GOD AND EVIL
THE CHRISTIAN RESPONSE TO SIN
© Hubert Krause July, 1998
The Church of God in Williamstown
WEB SITE: http://www.alphalink.com.au/~sanhub/index_.htm

PART 1
INTRODUCTION: THE PROBLEM OF EVIL
Sin, as we should know, is at the root of all of humanity's woes. God defines sin and evil with many scriptural references (e.g., 1Jn 3:4; Jn 8:44; Gn 2:9,17; Dt 31:19; Ps 37:27-9; Isa 7:15; Jer 17:9; Mic 3:2-4; Zeph 1:12; Rev 22:18-19). Today's culture is increasingly unable to cope with the vast problems of evil. The churches are confronted with the same problems and seem to have just as many answers as the politicians attempting solutions.

The purpose of part one of this paper is to examine how God deals with evil through His perfect judgments. Part two argues that as Christians we must have the same perspectives and approach to evil and sin as our heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, the Son of God, have. This may necessitate changes in our attitudes towards evil and in how we deal with sin within our own lives and in circles of the society in which we live. Our human notions of good and evil, love and hatred, mercy, judgment and punishment may not necessarily be reflective of the mind of God. However, if we claim to be followers of the Way, our standards of righteousness must be in godly harmony with the perfect righteousness of God (Mt 5:48).

Let us begin by examining how God executes His judgment upon evil.

THE ANGER OF GOD
It is axiomatic that God will correct to remove evil and sin from those whom He loves:

God's chastening and correction at times involves His anger, in regard to which we read: God's anger is slow to be kindled, but once ignited, its power and fierceness is incomprehensible to humans and is to be greatly feared: The Scriptures give many examples of God's anger, and of the consequences of His anger.
For instance, when the Israelites complained and murmured once too often, God acted: God also saw to it that those who were responsible for leading the people astray to blatantly violate His covenant were punished-and that His sentence was seen to have been carried out: Such instantaneous judgment from God is not uniquely Old Testament, as the example of God's punishment of Ananias and Sapphira reveals: God is a jealous God who judges all who oppose Him: During His earthly ministry, Jesus Christ was also moved to anger: So God punishes sin in His anger: Indeed, David called upon God to punish according to His anger: ENEMIES OF GOD
God's anger is seen to be directed at His enemies: What does it mean to be an enemy of God? How can we be in opposition to God? How does God treat His enemies? Who are the enemies of God? And they are contrasted with those who love Him:

The enemies of Israel were often considered the enemies of God, for Israel was God's nation:

This is especially true when their enemies rejoice over the correction and punishment God imposes upon His people: Notice how God views those who would be His enemies by sinning brazenly and defiantly against Him: God's judgment upon the household of Eli was irrevocable: THE WRATH OF GOD
We need to realise that the wrath of God is not divine vindictiveness, but is His faithful judgment against sin-the result of the violation of the perfect standard of righteousness of His law-for which man has no excuse: For those who abandon God when they know far better, the punishment is even more severe: God's enemies who reject Him and who walk contrary to His will despite His correction shall suffer His indignation: To speak against the servants of God is to speak against God Himself and to incur His wrath: Notice that the Israelites' complaints and accusations were directed towards Moses, but in reality, by opposing him, they were opposing the will of God.
The Psalmist confirms this: It is indeed a frightening prospect to incur God's wrath because of our actions against a servant of His. He takes this very personally. To raise a hand against the people of God may at times make an individual an enemy of God. That the sage Gamaliel understood this is evidenced in the advice he dispensed to the Sanhedrin as to how they should deal with the apostles before them: There are times when God's wrath is unrestrained: This is not to deny the truth of scriptures such as 2Pet 3:9, that God is "not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." However, He knows those whose hearts are defiantly opposed to Him, who reject Him. This is why Jeremiah could even pray to God to withhold His mercy and forgiveness against his enemies at His time of anger: Devoted to Destruction
In the Old Testament, just as an offering could be dedicated to God for holy use, so could the enemies of God, through their wickedness, incur the wrath of God and so be "devoted to destruction": The example of Amalek illustrates the fact that God can execute His wrath upon His enemies using His human servants: God therefore took it personally when Saul disobeyed the divine command to destroy those whom God had named as His enemies: Even King David was severely punished as he, who knew better, brought disdain upon the Name of God by his sinful actions: We can see that God's wrath against His enemies can be very intense. Again, we make the point: the anger and wrath of God is not divine vengefulness or unrestrained emotion. Rather, God's anger is aroused because He is resolutely and persistently opposed to intransigence in sin. All of God's enemies will be brought to account as part of the perfect justice and judgment of God. The wrath of God is the execution of the divine vengeance. Indeed, the day of God's vengeance upon the earth is the day of the culmination of His wrath: Does the exercise of His wrath diminish or detract from His mercy, we may ask?

