implied that they had no right to assume that an incestuous fornicator was a true believer — his sin
The Wheat and Tares
hris tians are not supposed to live like unsaved people. That may not sound especially profound, but many evangelicals today do not seem to understand it. I am chagrined at the way Chris tians tolerate flagrant sin in their midst. Like the Corinthian church, who arrogantly welcomed a brazen fornicator to their fellowship (1 Cor. 5:1 – 2),1 some Chris tians today seem to take perverse pride in never challenging the lifestyle of anyone who claims to be a believer.
Sin that was unheard of in the church only a generation ago is now commonplace. Divorce and immorality are epidemic among Chris tians. Churches claiming to be evangelical smugly offer the right hand of fellowship to unmarried couples openly living together. One fast-growing denomination consists almost entirely of practicing homosexuals. Many in the church believe them to be Chris tians because they affirm faith in Jesus. Worst of all, the state of leadership in some of the most obvious segments of the church is pathetic. Recent news headlines have made that clear to the world.2
I am convinced that the popularized gospel of our day has made all this possible — even inevitable. The notion that faith is nothing more than believing a few biblical facts caters to human depravity. If repentance, holiness of life, and submission to the lordship of Christ are all optional, why should we expect the redeemed to differ from the heathen? Who is to say that someone might not be a believer, just because that person lives in stubborn rebellion against God? If people say they believe, shouldn't we just take their word for it?
1. Paul rebuked the Corinthians for their cockiness about the sin in their congregation (5:2). He implied that they had no right to assume that an incestuous fornicator was a true believer — his sin was so wicked that even pagan Gentiles would not do such things openly (v. 1). He demanded that the Corinthians excommunicate the man (vv. 2, 5, 13) and referred to him as a "so-called brother" (v. 11). Paul clearly doubted that a regenerate person would live so contemptuously.
2. It is embarrassing that the scandals of recent decades have exposed even worse sin in the church than in the secular political arena. Ironically, however, many Chris tians seem more willing than the world to restore their disqualifi ed leaders to positions of prominence, violating the cardinal requirement that a leader be above reproach (1 Tim. 3:2, 10; Titus 1:6).