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Heaven (Practical Christianity #4) (King’s Cross)

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INTRODUCTION

It has sometimes been said that some people are so heavenly minded they are not any earthly good, but this is a malicious slander. The fact is that Christians are commanded to be heavenly minded so that they can be the most earthly good.

Heaven is the end toward which all things on earth are bending, growing up into. So, to focus on Heaven, where Christ is seated, is to focus on what you and all things are becoming in Christ. Heaven is not an escape. Heaven is the future. In this sense, Heaven is the most practical thing there is.

The Text: “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God…” (Col. 3:1-10).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

If we have been raised with Christ, Scripture says we ought to be seeking everything that is heavenly, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God (Col. 3:1). We ought to think about those things which are in Heaven because to be a Christian means that we have already died, and our true lives are hidden with Christ in God in Heaven (Col. 3:2-3). When Christ appears, who is our life, then we will finally and fully appear glorified (Col. 3:4). Therefore, put to death your old, earthly ways (Col. 3:5). These “things of earth” are what God is destroying, and those are the things you used to live in (Col. 3:6-7). But since you don’t live in them anymore, put them off with all the deeds of the old man, and put on the new man who is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the One in Heaven who made man (Col. 3:8-10).

WHAT IS HEAVEN LIKE?

The Bible teaches that Heaven is where God dwells: He is “our Father in heaven” (Lk. 11:2). Heaven is where Christ is seated on a great throne in all majesty (Mk. 16:19). Heaven is our Father’s house, full of many mansions prepared by Jesus for His people (Jn. 14:2-3). And since it is our Father’s house, Heaven is truly going home. If you are in Christ, Heaven is where your heart is. Heaven is described as a new heaven and a new earth, with a new capital city, a resplendent garden-castle coming down out of heaven (Rev. 21:1-2).

Heaven is that place where there is no death, no dying, no sin, no curse (Rev. 21:4, 22:3). And the God who has kept a record of all our tears, will personally wipe every tear away (Ps. 56:8, Is. 25:8, Rev. 21:4). This means that every sad thing will be completely undone, and we will have a fullness of joy that only grows and pleasures that only increase (Ps. 16:11).

The Bible says that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8), but to be absent from the body is to be “unclothed” and therefore, the fullness of Heaven will be when our bodies are raised from the dead and we are given new immortal bodies (2 Cor. 5:2-5). It’s possible that there is an intermediate state, but since time need not work the same way in Heaven, it’s also possible that when we die, we are immediately taken to the resurrection at Christ’s second coming (1 Cor. 15:20-26). Since even creation groans for our redemption (Rom. 8:19-22), and Heaven includes a new earth, we are invited to believe that all of creation (including animals and stars) will be raised to incorruption, which could certainly include beloved family pets (1 Cor. 15:38-44).

All of this of course means that we will have plenty to do with our new and perfect bodies in this new creation: good work and games, inventions and discoveries, cheetah and dragon rides, the loveliest arts and architecture, and the best adventures forever and ever. But it will always be without the burdens of pain and anxiety, and full of perfect rest (Heb. 4:10).

In that place, we will be reunited with our believing families: “gathered to our people,” as it was said of the patriarchs (Gen. 25:8, 35:29, 49:33). We will be with our fathers and mothers, grandparents, spouses, children, and dear friends who have died in the Lord. We serve the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God of the living, the God of generations and families, and therefore, while marriage will not be the same, we will know and love one another even better there than we ever did here (Mt. 22:29-32). We will be with all the saints, all the angels, and there will never be any sad goodbyes again.

And at the center of it all will be the greatest Wedding Feast, the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:7-9), full of the best food, a feast of wine and fat things, full of marrow and the finest wines (Is. 25:6). And there will singing and music like we’ve never heard, vast choirs and orchestras and bands, from all the nations, with all their instruments and distinctive languages and styles and rhythms, praising the Lamb who was slain, the King of kings (Rev. 5:8-9, 7:9-12, 14:2-3, 15:2-4). And every one of us will see His face (Rev. 22:4). And we will cast our crowns before Him, and He will give us lavish rewards that we don’t deserve and put crowns on our heads that defy all reason (2 Tim. 4:8).

APPLICATIONS 

Since all of this is true, put to death your sin. As the old hymn says, “Fading is the worldling’s pleasure, all his boasted pomp and show; solid joys and lasting treasure none but Zion’s children know.”

