke 16:12, ""No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other … "

One must choose to either serve the Lord Jesus, or any of the allurements (money, sex, power, etc) created by Satan to distract us from service to God. Thus we either serve God or Satan.

Serving God has many benefits such as being set free (John 8:32, 34-36) from sin (= service to Satan), Heb 12:1, Gal 5:1, 13, 14, 3:22, Ps 118:5, 119:45, Acts 13:38, 39, Rom 6:14, 18, 8:1-4, 20, 21, 1 Peter 2:16, 2 Peter 2:19, Luke 4:18, 19, 2 Tim 1:7, 2:26, James 1:25, Isa 58:6, 7, Acts 8:23, etc.

As the questioner points out, Satan is NOT an agent of God, quite the contrary, Satan is the enemy of God. Matt 13:39.

Thus, when a person, either explicitly by conscious choice, or implicitly by actions, rejects the service and company of God, they also reject the benefits of service to God, who then honours their choice and "hands them over to Satan."