The Scriptural Call to Maintain Church Holiness
In the first part of this paper, I aimed to address the topic of whether sinners are permitted to accuse other sinners of wrong-doing. Now of course, the Scriptural teaching is that those who are themselves in grievous sin have no business accusing others of similarly terrible things (Mt 7:1–5). This is assumed for the purpose of this paper. But often, when a concerned Christian approaches church leadership about an act of sin that he/she has either observed or personally experienced, their counselor will ask them, “Well, you’re a sinner too aren’t you?” Regardless of motive, the question’s purpose is to cause the concerned Christian not to push the issue so zealously or at all (as may be the case). What I addressed last time is that this question is a citation of a Scriptural doctrine to drive home some grievous, invalid application. The fact is that while it is true that all men are sinners, this is not equivalent to saying that all sins are equally heinous, nor even that all sinners are equally accountable either in this life nor in eternity. Therefore, the person bringing the accusation is not necessarily exercising hypocrisy in pushing the issue. If you’re curious as to the details of what I argued, I’d suggest doing back to read part one. THE HEART OF THE ISSUE
But this second part aims to get at the issue behind the question: are church members permitted to pursue holiness in the church or not? And the overwhelming answer of the Scripture is yes. Not only are we permitted to, but we should actively do so.
Listen to the words of James in his fifth chapter, “Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him, let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins” (Jas 5:19–20). In these words, the Holy Spirit not only permits Christians to seek sanctification in the lives of their brethren, but He holds out great reward and encouragement to those who are bold enough to do so.
Here are some observations about this passage that may be helpful for you in considering your own place in the pursuit of your church’s holiness. Also, please note several of these are from Spurgeon’s Soul Winner. First, James does not merely address the leaders of the church in seeking the repentance of the wayward. He’s speaking to anybody, whom the KJV describes as a simple, “one.” Anybody! Any Christian with integrity enough, heart enough, guts enough and love enough to do it. “If one convert him…” Second, notice that the wayward person is from within the church, “if any of you do err…” This is not merely street evangelism, this is brother on brother within the church. Third, notice that James’ use of the phrase, “shall hide a multitude of sins” is the direct result of a process. One brother approaches another brother about some error from the truth, succeeds in persuading him to repent and thus covers the multitude of his sins. The grammar is framework-shattering because so often, the application of these very words is used to mean the exact opposite of James’ purpose. Yes, it is true, sometimes love does cover a multitude of sins by overlooking wrongs that have been done. But sometimes, per the Holy Spirit by the mouth of James, we cover the multitude of sins by bringing them into the light! Christian, pursue the wayward brother, seek his return to the Lord and you shall have a part in covering a multitude of sins upon his repentance — of saving him from death. What a call, what a blessing!
But let’s look at a few other passages which contain the same message: that Christians are called to seek the holiness of their churches and fellow-Christians.
Matthew 18:15–20 and 1 Corinthians 5 — Church Discipline with Some Application
The truths of Matthew 18:15–20 have long been taught in the Evangelical church. If your brother sins against you, go to him yourself, then take a witness or two, then bring it to the church. This will be new to very few who read this, but the methods in Matthew 18 are a mechanism for maintaining the holiness of the congregations of the church. This seems to be forgotten or ignored by those who ask: “You’re a sinner too aren’t you?” because the only persons who can seek to confront and restore sinners are other sinners, otherwise, there is simply no point for Matthew 18’s existence in our Bibles.
To build even further on this point, there is a fascinating example of church discipline which is recorded for us in 1 Corinthians 5 in the case of the man who was committing immorality with his step-mother. When we read Paul’s thoughts on the matter in vv. 3–5, something very striking is missing in comparison to Matthew 18. In verse 3, Paul clearly states that he has already made his judgment as to what needs to be done with this man: “deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus” (v. 5). The “steps” simply do not line up. Where is talking to him personally or taking one or two witnesses? Do we wonder why this is the case or do we consider it to be a minor “coincidence” or an apostolic exception? I wonder if Evangelicals minimize this observation. If someone will be honest enough to consider that question, he will either have to conclude that the Scripture contradicts itself OR that even with regard to church discipline, the Scriptures lays out different ways in which different sins should be handled. I hold to the latter because the former is untenable. What this means is that there are some sins that require the “steps” of Matthew 18:15–20 and there are some that require the steps of 1 Corinthians 5. So, for example, rumor-spreading should be dealt with differently than embezzling or child-molestation. My friend, if someone has been slandering your name behind your back, use the dictates of Matthew 18 to resolve it; but if there is credible reason to believe that someone has been abusing children in your church, forget the steps, expel them from your church and by all means, call the cops.
Matthew 7:1–5; 1 Corinthians 5 — Logs, Specks and Accusations
I’d like to take a section to consider what might be a further hinderance to exercising church discipline. John 3:16 might be the most famous Bible verse in the world, but Matthew 7:1 is the second most. “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” This verse is connected with the also famous “speck/plank” passage, “And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?” (Mt 7:3). As we mentioned at the start of this paper, these verses can be weaponized against Christians who really want to take on issues of holiness in their churches. But that is not a proper use of the passage. In the same manner in which our culture will throw v. 1 in our faces to get us to be quiet about our various views on holiness, so too the ideas of v. 3 (if not the words precisely) are used to shut up dissenters who believe that issues of church-holiness need to be taken seriously. But we all know that v. 1 is governed by v. 2, “for [this is the operative word] with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged” (i.e. “Judge not…” it is not a blank statement to keep Christians from standing firmly on Biblical ethics, but a warning, “take care, for/because how you do it, it will be done to you…”) and v. 3 is governed by what follows in vv. 4–5. This is imperative. Far from barring true Christians from calling each other to account, Matthew 7:4–5 is simply a description of the prerequisites to call others to account. In v. 4 Christ asks how someone would even try to help take something out of another’s eye when there is a log in their own; and in v. 5, we’re instructed, take out the beam and then… Pause for a moment. Christ does not end at commanding us to take out the beam. That is a very important observation. He could have told us, “Just worry about you. Just take out the logs in your eyes and I’ll worry about everyone else.” But He didn’t stop the verse there. He continues, “…and then thou shalt see clearly to cast the mote out of thy brother’s eye.” It was righteous and just for the Lord to end that passage that way. It does not mean that only absolutely sinless accusers are permitted to rectify issues of godlessness in the church, but simply that these accusers should not be hypocrites.
First Corinthians 5 also directly speaks to this topic. Paul recounts how he warned the Corinthians about whom they let into their fellowship (v. 9). He immediately clarifies that he is not speaking about avoiding the unbelieving world because that would simply be impossible (v. 10).
But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator… For what have I to do to judge them 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 (vv. 11–13).
You know this passage, there is nothing new here to you. But maybe the question we need to wrestle with is, “Do we believe it?” Many are very bold in critiquing our woke, American culture, and while those critiques are helpful and necessary for equipping the saints, Paul is clearly teaching in this passage that our first judgments should be against those in our churches. “Do ye not judge them that are within? But them that are without [i.e. outside the church] God judgeth.” So my friend, are you seeing specks and logs in the church? Have you a clear eye? Then the Scripture authorizes you meekly and carefully to be able to work for the holiness of your church even if you are still a sinner (Gal 6:1).
Sources:
Spurgeon, C. (2015). XV. Encouragement to Soul-Winners. In The Soul Winner (pp. 136–147). Chapter, GLH Publishing.