Your wrath and anger and lust and envy are weights holding you down, bending you down, deforming your life into nothing. But Jesus Christ died so that you might die, so that your sin might die in Him, and He rose from the dead so that you might rise with Him from the dead (without your sin) now in this life and rise in a new body in the Resurrection of Heaven.

Heaven and Hell begin here in this life. Either you are being pulled down into increasing selfishness and pettiness and bitterness and idolatries and fading, or else you are being set free to love and forgive one another as true human beings, real men and women, and beginning to enjoy creation as it was meant to be enjoyed and gathered to the Heavenly Mt. Zion to worship the King forever.

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The Holy Spirit Works the Room (Acts of the Apostles #24) (Christ Church)

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INTRODUCTION

This episode is the second time in Acts when the Lord makes a point of introducing two people to one another by supernatural means. The first time was in the previous chapter when He appeared to Saul and said that Ananias was coming, and then appeared to Ananias and told him to go minister to Saul (Acts 9:11-12). Then an angel of the Lord arranged for Philip to meet the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8: 26-27). And in this passage, Cornelius is told to send for a man named Simon Peter (v. 5), and is given the address (v. 6). The next day Simon Peter is told that the men sent by Cornelius are in fact from Him (v. 20). And this is not the last time it will happen in Acts either (Acts 16:9-10).

Remember our Table of Contents from chapter one (Acts 1:8), and realize that the Spirit is actively involved in introducing wildly disparate people to one another. It is as though the Spirit is working the room, making all kinds of introductions. This is how the kingdom works.

THE TEXT

“There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway. He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius. And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter . . .” (Acts 10:1–20).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

We are here introduced to Cornelius, a centurion from the Italian regiment (v. 1). A centurion was the highest rank that an ordinary soldier could achieve as a soldier. This man was a devout God-fearer, together with his household (v. 2). He was dedicated in alms-giving, and was constant in prayer (v. 2). An angel of the Lord came to him in a vision at about three in the afternoon (v. 3), addressing him by name. Cornelius was afraid, and asked the angel what he wanted. The angel said that his prayers and alms had come up as a memorial (“remembrance” in v. 31) before God (v. 4). Cornelius was told to send some men to Joppa, a little over 30 miles south, and there to call on a man named Simon with the surname of Peter (v. 5). He was staying with another Simon, a tanner who lived by the sea. Peter would take it from there (v. 6). When the angel left, Cornelius summoned two of his domestic slaves and a devout soldier (v. 7), told them what had happened, and dispatched them to Joppa (v. 8). The next day, as they were approaching Joppa, Peter went up on the rooftop to pray around noon (v. 9). Peter became very hungry, and while lunch was being prepared for him, he fell into a trance (v. 10). Heaven opened up, and the Lord offered him lunch, in the form of a sheet filled with unclean animals (vv. 11-12). Peter was told to rise up, to kill and to eat (v. 13). But Peter demurred—he had never eaten anything like that (v. 14). The voice said that he should not call common anything that God had cleansed (v. 15). This offer was made three times, and then withdrawn (v. 16). Naturally, Peter started to puzzle over what it all meant (v. 17), and while he was doing this, the three men from Cornelius appeared at the front gate (v. 17). They called to see if Simon Peter was lodging there (v. 18). And so while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit prompted him to go down to the three men (v. 19). He was not to doubt anything, because God had sent them (v. 20).

PETER DEALS IN THREE

Peter sometimes had the difficulty telling the Lord no when he shouldn’t have. When Jesus predicted that He would be betrayed, crucified, and raised, Peter took Him aside to rebuke Him (Matt. 16:22), only to be rebuked as Satan in turn. He famously denies the Lord three times during the Lord’s trial (Matt. 26:75), and the Lord graciously restored him to office at the end of the gospel of John, doing so with three basic questions (John 21:15ff), each question mirroring one of his earlier denials. And then here in this place Peter is told three times to kill and eat, and three times he refuses (Acts 10: 13-16). When everything is over, Peter goes downstairs to meet the three men.

ALL FOODS CLEAN

In the Old Testament, God required His people to refrain from certain meats as being unclean. This is codified in the Mosaic code (Lev. 11), but it also predates it, in that Noah was told to make a distinction between clean and unclean animals as he brought animals onto the ark (Gen.7:2), and that was centuries before Moses. Jesus expressly taught that His arrival had resulted in the cleansing of all foods (Mark 7: 14-23), meaning that the clean/unclean distinction had been a pedagogical one, teaching the Israelites the concept of holy and unholy. “And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him” (Mark 7:18).

