Separation from Israel of foreigners.
In the public reading of the law, the command was met with to keep the Ammonite and the Moabite out of the congregation of God for ever. Upon this, interpreting the precept apparently as applicable to all strangers, the people separated from them "the mixed multitude" (for the phrase see Exodus 12:38). To what extent these had been united with Israel before, and how far the separation was carried, does not appear. The law (Deuteronomy 23:3) seems clearly to mean that even if an Ammonite or Moabite became converted from heathenism to the faith of the Israelites, neither he nor his descendants, to the tenth generation, should be allowed to unite in their worship, or be capable of naturalisation. Was this law rigidly carried out in the case of proselytes from the heathen? But if "the mixed multitude" had not been fellow-worshippers, from what were they now excluded? Were they expelled from the city? Without attempting an answer to such questions, we may take the passage as suggesting the duty of the Christian Church to keep itself pure from alien elements. This duty is clearly set forth in not a few passages in the New Testament, which, when they are read in public in some Churches, must surely be at times felt as protesting against the existing state of things.
I. WHOM CHRISTIANS ARE TO EXCLUDE FROM THEIR FELLOWSHIP. None are to be separated, as under the law, on account of nationality. "There is neither Jew nor Greek," etc. (Galatians 3:28). None because 'of the faults of their parents, still less of their remote ancestors. But—
1. Total unbelievers in Christianity. This is implied in Matthew 18:17, and clearly included in the prohibition in 2 Corinthians 6:14-17. But it needs no express precept; it is evident from the nature of the case that a Christian Church must be composed of professed Christians.
2. Rejecters of essential truths. Especially the teachers of serious error (see 1 Timothy 1:20; 2 John 1:10; Revelation 2:14, Revelation 2:15).
3. The immoral (see 1 Corinthians 5:1-13.).
4. Impenitent offenders against a fellow-member of the Church (see Matthew 18:15-17).
5. Disturbers of the peace and unity of the Church (Romans 16:17).
II. To WHAT EXTENT THE SEPARATION IS TO BE MADE.
1. From Church communion.
2. From the intimacies of private life.
The main ends of the separation cannot be secured if those who are excluded from Church ordinances are freely admitted to friendship and family life. "With such an one no not to eat," is the language of St. Paul as to certain classes of offenders (1 Corinthians 5:11). Avoidance of private friendship is even enjoined towards some who are yet to be regarded as brethren (2 Thessalonians 3:6, 2 Thessalonians 3:14, 2 Thessalonians 3:15).
III. WHY IT IS TO BE MADE. It is required by—
1. The laws of Christ.
2. The idea and design of the Church. As a community consecrated to God; baptized into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; instituted to witness for truth and holiness, to maintain the worship of God, to promote his kingdom, which is righteousness; constituted the visible body of Christ, to speak his words, do his work, for conversion of sinners and spiritual improvement and comfort of saints. Christian communion is impaired, the power of Christian ministry and ordinances lessened, when the Church is itself palpably "a mixed multitude" of believers and unbelievers, righteous and unrighteous.
3. The safety of individual and family Christian life.
4. The benefit of the .separated themselves. That unbelievers may be impressed with the reality and importance of Christian faith and holiness, and their own lack of them. If treated as Christians, they will come to regard themselves as Christians, much to their own injury. So in the case of such as are guilty of immorality; their expulsion from fellowship is to be with a view to their repentance and restoration (see 2 Corinthians 2:5-8).
In conclusion—
1. The exercise of such discipline doubtless requires much wisdom and charity. It is vain to hope for, it is wrong to attempt, a perfect separation between the true and the false, the wheat and the tares. It is possible to be too rigid; it is more easy to err on the side of laxity. There is danger on one side of Pharisaism and narrow bigotry; on the other, of growing indifference to truth and righteousness, the welfare of souls and the glory of Christ. Christian intelligence, piety, and love—rather, the Spirit of Christ—in the Church can alone preserve from these opposite evils, and guide in a course harmonising at once with the purity and the charity which are united in the gospel, and ought never to be dissevered in the practice of Christians. But, in the face of the teaching and injunctions of the New Testament, it can never be right to seek to escape difficulty by abandoning Church discipline altogether.
2. The narrative shows the value of the written word, and the importance of the reading of it. It preserves the truth during periods of neglect and disobedience; and when studied afresh brings it to light again, for conviction and reformation.
3. The Divine law, though neglected and disobeyed, is not thereby abolished. It endures as a witness against those who disobey, and the standard by which they will be judged.