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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