We learn here that the cleansing of all foods was emblematic of Gentiles being grafted into the covenant. “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2:13).

TO REVIEW THE MAIN THING

This book began with a declaration that the gospel was going to go everywhere—Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. We are then given one systematic demonstration after another of God’s purpose in this. First the gospel spread throughout Jerusalem and Judea (Acts 2:14). Then it spread to Samaria (Acts 8:5). Galilee was then mentioned (Acts 9:31). The Ethiopian eunuch hears the Word from Philip (Acts 8:35). The message had apparently taken root in Damascus in Syria (Acts 9:2).

What we are learning here is that water is thicker than blood. There is nothing at all wrong with natural affection for your own people and your own place. There is something desperately wrong with contempt for the natural affections of others. So the main apostle of a universal gospel was the apostle Paul, and he was willing to go to Hell, if it were possible, for his natural kinsmen. “For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh” (Rom. 9:3). Don’t come around to him talking about blood and soil. He has forgotten more about natural affection than the most ardent kinist will ever know (Phil 3:4-5). But compared to the knowledge of Christ, all of that was nothing more than dumpster scrapings to him (Phil. 3:8).

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Hard Law, Hot Gospel: The Law of Love (CC Downtown)

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INTRODUCTION

We are not saved by the Law, or the works of the Law. But if the Gospel makes us alive, we really must ask the question, what are we made alive to do? What do those who receive this new life occupy their time with? Paul answers that question here in our text.

THE TEXT

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. 2 Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. 3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. 4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. 5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. 6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love. […] Galatians 5:1ff

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Contrary to the view of some expositors of the great St. Paul, he is not anti-Law. This chapter begins with the imperative: stand fast! The Judaizers were moving the goalposts of how Gentiles were to be ushered into the people of God; so Paul commands them to stand steadfast in the liberty that faith in Christ brings. Remember, Christ’s faith in God’s promise secured for all people from all nations the possibility of inclusion in the inheritance promised to Abraham, by faith in Christ. This is the liberty Paul insists the Galatians have received (v1). In contrast, if they submit to be circumcised, they are binding themselves to go through all the other hoops of an order which was passing away (vv2-3). This would be to make Christ ineffectual, and to gut grace of its potency (v4). The immaturity of looking at circumcision status is contrasted with trusting in what the Spirit does, namely, waiting in hope for the righteousness by faith (v5). Circumcision’s purpose in redemptive history had fulfilled its purpose; in its place was faith alone, full of love to God and neighbor (v6).

The Galatians had gone from running well to face-planting terribly (v7). Someone had persuaded them to disobey the truth, and this was worse than finding leaven in their Passover loaves (vv7-9). Paul denounces this troubler, and expresses his confidence that the Galatians will right the ship (v10). Nevertheless, it should be plain that the persecutions which Paul had and continued to endure were not the result of preaching circumcision; it came because of the skandalon of the cross (v11). In one of Paul’s sharpest remarks, he expresses the desire that the troubler would be totally emasculated (v12, Deu. 23:1).

Paul now elaborates on how the passing away of the “age of the Law” does not lead to lawless chaos. Through Christ we have been brought into the maturity of liberty, which means we must not treat liberty as if we were a child left alone in candy shop (v13). Rather, love should be the prevailing motivation of those set free by Christ; Paul sums up the Law: love thy neighbor as thyself (v14). The flesh devours, but walking in the Spirit puts a stronger chain on our lusts than the Law ever could (vv15-16).

There is a great chasm between the sons of Hagar and the sons of Sarah. These sons are at war with each other, and cannot be reconciled. Sons of unbelief and sons of faith cannot have peace with each other (v17). The Spirit brings new creation, which the Law safeguarded until the time of Christ’s coming (v18). The flesh is an orchard full of rotten fruit, and those who bear such fruit are not citizens of Christ’s Kingdom (vv19-21). The Spirit bears the fruit of Eden’s tree of Life within us (vv22-23). The husk guards the seed, but once it sprouts it can no longer contain the tree (v23b). Once more, our union to this life is found by being crucified with Christ (2:20) and thus are dead to the deathly old way of being human (v24). The Spirit has begotten us by faith (justification) so now we ought to walk by the Spirit (sanctification). Which rules out the vanity of the triangles which envy traps us in (vv25-26).

