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I've been struggling with a chapter the past couple of days. 1 Corinthians 5, particularly verse 11.

"11But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat."

I had to put this verse to practice today. A very good friend of mine who calls himself Christian has been embracing a sin that he refuses to give up, so I chose to disassociate myself with him.

I was torn for several reasons. One, the attitude i see in my church and many other churches is that if a Christian is living in sin they'll need your help and guidance to see their way out of it, and you can't offer that to them by leaving them. However, this verse clearly says that we should not even eat with someone who calls themself a Christian but lives in sin.

It's also hard because I would never choose to leave behind a friend who's living in sin. I would try to stay and help convince them of what they're doing is wrong, but this chapter says to get rid of them.

This whole topic is confusing because it's mapped out so clearly, but I've never seen it practiced by my church or any other I've been to.

Here's a link to the Chapter
1 Corinthians Chapter 5

Please post any thoughts you have on the matter.

I think the big question of the whole issue is whether or not this verse was aimed at the church as a whole (in the context of church discipline) or to individual believers. I think though, that if your friend has a problem and acknowledges it as sin you should definitely associate with him and support him through it.

Because you have already said, however, that your friend calls himself a Christian and is unrepentant of his sin, you must follow the guidelines for church discipline outlined in scripture. One, (which it seems you have done already) is to confront your brother one-on-one in private and to rebuke him for his sin. The next step is to take another person or two with you to confront this man (take extra care to ensure that anyone else that you tell about your friend's situation is not prone to gossip) and to try and persuade him of the need to repent. The third step would be to go to his church and to have them pursue the matter further.

With every confrontation, it is of the utmost importance to assert both your and Christ's love for the man, but disappointment with his behavior. Also important for him to know is that you will not withhold your fellowship from him if he repents of his sin, and that you will support him every step of the way in getting help and counsel from his sinful behavior, once he repents.

Sounds like good advice, Kevin

Saint Kevin wrote:I think the big question of the whole issue is whether or not this verse was aimed at the church as a whole (in the context of church discipline) or to individual believers. I think though, that if your friend has a problem and acknowledges it as sin you should definitely associate with him and support him through it.

Because you have already said, however, that your friend calls himself a Christian and is unrepentant of his sin, you must follow the guidelines for church discipline outlined in scripture. One, (which it seems you have done already) is to confront your brother one-on-one in private and to rebuke him for his sin. The next step is to take another person or two with you to confront this man (take extra care to ensure that anyone else that you tell about your friend's situation is not prone to gossip) and to try and persuade him of the need to repent. The third step would be to go to his church and to have them pursue the matter further.

With every confrontation, it is of the utmost importance to assert both your and Christ's love for the man, but disappointment with his behavior. Also important for him to know is that you will not withhold your fellowship from him if he repents of his sin, and that you will support him every step of the way in getting help and counsel from his sinful behavior, once he repents.

It was difficult to follow the guidelines you listed, because he's an online friend and there's a whole buncha limitations in that. I didn't know any of his Christians friends, so there was no way i could come to him with another person andpersuade him of his need to repent. He also lives way far away, so there was no way I could go to his church and talk to them.

In regards to you last paragraph, I did do all of that. I've tried my best to do this in love, and I have told him that I would welcome him back when he repents.

I've tried my best to follow the bibles guidelines for this situation, but it feels like the limitations of an i=online relationship make the specifics much harder.

I'll be brief, since I know most definitely this thread will be closed so here goes: you forgot to mention verse 5--

verse 5 wrote:hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.

If this person so desires to commit evil in the eyes of the Lord while calling himself a Christian, you should let them go and make them free to do whatever they want. I believe what the verse really calls for is to let the sinner suffer for his foolish behaviour so that he may eventually repent and become a better person. But the one who is puffed up won't realize the error of his ways and become consumed in his own folly. Also, remember the Prodigal Son. The father let his son waste all his money, but the son eventually realized his error, humbled himself, turned away from error and was accpeted by his father once again.

My $0.02