Jane grew up in an abusive family, she got pregnant at a young age after rocky relationships with several men. She struggled with depression and finally hit rock bottom. On her way sliding into the gutter, she reached out for anyone, anyone at all to help her. She found a pastor who explained how Christ had already saved her. She saw the salvation of Christ and the great love. She wanted it. A few months later she bumped into one of her old friends and they ran off and got married. Her husband reintroduced her to many of her old friends. After a while, the relationship disintegrated and Jane was lonely; she reached out to one of her friends for support and she gave herself to him. But the relationship didn't last, and she was soon alone again. She was alone and in pain and turned to alcohol to dull her pain.
I'm struggling with 1 Corinthians 5
If Jane goes through all of this and accepted Christ and claimed to be a Christian throughout it, 1 Corinthians 5, taken alone would seem to suggest that she should essentially be excommunicated from the church.
If Jane claimed salvation for a time and then doubt caused her to question her salvation as her marriage got ruined, the love demonstrated throughout the Bible and through Christ himself seems to suggest that she should be loved and helped!
If Jane learned about God and rejected Him without ever being saved, but was loved and welcomed by the church, the church is commanded to love her deeply.
Does a persons past play no role in determining if they should be treated in this manner? Or could it be that in this verse Paul is referring to people who have never "cleaned up their act?" Not people who have fallen, but rather people who never actually stopped sinning, who were never once repentant?
Does it really all hinge on whether someone "claims" to be a christian?
Using myself as an example, I know that I am saved. I have the support of a large number of people. During the period I was saved, I spent years having premarital sex. Knowing it was wrong, wrestling with it, saying I wanted to stop, trying to stop. So in this time, if I had been excommunicated from the church, if I had been judged harshly, what good would it have done? I would have ended up losing all of the best influences on my life to be tossed to the wolves.
This verse seems to be so clear to some, but to me it is far from it. It seems that it is important and does provide some great guidance and truth, but being only a single passage it seems like it must refer to a fairly rare occurrence. Not something that applies to a struggling christian, or a young christian who has been pulled back into his/her sinful past.
I'm struggling with 1 Corinthians 5
If Jane goes through all of this and accepted Christ and claimed to be a Christian throughout it, 1 Corinthians 5, taken alone would seem to suggest that she should essentially be excommunicated from the church.
If Jane claimed salvation for a time and then doubt caused her to question her salvation as her marriage got ruined, the love demonstrated throughout the Bible and through Christ himself seems to suggest that she should be loved and helped!
If Jane learned about God and rejected Him without ever being saved, but was loved and welcomed by the church, the church is commanded to love her deeply.
Does a persons past play no role in determining if they should be treated in this manner? Or could it be that in this verse Paul is referring to people who have never "cleaned up their act?" Not people who have fallen, but rather people who never actually stopped sinning, who were never once repentant?
Does it really all hinge on whether someone "claims" to be a christian?
Using myself as an example, I know that I am saved. I have the support of a large number of people. During the period I was saved, I spent years having premarital sex. Knowing it was wrong, wrestling with it, saying I wanted to stop, trying to stop. So in this time, if I had been excommunicated from the church, if I had been judged harshly, what good would it have done? I would have ended up losing all of the best influences on my life to be tossed to the wolves.
This verse seems to be so clear to some, but to me it is far from it. It seems that it is important and does provide some great guidance and truth, but being only a single passage it seems like it must refer to a fairly rare occurrence. Not something that applies to a struggling christian, or a young christian who has been pulled back into his/her sinful past.