THE VENGEANCE OF GOD
The vengeance of God is an essential part of God's perfect justice; this is why man, of and by himself, is unable to avenge himself equitably:

Vengeance is God's full reward on His enemies for evil unrepented of: Correction of sinners at times involves "double" repayment-in the sense of repayment in full measure (cf. Isa 51:19) for the evil committed: So Jeremiah's prayer for God's vengeance was not amiss: Divine Hatred
Why is it inconceivable to some that God can actually hate?
God is love (1Jn 4:8), yet the Scriptures reveal that He also hates-both sin and sinners. However, the divine hatred, unlike raw human hatred, is pure. He hates sin because He loves righteousness, which confronts evil: Although He will destroy His unrepentant enemies, God takes no pleasure in their death. Rather, it is His wish that they repent: God repays man for his evil. We reap what we sow. Job understood that the penalty for iniquity is automatic: So God's enemies are those whom He has rejected. Sometimes, as the prophet Jeremiah experienced, it is even pointless to pray for the enemies of God for God, in His omniscience, has already condemned them for their impenitent hearts: God's wrath is therefore the display of His just vengeance upon His enemies: The apostle Paul clearly understood the role of God's vengeance in establishing justice for His saints: Let us now notice the role of mercy in the justice of God.

THE MERCY OF GOD
The apostle Paul tells us that all mercy originates from God the Father:

God is a God of mercy, but not at the expense of justice nor without restitution for evil: God's mercy is not unconditional. Through His foreknowledge, He knows when mercy is to be extended. Those who are to receive His mercy are the "vessels" of His mercy: The Bible gives us examples where God withheld His mercy: Indeed, the righteous prayers of God's persecuted saints have at times included the appeal to God to withhold His mercy: How do we reconcile this with notions we may have inherited that the Christian must always show mercy, no matter what the situation?

The Role of Repentance
The Scriptures amply testify to the fact that divine mercy and forgiveness are contingent upon repentance:

Repentance sought and granted means a return to the keeping of the law of God: When God does extend mercy it is as though there was never any offence committed: Yet, as we have seen, sometimes God's anger cannot, because of human rebellion, be allayed until He has exacted vengeance upon evildoers, either directly or through His servants: And in cases like these, there is no place for His mercy: Similarly, there is no place for mercy today for one who has totally rejected God: There is no place for mercy in such instances, not because God would refuse to grant it, but because He, by His foreknowledge, knows that some will not seek repentance and end their rebellion against Him: After judgement, correction and repentance, God's anger is turned away and mercy is extended: Let us now consider how Christians are to deal with evil after the example of their perfect Father.

PART 2: THE CHRISTIAN AND THE PROBLEM OF EVIL
OUR NEIGHBOUR AND OUR ENEMY
Christians are instructed to love their neighbour as themselves. This is the fulfillment of the law:

That the people of God, in struggling to do what is godly, have always had to contend with human adversaries-neighbours who become their enemies-is also axiomatic: God's view is that a follower of His must love good and abhor evil (Prov 8:13; Ps 97:10; 119:104,128,163; Amos 5:15). A Christian may have personal enemies who are not necessarily enemies of God, as we saw earlier. The Scriptures are clear as to how we ought to treat such people: By so doing, we will be imitators of our heavenly Father: It is obvious that the category of enemies to which Christ is referring includes those outside of the faith. Most often these enemies "know not (the full consequences of) what they do." Christ set the example: In this way, we return evil with good and our enemies may one day no longer be opposed to us: It is when we suffer for our faith, and not simply because we have enemies, that we bring glory to God: Sometimes, our personal enemies may have no valid reason to hate us. Their hatred-deceitful and disguised (in contrast to the pure, visible hatred of God)-is because of our service to God. This was the experience of King David: And of the prophets: And certainly of Jesus Christ: By opposing us because we serve God, our enemies may also make themselves the enemies of God.

