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Not a Hint


           But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.  Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.  For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.  Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient.  Therefore do not be partners with them. (Ephesians 5:3-7)

           Suppose you know someone wealthy who married someone after a brief, intense romance. As soon as the ink on the marriage certificate dried, you discovered that not only was the spouse was involved in a relationship with someone else, but that he was verbally, emotionally, physically abusive of both your friend and your friend’s family, and that he used drugs and alcohol and engaged in numerous crimes. When your friend tries to extricate herself from this horrible situation, he announces, “You promised to love, honor, and obey [or whatever the marriage vows were] so you have no choice but to forgive me.”
          Put your gun away and consider these questions:
1) Was there ever actually a relationship between them?
2) Did he ever actually love your friend?
3) Should your wealthy friend continue the relationship or have her family testify and have him thrown in prison for multiple counts of assault, abuse, and for all of his other crimes?
4) Should he have access to any of the advantages, assets, blessings, privileges, or rights available through your wealthy friend’s position?
          My answer to all those questions is “No!” In fact, that’s not stating it emphatically enough. But sometimes, people who claim to be Christians, who may have been baptized, and have participated in communion, joined a church, etc., will sin, and continue to sin, and when confronted say that he can do anything he wants, because God is obligated to forgive him because he’s a Christian and God is covenantally required to forgive all his sins and accept him into heaven. Oh, they may not put it quite so boldly, but the idea is the same: that a person who claims to be a Christian can do anything he wants. The answer to the four questions above is, once again, “No!”
          So, when I read the passage above, my conclusion is that if someone claims to be a Christian but continues practicing the things listed, they do not lose their salvation. They never had it to lose.[1]
          Now, to make the other end of things clear, I don’t believe this passage is talking about kicking someone out of the Church or our lives because he/she commits a sin (or a sin that we find particularly bad.) It’s about those who see nothing wrong with any of those things, not the person who agrees that they are bad and is actively opposed to them but commits them anyway. It’s like the  difference between the alcoholic who fell off the wagon six times in the last six months, but only twice in the last three months, and only one in the last two and the alcoholic who says that he’s not an alcoholic, and that if other people would just let him drink as much as he’d like, maybe he wouldn’t drink so much. Having dealt with the latter, I can tell you that partnering with such a person brings nothing but heartache.
          This is why the goal isn’t zero tolerance in the sense of “Off with their heads!” But it is zero tolerance in the sense that these things are not acceptable, and if you don’t agree, maybe the Church is not the place you want to be.



[1] Now, to those who want to draw parallels between the abusive, fraudulent Christian and Mr. Trump – I will not debate the likelihood that he is abusive or fraudulent. He’s a politician and a businessman, and my trust of both those is low or nonexistent in most cases. However, as I review the platform on which Leftist candidates stand, and the platform on which Mr. Trump stands, I find that I trust the Leftist a little more than I do Mr. Trump. I trust them to strive to enact the platform in which they actually and passionately believe – a platform I find unacceptable in nearly every point. Mr. Trump may not actually live up to the whole of his platform. He may not actually believe in his platform. His public persona may be a complete fabrication… but in order to continue his fraud (if it is fraud) he must make at least some attempt to move in the direction opposite from the Left, He may not be good, but that doesn’t mean that he’s not better than the alternative. He may not be a Christian, but he is not openly and actively campaigning for the government to control the practice of religion.


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