To Judge or Not to Judge, Part 2

Last week we talked about Jesus’s command in Matthew 7, “Do not judge, lest you be judged” in light of another person’s sinning against us. Unforgiveness is like my drinking poison, hoping the other person will die. Holding on to unforgiveness is a sin and hinders our prayers and fellowship with God, while walking through steps of forgiveness—including the initial stages of hurt or anger—is healthy and necessary.

Does that mean that in a community of Christ-followers, we shouldn’t speak out about sin? Do we just remain quiet and “forgiving” of habitual sin? Not at all. Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 5 may shed some light on this. But first, an illustration…

My nieces and nephews are seemingly two groups of children developmentally, due to their distance in age, although they certainly love one another and are a cohesive whole. The first three children are older—teens and young adults—while the two younger ones, a niece and nephew, are in kindergarten and elementary school. Having lived all their lives overseas and having visited us last summer, the younger two were still getting to know their cousins, our daughters. One afternoon when we were together my youngest niece and nephew argued persistently about who their favorite cousin was. One declared, “Emma is my favorite!” and the other responded, “No, Ellie is my favorite!” As arguments between young siblings tend to go, they continued to chant back and forth, with increasing fervor. (“Emma!” “No, Ellie!” As if the “favorite” was the “better” choice.) It took not a little convincing from the adults and older cousins for them to realize they could each have their own favorite, and that both cousins were equally wonderful!

This story illustrates a context similar to that of the Corinthian church, to whom Paul addressed divisions on one hand and inappropriate tolerance on the other. Their argument was over the better apostle (“Apollos is my favorite!” “No, Paul is my favorite!”), and they tolerated sexual immorality among them to an extent that even the culture they were living in would not! (verse 1). In fact, they were proud of their tolerant attitude toward this brother. It was as if they were saying, “See how we ‘love’ our brother. We even put up with his immoral behavior!”

However, Paul recognized their stance to be unchristian in belief and practice. The Scriptures had already condemned incest and all sexual immorality.* To be sure, the Corinthian church consisted of immature believers who had not been entirely transformed from worldly thinking. They were used to continuing pagan practices while declaring their Christian faith.

Paul rebukes their actions on the basis of Scripture. To his credit, Paul only holds the Corinthians to a standard that he himself is willing to live up to. He asserts that, instead of entertaining sin in the Church, they ought to have mourned this brother’s wrong choices and his impending expulsion from among the fellowship. (v. 2) If they do not expel him, his sinful behavior will infect the whole group.

For some of us, the thought of expelling someone from the assembly of believers seems quite harsh. However, for Paul, it was not to be done in a spirit of hostility or judgment. Rather, this act would remove all spiritual covering from their brother so that he would be made aware of his sin and brought to repentance, eventually restoring him back to Christian fellowship and saving him from condemnation.

In verse 12, Paul declares that we are to judge those inside the church. Is this disobedience to Jesus’s command not to judge? On the contrary, Jesus’s instruction was to guard against hypocrisy in believers, while Paul’s teaching helped the church to decide who is included in the fellowship and who is outside of fellowship. While Jesus’s command not to judge refers to condemning another’s motives or character when our own hearts are not right with God, we ARE to confront blatant sin in the Church with the goal of total restoration of a fellow believer. (Let’s understand first that sin is what the Scriptures declare to be sin, not what the culture or our feelings say.)**

By drawing firm and loving boundaries with one another, we are to believe and act for deliverance from sin. We are not to be conformed to the pattern of the world around us, but, in a spirit of humility and loving correction, we are to be transformed by staying close to the commands of Scripture by walking in the Spirit and in truthful, loving fellowship with other believers.*** 

Scriptures referenced: *Lev. 18:8, Deut.22:30, & 27:20.  **2 Thes. 3:14-15 *** Eph. 4:15, 25-26