Sin in the church

I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. – I Corinthains 5.9-11

Corinth was a wicked city. I’d say it would compete with our world today in its wickedness. Sadly, that kind of wickedness is going to permeate culture and even creep in to the church.

The context for this verse is the church disciplining a man who will not repent of a heinous sin. The chuch is told that if he will not repent they must cut him off form fellowship to show him how serious his sin is.

Then Paul differentiates how to deal with lost sinners and saved sinners.

When a brother is set aside to deal with his sin and make things right we are told not to have fellowship with him. Now that sounds harsh. It doesn’t mean that we hate him or scorn him. It means that we avoid regular fellowship so that his sin does not further infect the church. He must see how serious his sin his.

But we can’t do that with the lost. To do that we’d have to leave this world entirely.

That means that we are supposed to be tougher on sinning believers than sinners in the world?  Yes.

Our erring brethren need to be restored to fellowship. Christians must know the seriousness of sin they won’t deal with. They should be loved enough to seek to help them get back on the track.

The world is going to act like the world – the church should not.