Solomon could quite legitimately have appealed to God for the life of his enemies:

For just recompense for evil committed is the promise of the Scriptures, and is part of the perfect justice of God: David appealed to God for deliverance from his enemies: And quite vehemently: When deliverance came, he ascribed to God the victory: Yet it is obvious that God allowed David to personally prevail against his enemies: He will use in a like manner use Israel [typifying His saints] to exact vengeance upon Edom [symbolising the impenitent forces of evil] for the evil committed against His people: The account of the deliverance of the Jews in the Book of Esther is symbolic of the deliverance of the saints of God from the Devil and the forces of evil. The hand of God in using Queen Esther to exact vengeance upon the enemies of the Jews who sought to destroy them illustrates the fullness of God's just vengeance upon His enemies and the enemies of His people: The great God is perfectly just. His justice should be the source of all human justice and His divine judgements are acts of His justice on behalf of His people: So God promises to fight for his people, to deliver them from their enemies: It is the desire of God's people to be vindicated from evil. This is the natural longing for justice, for retribution for evil committed, for restitution for wrongs done-for vengeance-that is inherent in the law of God but so lacking in the laws and moral codes of men.

David speaks often of this "desire upon my enemies".
It is to God that His people therefore look for help-and, if necessary, for vengeance-when their enemies overwhelm them. God's intervention in cases like these is no less an act of His mercy:

And again, we see examples where God acted through human instruments to exact vengeance for evil deeds: This was the case when the prophet Jeremiah appealed to God for vengeance against the people of his own town, who were plotting to take his life: And God responded swiftly with the promise of divine retribution: Scripture attests to the fact that those who hate God are also the enemies of His people: In Psalm 55 we find the example of how one who was not an enemy of King David (He says that he could have tolerated even that), but a brother, had, in raising his hand against David, also raised his hand against God, and had thus become His enemy. David calls upon God to avenge him for this betrayal. The time is coming when God will avenge His people and will deliver their enemies over to them. The two witnesses are given direct power from God to destroy their enemies, who are also God's enemies: RETRIBUTION AND VENGEANCE
David provides us with a striking example of how exacting vengeance humanly can be disastrous. When he and his men were shamefully treated by Nabal after they had protected his shepherds and flocks, David's immediate response was to personally exact revenge: Only the intervention of Abigail prevented disaster, as David later acknowledged: Note that, by taking the matter into his own hands and exacting vengeance for the evil manner in Nabal had treated them, David would have shed blood "without cause". There is a time, then, when blood is shed with cause!

The Old Testament contains principles of legitimate punishment for a wrongs done to a fellow Israelite:

The purpose of this lex talionis (law of retribution) was to prevent the exaction of more than the equivalent of the damage originally inflicted. The penalty was to fit the crime, not exceed it. The commentaries tell us that instances of the implementation of this law, requiring an actual eye or tooth in payment, are hard to find in the Old Testament. It represented a statement of principle for judges to apply in determining reparations. Victims must be justly compensated irrespective of one's wealth or status in society (Lev 19:15,18; 24:22).

The Old Testament also contains examples where human retribution in the service of God and as part of His justice was allowed:

Sometimes these could be personally administered, as punishment meted out for flagrant violation of the law of God: The 'Avenger of Blood'
In ancient Israel, a relative was, within strict limits, personally entitled to take revenge on behalf of the family for the killing of a family member: Six "cities of refuge" were established to provide sanctuary from the traditional blood vengeance for manslayers whose guilt of intentional murder had not yet been determined. Vengeance could be exercised only before the killer reached a "city of refuge" or after the court either at the victim's hometown or at the murder site judged the case: A killer who was judged to have committed the crime without hatred or intentional planning was sent to a "city of refuge" until the death of the high priest: The avenger could not touch the killer in the city of refuge, but if the killer left the city of refuge for any reason, the avenger could reap vengeance even against the unintentional killer. Unintentional killing was still a sin which incurred a penalty. The law of the avenger thus prevented the shedding of innocent blood while also purging the guilt of murdering the innocent: However, even a "city of refuge" afforded the willful murderer no protection from the avenger of blood: Please see the paper, The Avenger of Blood, for further discussion on this topic.

