“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11)
The Basket Case Chronicles #48
“But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person” (1 Cor. 5:11-13).
The key phrase here is “called a brother.” This is not simply a matter of self-identification, because Paul then goes on to use the objective categories of “without” and “within.” The person concerned is in some sense a member of the Christian community. So, if he is called a brother, and behaves in certain specified ways, then we are not to eat with such a person. The “not eat” in v. 11 here is tantamount to excommunication, to a formal putting away. The last injunction here is a quotation from multiple places in Deuteronomy (Dt. 17:7;19:19;22:21,24;24:7), all of which refer to a formal process of expulsion from the covenant community.
Paul says that we do not have a duty to clean up the world—those who are “without.” We have a duty to keep the sanctuary clean. As more and more of the world is brought into the church, the behavior of these new converts becomes relevant. But until then, the church is not to pursue worldlings in the name of Comstockery or wowserism.
What sorts of things should draw the disciplinary attention of the church? Paul mentions six things here. The first is fornication, the second is greed, the third is idolatry, the forth is reviling, the fifth is drunkenness, and the last is swindling. In the modern church at least two things on that list are more likely to get you nominated for the elder board than to result in you being brought up on charges. Oh, well.