I Corinthians 5:7-8, "Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."
I John 3:3, "And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure."
This morning, the subject of cause and effect is once again upon our minds. Being such a vast subject with many different facets to it, we have considered many of the avenues of thought on this subject before but do not believe this particular line of thought has been expressed by us in writing before. When looking at cause and effect, it is a fairly simple thing. We cough, sneeze, etc when we have a cold, for the cold is the cause and the coughing and sneezing are the effects. In theology, we believe and confess the Lord Jesus Christ as an effect of already being possessors of eternal life. Eternal life, through Christ Jesus our Lord, is the cause, whereas belief and confession are the effects. So, we see this principle in both the natural world and the spiritual realm. However, cause and effect is seen in our experiential walk here, and while many different effects look the same, the cause may be different. For example, why do doctors have hard times diagnosing ailments? One reason is because many different problems all bear the same symptoms (effects). Coughing could be a result of a cold, pneumonia, lung cancer, or many other illnesses. Likewise, our actions in life can stem from very different causes.
The verses above show the same type of cause and effect from two different inspired men. Paul wrote to Corinth about the unpleasant, but needful, subject of church discipline. John wrote about an action that we should engage in as a result of the knowledge of Christ's second coming. Two very different subject matters, but let us notice the language of each to see the cause and effect under consideration. Paul uses language that tells the Corinthians to purge out the leaven (exclude the fornicator from their fellowship) that ye (the church) may be a new lump, even as ye are unleavened. To the natural way of thinking, this cause and effect might not make sense. We drive out or purge out leaven to make something unleavened. Paul said to do so, even as ye are (prior state) unleavened. Paul is saying to purge leaven because you are already unleavened.
John's language tells the man with the hope of the resurrection and Christ's return to purify himself even as he is pure. Again, the more natural way of looking at that statement would be to purify oneself to get pure. Rather, John says to purify even as ye already are pure. So, like the Corinthians the man with the hope of the resurrection is not purifying himself to get pure, but because he already is pure. Consider the natural analogies for a moment. Baking with leaven means something is leavened. Purifying metals means that they are impure. Pure metals do not need refining, nor does unleavened bread need purging. Yet, our verses above state that something can be leavened/unleavened or impure/pure at the same time.
What Paul and John are contrasting are states of position versus conditions of our experience. Paul did not labour with Corinth or any other church to get them "right with God so that He would receive them into heaven." Rather, Paul laboured more abundantly than they all so that they would have something (salvation here in this life) in addition to their secure and sure eternal glory. (II Timothy 2:10) However, one of the requirements of this blessing in this life by God is that we keep the old leaven away. God will not bless and honour His people in this world when we fail to keep ourselves unspotted from the world. (James 1:27) The old ways, old man, old nature, and old habits must be driven out for us to please Him in our efforts. Paul asserts that sometimes this requires purging out members of a church that have brought a disgrace upon that church, such as being an open fornicator and known of such in the community.
However, Corinth's failure or success to do what Paul instructed did not in any way change their position of unleavened status in God's sight. Thanks be unto Him that our position of unleavened security is forever and ever, without one blight or blemish lighting upon us to justly condemn us from Him forever. The reason that security is there is because our blots and blights have been forever purged by the blood of His Dear Son. (Hebrews 1:3) That does not change the fact, however, that it is incumbent upon us to live accordingly in this life to honour and extol what has been done in our room and stead.
Why is it that the Corinthians were to exclude this one by Paul's own declaration? He gives the answer first of all in that the cause of such action is the knowledge of a righteous state before God. Paul was not condemning this sinner to hell, but his statement shows the awesome level of respect that we must have for God's kingdom, knowing what He did for us, and seek to be as honourable and pure in our dealings as we can. Paul equates this behaviour of church discipline to keeping the feast with sincerity and truth, which parallels Christ's statement to the woman of Samaria. (John 4:24) No matter how sincere we may be in our love and compassion for one that has gone astray, Paul said that the cause is worth more than that. Truth, coupled with sincerity, must be upheld, and the truth is that such a one needed to be put from them.
