“Purge the evil person from among you” (1 Corinthians 5:13)
Believers hold each other (but not unbelievers) accountable to God’s norms.
God loves sinners. So much, that He gave His only begotten Son to save them. Because of this great love, we sometimes tend to be sweet hearted. Paul was not bothered by that, he got straight to the point: “Purge the evil person from among you.”
There is an important distinction in how we should treat believers and non-believers. We have nothing to say about people who are standing outside God’s family. Why should we expect them to keep God’s standards if they do not recognize Him as God? The only thing we can do is invite them to come home to the Father.
But there are standards within God’s family. We maintain that, and we do that out of love. That love tells wrongdoers that they must repent; family members that they have a safe home; outsiders that God’s children are different; and the Heavenly Father that we want to live in His family according to His plan.
What do you do when you see a fellow Christian getting of track?