THE GREAT WAR

Paul’s polemic is not a narrow attack on legalism and those silly enough to think they could impress God by shaving their beards a certain way, wearing skirts a certain length, or by avoiding the addicting power of syncopated beats. But neither is it an invitation to reject all rules.  Sinners walk by unbelief in their elaborate false doctrines, and sinners walk by unbelief in grotesque debauchery. The Christian isn’t supposed to balance themselves in between the legalist and the libertine. Rather we should set both sorts of fools on one side and believers on the other.

Paul identified in the last chapter that this great war was between Hagar’s sons and Sarah’s sons. In this chapter the same strife is identified: Flesh or Spirit. Unbelief or Faith. Sinai or Calvary. Your righteousness or Christ’s. Man in Adam or man in the Last Adam. The great war divides mankind between those who walk by faith in Christ, or those who refuse to acknowledge Him as King of Heaven and Earth. Paul demonstrates how great the chasm is between those who are walking by the flesh and those walking by the Spirit. Walking by externals, or walking by the new life of Christ which has invaded the world.

THE COVENANT SIGN

This is why, for Paul, the Judaizers’ insistence on the Gentiles being circumcised becomes a hill to die on. Rushdoony, in his typically insightful way, points out that circumcision was symbolic castration. It was given by God to be a sign of trust; not in human generation, but in heavenly regeneration. In Adam all die, but in Christ shall all be made alive.

Man needed to be born again, and in Christ, by faith in Christ, this new birth is held out to you. Circumcision pointed Israel to hope for the new birth. This new birth would be accompanied by the washing of the Spirit (Cf. Jn. 3:5). This washing had come and was signified by baptism. So then, the promise of the Spirit was to be received by faith as signified by baptism, not by the work of the circumcising knife.

FRUIT FOR CITIZENS 

The Serpent was enticing the Galatians to grasp the fruit through fleshly willfulness instead of walking by trust in God’s clear Word. Meanwhile, Paul’s Gospel invited them to taste the fruit of the tree of life, and enjoy the liberty of that life.

But that liberty was not aimless, or do as you will. Each of the nine-fold attributes of the fruit of the Spirit are easily connected to imperatives found elsewhere in Scripture. Love one another (Jn.13:34). Rejoice always (Phi. 4:4). Seek peace and pursue it (Heb. 12:14). Endure afflictions (2Ti 4:5). Let your gentleness be evident to all (Phi. 4:5). Maintain good works (Gal. 6:10). Shewing all good fidelity (1 Cor. 4:2). Shewing all meekness unto all men (Col. 3:12). Be sober-minded (1 Pt. 5:8). This liberty of new life brings us as citizens to imitate our King. All this was promised of old (Cf. Is. 32:15, Is. 57).

Sin––at its root––is living as if Christ has not come. Sin is living in the old world. Sinful man prowls around looking for anything at all to give him meaning. It might look like sexual indulgence, or strict adherence to cultic rites. It may take the form of murder in blind rage, or the surgical deception of multitudes. All of it is the fruit of the flesh; it’s willful unbelief in the new creation work which Christ began.

But you are not of the flesh, but of the Spirit. If you have been born of the Spirit you are a citizen of this kingdom. Here is fruit to nourish you. From start to finish Your new life is marked by faith. Faith in the complete work of Christ, and faith in every act of love’s duties. The seed of the Law has burst forth into an oak tree of love.

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Healing for George Washington (Acts of the Apostles #23) (Christ Church)

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INTRODUCTION 

We are now reading about the very beginning of Saul’s Christian life, and his apostolic ministry. We are looking at just 21 verses, and in that short span we see two distinct attempts on his life. The thing that infuriated them against him was the fact that he was so powerful in his proclamation and reasoning. In fact, it was the very same response that Saul had earlier given to Stephen. Saul was now on the receiving end.