Human Wrath versus God's Wrath
Unrestrained human anger is condemned in the Bible:

Human wrath is always suspect, being all too often accompanied by the evil fruits of the flesh: It is for this reason that human wrath needs to be carefully controlled, as it provides an opportunity for the Devil to lead astray in the spirit of murder: Instead, we are advised to relinquish some of our wrath to God before we become vindictive: This is in line with the mind of God, who also at times defers His anger: The NIV renders this verse as: This is one reason for the prohibition against taking personal revenge. Christ equated deep-seated anger directed at a brother without cause with a spirit of murder: In this context it is interesting to note how David left it to his son Solomon to avenge himself upon his army commander, Joab, for the evil that had been personally done to him. While this may have been a case of David being powerless to apply the law and punish Joab in the first place, perhaps he also had difficulty separating a personal desire for vengeance and justice: David understood that it is God who avenges: Vengeance Belongs to God
We are instructed not to exact personal vengeance: The human desire for vengeance for personal wrongs done all too often includes the emotional hatred that is characterised by vindictiveness, above and beyond the desire for retribution and revenge in the pursuit of justice. This is why God tells us that vengeance can ultimately only be administered equitably with His involvement: This vengeance is part of the justice of God. We see this illustrated in Christ's parable of the unjust judge: It is also an act of deliverance, not a matter of obtaining personal retribution unlawfully: As we have already noted, it is a righteous thing to wait for the vengeance of God-as opposed to unlawful personal retribution-upon those who persecute His people, for His vengeance is an act of His deliverance and justice: Indeed, the vengeance of God through Jesus Christ is described also as the victory of God's redeemed saints: DEALING WITH EVIL AND SIN IN THE CHURCH
Unfortunately, we too often are the victims of forms of worldly Christianity that are far removed from the truth of the Scriptures (Jas 4:4; 1Jn 2:15-7)). We consequently have inherited ideas and concepts that we might think are based on the Word of God, but which are sometimes far from the Truth. One such instance is the notion that we must always extend mercy and that the Scriptures preclude retribution when evil is done to us (Ps 3:7; 6:8-10; 92:9,11).

We would all accept that we should pursue the fruits of the Spirit of God, such as those listed in the New Testament, since these are the attributes of God:

... and forsake the fruits of the flesh, since these are not of God's Spirit: Does it not also logically follow that we should attempt to apply all the godly emotions of our perfect heavenly Father? So are we seeking, for instance, to express anger righteously as God would have us express it?

The Role of True Christian Love
We take it for granted that we ought to practice love as God does, since He is love:

The Scriptures instruct us to love our Christian brothers and sisters: As we have previously seen, to rebuke a brother or sister for evil is an act of Christian love: We hear of terms like God's unconditional love or of God's love for all sinners.
Christians are told to love one another as God has loved us. We therefore need to have the Scriptures tell us exactly how and when God loves us so we know how to exercise the same godly love. In this way we are following the perfect example of Jesus Christ: The Exercise of Mercy
The children of God are to be merciful: However, as with love, we should likewise seek to express mercy as God expresses it-in judgement! Like God, we should delight in mercy: However, just as God does not always extend mercy, neither are we beholden to do so when the extension of mercy is contrary to the Word of God, as we shall see.

RESISTING AND HATING EVIL
How do we read the words of Jesus Christ in Mt 5:39?

That Christ Himself resisted evil, and stood up for Himself in the face of evil, is indisputable. In fact, He let it be known that under normal circumstances the great evil about to be committed with His arrest and crucifixion would be resisted by those who followed Him: His vehement denunciation of the evil and hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees is our example to rebuke evil and evildoers: As part of the explanation for Christ words in v 39 of Matthew 5 we should perhaps consider v 41, which is in the same vein: The Greek word used is the Persian, possibly Babylonian, loanword for the age-old system of unpaid service that those in official positions were entitled to demand. The demands made by such may indeed have been evil, but who would be foolish enough to put up resistance?

If possible, evil and the evil one are always to be resisted, denounced and exposed by the Christian:

Christ commends His Church for so doing: The Scriptures make it evident that God does not expect His people to yield passively to those who hate and persecute them when they are in a position to resist evil: We are told that God hates those who practice evil: For the people of God there is also a time to hate: If we love God, we must hate evil: Evildoers and their handiwork are also to be despised: Indeed, if we truly love God, we will abhor evil and so learn to love what is good, as God does: God's people must hate evil as God hates evil. Evil opposes God. Evil incurs God's condemnation. To hate evil and its proponents is not to do so with malice, but is in agreement with God's attitude and opposition to evil: Although some of the Psalms may sound vindictive, they are an expression of the psalmist's hatred for evil. We must learn to hate sin and the enemies of God as He does, not vindictively, but as a godly reaction against sin.

