A local church is a group of saintsI Corinthians 1:2; I Thessalonians 1:1; Philippians 1:1,27; Ephesians 5:3So what happens when one who is a saint stops acting like a saint?I John 1:10Galatians 6:1-2James 5:19-20Matthew 18:15-17 – how to deal with a brother who sinsI Corinthians 5:1-5,11 – instructions for dealing with a sinner in the church in CorinthBut what if that person won’t repent and simply joins another local church?As far as I know, the Bible does not explicitly deal with this situation.Philippians 1; Ephesians 5Local church in Corinth: I Corinthians 5:1-13Local church in Thessalonica: II Thessalonians 3:6,14-15Sometimes mistakes are made in local churchesI Corinthians 5 – A church may make the mistake of having fellowship with one who is living in sin.III John 1:9-10 – A church may make the mistake of refusing fellowship with one who is living righteously.Acts 9:26-28 – A church may make the mistake of refusing fellowship with one they did not know was living righteously.A church may make the mistake of having fellowship with one they did not know to be in sin.A church may mistakenly draw a line of fellowship over some issue.So what can I do?Out of love for his soul, you can try to contact him and restore him if you haven’t already. (Galatians 6:1)Out of love for his soul, you might consider lovingly bringing the matter to the attention of a member of the other church. What they do with that information is ultimately between them and God.Romans 16:17-18; II Thessalonians 3:15 – If the person won’t repent, for your conscience’ sake, you personally will have to turn away from them.Let’s have a word of caution about all of this.Hebrews 5:13-14Corinth (I Corinthians)Positive: I Corinthians 1:2-9; 16:15,23-24Negative: 1:11; 3:1-3; 11:20,30; 14:18; 15:12I John 1:5-10
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