Disfellowshipping Part I: How do Christians deal with Unrepentant Sinners?

As the Bible lays out laws and ways of life that Christians must abide by, it is to be expected that at times some Christians may stray from the path of righteousness and choose to willingly engage in sinful or immoral conduct. Such sins which can evoke being “disfellowshipped” or expelled from a congregation if unrepentant are as listed from the scriptures:

• Sexual immorality (Fornication, Adultery, Rape, Homosexuality, Child Molestation, Bestiality)
• Drunkenness (Abuse of alcohol or other substances which impair the mind)
• Stealing
• Abuse (violent conduct, malicious treatment of others, bullying, etc)
• Greed (coveting, demanding more than what is owed, taking from others or selfish hoarding to the detriment of others)
• Extortion (dishonest business practices, malicious blackmailing, swindling, etc)
• Habitual Lying
• Murder
• Idolatry (Placing people or objects above God, or making mystical use of physical objects for worship, i.e; praying, kissing or bowing to crosses, statues, pictures, shrines, etc)
• Creature Worship (Worshipping or praying to beings who are not God)
• Engaging in false (non-Christian) religion & false religious practices
• Spiritism (magic, witchcraft, fortune telling, contacting the “dead”, etc).

When this happens, the Bible gives us instructions on how to deal with such people in the Congregation:

• Matthew 18:15-17: “Moreover, if your brother commits a sin (against you?), go and reveal his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take along with you one or two more, so that on the testimony of two or three witnesses every matter may be established. If he does not listen to them, speak to the congregation. If he does not listen even to the congregation, let him be to you just as a man of the nations and as a tax collector.”
  
• 1 Corinthians 5:6-13: “Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven ferments the whole batch of dough? Clear away the old leaven so that you may be a new batch, inasmuch as you are free from ferment. For, indeed, [the] Anointed, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed.  So, then, let us keep the festival, not with old leaven, nor with leaven of badness and wickedness, but with unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. In my letter I wrote you to stop keeping company with sexually immoral people, not meaning entirely with the sexually immoral people of this world or the greedy people or extortioners or idolaters. Otherwise, you would actually have to get out of the world. But now I am writing you to not associate intimately with anyone called a brother who is sexually immoral or a greedy person or an idolater or a reviler or a drunkard or an extortioner, not even eating with such a man. For what do I have to do with judging those outside? Do you not judge those inside, while God judges those outside? Remove the wicked person from among yourselves“.
  
• 2 Corinthians 2:4-10: “For through many tears I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart, not to grieve you but to let you know how much I love you. Now if anyone has caused grief, he has not grieved me but all of you—to some degree, not to overstate it. The punishment imposed on him by the majority is sufficient for him. So instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him. My purpose in writing you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything. If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him. And if I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven it in the presence of [the] Anointed [One] for your sake”.
  
• 2 Thessalonians 3:6,11-12, 14-15: “Now we are giving you instructions, brothers, in the name of our Lord Yeshua [the] Anointed, to withdraw from every brother who is walking disorderly and not according to the tradition that you received from us. For we hear that some are walking disorderly among you, not working at all, but meddling with what does not concern them. To such people we give the order and exhortation in the Lord Yeshua [the] Anointed that they should work quietly and eat food they themselves earn. But if anyone is not obedient to our word through this letter, take note of this one and stop associating intimately with him, so that he may become ashamed. And yet do not consider him an enemy, but continue admonishing him as a brother“.
  
• Jude 1:21-22: “Also, continue showing mercy to some who have doubts; save them by snatching them out of the fire. But continue showing mercy to others, doing so with fear, while you hate even the garment that has been stained by the flesh”.
  
• Hebrews 10:26-27, 30-31: “For if we practice sin willfully after having received the accurate knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice for sins left, but there is a certain fearful expectation of judgment and a burning indignation that is going to consume those in opposition. For we know the One who said: “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again: “YHWH will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God”.

As we can see, we are told to stop associating, not with unbelievers, but with Christians who are wickedly living in unrepentant sin. Some churches call this “excommunication”, “expelling”, or “disfellowshipping”.

Sin & Repentance

As imperfect humans, we are all of course liable to have fault in our character, fall to sin and make mistakes. However, those who are sorry and repent of their sins will always be forgiven, even if they consistently fall to sin on part of their weakness (Romans 7:15-20), such sin not being “intentional” or “wicked in heart”.

