Shunning is a
religious practice in which a
religious body chooses to
socially and emotionally avoid a
person or group of people.
Shunning can take the form of
censure (a person is not
permitted to speak openly or hold
church office) or it can be as
serious as expulsion from
membership. If a church shuns a
person or group, it almost always
causes or is the result of
agitation within the church. One
party in the church will find the
practice of hurtful and
offensive, the opposing party
will say it is a necessity.
Religious shunning invariably
results in divisiveness and
bitterness which can last for
decades.
In some circumstances, it is
biblically sound for Christians
to practice shunning after a
period of grace has been extended
to the person or persons who are
at fault. The Bible teaches the
practice of shunning is proper
and necessary. Shunning is the
only tool a church has for
dealing with defiance.
God knows every person on Earth
as a sinner. The Bible declares:
“For all have sinned and
fall short of the glory of
God.” (Romans 3:23, italics
mine) many Christians (and
especially non-Christians) do not
know that God divides sinners
into three categories. These
categories are (a) defiant
sinners, (b) sinners who are
serious about overcoming sin and
pleasing God, and (c) spiritually
dead sinners, who are totally
ignorant of their offensive ways
in God’s sight.
God is willing to forgive any
repentant sinner, He will only
forgive when the sinner is
willing to admit the sin and turn
away from it. “if we
deliberately keep on sinning
after we have received the
knowledge of the truth, no
sacrifice [no atonement]
for sins is left, but only
a fearful expectation of judgment
and of raging fire that will
consume the enemies of God.”
(Hebrews 10:26, insertion mine)
The Bible also assures us that,
“if we confess our sins, He
is faithful and just and will
forgive us our sins and purify us
from all unrighteousness.”
(1 John 1:9)
God Leads by Example
The first use of shunning
actually began in Heaven. When
God’s patience with Lucifer
and his followers reached the
limit of divine forbearance, God
cast the devil and his angels out
of Heaven. He ‘cut off”
the devil and his angels from the
blessings and benefits of Heaven
because of their defiance.
Centuries later, in Noah’s
day, the entire world
“shunned” Noah and
God’s offer of safety in the
ark. This demonstrates the point
of shunning works both ways,
defiant sinners will shun
God’s messengers. After the
Exodus, God told Moses to
announce that anyone who sinned
defiantly must be “cut
off” from Israel. In those
days, the phrase, “cut
off” meant death because
shunned people were not permitted
to receive food, water or any
form of support. In Israel,
defiance came with a stiff price.
To put shunning in context,
please consider God’s
declarations:
“Do not make any incense
with this formula for yourselves;
consider it [the incense used in
the temple] holy to the Lord.
Whoever makes any like it to
enjoy its fragrance must be cut
off from his people.”
(Exodus 30: 37,38, insertion
mine)
“And wherever you live, you
must not eat the blood of any
bird or animal. If anyone eats
blood, that person must be cut
off from his people.”
(Leviticus 7: 26,27)
“Any Israelite who
sacrifices an ox, lamb or a goat
in the camp or outside of it
instead of bringing it to the
entrance to the Tent of Meeting
to prevent it as an offering to
the Lord in front of the
tabernacle of the Lord –
that man shall be considered
guilty of bloodshed; he has shed
blood and must be cut off from
his people.” (Leviticus 17:
3, 4)
“Observe the Sabbath,
because it is holy to you. Anyone
who desecrates it must be put to
death; whoever does any work on
that day must be cut off from his
people.” (Exodus 31:
14)
“Do not approach a woman to
have sexual relations during the
uncleanness of her monthly
period. Do not sexual relations
with your neighbor’s wife
and defile yourself with
her… Do not lie with a man
as one lies with a woman; that is
detestable. Do not have sexual
relations with an animal and
defile yourself with it….Do
not defile yourselves in any of
these ways, because this is how
the nations that I am going to
drive out before you became
defiles….And if any of you
defile the land, it will vomit
you out as it vomited out the
nations that were before you.
