To Judge or Not to Judge

  

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

TO JUDGE OR NOT TO JUDGE

1 Cor 5:9-13

9 I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. 11 But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat. 12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. "Expel the wicked man from among you."  

NIV

These are harsh words to this church in Corinth, and we have to believe these words are recorded for all the churches throughout history, including our present time. Once again, we have several truths to deal with. The first is about not having anything to do with the kind of believer who is sexually immoral. This comes from what Paul said earlier about this man who had sexual relations with his father’s wife. This man should be expelled from the church, but not as a punishment for sin, for that would have to mean all of us should be expelled from the church, for who of us are completely free of sin.  However, it is interesting that Paul includes along with the sin of sexual immorality, greed, idolatry, slander, drunkards, and swindlers. We are certainly not supposed to judge the people of this world or not associate with any of them for Paul says if that were the case we would have to leave the world. People who do not know Christ, or refuse to accept Christ are no doubt engaged in all these activities. But it appears these things also must be going on in the church. We cannot speak to this sexual immorality because something like that would most likely be kept behind closed doors, at least in the church today. Even greed would be difficult to judge, although it might be possible to see greed in a person’s life. we do wonder about idolatry, because of so much interest in certain aspects of life. If they begin to take up too much of our focus, whether they be a hobby, sports, success, or even a ministry, rather than Christ, or some other interest, then they could become or be seen as an idol. Slander is simply another word for gossip spreading information about someone who defames them in any way whatsoever. It is sad, but we think this is overlooked too many times and perhaps even accepted within the church. We would not think that we would expel someone because they gossiped, for that matter because they drank adult beverages, of course, being drunk would be taking it too far, and even then would we really expel someone who is a drunkard? We cannot think that any believer would be a swindler, but then again there are those who fleece the flock as they use multimedia to deceive even the elect with their silver tongues. Rather than heralding their large churches, it would be best not to have anything to do with them, or even expel them from the church. The hardest truth to come to grips with is this judging one another in the church. We always thought we were not supposed to judge. Jesus even tells us not to judge, for the way we judge others, we will be judged. Yet, here we are told not to associate with fellow believers who act out these behaviors. Perhaps there is a difference between acting as judge and jury and sentencing someone to hell, as only God can do that, then seeing these wicked behaviors in a fellow believer and not responding to their behaviors, bringing them to a place of repentance, all the while doing it in love rather than in condemnation.