The Mirror of the Word and other works by C.E. White can be purchased on her website, cewhitebooks.com or on Amazon.

“I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people; I did not at all mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the greedy and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to leave the world. But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so–called brother if he is a sexually immoral person, or a greedy person, or an idolater, or is verbally abusive, or habitually drunk, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a person. For what business of mine is it to judge outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the evil person from among yourselves.”

—1 Corinthians 5:9–13

These verses seem shocking. We normally see the opposite in our church culture—judgment for unbelievers and license to sin amongst believers.

Thankfully, there is grace and forgiveness for all who repent, but there is little attention given to the issue of those who say they’ve repented yet continue living in willful, repeated sin.

This has resulted in a church that looks almost no different than the world.

It’s our job to speak truth to those who have strayed and potentially “save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:19–20). We’re not to consider them enemies, but to admonish them because we love them (2 Thessalonians 3:14–15), to restore them in gentleness (Galatians 6:1), and to address faults in a loving, orderly way so they have the chance to repent (Matthew 18:15–17).

Let’s follow Christ’s example of giving a gentle invitation to unbelievers while ensuring that our churches are free of those who only hear, but will not live, the faith.

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