Passage Read: 1 Corinthians 4-5
Meditation Verses: 5:9-13
Thought
We are to hold each other, fellow believers, to a higher standard than we hold unbelievers. Unbelievers need to be called to repentance to receive forgiveness through Jesus's blood. We are to expect and require believers to walk in obedience to Christ. The unbeliever hasn't accepted and submitted to Christ as Lord; he can't! But the believer has believed in Jesus as God's one true Son and Lord of all creation; his nature has been changed and the Spirit of God has come to dwell within him. We are to expect righteous and holy and godly behavior from him. If it's missing, we hold each other accountable, even cutting off from fellowship those who refuse to repent. But unbelievers who do the same things, we're to bring them the Gospel. If they repent, their lives should change too, though they might need some instruction. If not, we're not obligated to pursue them, but to take the Gospel to the next person. But an unbeliever is going to do ungodly things because that's his nature; the believer is expected to do righteous things because that's his new nature. We have one standard, but apply it differently, depending on the redemptive state of the individual.
Application
As a believer, I cannot continue to live in sin. I have to put all ungodly ways behind me, and my brothers and sisters in Christ are to help me recognize and rid myself of anything not of God. I owe them the same service. It's ultimately for the glory of Jesus Christ! How can those who bear His holy name live in ungodly ways? How can those who have His Spirit dwelling in them not walk in the holiness of the Spirit? To continue in sin is to drag Jesus's name through the mud and declare the Spirit to be powerless! Believer and unbeliever alike are to be called to repentance. But the unbeliever who refuses, well, that's to be expected and I can't rid him from my orbit. But the believer who refuses to repent, I must separate myself from them, for the sake of Christ, and for the sake of that believer, that they might be ashamed of their behavior and come to repent.