Post by Josh on Feb 6, 2007 16:29:47 GMT -8
10/05
Excommunication?
This chapter is a hard core reminder of how serious it is to be a Christian who is unwilling to repent. This teaching about 'excommunication' is built on Jesus' admonitions in the Gospels (Matthew 18:15-17):
"If your brother 12 sins (against you), go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that 'every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses.' If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church. If he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector. Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again, (amen,) I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything for which they are to pray, it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."
So, there is a private exhortation, then one with two or three others, then one before the Church. If there is still no genuine intention to repent, then the person is to be 'disfellowshipped', or not allowed to be part of the community.
Keep in mind that this is clearly referring to someone who is unwilling to repent. Notice what Jesus then says we should do when someone is willing to repent and shows sorrow for their sins, even if they repeatedly fall into their sin:
(Matthew 18:18-19)
Then Peter approaching asked him, "Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?"
Jesus answered, "I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.
That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants.
Paul actually uses this advice too, because although the man living with his stepmother in this chapter is apparently unwilling to repent at first, and is 'excommunicated', he does in fact later repent and is welcomed back into the community (2 Corinthians 2:5-11)
As to the 'handing him over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh', this , of course, is not talking about his body, but his 'carnal desires'. In the act of disfellowshipping, the man feels what it means to be cut off from Christ and be returned to the authority of Satan for a time, so that he realizes how his behavior has separated him from God. That grief is intended to lead him to repentance, as it does here.
Paul elsewhere uses this same language in regard to some false teachers: 'hand them over to satan to be taught not to blaspheme'. The goal here is always, as Paul says, so that their souls will be saved at the judgment.
Question for us: do we have a tendency to water this clear teaching down?
Excommunication?
This chapter is a hard core reminder of how serious it is to be a Christian who is unwilling to repent. This teaching about 'excommunication' is built on Jesus' admonitions in the Gospels (Matthew 18:15-17):
"If your brother 12 sins (against you), go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that 'every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses.' If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church. If he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector. Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again, (amen,) I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything for which they are to pray, it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."
So, there is a private exhortation, then one with two or three others, then one before the Church. If there is still no genuine intention to repent, then the person is to be 'disfellowshipped', or not allowed to be part of the community.
Keep in mind that this is clearly referring to someone who is unwilling to repent. Notice what Jesus then says we should do when someone is willing to repent and shows sorrow for their sins, even if they repeatedly fall into their sin:
(Matthew 18:18-19)
Then Peter approaching asked him, "Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?"
Jesus answered, "I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.
That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants.
Paul actually uses this advice too, because although the man living with his stepmother in this chapter is apparently unwilling to repent at first, and is 'excommunicated', he does in fact later repent and is welcomed back into the community (2 Corinthians 2:5-11)
As to the 'handing him over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh', this , of course, is not talking about his body, but his 'carnal desires'. In the act of disfellowshipping, the man feels what it means to be cut off from Christ and be returned to the authority of Satan for a time, so that he realizes how his behavior has separated him from God. That grief is intended to lead him to repentance, as it does here.
Paul elsewhere uses this same language in regard to some false teachers: 'hand them over to satan to be taught not to blaspheme'. The goal here is always, as Paul says, so that their souls will be saved at the judgment.
Question for us: do we have a tendency to water this clear teaching down?