Confronting & “Gaining” Your Brother or Sister

As stated in Matthew 18, when witnessing a brother or sister committing or living in sin, we are encouraged to speak with them in private first to see if we can move them to repentance, doing so with another Christian at our side if our own encouragement and persuasion alone is not enough. Finally, if they still insist on a sinful course, we are told to have the “congregation” openly speak with the sinner in a communal manner (Galatians 6:1, Nehemiah 8:1-3, Deuteronomy 16:18-19). If they repent of their sins, then Yeshua states we have “gained our brother”.

Unrepentant Sin in the Congregation, a “Man of the Nations”

However, upon a person’s purposeful insistence to live in sin and refusal of repentance after those three stages, Yeshua tells us to “treat them as a man of the nations and as a tax collector”. In the Jewish context of the time to the audience that was listening to these words, this meaning a non-Israelite, or non-Jew, a foreigner to the nation.

In a Christian context where all members of the Congregation are the “spiritual Israel”, this would extend the meaning as to mean as a non-Christian, or an unbeliever.

The detail of what this means for us in a practical sense is expanded upon in 1 Corinthians 5 and 2 Thessalonians 3, where we are told an unrepentant sinner will corrupt the Congregation, and thus the Congregation should cease having too close of a spiritual association or intimate company with the sinner, whilst simultaneously trying to encourage them into repentance.

The meaning of these verses and manner in which they are carried out, should be held in mind within the context of the Christian arrangements of the time period, where congregations were more than just light social gatherings or attending services at church buildings.

In the 1st century, Christian congregations were close knit communities and family-like structures, with many Christians often living under one roof, continually praying, singing and sharing their everyday meals with one another (Acts 2:44-47).

We see a clear reference to this being a communal-congregational setting, in that Paul introduces this section of his letter in what appears to be a reference to the Lord’s Supper Pascha meal, by mentioning Yeshua as the “Passover Lamb”, and that the “leaven” should be removed from it:

• “…Don’t you know that a little [leaven] ferments the whole ball [of dough]? So, you must clean out the old leaven in order to become something that’s new and unleavened! For since the Anointed One (who is our Passover) has already been sacrificed, we shouldn’t be observing this Festival with old leaven or with the leaven of badness and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth! ….Stop intimately associating with anyone called a ‘brother’ who is sexually immoral, or greedy, or an idol worshiper, or shouts insults, or is a drunk, or an extortionist. Don’t even eat with people like that!” – 1 Corinthians 5:6-8, 11

As such, to avoid an unrepentant sinner, in the context of Yeshua’s and the Apostle’s words, in our day means that we should not be seeking to actively spend too much “overly intimate time” with the unrepentant sinner and their sinful lifestyles, and that they not be permitted to associate with the Congregation on a “spiritual level”.

Thus, they would not have teaching positions, share in evangelism (preaching), prayer, worship, nor could they partake of the Lord’s Evening Meal in good conscience (1 Corinthians 11:29), until repenting of their sin and changing their wilful course. 

Why Disfellowshipping is Carried Out

Removal of an individual from the congregation and avoidance of overly intimate association serves to, as Paul states:

Remind the individual of their unrepentant state in order to move them to repentance, whilst also protecting Christians from their potentially corrupting influence, in that members of the Congregation do not begin; adopting their ways, characteristics, or engaging with them in their sinful conduct themselves (1 Corinthians 15:33, Proverbs 13:20), and keeps the congregation, the Anointed’s body, in a spiritually clean state when partaking in the body and blood (communal bread and wine) of the Lord Yeshua.

This follows the long standing teaching as held in the Hebrew scriptures. Avoiding bad company to be safe guarded from sinful corruption, was always one of the core prinicples of the Old Testament, and was carried over into the New:

• “He who walks with the wise will become wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed”. – Proverbs 13:20
• “Do not make friends with an angry man, and do not associate with a hot-tempered man, or you may learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare”. – Proverbs 22:24–25
• “Do not be deceived: “evil conversation corrupts good character”. – 1 Corinthians 15:33

This was extremely important for the 1st century Congregation, since, their lives were all so closely mingled. Their way of living was often akin to what we today call communes. Though not all Christians lived this way, many of them did.