Everyone who does any of these
detestable things – such
persons must be cut off from
their people.” (See all of
Leviticus 18: 6-29.)
After reviewing these few verses,
we can see that a God of love
will not tolerate defiance
indefinitely. Of course, He
extends a period of grace to all
sinners, but when He concludes
that extended mercy has no
redeeming effect. He deals with
the guilty. In fact, the Bible
teaches that if a person commits
the unpardonable sin God will
shun him until he is destroyed!
God requires shunning because
defiance is contagious and once
it infects a group of people,
rebellion can quickly spread. For
example, if a captain allows one
or two soldiers to display
defiance in the ranks day after
day, it will not take long until
the entire company is out of
control. In Numbers 16, Korah,
Dathan, and Abiram began a
rebellion against Moses which
grew to 250 men. These men were
angry with Moses because Moses
was doing everything the Lord had
commanded. The Lord Himself
opened up the earth and swallowed
the families of the rebels
because they too were
contaminated with the virus of
defiance. Then, He burned the 250
men to death. “And fire came
out from the Lord and consumed
the 250 men who were offering the
incense.” (Numbers 16: 35)
Sexual Sins in Corinth
About A.D. 50, the apostle Paul
went to Corinth, a city of about
100,000 inhabitants, where he
stayed for 18 months. During this
time, he taught the gospel of
Jesus to both Jews and Gentiles.
Paul’s efforts to establish
a Christian church in Corinth
were somewhat successful, but the
church in Corinth was not stable.
The Jewish and Gentile converts
were constantly struggling over
the practice and direction of
Christianity. About five years
after Paul left Corinth, he
learned the church was in serious
trouble. Many of the Gentile
converts in the church had
embraced a theological virus,
which historians believe Nicolus
of Alexandra, Egypt crafted. He
taught the “holiness of the
mind” was insulated from the
“deeds of the flesh.”
The Gentile converts liked the
concept of a gulf between the
holiness of the mind and the
deeds of the flesh because it
meant that the “legal
perfection” favored by the
Jewish converts was unnecessary.
The Nicolaitans believed that as
long as people properly believed
that Jesus died for their sins,
their salvation was
guaranteed. Therefore, let
the flesh have its way!
When Paul heard about this, he
sent a strongly worded letter to
the church saying: “Do you
know that the wicked will not
inherit the kingdom of God? Do
not be deceived [with the false
doctrine of the Nicolitans]:
Neither the sexually immoral and
Idolaters nor adulterers nor male
prostitutes nor homosexual
offenders nor thieves nor the
greedy nor drunkards nor
slanderers nor swindlers will
inherit the kingdom of God. And
that is what some of you were.
But you were washed [of your
guilt], you were sanctified
[through repentance], you were
justified in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of
our God [and I can’t believe
you have returned to your
sins].”(1 Corinthians 6:
9-11, insertions mine)
Paul made a declaration because
members of the church at Corinth
were engaging in sexual
immorality: “I have written
you in my letter not to associate
with sexually immoral people
– Not all meaning the people
of this world who are immoral, or
the greedy and swindlers, or
idolaters. In that case you would
have to leave this world. But now
I am writing you that you must
not associate with anyone who
calls himself a brother [a
Christian] but is sexually
immoral or greedy, an idolater or
a slanderer, a drunkard or a
swindler. With such a man do not
even eat.”(1 Corinthians 5:
9-11, insertion mine)
Paul cites the Biblical basis for
shunning in his second letter to
the church at Corinth. “What
harmony is there between Christ
and [the god] Belial? What does a
believer have in common with an
unbeliever? What agreement is
there between the temple of God
and idols? For we are the temple
of the living God. As God has
said: ‘I will live with them
and walk among them, and I will
be their God, and they will be my
people.’ ‘Therefore
come out from them and be
separate,’ says the Lord.
‘Touch no unclean thing, and
I will receive you.’”
(2 Corinthians 6: 15-17) God
required believers to shun
defiant sinners and has plainly
said in Leviticus 18 that sexual
misconduct is defiant sin.
