Be Ye not Partakers with Them
In Rom 16:17 Paul says, "Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which are causing the divisions and occasions of stumbling contrary to the doctrine (teaching) which ye learned; and turn away from them" (R.V.). Those who introduce doctrinal error, or behaviour contrary to the teaching of Christ and the apostles, bring "occasions of stumbling" into the Brotherhood. The clear teaching is that we should "turn away from them", for such have no part in the Ecclesia of Christ.
When we are baptised we enter into a solemn covenant to keep and uphold and defend the complete Truth of the Scriptures. Those who deny any part of the Scriptures cannot be allowed to remain within the body of Christ. We only know that the scripture says those who "do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God" (Gal 5:21)Adultery is an offence against the commandments of Christ, and remarriage is adultery. It is, therefore, a leprosy that must be "put without the camp". Under the Law of Moses adulterers were put to death! Today we put them "without the camp" until they repent, or until Christ passes judgement. To obey the commandment to have no fellowship with such is not to judge them, or to shut them out of the kingdom, but simply to obey the Word of Yahweh, who surely knows better than we do. The decision as to who will inherit the kingdom can safely be left to the Lord Jesus Christ. We only know that the scripture says those who "do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God" (Gal 5:21).
Leaven is also a type of sin, and under the Mosaic Law it was forbidden to use leaven in the offerings. So, when instructing the Corinthian Ecclesia to "Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person"withdraw from the brother who had committed fornication Paul says, "Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened......Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person" (1 Cor 5:6, 7, 13). Todays Sons of God are allowing the practices of the flesh to invade the body of Christ, and, if not checked, the inevitable result must be that the leaven of sin will spread throughout the body. The Spirit through Paul commands them "And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed, In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus" (verses 2-5). Not only is disfellowship Yahweh's way (the only way), to preserve the sanctity of the ecclesia, but it is also designed to bring the erring member to their senses - to repent and return to the fold. We are commanded not to company, or even to eat, with those who transgress, "I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators... The only cure for gangrene is to remove it, or it will kill the whole body. But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat" (verses 9 & 11). If we are not to keep company, and not to eat with those who walk disorderly how then can we break bread and share the Lord's table with them?
In 2 Tim 2:15-17 we read, "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth a canker". The Greek word rendered "canker" is "gaggraina" meaning "gangrene". The only cure for gangrene is to remove it, or it will kill the whole body. The lesson is clear that, if false brethren do not remove themselves, the body of believers must actively remove them. Otherwise the contamination will spread throughout the whole body, and destroy it!