This is why Paul told the Christians to “remove” or “expel” the member from among them, as they would have been literally bringing sin into their homes, which acted as their places of worship, communion meals, and daily living all. What one member of the congregation did, had a direct impact on the others, as their lives were all so closely linked.

Though most today do not live this way (at least in modern Western society), this can still apply to us in certain respects, if our association with such an individual is starting to rub off on us, or encourages that person in their course.

Another reason, as aforementioned above, which applied to the 1st century and equally to us today, is the factor that Christians are said to be “One Body”, and that Body in turn in the Lord Yeshua’s body (1 Corinthians 12:12-13).

If then, a part of the body is sinful and unrepentantly wicked, then this begins to, for lack of better word, “infect” the body of Yeshua himself. And this in turn is one of the reasons why our sins “grieve the holy spirit”, the same holy spirit of which is given to us by the Lord who sends it (Ephesians 4:30, John 16:7).

Through the spirit, we are in a sense “conjoined” to our Lord, and thus in a moral and spiritual sense, what we do to ourselves, and to our fellow brothers, is in turn to do the same to him (Matthew 25:40). Hence, if a congregation approves of their unrepentant course, and is intimately involved with their sinful lives, and shares worship with them of which is “bodily communion” (1 Corinthians 10:16-18), then we directly bring corruption into the body of Yeshua, and to the worship of God, which is akin to presenting an “unclean sacrifice” at the altar, by means of our direct approval (Romans 12:1, 1 Corinthians 3:16).

We can only be “clean and holy sacrifices” by faith in the blood and ransom of Yeshua, which in turn requires us to have a repentant attitude in our lives.

For this reason, the Congregation “puts the unrepentant sinner outside” of the spiritual communion, so that he or she is not “contaminating the rest of Body” in a spiritual way.

• “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away” – John 15:1-2

Limiting Association

It’s important to know what this actually means in practice.

We already know that this of course, involves removing a Christian from any positions of Congregational involvement or responsibility, such as teaching, preaching, praying, or positions of service. And that they may not share in the Lord’s Supper with us.

Beyond this however, we also must define just what it means to “limit our intimate association”.

Disassociation or Shunning?

Some denominations, churches and congregations, both historically and in the modern day, would view an expelled person as an outcast, and as someone to be completely shunned, and in some cases, as a person worthy of death, making a comparison of the act of excommunication with the judgement of stoning of sinners in the Mosiac Law (Leviticus 20).

They would hold Yeshua’s and Paul’s meaning to “treat an unrepentant sinner as a man of the nations and a tax collector” as to mean the 1st century Jewish culture of the “Pharisaical treatment” of tax collectors and sinners, of which was extreme alienation and judgement (Matthew 9:11). We see even, in Acts 10:28, Peter claims it is unlawful for him to enter a Gentile’s house based upon that Rabbinical culture of the time.

“…at a meeting of rabbis eighteen gezerot or restrictions were ordained, some of which aimed at a better observance of the laws of cleanliness, while others had as their aim the restraining of too close a contact with the Gentiles…. (Shab. 17a; ‘Ab. Zarah 36a)”. – Jewish Encyclopedia, GEZERAH

It’s possible to make the case that this may have been Yeshua’s meaning on the surface, if we interpret it based upon Paul’s words as aforementioned in 1 Corinthians, which encouraged a certain amount of “distance” be put between ourselves and the unrepentant.

However, in contrast, though we are told to cease having close associations with them, 2 Thessalonians 3:15 aptly makes the point that an expelled person should not be seen as an “enemy” and not to confuse our “disassociation” with “shunning” or “judgement”, but that they should continue to be “admonished”, to be encouraged to seek righteousness:

• “But don’t consider him an enemy, instead counsel him as a brother“.

This is also in line with Yeshua’s attitude in treating others who were living in sin when he walked the Earth, and therefore can be cross referenced to his teachings and sayings from the Gospels in regard to how he interacted with sinners.

So, what exactly are Yeshua, and the Apostles in turn telling us to do in regard to the unrepentant members of the congregation? To totally avoid and shun them? Or to take time to lovingly counsel them?

It’s important that we are to understand that the word to “stop associating” in all of these passages, is the Greek phrase; “sunanamignumi”, which means “intimate influencial relation”, or to be “mixed up in” (very much akin to ingredients in a batch of dough or cake-mix – hence the play on words of Paul regarding leaven).

