1 Corinthians 5:11 – Eating together

Yet now I write to you not to be commingling with anyone named a brother, if he should be a paramour, or greedy, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner. With such a one you are not even to be eating.

In order not be understood the wrong way, Paul made clear that the contact with evildoers in general should not be avoided. Because in that case one should withdraw from the world, which is obviously not the intention.

In the verse above, Paul makes clear what he means. Not to mix with fornicators, scammers, etc., he is referring to the one who positions himself as an evildoer within his own circle. Such a person can’t be stopped in what he does. And Paul also does not plea for sanctions against him.

With the ‘brother’, communication is actually not possible anymore. Because he does not listen. That is therefore rightfully ‘ex-communication’ that is to say the communication (>commune = community) is over. To rejoice in the Word together is no longer of interest to the ‘brother’. By this he makes himself to be an outsider. That is no reason to treat him with hostility (compare 2Thes.3:14), but eating together and raising the glass, we do with intimates, not with outsiders.

Delen: