But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
God judges those who are outside the church, while the church itself is to judge those within and put away the wicked person from among its own. It is to separate evil from good and to refuse to knowingly tolerate wrongdoing in its fellowship. This work is to be done with care in judging others, lest the working of the Holy Spirit be mistaken for evil.
The wickedness in view is open, immoral conduct that disgraces the church and falls below even the low moral standards of the surrounding Gentile world. It includes the sexual immorality that the Corinthians were called to repent of and to act against before Paul visited them. Those who willfully indulge in sin are not to be received into the church, and hypocrites and evildoers who profess godliness while secretly cherishing iniquity cannot long remain connected with true believers. The church is to keep itself comparatively pure by ridding itself of this foul blot.
Those who are merely faulty in character are different, and may remain connected with believers so that through teaching and example they may see their errors, repent, and purify their souls in obeying the truth. Judas illustrates the opposite course, as one accepted not because of his defects but notwithstanding them, who then refused the light, indulged sin, invited Satan, yielded to darkness, hated reproof, and betrayed those who sought his good. Ananias and Sapphira illustrate God's judgment removing pretenders who covetously deceive, striking terror to hypocrites. Trials and persecution aid this purity by leaving only those willing to forsake all for the truth, while ease adds less sincere converts and opens the way for Satan to obtain a foothold.
The verse also requires putting away those who remain unwilling to receive and live by the truth, with those who cannot endure the full truth cut off from Israel rather than kept in the church. It requires removing from fellowship those who commit the knowing sin of breaking the seventh commandment, where confession and sorrow alone do not entitle the offender to the privileges of the house of God or to fellowship, but a strict and thorough course is required. The church must first make earnest efforts and reproof to show those living unchristian lives their wrongs, and if they do not reform and remain unreformed, being only a curse and clog to God's people, they must be separated. A person who by deliberate wrongdoing has placed himself beyond the church's reach is not to be fellowshiped, but his case left alone even if he repents, with the rebuke of God and the church remaining so the moral standard is not lowered.
Removal is carried out through the judgment of the church, to which members must submit rather than setting their own stubborn will against it or rebelling when discipline touches their families. It must be done with judgment and discretion yet promptly when the case is plain, without delay from false sympathy for the wrong or fear of driving people away, because God will have only those earnestly striving to be right. The call to purge evil extends beyond church fellowship to dropping unfaithful members from the church roll, separating those who refuse its principles from a Christian institution, and refusing to shelter concealed or fostered sin in the church, the Office, or the home, with parents and those in authority taking earnest action to remove it. Doing this requires clear spiritual discernment, honest naming of sin, and a revived straight testimony that separates those who oppose the means God uses to keep corruption out. The purpose is that God may have a clean and pure people, since joining the clean with the unclean dishonors God and lowers the moral standard, while removing the corrupting influence keeps corruption out.
God judges those who are outside the church, while the church itself is to judge those within and put away the wicked person from among its own. It is to separate evil from good and to refuse to knowingly tolerate wrongdoing in its fellowship. This work is to be done with care in judging others, lest the working of the Holy Spirit be mistaken for evil.
The wickedness in view is open, immoral conduct that disgraces the church and falls below even the low moral standards of the surrounding Gentile world. It includes the sexual immorality that the Corinthians were called to repent of and to act against before Paul visited them. Those who willfully indulge in sin are not to be received into the church, and hypocrites and evildoers who profess godliness while secretly cherishing iniquity cannot long remain connected with true believers. The church is to keep itself comparatively pure by ridding itself of this foul blot.
Those who are merely faulty in character are different, and may remain connected with believers so that through teaching and example they may see their errors, repent, and purify their souls in obeying the truth. Judas illustrates the opposite course, as one accepted not because of his defects but notwithstanding them, who then refused the light, indulged sin, invited Satan, yielded to darkness, hated reproof, and betrayed those who sought his good. Ananias and Sapphira illustrate God's judgment removing pretenders who covetously deceive, striking terror to hypocrites. Trials and persecution aid this purity by leaving only those willing to forsake all for the truth, while ease adds less sincere converts and opens the way for Satan to obtain a foothold.
The verse also requires putting away those who remain unwilling to receive and live by the truth, with those who cannot endure the full truth cut off from Israel rather than kept in the church. It requires removing from fellowship those who commit the knowing sin of breaking the seventh commandment, where confession and sorrow alone do not entitle the offender to the privileges of the house of God or to fellowship, but a strict and thorough course is required. The church must first make earnest efforts and reproof to show those living unchristian lives their wrongs, and if they do not reform and remain unreformed, being only a curse and clog to God's people, they must be separated. A person who by deliberate wrongdoing has placed himself beyond the church's reach is not to be fellowshiped, but his case left alone even if he repents, with the rebuke of God and the church remaining so the moral standard is not lowered.
Removal is carried out through the judgment of the church, to which members must submit rather than setting their own stubborn will against it or rebelling when discipline touches their families. It must be done with judgment and discretion yet promptly when the case is plain, without delay from false sympathy for the wrong or fear of driving people away, because God will have only those earnestly striving to be right. The call to purge evil extends beyond church fellowship to dropping unfaithful members from the church roll, separating those who refuse its principles from a Christian institution, and refusing to shelter concealed or fostered sin in the church, the Office, or the home, with parents and those in authority taking earnest action to remove it. Doing this requires clear spiritual discernment, honest naming of sin, and a revived straight testimony that separates those who oppose the means God uses to keep corruption out. The purpose is that God may have a clean and pure people, since joining the clean with the unclean dishonors God and lowers the moral standard, while removing the corrupting influence keeps corruption out.