4874 synanamígnymi (from 4862 /sýn, “identified with“; 303 /aná, “up, finishing a process”; and 3396 /mígnymi, “mix”) – properly, mix-closely-together to influence, “associate intimately with” (Souter). – HELPS Word-studies

Thus, we can deduce that though a Christian does not “associate” or “mix-in” with the wilfully unrepentant sinner, they may still acknowledge, take note, be kind to, and even converse with an unrepentant sinner, to predominantly to try and encourage them to repent of their sins, without being “mixed up with them”.

This reflects how Yeshua himself sat with sinners and tax collectors to give them spiritual aid, much to the complaint of the Pharisees who insisted on complete shunning (Luke 5:30-31, John 4:9).

Understanding Yeshua’s Reference to Tax Collectors

There is good reason here to pay special attention to Yeshua’s words on this account of his comparing unrepentant Christians with such crowds (Matthew 18:15-17). The tax collectors for example, were not just merely “unbelievers” or “worldly gentiles” who did not know God and acted in ignorance, rather such individuals were “knowingly” living in sin.

Tax collectors were hated by the majority of Jews, as they themselves were also practicing Jews who had betrayed Israel to serve Rome. Tax collectors were not Jews who were collecting taxes for the Israelite government, but rather, for the Roman government, for the Ceasar. And what’s more, tax collectors also could charge further extortion from those they collected from, and pocket the excess for themselves, which is how many such tax collectors became rich.

Hence, Yeshua comparing an unrepentant sinner in the Congregation with such individuals is understandable in this respect, for it is the status of a turncoat, a sinner who knows the gravity of their actions, who may even be “enjoying and profiting” in what they do. And of such individuals, rather than engage in the hateful and even understandable disdain for these tax collectors, Yeshua himself engaged with them to try and help them, and encouraged as his followers to do the same.

Understanding Yeshua’s Reference to Gentiles

Furthermore, we must pay attention that Yeshua tells us to treat them as a “man of the nations” or a “Gentile”.

If Yeshua was indeed encouraging people to treat others “like Gentiles”, in the manner that the Jews and Pharaisees typically did in their day, as “unclean” and to be completely shunned, then we might argue that not only could have he have been accused of being a hypocrite, but could have also been encouraging his followers to break God’s laws, which commanded the Hebrews to “welcome” the Gentiles as “natives”, not to view them as unclean or diseased:

• You must treat the foreigner living among you as native-born and love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am YHWH your God. – Leviticus 19:34

As we can see, shunning is the opposite of how God wanted his people to treat the “men of the nations”, and so it could be argued to make little sense for Yeshua to use the unlawful shunning behaviour toward the Gentiles that had become common Rabbinical law in that day, as a point of reference on how to treat sinners, lest he was promoting unlawfulness to the Torah.

We see clearly, that Yeshua condemned the people of his day for breaking God’s laws with their own traditions (Matthew 15:3), and in turn, he lived by ‘example’ on how to truly follow God’s laws and principles, and as his disciples, we should aim to imitate our Lord and Master.

Imitating the Lord Yeshua

Hence, if we are imitators of the Lord, then we should be treating “gentiles and tax collectors” as ‘he’ treated them, not as how the Pharisees did. And the manner the Lord treated such people, was in line with the ancient Torah, not the 1st century Rabbinical customs.

• “‘Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?’ Yeshua answered, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick’“. – Luke 5:30-31

However, on the contrary, though a level of interaction is still permitted and even encouraged with these individuals for the sake of love and spiritual healing, we should be wary of continually spending intimate time with an unrepentant sinner in their daily activities, as to not encourage or be in association with their active sinful conduct, just as it was with Yeshua.

Though he spoke, ate and drank with such people, he did not do so as to encourage their sins, or revel along with them. In this we do not wish to “mix in the batch” lest we be “leavened with sin”, as Paul would phrase it.

But we must bear in mind that if we were to completely shun a sinner or treat them as an enemy, an outcast, or a dead person, refusing to speak to, acknowledge or even look at them, then we could not lovingly “admonish them” or do good by them, of which Yeshua and the Apostles command all Christians to do.

Complete shunning, blacklisting, outcasting, scathing or any other form of evoked hatred, aggression or extreme alienation, would surely cause “excessive sorrow”, which Paul also instructs us be wary of (2 Corinthians 2:7).

