One In Jesus

In the last post of this series, I offered up 1 Cor 5:9-12 as being of critical importance to the questions posed in earlier posts. And while there have been several comments on these posts since then, nothing has been said about this passage. And I think that demonstrates the truth of my suggestion that this passage is “invisible to us.”

(1Co 5:9-12 ESV)  9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people — 10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler — not even to eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?

Let’s consider the principles that Paul is teaching here. The context is a church member engaging in an incestuous relationship. Paul insists that the church must disfellowship him. But he writes vv. 9 -12 to make clear that his command to disfellowship the sexually immoral Christian does not apply more generally — that is, it doesn’t apply to non-Christians. Continue reading →

So far, no one has mentioned the passage I consider central to the discussion —

(1Co 5:9-12 ESV)  9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people — 10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler — not even to eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?

This passages bears analysis at at least four levels — Continue reading →

Here’s an interesting comparison.

A post about strippers and the gospel, raising questions about how to evangelize those who are very far removed from Christian morality, gets 3 comments. Meanwhile, the two posts on Col 3:16 and instrumental music get 160 comments. Could this mean that we in the Churches of Christ remain a bit overly focused on our internal disputes?

I mean, I thought sure I could garner some comment traffic by saying “naked” and “stripper” in the same post! But evidently we find the a cappella music question more interesting by far.

So I’m not going to express my views on Stories 1 and 2 just yet. Rather, I leave for the readers the questions —

1. Is the church in Story 1 right? Unwise? Or guilty of sin?
2. Is the church in Story 2 right? Unwise? Or guilty of sin?

First Story —

Bikini-clad strippers protest church in rural Ohio

Dancers counter congregants who have picketed the club where they work

On Sunday, four of The Fox Hole’s seven strippers and more than a dozen supporters garnered both scorn and compassion from churchgoers — and quite a few honks from pickup trucks and other passing vehicles. Continue reading →