A question comes regarding Christians withdrawing themselves from the church, and does withdrawing oneself from the church release Christians from the biblical responsibility to modify their fellowship with such erring Christians. The question arises particularly regarding the family context of adult siblings.
The fact that a Christian has absented himself from one or more services of the church, even for years, does not remove the responsibility of the church and the members who comprise it from its and their responsibility in the Scriptures respecting church discipline — inclusive of “fellowship” (1 Corinthians 5:4-5, 9-11, 13; 2 Thessalonians 3:6, 14-15; Titus 3:10). The Scriptures say nothing about a Christian withdrawing fellowship from the church, but about the church withdrawing fellowship from an erring child of God.
- It is true that one reason for withdrawing fellowship from an impenitent erring child of God is to preserve the purity of a local congregation (1 Corinthians 5:6-8; Romans 16:17-18). However, that is not the only reason for which withdrawal of fellowship should be exercised when necessary. A primary reason to withdraw fellowship from an erring Christian is to recover the soul of the errant child of God, if possible (1 Corinthians 5:4-5). A third reason to exercise church discipline when biblically mandated is so other Christians do not become complicit in the erring child of Gods sins (1 Corinthians 5:2, 6; 2 John 9-11). Ordinary, unrestrained social interaction with erring children of God (including with nondependent family members) implicitly condones their sinful behavior and offers them no incentive to repent.
One’s conduct with impenitent, erring Christians is not forbidden but encouraged (2 Thessalonians 3:15), as long as the erring child of God (and onlookers within and without of the church) understands the faithful Christian’s disapproval of the delinquent child of God’s waywardness. The fact of a family member’s waywardness does not dissolve family relationships (e.g., spouses, siblings), but certainly those relationships could be a lot more were the unfaithful child of God to repent and return to the Lord. Therefore, not cut off but restrained, a faithful Christian can have a degree of social interaction with an erring child of God. Further, to the extent of a Christian’s waywardness, a faithful Christian will necessarily limit his exposure and the exposure of his family to that negative influence and impact (2 Corinthians 6:14-18).