Therefore, sexually immoral
Christians must be cut off from
the church if they insist on
living in defiance! Notice these
two verses: Marriage should be
honored by all, and the marriage
bed kept pure, for God will judge
Greek: condemn] the adulterer and
all sexually immoral.”
(Hebrews 13:4) The last words
Jesus uttered in the book of
Revelation are perfectly clear.
“Blessed are those who
[repent and choose to] wash their
robes, that they may have the
right to the tree of life and may
go through the gates into the
[holy] city New Jerusalem].
Outside [the city] are the dogs
[those who rejected my love and
defiled my commands], those who
practice magic arts [spiritists
who practice voodoo and the
occult], the sexually immoral,
the murderers, the idolaters and
everyone who loves and practices
falsehood.” (Revelation 22:
14, 15, insertions mine)
The Church at Thyatira
About A.D. 95, Jesus appeared to
John on the island of Patmos. He
asked John to write down
seven messages and send them to
seven churches in Asia Minor.
Notice this message to the church
at Thyatira. Jesus Himself
condemned the church because they
had not shunned a woman in the
church named Jezebel, not the
notorious wife of King Ahab:
“Nevertheless, I have this
against you: You tolerate [in
your church] that woman Jezebel,
who calls herself a prophetess.
By her teaching she misleads my
servants into sexually immorality
and the eating of food sacrificed
to idols. I have given her time
to repent of her immorality, but
she is unwilling [she is
defiant]. So I cast her on a bed
of suffering, and I will make
those who commit adultery with
her suffer intensely, unless they
repent of her ways. I will strike
her children dead. Then all the
churches will know I am he who
searches hearts and minds, and I
will repay each of you according
to your deeds.” (Revelation
2: 20-23, insertion and italics
mine)
Notice a similar rebuke the Lord
sent to the church at Pergamum.
“… I have a few things
against you: You have people
there who hold to the teaching of
Balaam, who taught Balak to
entice the Israelites to sin by
eating food sacrificed to idols
and by committing immorality.
Likewise, you also have those who
hold to the teaching of the
Nicolaitans. Repent therefore!
[Expel these people from the
church!] Otherwise, I will soon
come to you and fight against
them with the sword of my
mouth.” (Revelation 2:
14-16, insertion mine)
Summary
In Leviticus 18, God plainly told
Moses that anyone who engaged in
sexual misconduct must be cut off
from Israel. Five years after
leaving Corinth, Paul rebuked the
churches for tolerating members
who engaged in sexual immorality.
Sixty years after His ascension,
Jesus Himself rebuked the
churches at Thyatira and Pergamum
because they failed to shun
sexually immoral people. Finally,
Jesus says in the last chapter of
Revelation that no sexually
immoral person will enter the
Holy City! God does not want His
people embracing and supporting
people who willingly and
knowingly participate in sexual
misconduct. God instructs
His people to shun the individual
after a period of grace. Of
course, shunning is only to be
directed at people who claim to
be believers and who claim to
belong to God. When Christians
learn God’s will and still
refuse to change after a period
of grace, they should be shunned
if there is no reformation.
Conversely, the world is full of
people who do not know anything
about God’s will. These
people should not be shunned,
they need to know how to live a
life which will result in
happiness and eternal joy. They
need to learn that sin has its
pleasure for a short season, but
sin always produces sorrow, pain,
suffering, and eventual death.
Our duty as Christians is to
guide and encourage these people
to follow God’s will.
Defiance is a deadly virus and
sadly, it often influences the
youngest and most impressionable
members of the body of
Christ.
The Bible offers wonderful
assurance to every sinner who
will confess his sins and forsake
them. “All wrongdoing is
sin, and there is sin that does
not lead to death. We know that
anyone born of God does not
continue to sin; the one who was
born of God keeps him safe, and
the evil one cannot harm
him.” (1 John 5: 17,18)
Larry Wilson
To be continued next month