We do well to keep in mind that treating any individual in such an abusive way would be a treatment worse than what we apply to “tax collectors and people of the nations”, of whom Christians should be acting as spiritual “physicians” toward.

• “If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even Gentiles do the same?“. – Matthew 5:46-47

Of course, when a brother or sister does repent before God, and ceases their sinful lifestyle, the matter is over, and no further action need be taken (Matthew 18:15).

We must remember that Christians do not operate under the logic of the Mosaic law, which had unrepentant sinners punished or stoned by decree of the court of judges (Leviticus 20, Deuteronomy 25:1). Our Lord Yeshua is now the only judge who has been given authority from the Father to punish sin (Matthew 7:1, John 5:22, 27, James 5:9).

To Who Disfellowshipping Applies

Unrepentant Sinners, Not Struggling Sinners

As we noted in the introduction of this article, Disfellowshipping applies to a very specific class of people, who are in turn breaking very specific commands of God unrepentantly.

Disfellowshipping is an intervention, it is not an interrogational trial or something that is designed to “punish” Christians. Rather, it is something that is only done when a brother or sister is “actively” and “openly” living in unrepentant moral wickedness. It is not to be applied to someone who may repentently “struggle with sin” (1 John 2:1, Romans 7:15-17, 23-25).

Apostates, Not those with Differences of Opinion

Expelling members of the Congregation in scripture, has ‘never’ been used or described to apply to those who merely have different interpretations or understandings of scripture, or even consciences on certain matters (Romans 7:24, Romans 14:22-23, 1 Corinthians 14:26, Acts 17:10-11).

Disfellowshipping is not a tool to “bully all Christians into agreeing with one another” in said respect, with exception to genuine Apostic Sectarians who go out of their way to teach what is ‘clear’, ‘blatant’, and most importantly, ‘purposeful’ falsehood against Lord Yeshua himself and the teachings he passed on to his Apostles, for their own selfish gains.

Those Called “Brothers”, Not Those Who Have Lost Faith

Disfellowshipping is not to be applied to those who merely fall into doubt of faith or lack of belief in God.

As stated in Jude 1:22-23, when a fellow Christian begins to have doubts in the faith, or leaves the Congregation merely because of lack of genuine belief, this is not to be classified as sin, but they are to be encouraged with mercy, to be admonished, not outcasted or seen as a wicked person.

Furthermore, Paul makes it clear that this only applies to people calling themselves “brothers”, and not people of the world (1 Corinthians 5:10-11).

Hence, if a person no longer is calling themselves a “brother” and are no longer part of the Congregation, but have forgone their identity as a Christian altogether, then they are a part of the world, and therefore the application and purpose of disfellowshipping would technically no longer apply to them.

We must remember the context of Paul’s words here was for the purpose of keeping the “Christian congregation” ‘internally’ clean, as made clear by his differentiation between “people of the world” and “those calling themselves brothers”.

One cannot be considered “leaven” to be removed, if one is not part of the “loaf” that the leaven corrupts.

• “Because there is one loaf… for we all partake of the one loaf“. – 1 Corinthians 10:17
• “Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven ferments the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old leaven, that you may be a new unleavened batch, as you really are”. – 1 Corinthians 5:6-7

Of course, if a Christian tried to use this “technicality” to his advantage by constantly denouncing his faith and reaffirming it again just to attain the “freedom” to commit sins without consequence, it would be up to the personal discrection of the members of said congregation to address such a scenario appropriately.

Overall. Disfellowshipping predominantly is applied to Christian Congregation members unrepentantly committing the sins of ‘immorality’ or ‘spiritism’ listed in scripture, as aforementioned in the introduction of this article.

What if a Person Hid Their Sin from the Congregation?

Sometimes, some Christians who are living in unrepentant sin may be living double lives, hiding their sin from the Congregation. Some may do this for weeks, months, maybe years! Until eventually they are either found out by someone, or they eventually cease and repent by themselves but only later admit it to others.

Some Christians would feel that this person isn’t deserving of immediate forgiveness, and should still be expelled from the congregation for a certain amount of time, or perhaps should otherwise “pay” for their hidden sins.

I have personally known some church leaders and denominations that operate with the mindset of;

“Even though you are repentant now, because you didn’t confess at the time and hid your wilful sins from the Congregation to get away with them, we have to disfellowship you to make up for it”.

