A Theology of Separation
Revelation- A Message to the Churches • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 43:06
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Biblical Basis of Separation
Biblical Basis of Separation
14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15 What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?
Unequally yoked- ἑτεροζυγέω (heterosexual) draft animals that need different kinds of yokes, because they are of different species [e.g., an ox and a donkey] / to be mis-mated with someone. To be wrongly or poorly matched in an association. “You must not get into double harness with unbelievers”
How has this passage historically been interpreted?
From the context this passage seems to be talking about more than just forbidding the marriage of a believer to an unbeliever. It seems to be restricting believers from partnering themselves / mis-associating themselves with unbelievers- it is an issue of fellowship.
What was the main question regarding fellowship?
The question of “fellowship” is really, “With whom or what can I legitimately enter into a spiritual partnership?”
Believers are forbidden to enter into SPIRITUAL PARTNERSHIP with unbelievers.
Examples of spiritual partnership? Marriage, Worship, Church Membership, Celebrations Ceremonies (Weddings / Making a Cake)
We must be especially cautious with things that can damage our testimony or do harm to the gospel!
This is a difficult issue to think about- but we must for it is very important!
14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?
Partnership- sharing, participation, joining together, a relationship involving shared purposes and activity
Fellowship- spiritual partnership
15 What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?
Accord- agreement, a state of shared interests, a joint decision
Portion- a part set aside for a specific purpose, especially a share which a person has a vested interest in.
12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
What does a believer share with an unbeliever?
16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Agreement- consensus / an agreement in the judgement or opinion reached by a group as a whole. Who are you voting for with your fellowship?
Temple of God- note the significance placed on worship in this context. When it comes to our worship of God we cannot in any way dilute our worship of God by our fellowship with sin.
17 Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you,
Here is the Biblical practice of separation.
Why should we separate? I will welcome you (in context of temple worship)
18 and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”
Conclusion- we are to have no fellowship (no spiritual partnering or association) with unbelievers
The important distinction is a clear understanding of what relationships constitute a spiritual partnering or association and what do not- much damage has been done by not thinking through this issue seriously.
1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife.
I Cor 5 is instruction for church disciple when the church is dealing with public sin. There was a man in the church who was participating in fornication with his father’s wife (step mother). This was a public sin, and it was so scandalous that even the Gentiles (unbelievers) knew about it and were shocked. This kind of thing was not done even amongst the unsaved!
So, Paul instructed the church to take specific action against this man.
2 And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.
Paul insisted that the church should already have taken this man out of the church- “Let him who has done this be removed from among you.” Also notice that Paul lays this responsibility and decision on the church itself. Paul does not use his own authority to remove this man engaged in scandal, but instructs the local church in Corinth to take him “removed from among you.”
3 For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing.
Here Paul states that he had already heard enough from afar to judge the situation himself- even though I am absent in the body (I am not there personally to see and hear myself), but I have heard enough already to judge the situation as though I were present, concerning this man who has sinned.
4 When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus,
So again, Paul instructs the church, when you are gathered together. Notice the significance Paul places on the authority of the local church when it assembles and passes judgment! This is so significant. When the church assembles and when they operate according to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that is they are following the commandments laid down by Jesus Christ in His Word, when they do this, they operate with the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words the judgment of the assemble church is very significant, it is very weighty!
5 you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
They were to remove this man from the church, and place him outside the church, and in placing him outside of the church they would be, in effect, delivering him unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh. In other words, when they removed this man from the church, he would be removed from the protection of being part of the church, and would be open to physical chastisement brought about by the wiles of Satan himself.
1st purpose of church discipline?
This was not a malicious act, in fact this was a redemptive act, the purpose of such a judgement was so that this man’s spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus- the purpose of such a judgement was to bring the man unto repentance and reconciliation (that is always one of the purposes of church discipline by the way)
6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?
A second purpose of church disciple?
The public sin of this man was polluting the whole church, especially in the eyes of the Gentiles.
(V. 1- “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans.”)
Church discipline maintains a good testimony of the church among the unsaved.
Even a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
Why is separation necessary in the instance of church membership?
Because in a very significant way church membership involves fellowship, and in this case fellowship with a willfully sinful individual, who was involved in public sin, was spiritually polluting the whole church!
Do you see why it is very dangerous to become a member of just any church? Do you see why it is important that the church not pollute itself by allowing sin even to attract unsaved or spiritually immature people?
7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
3rd purpose of church discipline?
Church discipline halts the spread of sin, it causes others in the church to be careful in their walk with the Lord- to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling
(Sourdough starter spreads to the whole dough)
And the final purpose is found in v. 8?
(v. 7b) For Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed.
8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
The fourth goal of church discipline is to maintain the clarity of the gospel and the purity of our fellowship with Christ.
In the end of v. 7 Christ is called our passover lamb sacrificed for us. What happened in the first passover? It was the occasion where God killed the firstborn in every Egyptian household, but He spared the firstborn in Israel through the blood of the sacrificial Passover lamb.
What does it mean to celebrate the festival? Are we supposed to continue as believers celebrating the OT festival of Passover?