CHURCH DISCIPLINE
OLD TESTAMENT EXAMPLES
It is important that we realise that all sin under the sacrificial system in ancient Israel was publicly dealt with, whether an individual sinned against his neighbour or against God. The sin and the guilt offerings, as with all offerings, were offered publicly, either at the local sanctuary, the tabernacle or the temple. Sin therefore could not be hidden. It was to be immediately and openly dealt with. This is how God would have us deal with sin.

The Sin Offering
The sin offering was designed to deal with sin that was committed unintentionally. The sacrifice varied according to who committed the sin. The guilt offering, at times difficult to distinguish from the sin offering, was also an offering for sin, although it was concerned with restitution. For instance, someone who took something illegally was expected to repay it in full plus twenty percent of the value and then bring a ram for the guilt offering.
Let us notice the law of the sin offering:

This applied to the priest: It applied to the leaders of the people: And to each individual: It was the same with the entire congregation: There was also public confession of the sin: We will see the parallels in the New Testament Church.

RECONCILIATION AND RESTITUTION
In the Old Testament, the law required trespass offerings to be made for sins against a neighbour, such as theft, deception, dishonesty, extortion, keeping lost property, or damaging property. Guilt offerings were made to God and restitution made to the wronged neighbour. Restitution was consistent with this concept of equity, reflective of the perfect justice of God. Stolen property was to be returned or full compensation was to be made. There was provision for punitive damages, up to five times what had been lost.

This principle of restitution is validated in the New Testament: And is inherent in Christ's teaching about being reconciled to a brother: The Scriptures tell us that wickedness must be accounted for. This is part of the justice of God: These concepts of reconciliation and restitution are a fundamental part of the perfect justice of God's way and it is incumbent upon the Church of God, the Israel of God, to deal with sin in like manner, for God's people today are a royal priesthood who offer up spiritual sacrifices: Indeed, the ministry of the Church is one of reconciliation: And the effects of reconciliation should be peace: JUSTICE IN THE CHURCH
The law of God expressed in the sacrificial system of old has not changed, only its application has. God has always demanded of His people the exercise of godly justice in their dealings with one another: And the justice of God should always include a preparedness to extend mercy: We, as fellow members of the body of Jesus Christ, are called upon to dispense justice according to the law of God in the same manner as the judges of ancient Israel were called upon to do: It is imperative that a Christian brother or sister ensnared by sin through weakness is to be dealt with gently, with forbearance, and with mercy: Yet there are times when more drastic measures are called for to deal with sins and problems within the Church: The importance of dispensing and of receiving correction has long been understood: Jesus Christ gave explicit instructions to His apostles in regard to the manner in which sins between believers within His Church were to be dealt with. This principle is based on Lev 19:17: In the Church, we all have the obligation to rebuke a fellow believer where there is an obvious sin, not just for his sake but also because by failing to address a matter where sin is involved we too can "bear sin" [share in his guilt (NIV)] by not bringing to light an obvious violation of the law of God. This is also the intent of Paul's words in his advice to Timothy: We all have the responsibility to expose sin: This holds true even where we have not personally been sinned against (against you in Mt 18:15 is lacking in some early Greek manuscripts). All sin damages, and a Christian cannot be indifferent to it, especially amongst the body of believers. A personal approach in the first instance should arouse a minimum of ill-feeling and give least publicity to the sin.

No-one is obligated to forgive unilaterally. Repentance is a pre-condition:

In other words, we should always be willing to forgive upon repentance, as God through Jesus Christ forgives us when we repent. Therefore, we forgive one another as God forgives us: And, as we have seen, God forgives upon repentance: So there is no such thing as unconditional forgiveness of sin. Repentance and forgiveness go hand in hand: In the event of this personal approach failing, the presence of two or three witnesses (cf. Deut 19:15) was called for in the second step of the attempt to resolve the problem. If he still refuses to hear after step three has taken place-the dispute is placed before the Church as a whole-he is clearly an evil influence and must be excluded. What may have begun as a dispute between brethren involving a sin has now required the severest of measures. Such a decision made by the Church as a whole will have been based on the Word of God, and therefore backed up by the High Court of heaven. That such discipline is intended to involve the entire Church is supported by the words of the apostle Paul when he was commenting on the positive results of just such disciplinary action: Christ tells us that a brother who refuses to acknowledge his sin and to seek forgiveness of those against whom he has sinned is a serious matter indeed, serious enough for our Lord to liken such a one who then had to be removed from the fellowship of His body to a tax collector and a heathen [sinner]. Tax collectors were held in the lowest esteem because of their excessive profits and exploitation of their own people. Yet this choice of words by Jesus also implies that it is to be hoped that the offender will be won back: It is indeed a serious matter for a Christian to refuse to forgive, to refuse to be reconciled to a brother or sister: God takes it personally when sins against one another are not addressed and dealt with. It is He who will ultimately avenge a wrong committed against a brother by one who refuses to repent and seek reconciliation: OUTSIDE THE CAMP
In the Old Testament, anything that was unclean was put outside the camp. Sometimes there was a cleansing, at other times destruction and death. During Israel's years in the wilderness, sin offerings were burned outside the camp. This was a type of one who has to be put outside the Church, the "camp" of the saints. The unrepentant will suffer the same fate as the sacrifices for sin that were burned outside the camp: People were put outside the camp to prevent defilement of the rest of the assembly of Israel: To be outside the camp of Israel meant being alone, exiled, isolated: The entire community of Israel took part in this form of punishment: Similarly, Christ shows us that the entire Church takes part in the action of isolating a sinning individual from the body. It is not the responsibility of the pastor alone!

