By Joey Carroll
“Don’t judge me!” Perhaps you have said that phrase, or someone else has said it to you. But is that what the Bible actually teaches? A very well known passage in the Bible is “Do not judge so that you will not be judged,” (Matthew 7:1, NASB). If you keep reading in the verses that follow, you will figure out that the Lord is warning us about being a hypocrite (7:5). We actually should point out things in our brother’s life that are sinful, but we are better equipped to do so when we exercise humility and self-examination of our own lives first.
In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul is calling the church to judge the sexually immoral man by removing him from the church. His well known and unrepentant behavior was doing damage to the witness of the church and to the growth of the gospel in the city of Corinth. But Paul is also laying some groundwork in these verses for understanding the role of the church in the lives of its members.
Unfortunately, we live in a day when the church has become little more than somewhere we go on Sunday mornings. But it is so much more than that. The Church is the community of people who have been purchased by the blood of Christ. The group of people who by faith alone in Christ alone have been saved from the judgment of God and have been adopted by the grace of God. And it is those people who are commanded to model the character of their Savior before a world that needs Jesus. Sometimes we fail to live up to that standard, but God has graciously made provision for us in Christ through repentance. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,” (1 John 1:9, NASB).
However, the difficulty comes when we remain stubbornly committed to sinful attitudes and actions. What now? Well, that is where the church comes in. As brothers and sisters in Christ, we are called to humbly and lovingly come alongside one another and encourage each other to turn back to Christ. Hopefully, the wayward brother will recognize the error of his way and repent. Now grant it, that requires maturity and humility in both people, but that is the design.
But what if the wayward person refuses gentle correction? Well, in Scripture there is a plan for that as well (see Matthew 18). But in 1 Corinthians 5, Paul has reached the end of pleading for repentance, and now it is time for the church to act by removing him from the congregation. That is why Paul makes the statement, “Do you not judge those who are within the church?” (1 Corinthians 5:12b, NASB).
But the church’s judgement of the man goes far beyond church fellowship. It also extends to life outside the church. Paul says, “I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler — not even to eat with such a one,” (1 Corinthians 5:11, NASB).
The “so-called brother”… that is such an ominous title. It describes the individual who is either deceiving others or himself into thinking that he belongs to Christ when he really does not. What are the characteristics of the “so-called brother?” To put it simply, he says something with his mouth, but reflects something entirely different with his life. In other words, he may make a Sunday morning appearance at the church (as the man in 1 Corinthians 5 was doing), but the other six days of the week, he enjoys the things of this world. He is a double-minded man. How are we as Christians to respond to such an individual who has continually pushed aside all calls to repentance? Paul says, we should have nothing to do with him.
This article originally appeared in The Clarion Newspaper.
Corinth Baptist Church 