Of course the church would insist that the murderer kill no more, that the thief steal no more, and the church would take firm steps to protect children from the child abuser. This does not mean that we hate the murderer, the thief or even the child abuser. On the contrary, love corrects the erring. Those who would let others go on in their sin are the ones who show that deep down they hate the sinner. The Lord says, “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline” (Rev 3:19). If we are too lazy to rebuke wrongdoing, we are not loving people, we are lazy people.
If a person has engaged in sexual immorality, whether heterosexual or homosexual, but is sincerely repentant, it is not the church’s place to punish the one who has repented of his immorality. The governing authority has a duty in that direction (Rom 13). We know that the government will not, in this case, do their duty; but we must still do ours. The church will forgive the one who has repented of his immorality. But the church will not allow a person to continue in unrepentant sexual sin and remain a member of the church.
The church must not allow people to go on in their sin, whether that sin is murder, stealing, child abuse, or sexual sin. To do so would demonstrate negligence of duty. The loving thing to do is to correct the sinner. No form of sin should be given a pass on this correction - especially not sins that do so much harm to others and sins that the Lord has labeled as deserving of death. Our duty is to forgive the repentant, and to show the unrepentant the error of their ways.
“…whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:20).
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