Justin

When someone is in grave error, there's an urgency for correction. At times this urgency is emotionally fueled by frustration and anger. "Why on earth did you do that!? Why couldn't you see that this was sinful!?" The natural man calls for judgment, to condemn, to tear the person down, to label somebody "Cannot Make It". But Christians are called to be different. I have heard many Christian brothers say that "We must be loving to the person who errs. We must be different from the world."

My question to them is How are we different? Let us not be wishy-washy Christians to simply say, "Because the Bible says so." Where in the Bible can you give me an answer that explains why you will continue loving a brother who errs? I underlined the heart will because I believe it is a question of willingness, not ability. Paul answers the question of the willingness to forgive somebody by his reaction in 1 Cor 1:4-9:

^{1 Cor 1:4-9}

I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus,

⁵that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and ^{all knowledge,}

⁶even as ^{the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you,}

⁷so that you are not lacking in any gift, ^{awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ,}

⁸who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in ^{the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.}

⁹God is faithful, through whom you were called into ^{fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.}

Consider the context. The Corinthian church was rife with problems. It had to deal with sectarianism (divisions in the church), lawsuits against fellow believers which brought ill-testimony to the church, sexual immorality and disorderly worship. As a spiritual father to the young Corinthian church, I think it is plausible to think Paul must have felt some measure of grief over what was happening. (Which parent does not grieve when a child stumbles steep into sin?) Yet, even before addressing their problems head-on (from verse 10 onwards, quite early for a Pauline letter), Paul's first reaction is far from judgemental.

He gives thanks.

Thanksgiving! I found this so particularly strange. I always think it easier to "cut to the chase" out of an urgency for correction. Yet, what I believe Paul is setting out here is a basis upon which to work from. We notice that Paul focuses on God first. Let's be more specific - Paul focuses on 3 things about God with regards to the Corinthian believers: (1) What a gracious God has done, (2) What a gracious God is doing, and (3) What a gracious God will do eventually.

(1) What a gracious God has done (v4,6)

"the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you..."

Every Christian has been redeemed, bought by the precious blood of Christ. This should tell us how precious this erring person is in the eyes of God. I am dealing with a person who has been redeemed just as much as I have been redeemed, who has been forgiven just as much as I have been forgiven. His error, his misgivings, and his sin does not make him any less redeemed than anyone else; on the contrary, I think all of us are capable of performing various permutations of errors, misgivings and sins. Every Christian is also a work-in-progress (WIP) in the process of sanctification; we still sin and make mistakes and err simply because we are still in a sinful, erring world.

(2) What a gracious God is doing (v5,6,7)

"...in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge...so that you are not lacking in any gift"

The KJV rendering of this verse goes, "ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge", which I think signifies that chronologically speaking, this enrichment is also a continual process and it is not only one-off. God equips His people as He sees fit in the timeline of His will. Some people are supernaturally gifted to minister immediately upon conversion; others are called gradually to fulfill their calling.

But this also applies to the erring person! An erring person is not disqualified from the work God has called him to do. In fact, Paul is so confident that God is doing a good work in the Corinthians and will continue to do so to keep them in His will that he says Jesus will "confirm [them] to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." Once a Christian, always a Christian.

(3) What a gracious God will do eventually (v7,8,9)

"...awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ"

Christians know the ultimate destiny of mankind and of this present age. We will forever be enraptured in the worship of a God who is so gloriously beautiful that we only get mere glimpses of Him while we are here. And worshipping together, amongst us in this host of worshippers, are the people whom we once disciplined, corrected and rebuked. We may not see the immediate purpose of why a person will fall into such grievious sin, but we know this - that our God is a faithful God who does not allow those whom He has called in His will to slip away, and that He will eventually restore them, build them up, and serve Him all the more gloriously.

We are all WIP's making their way to eternity. Let's give thanks to God for fellow WIP's before we show them the way to lead them back on the path of righteousness.

Isaiah 64:5

⁵You meet him who joyfully works righteousness,
those who remember you in your ways.