Likewise, we must purge out different blemishes that arise as "one rotten apple can ruin the whole barrel." What happens when leaven enters a baked good? Eventually, the whole is leavened. One of the interesting things you hear quite often today from some well-meaning people is, "Well, I am going to hang around them and be a good influence on them." Perhaps it is a spouse attending a church of another faith and order with their spouse, children hanging around with ungodly friends, or people fellowshipping unsound ministers that they have compassion for. While I seek not to judge their motives, I can say that the effect of such a lifestyle yields undesirable results. Instead of the spouse converting the other, they in turn are converted to a false gospel. The children hanging around the wrong crowd end up living in paths that are displeasing to God above. And, unsound ministers will eventually deceive the hearts of the simple rather than be converted themselves. (Romans 16:17-18)
Paul's point was not that the man was gone forever. The point was that he is gone for the time being, as that is what the lump (church) needed due to the position that they understood to be in. If the man should indeed purge out the leaven in his life (which I believe II Corinthians 2 shows that he did), he was to be received back into the lump as the leaven is then gone with all participants showing forth the effect of honour and glory in their lives as a token of the cause (they are already in an unleavened position before God). Likewise, unsound ministers, ungodly friends, truth rejecting spouses, and any other group we might identify is not necessarily gone forever, but the likelihood of them being on the right path is greater when they are told that we cannot walk with them in such a fashion.
Moving on to John's language for a moment, what does the hope of the resurrection do for us, or more specifically, what should it do for us? The hope of the resurrection, a brighter world to come, most importantly the presence of our Lord forever, and the glorious bliss that is never-ending should strike the most earnest fervor into our souls to not only patiently wait and look for it but also live in accordance with that desire. What we are presently doing at that moment does not affect the outcome (I Thessalonians 5:9-10), but what we are doing does show how we are currently viewing that outcome.
When we seek to drive out the impurities of our life, what is our foremost desire? Is it that the Lord would receive us into heaven, or is it that we would like to thank Him for knowing that we are already going to heaven? If I thought that my purifying in daily life was what made me pure, then I would not ever have a day that I wanted Him to come. My prayer would be, "Not yet, Lord, for I am not yet pure." However, knowing that He has made me pure, I can, with sincerity and truth, say, "Even so come, Lord Jesus." The effect of me trying to purify my life is because I believe He has already made me pure and deserves my best efforts on a daily basis to live as close to that pure level as I can.
Combining these two accounts together, let us glean a few conclusions. Can a church exclude somebody for a reason other than Paul's reason(s) given? Can somebody live in a mode of purification for reasons other than John gave? The answer to both questions is obviously yes. Some people live righteous lives, seeking to do better, and helping their fellowman as they believe that their actions are what keep them in God's good graces. Failing to do that, they believe, might have them sent to a devil's hell. The effects are very similar to the ones that John states, but the cause is misplaced motivation rather than the thanksgiving of an already righteous state. Churches exclude members improperly (whether for jealousy or otherwise), and while the end result (effect) is the same, the cause is not rooted in the love of God, purity of His house, or knowledge of an already existent righteous state.
Therefore, effects that look similar can have different causes, but the just condemnation or commendation is not upon the effect but the cause. Whenever churches exclude members for the right reason, the wrong crowd is not run with, unsound ministers are avoided, or spouses do not go to church with the other for the reason of upholding the commitment and honour to God that He justly deserves for our state, the cause is to be commended. Whenever men seek to live righteous lives knowing of the resurrection, coming of our Lord, and righteous state that we are already possessors of, the cause is to be commended. In both cases, any other cause is to be condemned, for to condemn the cause, the effect is condemned as well. What if I went to the doctor and said I had a cough, and he prescribed cough medicine with no diagnosis? That may but probably may not fix my problem. He has treated the symptoms and not the cause. May we not treat symptoms in our lives, but rather look at the ultimate cause that is worthy of our foremost efforts and seek to leave off the rest that are just added leaven and impurities in our lives.
In Hope,
Bro Philip |