It’s extremly important to remember, that the purpose of disfellowshipping is not to “punish” or “pay back” for a person’s sins. Such an act is in fact extremely unbiblical, if not even sinful on part of the Congregation and its Elders.

Such an act is “repaying eye for an eye”, or “taking vengeance” which is God’s not ours (Romans 12:19). Yeshua commands us to forgive freely, not to “keep tally of sins”(Colossians 3:13, 1 Corinthians 13:5, Luke 11:4, Matthew 5:38).

The purpose of judicial action and disfellowshipping is an intervention to try and encourage repentance “in the moment of sin”, but if a brother or sister has already since repented, but are then disfellowshipped just because they “didn’t confess the sin previously” or “only repented because they were caught out”, then the disfellowshipping is being unjustly carried out and is a condemnation of the innocent.

• “If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent“. – Matthew 12:7

When disfellowshipping someone for a “secret past sin”, or as to “serve a sentence” before their redmission, we are “forgiving with a price”, as opposed to free repentance through faith in the Anointed Saviour Yeshua alone (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Such an act is a rejection of the sacrifice of Yeshua, and reverts back to the Old Law Covenant, where sinners had to either make a payment via sacrifice on the altar (Leviticus 4:1-5:13; 6:24-30) or be punished (sometimes both!), but that law was nailed on the torture tree with Yeshua’s death (Colossians 2:14).

Thus, punishing Christians for sins they committed previously but have since repented of, spits in the face of the Father, his Son Yeshua, and his sacrifice.

• “Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Yeshua the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses“. – Acts 13:38-39

Even if a Christian did try to hide their sins on purpose, and even if they only repent of their sinful lifestyle ‘because’ they were discovered or exposed in the act… Despite this being obviously an immoral attitude to have, it is still not any man’s place to judge, punish, repay or condemn them for this, because that is not our role.

Again, that is ‘not’ the purpose of disfellowshipping.

Once a brother or sister has repented before God of their ill deeds and ceases their sins, no matter what circumstances caused them to, that is the end of matters.

That is the whole ‘point’ of “approaching our brother” when caught in their sins. If a Christian has repented and ceased what they are doing upon confrontation of their brothers, then Yeshua tells us “we have gained our brother” (Matthew 18:15).

One of the finest examples of this in fact is recorded in 2 Samuel 12, where the prophet Nathan went and “exposed” David’s secret sin, which was wilful. Upon such, David repented in the moment, and for that he was forgiven.

• “Then Nathan said to David, ‘You are that man! … Why then have you despised the command of the YHWH by doing evil in His sight? You put Uriah the Hittite to the sword and took his wife as your own, for you have slain him with the sword of the Ammonites… You have acted in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel… Then David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against YHWH‘. “YHWH has taken away your sin‘, Nathan replied. ‘You will not die‘”. – 2 Samuel 12:7, 9, 12–13

Of course, we should also bear in mind, that though David was forgiven, he did still have to face the natural consequences, which resulted in the loss of his baby son (2 Samuel 12:14, Ezekiel 18:20). However, this did not reflect a form of ‘”additional” or “extended” punishment’ upon a repentant former sinner, but rather, as a lesson that our sinful actions will result in natural consequences in our lives, but it is ‘not’ the place or duty of Christians to inflict such consequences.

We see that upon David’s repentance, he received immediate full forgiveness and did not have to do any additional work for it, and the same applies to the Congregation.

Conclusion

In the end, our God and Father Yah, by means of his Anointed Son Yeshua, will be the one to judge all for things both open and hidden, not men (Matthew 7:1, Hebrews 10:26-31, 1 Corinthians 4:2-5, Ecclesiastes 12:14).

Therefore, we all do well to keep in mind the true meaning of free forgiveness, and apply the law of disfellowshipping in an appropriate manner, and not as a means of scorn, control, payback, or bullying.

It is a last resort to disfellowship an individual. A person who is disfellowshipped is distanced from the Body of the Anointed, and therefore it is both a loss of spiritual fellowship, and to an extent, intimate social fellowship, for we do not want to be involved or intimate with their sinful behaviours or lifestyles, but they are not to be shunned outright as a leper either.

Disfellowshipping is a means to encourage Christians to repent before God and cease their willingly sinful lifestyle, whilst protecting faithful ones from their potentially bad influence.

It is not a means of payment or punishment for sin, that will be carried out by the Anointed Son, King Yeshua with his Heavenly elect alone.