The writer of the Book of Hebrews also uses this analogy of being outside the camp to refer to Christ's sufferings for the sins of mankind outside the Holy City at a distance from the Temple. This is then linked with our sufferings as we share in His reproach:

It is also important that we take into account the symbolism of the ashes that were poured out outside the camp. Among other things: The symbolism here is that the rest of the camp is kept pure by this act of removal of the offender. The action is also the means of purifying the individual (reconciliation after repentance), as there is also a clean place [a time and place for being brought to repentance and cleansing] somewhere outside the camp: As purification and a restoration to the camp of Israel was possible, so it is hoped all who are isolated from the Body of the Church will ultimately return to the fellowship once purified by the forgiveness God offers: The Valley of Hinnom, just south of Jerusalem, which became the place of child sacrifice to foreign gods, was also a type of this area 'outside the camp' of Israel: In the later history of ancient Israel, it became the place of child sacrifice to foreign gods and became analogous to the place of final judgment, a place of fire and condemnation for the unrepentant. The reputation of the valley was understood by the writers of the New Testament who transliterated the Hebrew word ge-hinnom into Greek as gehenna, the word used by Jesus as one of the several designations for hell: THE IMPOSITION OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE
Let us notice the reasons the Scriptures lay out for the imposition of Church discipline: Paul was citing from several Old Testament Scriptures when he gave the instruction to the Church to "put away from yourselves the evil person." It is worth noting some of the Old Testament references, some or all of which Paul may have had in mind, for they indicate that the commands to ostracise an offender in the New Testament Church are obviously to be taken very seriously: It is obvious that, depending upon the severity of the sin and the response to correction, an individual could be regarded as an enemy of the Church and/or of God, although this was not always the case: That some have, by not responding appropriately to Church discipline, become the enemies of God is amply testified to by the Scriptures: This withdrawal of close fellowship from an offending Christian was designed: Despite the harsh measures taken, and the hurt that may result, the fruits of true repentance are indeed sweet and edifying for the entire Church: It is imperative therefore that scriptural injunctions mandating such ostracization ['do not associate with him'] be fully implemented-it is a matter of salvation for the individual concerned! Half-hearted actions where contact is maintained despite the commission of sin and the lack of remorse provide little impetus for such an individual to come to repentance and render us accountable to God for our failure to apply the procedures He has set down for His people. Yet how often in the Church today are such measures carried out according to biblical definitions? Although this instruction referred directly to the elders, Paul practised this form of open rebuke in his letters to the churches: The disagreement between Euodia and Syntyche is serious enough to trouble the Church, and Paul mentions it in a letter that would have been read publicly, with both women presumably present. It is an example of godly correction, in a correct Christian spirit, that is not to be balked at-unlike so much of the public censure practised in the churches of God over the years, for which many shepherds stand condemned!

If sin is not dealt with and removed from the Church it can have serious consequences that will require even more severe measures-on the personal and collective level:

How essential it is, then, that sin and evil in the Church of God be dealt with promptly, thoroughly, and according to scriptural injunctions and examples.

CONCLUSION
The righteousness of God is diametrically opposed to evil and to those who perpetrate it. He is able to deal with sin perfectly, to exercise His anger without diminishing His mercy; to exact vengeance without vindictiveness. He acts patiently but with perfect justice in dealing with sin and exhorts us to do likewise. If we are indeed followers of the Way, we will heed the admonitions of Scripture to address evil and sin according to godly precepts, not according to the ideas of men.

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