What are we celebrating as NT Christians? Christ, our Passover Lamb! So the festival is a metaphorically way of saying we have the joy of celebrating Christ and the message of the gospel!
How do we best celebrate Christ and the gospel in the church? Not with the old leaven (what is that? SIN), but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth!
Here Paul says that Christ has been sacrificed as the Passover lamb for believers. Because of His death on the cross, we have been liberated from sin. Since that is true, what would it look like if we placed ourselves back under sin, especially this kind of scandalous public sin? It would be a serious betrayal of the gospel! It would introduce an element of pollution, or leaven, into our relationship with Christ Himself. This pollution is eliminated when the offending party is removed from the membership of the congregation.
9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—
In v. 9 Paul articulates a very important distinction to our discussion of church membership.
Simple command- but Paul clarifies just what he means for the church
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.
He is not talking about the unsaved, that would be impossible. If we are to make disciples of all the world, we must put ourselves into the company of fornicators, of greedy people, of extortioners or swindlers, and with idolaters. Because if we didn’t we would need to be taken out of the world. But we are to be in the world, just not of the world. This is an important distinction. This is who Paul is not talking about, he is not talking about the unsaved.
So apparently for Paul associating with sexually immoral people is NOT what he was talking about in 2 Corinthians 6 17!
17 Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you,
Or I Cor 10.27
27 If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience.
There is no need for separation in these instances! Why? Because there is no spiritual partnership taking place! How this has been abused in our circles! We separate over things God never meant for us to separate on because of our lack of clarity in thinking about what constitutes fellowship and what does not! And that there are different levels of fellowship- not all fellowship is equal! Apparently according to I Corinthians 5 church membership is one of the closest forms of fellowship and thus requires the most drastic applications of separation. But that doesn’t mean we must apply this same level of separation to all other associations in our lives. It will do much damage if we do so! Can you think of a few of them? Isolation from unsaved people!
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.
Paul is talking about not keeping company with any person who claims to be a believer and yet practices certain kinds of sins. Here Paul lists sexual immorality, greed, fraud, idolatry, verbal abuse, and inebriation as offenses that require some kind of response. Now these sins do not make up a comprehensive list. Rather, this list gives us guidelines for what kinds of sins necessitate this kind of church discipline. And I think we can break these sins into two categories:
1). These sins are incompatible with a profession of the gospel.
2). These sins constitute public scandals.
So if one claims he is saved (he is called a brother), and he is participating in such a scandalous sin (like fornication) that it is incompatible with his profession of the gospel, and it is a public sin a public scandal (personal sins and church discipline are handled differently- Matt 18), then the church is to institute discipline.
That is not the only distinction given. Paul adds another consideration in v. 12.
12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?
Not only is Paul talking about people who profess to be believers, who are living in public sin, but also professing believers who are not without, but within. It is not the responsibility of the church to discipline other believers who are without, they are only responsible to judge those that are within. Without and within what? It’s the church. The authority of the local church to discipline other believers only extends to other believers within the church.
13 God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”
God is responsible to judge those who are without the church. The believers in the local church in Corinth were responsible to judge other fellow believers within the church, and even to exercise church discipline against them- therefore, Paul says, put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
Right here in I Corinthians 5, I think we find Biblical evidence of the necessity of church membership, and also an clear limitation and definition of the application of separation.
Clearly Paul believed that some people were inside the church at Corinth while others where outside of it. Those inside were accountable to the whole congregation for their conduct. The congregation possessed the authority to expel anyone whose error was sufficiently grievous. This authority was mediated through the assembled church, not through private individuals or subgroups of the congregation. The extent that we utilize separation is at its greatest among members of a local church. Because, being a member with someone in a local church carries with it a high degree of fellowship of spiritual partnership.
But I don’t necessarily have to exercise separation with people outside of the church. I might be friends with good Christian people who I would never covenant together with in church membership.
We must think seriously on the application of this teaching!
I probably don’t need to separate from family members who might claim to be Christians, but whose lives are filled with sin. Why not? Because simply being their relative does not constitute spiritual partnership. But, I might not go to the wedding of a family member under certain circumstances- homosexuality / marrying an unbeliever / etc? Why? Because attending that event constitutes celebrating the sin or approving the sin and that hints more toward a spiritual partnership.
8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
At all costs I want to avoid damaging the testimony of Christ and of the gospel, and by approving or condoning certain sins I may be polluting my message.
Each individual application should be treated with prayer, wisdom, and discernment!
17 I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.
18 For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.
3 If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness,
4 he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions,
5 and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.
5 useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself.
The Lexham Textual Notes on the Bible 1 Timothy 6:5
Most early manuscripts have “godliness to be a means of gain.” One early manuscript and later witnesses related to it have “godliness to be a means of gain. From such [people], withdraw yourself.”
9 Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.
10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting,
11 for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.
6 Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us.
7 For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you,
8 nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you.
9 It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate.
10 For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.
11 For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies.
12 Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.
13 As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good.
14 If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed.
15 Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.