# Judging Those Inside The Church...



## Jared (Jun 26, 2010)

I am going to combine a couple of issues here, because I think they're related.

I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”
1 Corinthians 5:9-13

Does this text apply to those outside the local church who claim to be Christians, or does it only apply to those who are members of a local fellowship?

In other words, would we, based on this scripture, have scriptural warrant to judge someone like Sean John Combs, Whitney Houston, R. Kelly, or Mariah Carey, people who all claim to be Christians, but probably are not active in a local church.

This does have serious implications. 

I think perhaps part of the answer is that they should be held accountable for as much as they profess. They may not have subjected themselves to the accountability of a local fellowship of believers, but they still claim to be believers while living in unrepentant sin.

If people like this record gospel songs, should we listen to those songs or not?

This would go for many Country singers as well, but I don't listen to Country so I'm not very familiar with them; maybe some of you can fill in the gaps.

Of course, it also applies to people that we see in our day to day lives. How do we respond to people who claim to be believers, but aren't a part of a local church? Was Paul referring to people inside or outside the local church that claimed to be Christians, or was he only referring to those inside the church?

---------- Post added at 08:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:53 PM ----------

First of all, does listening to their music constitute keeping company with them?

Secondly, I live in the Bible belt. Paul says, "not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world."

Now, this would be a lot easier in a context where most people didn't claim to be Christians unless they really were.

But, where I live nearly everyone claims to be a Christian. So, how do I avoid keeping company with them?


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## rbcbob (Jun 26, 2010)

Jared104 said:


> I am going to combine a couple of issues here, because I think they're related.
> 
> I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”
> 1 Corinthians 5:9-13
> ...


 
This has to do with church discipline within a local congregation. A church has no authority (purge out the evil person from among you) over those outside that church.


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## Jack K (Jun 26, 2010)

I agree the direct application has to do with discipline within a local congregation.

This is a difficult passage because we have to (1) understand it within the context of Paul's letter, as we always must when interpreting Scripture, and (2) apply it to our church/culture context, which differs from that in Corinth. In this case, Paul's reason for giving this instruction is concern for the purity and reputation of the church in Corinth. So one thing we have to ask ourselves is whether our associating with a nominal, living-in-open-sin "believer" will damage the purity and reputation of the church in our time and place.

I think it's possible such associating _could_ compromise the church, if we don't take pains in how we live to make clear the difference between nominal Christianity and the real thing. Most people in America have some sense that there's a difference—that the people you cited don't represent true Christians—but we must constantly reinforce it. I'd say that's an important secondary lesson to take away from 1 Cor. 5.

But it'd be impractical, and would miss Paul's primary point, for a guy in Tennessee to flatly refuse all contact with any nominal Christian. If Sean Combs lives in sin he isn't really damaging the purity or reputation of your congregation, is he? No, because people realize he doesn't represent you. The same goes for most nominal Christians you'll run into. I wish they wouldn't take Christ's name, but Paul's primary concern doesn't apply.

We also have to consider other issues from Scripture as a whole. Like reaching the lost. Christian liberty. Kindness to our neighbors. Being good citizens who bless our communities. We don't want to create an entire doctrine of dealing with nominal Christian neighbors based on a single passage that's primarily concerned with the purity and reputation of the church.

I will tell you that when an entertainer or athlete claims the name of Christ but doesn't live like it, it rubs me the wrong way. I have a hard time enjoying his art or rooting for his team. I wouldn't make a rule against it, but it's hard for me to imagine being his fan.


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