There are some passages of scripture that, to me, are as “plain as the nose on your face”, and I Cor 5:9-13 is just such a passage. Based on this passage, I feel the person involved should be withdrawn from since the biblical teachings and warnings have not been heeded. I have been told that this is not necessary because this person quit being in Christ when they left their spouse years ago. I don’t see the connection between what I feel and what I was told. Am I misunderstanding the teaching in I Cor 5:9-13? ~ Name Withheld by Editor
Several articles in the “Archive” of Gospel Gazette Online treat the biblical topic of church discipline.
(Need list here)
There is perhaps no other Bible doctrine more widely ignored in the churches of Christ than the responsibility of the Lord’s church to police itself — and it shows in faulty Christian living, poor attendance of the assemblies and a general carelessness respecting our discipleship! The Lord adds the saved to his church (Acts 2:47), and the Lord, through his disciples doing his will, removes impenitent, erring Christians from the fellowship of the church. There is abundant Bible authority for exercising church discipline when necessary. However, there is not Bible authority for assuming that erring Christians remove themselves from church’s responsibility toward them either by the sinner’s sins or by absenting themselves from the assemblies of the church.