THE TEXT

“And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth, and hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight. Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem: And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name. But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake . . .” (Acts 9:10–31).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

The Lord appeared in a vision to a certain discipline named Ananias, a man who lived in Damascus (v. 10). The Lord called him by name, and Ananias answered. The Lord gave the address of the house of Judas, on a street called Straight, and told him to inquire for Saul of Tarsus, who was praying (v. 11). In Saul’s prayer, he has seen a vision of a man named Ananias coming to lay hands on him in order to heal his sight (v. 12). Ananias protested, for he had heard about the evil Saul had done to the saints in Jerusalem (v. 13). And he has authority from the chief priests to arrest Christians there in Damascus (v. 14). But the Lord told Ananias to goanyway—Saul was a chosen vessel to bear the Lord’s name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel (v. 15). The Lord said he would show Saul how much he would suffer for “my name’s sake” (v. 16). So Ananias obeyed, came into the house, laid hands on Saul, and said that the same Jesus who had appeared to Saul had also appeared to Ananias, sending him to restore Saul’s sight, and to fill him with the Holy Spirit (v. 17). Scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see, and then he got up and was baptized (v. 18). Saul then ate and was a strengthened, and stayed with the disciples there in Damascus (v. 19). He began preaching Christ as the Son of God in the synagogues immediately (v. 20). Those who heard him were amazed, recognizing in him the former persecutor (v. 21). But Saul increased in strength, and was able to confound the Jews there, proving that Jesus was in fact the Christ (v. 22). After many days of this, the Jews plotted to kill Saul (v. 23). Their plots became known to Saul, that they were watching the city gates closely in order to assassinate him (v. 24). So the disciples lowered him from the city wall in a basket by night (v. 25). Saul came back to Jerusalem and tried to join up with the Christians—but they were afraid and didn’t believe him (v. 26). But Barnabas undertook for him, brought him to the apostles, told them about the Damascus road vision, and how Saul had preached boldly in Damascus (v. 27). And so Saul joined with the Christians, in and around Jerusalem (v. 28). Saul spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed with the Hellenistic Jews, to the point where they determined to kill him (v. 29). When the brothers discovered this, they took him down to Caesarea on the coast, and shipped him to Tarsus, Saul’s home town (v. 30). There was then a period of relative calm in Judea, Galilee, and Samaria. The churches were walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Spirit, and continued to multiply (v. 31).

BUILDING A TIMELINE 

We don’t have hard dates to begin our calculations, but Stephen was likely murdered a few years after the Lord’s resurrection. Saul was busy with persecuting the church after that time, and so the Lord’s appearance to him was likely a few years after Stephen’s death. And then in Galatians, Paul says that God was pleased “to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days” (Gal. 1:16–18). This means that Saul did not return to Jerusalem until three years after he headed off to Damascus. He was in Damascus/Arabia/Damascus before he returned.

BEFORE KINGS 

So the Lord told Ananias that Saul was a chosen instrument to speak to three categories—to Gentiles, kings, and to the children of Israel. Why to kings, if God is uninterested in what happens in the political sphere. And sure enough, Agrippa remarked that Paul was trying to convert him (Acts 26:28). And Paul acknowledged it—he wanted everyone to come to Christ. This is why believers are to pray for kings and for all those in authority (1 Tim. 2:1-4). And why? Because God wants all kinds of men to be saved (1 Tim. 2:4).

JESUS APPEARED TO ANANIAS

Three men named Ananias appear in the book of Acts. The first is a false friend of the Lord, the Ananias (Acts 5). The second is the true disciple in our passage, Ananias, the man who baptized Saul (Acts 9). And the third was Ananias the high priest, the enemy of God (Acts 23-24). This Ananias was notable among the disciples, but he is described simply as “a disciple,” even though he is authorized to baptize Saul. It was the Lord who appeared to Ananias in a vision. The Lord here is Jesus, as Ananias says in v. 17. This same Jesus that appeared to you appeared to me. Moreover, the Lord says in v. 15 that Saul will bear “my name,” and He also will suffer greatly “for my name’s sake.” This is all about Jesus.

HOW MUCH HE MUST SUFFER

When God tells Ananias to go, he is reluctant. One of the things that the Lord says to him in order to reassure him is that Saul will be shown the great things that he will suffer for the sake of the Lord’s name (v. 16). Later in Acts, Paul tells Agrippa that he was “not disobedient to the heavenly vision,” which means that he walked into a life of tribulation with his eyes open. Attempts on his life begin almost right away, with a narrow escape from Damascus in a basket, followed by an escape from Jerusalem back home to Tarsus. Paul put it this way later on in Acts, as he was “confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).

It follows that suffering is not a refutation of anything. It is frequently a confirmation of everything we say we believe.

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Church Discipline (CC Troy)

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1 CORINTHIANS 5

It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.

2 And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.

3 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,

4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,

5 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.

6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?

7 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:

8 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.

9 I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:

10 Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.

11 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 idolator, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.

12 For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?

13 But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.

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