ndemneth the Corinthians, 1 Cor. v. 2, 6,
9, because they had not excommunicate him before his writing unto them,
which he would never have done if that church had not had power and
authority of excommunication.

2. Howbeit the Apostle gave his judgment, that he should be excommunicate,
because he ought not to have been tolerated in the church, yet, for all
that, he should not have been indeed excommunicate and thrust out of the
church of Corinth, except the ministers and elders of that church had, in
name of the whole body of the same, judicially cast him forth and
delivered him to Satan, which plainly argueth that he should not have been
excommunicate by the Apostle's authority alone, but by the authority of
the church of Corinth.

3. The Apostle only showeth that he should be excommunicate, but referreth
the giving of sentence and judgment upon him to the Corinthians; for he
saith not that the Corinthians, being gathered together, should declare or
witness that such an one was delivered to Satan by Paul's own power and
authority, but that they themselves should deliver him to Satan, ver. 4,
5. And again, "Purge out, therefore, the old leaven; put away from among
yourselves that wicked person," ver. 7, 13. But, saith Saravia,(1077)
_partes apostoli in illa actione fuerunt authoritatis, ecclesiae vero
Corinthiacae, obedientiae. Ans._ That the action was done by the authority
of the church of Corinth, it is manifest both from that which hath been
said, and likewise if further we consider that the Apostle ascribeth to
the Corinthians as much authority in this action as he assumeth to
himself. For he saith of himself, that he had judged concerning him that
had done this deed, ver. 3; and so he saith of them, "Do not ye judge them
that are within?" ver. 12. Where he speaketh not of the judgment of
private discretion (for so they might have judged them that were without
also), but even of the external and authoritative judgment of
ecclesiastical discipline. The Apostle, indeed, saith, 2 Cor. ii. 9, that
he wrote to the Corinthians to excommunicate that person, that he might
know them, whether they were obedient in all things; but this proveth not
that the authority of the excommunication was not theirs; for their part
in this action proceeded both from authority and from obedience: from
authority, absolutely; from obedience in, in some respect. _De jure_ they
had no liberty nor power not to excommunicate him, but were bound