Judging Those Within

The church is under the authority and protection of Jesus Christ; those outside the church are in the kingdom of the devil, as Paul tells us in Ephe-sians 2. The purpose of this action is to bring the man to repentance, that he might be saved in the day of the Lord. This is a means that God has given to the church. Ultimately this is so that the message of the Gospel will be backed up by the actions of the church. The church has the right to decide its own membership, according to the instruction of Christ in the Scriptures.