Mixed Company in the Church

by Kenneth Ward
The visible expression of the early church as seen in Acts and the epistles of the NT was a regular gathered community of like-minded people for the purpose of edification (Acts 5:12-14; 20:7; 1 Cor 14:26; Heb 10:25). The way a person gained entrance into these communities was through a firm belief in Jesus Christ and an active commitment to following his teachings (Acts 2:38-41, 42, 47b; Lk 14:25-27). Further evidence of how these communities conducted themselves may be seen in a quote from the second century: "They [Christians] were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day [probably Sunday] before it was light, when they sang an anthem to Christ as God, and bound themselves by a solemn oath not to commit any wicked deed, but to abstain from all fraud, theft and adultery, never to break their word, or deny a trust when called upon to honor it; after which it was their custom to separate, and then meet again to partake of food [probably the Lord's Supper], but food of an ordinary and innocent kind" (Pliny, Letters x.96; AD 112). The church today little resembles these descriptions of the early church, and one of the many reasons for this is the presence of unbelievers in our "Christian" meetings.

In his short epistle, Jude addresses some of the potential problems that can result from the infiltration of unbelievers into the Christian community. Rather than gaining entrance by belief in and obedience to Jesus Christ, Jude says that certain men "secretly slipped in" (v. 4); that is, while professing Christ, they were in reality unbelievers. Jude warns his readers to beware of these men (v. 4), to contend against them (v. 3), and to know that ultimately they will be destroyed (vv. 14-16). Clearly, Jude believes that these men were in the wrong place (i.e., the church) and were not welcomed. Jude compares these men to certain angels who abandoned their former state of existence (v. 6). Just as it was unnatural for these angels to leave their former state, so it was unnatural for these unbelievers to leave the world and to join this community of believers. Jude also makes reference to the Exodus (v. 5), from which we may gain an OT example of the consequences of mixing together believers and unbelievers. Scripture tells us that many other people accompanied the Israelites when God led them out of Egypt (namely, a "mixed multitude"--Ex 12:38). No doubt these people (who came with their own religious ideas) were those responsible for inciting the Israelites to disbelieve God and complain against him (Num 11:4). Jude's warning is still relevant today: "And who was it that God destroyed? Those who did not believe" (Jd 5, cf. also Num 14:27-29).

Is the church today exempt from the influences that unbelievers can bring to it? Hardly! Just as the Israelites and the early church had their share of problems due to "mixed company," so will today's church if it is mixed with unbelievers. Some of the problems that exist in many of our churches today can be traced directly to such influences. Debate over issues like homosexuality and abortion is now standard within the church--with advocates on both sides! Other churches have exasperating meetings over building programs, sometimes leading to hard feelings or even division. In still other churches psychology has come to have more prominence than the Word of God itself! Many church-goers (leaders included) get away with immorality after barely a hand-slap. Often more attention is given to the externals (e.g., building committees, positions, finances, etc.) than to the people who are expected to support such externals. The list of problems goes on.

In many ways we can see some of these same problems going on in Jude's day. Some of the problems that existed in the community of believers that Jude addresses were immorality (vv. 4, 7-8), rejection of truth (vv. 3, 8), emphasis on money (vv. 11, 16), selfishness (vv. 12a, 16, 18), and division (v. 19). Who was responsible for these problems according to Jude? Godless men (i.e., those without God, namely, unbelievers, vv. 4, 19). There can be no question that unbelievers indeed bring real problems to the church; and likely this is the cause of many of the problems churches experience today. Yet we as Christians continue openly to invite unbelievers to our church meetings, thereby allowing them to cohabit with us as if they were actually part of the body of Christ. They sing with us, pray with us, and, ultimately, make decisions with us--decisions that bear on how the church functions. Most of us give these invitations with good intentions, of course, hoping that such invitations will result in the salvation of our friends and family members. This prevailing practice is no doubt due to the common belief that the primary purpose of the church meeting is evangelism. In fact, we have no NT precedent for this, nor have we any scriptural reference to support such a belief. One might point to 2 Tim 4:2 where Paul tells Timothy to "preach the word"; however, there is no indication here that Paul meant for this evangelism to take place during the church meeting. While at Ephesus, Timothy at times engaged in the proclamation of the gospel to unbelievers, and at other times instructed the church. Moreover, every NT example we have of preaching occurs outside of the church meeting and usually involves sharing the good news of Jesus Christ (cf. Acts 8:4-5, 12, 25, 35, 40, to name just a few).

The word "church" (Gr., ekklesia) means "assembly" and includes only those who are positionally in Christ. Most of Paul's letters were addressed to specific local gatherings of believers, and it is to these that he applied the term "church" (1 Cor 1:2; 2 Cor 1:1; 1 Th 1:1; 2 Th 1:1). Local gatherings of "mixed company" (i.e., believers and unbelievers) were certainly not what Paul had in mind when he used this word. By looking at just some of the reasons why the apostolic church met it is easy to understand why the church meeting is not for unbelievers. Mutual edification, exercising of spiritual gifts (1 Cor 14), and partaking of the Lord's Supper (1 Cor 11:17ff) all presuppose that the participants are believers. Do we have greater insight as to how the church should function than did the apostles and the early church? Are we somehow better equipped to handle the potential problems associated with unbelievers in the church than were the apostles? These questions should lead us to consider carefully how we do things in the church today. Nowhere in Scripture do we find a basis for uniting unbelievers with believers during the church meeting; in fact, we find just the opposite (2 Cor 6:14-18). Granted, there is always the possibility that a curious unbeliever will visit a local assembly, as Paul himself allowed (1 Cor 14:23-26). However, the possibility of this happening in the NT church was remote at best. In any case, the meeting was to go on as usual (1 Cor 14:24)--it was not altered for the sake of the unbeliever. Moreover, if the church today would operate as it did in the first century, it seems fair to say that the unbeliever's stay would be short-lived; for any unbeliever would naturally become uncomfortable in such an intimate setting, and eventually he would either leave or become a believer.

Jude warned the church long ago of the potential dangers of unbelievers infiltrating the church. If we could take an inside look at all church members in the contemporary church I wonder what we would find. Would we see "the church" or a "mixed multitude"? How many unbelievers posing as believers (not to mention those we freely invite) would we discover? Let us heed Jude's admonition to maintain a pure church.