One of the biggest problems in many churches today is the
failure to distinguish between welcoming sinners to hear the gospel and
affirming those who openly persist in sin. Scripture does not teach that the
church should shut its doors to unbelievers. At the same time, it does not
permit the church to recognize as being in fellowship those who claim the name
of Christ while walking in open, unrepentant darkness.
The gathered church is first for the worship of God, the
edification of the saints, the teaching of sound doctrine, prayer, fellowship,
and the ordinances. Acts 2:42 says, “And they devoted themselves to the
apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the
prayers.” Ephesians 4:11–12 teaches that Christ gave leaders to the church to
equip the saints for the work of ministry and for building up the body of
Christ. The local church gathered is not primarily organized around making lost
people comfortable, but around honoring God and strengthening His people. Then
the church goes out into the world with the gospel, according to Matthew
28:19–20 and Acts 1:8.
At the same time, unbelievers may certainly enter the
assembly and hear the truth. Paul acknowledges this in 1 Corinthians 14:24–25,
where an unbeliever comes in, is convicted by what he hears, and falls on his
face to worship God. So the issue is not whether unbelievers may attend church
services. They may. The issue is whether the church will remain faithful in
what it preaches and in what it recognizes as true Christian fellowship.
That is where 1 Corinthians 5 becomes crucial. Paul is not
speaking there about unbelievers visiting the assembly. He makes that plain in
1 Corinthians 5:9–10, saying he did not mean the sexually immoral of this
world. Instead, he says in verse 11 that he is speaking about someone who bears
the name of brother and is guilty of sexual immorality. In verses 12–13 Paul
draws the line clearly between those outside and those inside. Paul is dealing,
not with outsiders hearing the gospel, but with a professing believer inside
the church who is openly immoral and refusing repentance.
The language Paul uses is strong and cannot be softened. In
1 Corinthians 5:2 he says the man is to be removed from among them. In verse 5
he says they are to deliver such a man to Satan. In verse 13 he says to purge
the evil person from among them. Then in verse 11 he adds that they are not
even to eat with such a one. This shows that the issue is not merely formal
status or membership in the modern sense. It is fellowship itself. The church
is not to continue ordinary spiritual and social fellowship with someone who
bears the name of brother while openly clinging to sexual immorality. Such a
person is not to remain among the church as though peace still exists between
him and the body of Christ.
This fits with the broader teaching of Scripture. First John
1:6 says that if we claim to have fellowship with Him while we walk in
darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. Second Corinthians 6:14 asks
what fellowship light has with darkness. Ephesians 5:8–11 says believers were
once darkness but are now light in the Lord, and therefore must not participate
in the unfruitful works of darkness. Galatians 5:19–21 lists sexual immorality
among the works of the flesh. Hebrews 13:4 says that marriage is to be held in
honor and the marriage bed kept undefiled. First Thessalonians 4:3 says that
God’s will is our sanctification, that we abstain from sexual immorality.
Scripture is plain that sexual relations belong within marriage, not outside
it.
This danger is also seen in Romans 1. Scripture shows that
rebellion against God does not remain still; it progresses. Romans 1:22 shows
that people can think they are being wise when in fact they have become fools.
What many today call wisdom, compassion, or love is often nothing more than
foolishness dressed in religious language. When the church refuses to confront
open sin, it may imagine that it is being patient, gracious, or understanding,
while in reality it is abandoning the holiness God requires. Romans 1:32
presses the matter even further by showing that the problem is not only doing
what is evil, but also approving those who practice it. That is the danger for
any church that refuses to deal with open, unrepentant sin. It will not remain
neutral for long. It will move from silence, to tolerance, and from tolerance
to approval.
Because of that, a church must distinguish between someone
struggling against sin and someone openly clinging to it. All believers still
battle sin. But when a person is confronted, admits the sin, and plainly
refuses to repent, the church cannot affirm that person as a member in good
standing or as being in right fellowship with Christ. Titus 1:16 says that some
profess to know God, but deny Him by their works. Jesus said in Matthew 7:16
that we will recognize them by their fruits. The church is not called to judge
the hidden secrets of the heart with infallibility, but it is called to judge
visible profession and conduct.
This is why churches must be careful in how they handle
membership. There is a difference between a visitor hearing the Word and a
person being publicly recognized as part of the church’s fellowship. Membership
is not meant to affirm perfection, but it must not affirm open rebellion. If a
couple is living together outside of marriage, is confronted about it, admits
it, and says they do not intend to change, then the church cannot honestly
receive or retain them as members. More than that, the church cannot go on
treating them as though Christian fellowship remains unaffected. To do so would
blur the line between light and darkness and give false assurance where
repentance is absent.
This does not mean the church is harsh or unloving. In fact,
biblical discipline is an act of love. It protects the purity of the church,
preserves the honor of Christ, warns others, and confronts the sinner with the
seriousness of his condition. Galatians 6:1 calls believers to restore the one
caught in transgression in a spirit of gentleness. But gentleness is not
compromise. Love does not bless what God forbids.
Therefore, the church must hold both truths together.
Unbelievers may enter the assembly, hear the gospel, and be convicted by the
Word of God. But those who claim to be brothers while openly persisting in
unrepentant sexual immorality are not to remain among the church as though they
are in fellowship. The church must welcome sinners to hear the gospel, but it
must not affirm as members or as brothers in good standing those who openly
reject the lordship of Christ. To do otherwise is not mercy. It is confusion,
and it dishonors both the holiness of God and the purity of His church.
A faithful church, then, will preach the truth clearly, call
sinners to repentance, welcome outsiders to hear the gospel, and refuse to
affirm anyone in open, unrepentant rebellion. That is not cruelty. That is
obedience.
