learned, and avoid them.” (Rom. 16:17, NW) It is very plain. The true Word of God was taught to them by Paul. Now if anyone comes into the congregation to try to upset adherence to that true Word of God and causes stumbling or a division in the congregation, it is necessary to avoid that one. The best way to avoid him is to disfellowship that person, set him aside, get him out of the congregation, so that the whole congregation may remain clean.

¹² Against division and disunity of mind, we read at 1 Corinthians 1:10 (NW), “Now I exhort you, brothers, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you should all speak in agreement, and that there should not be divisions among you, but that you may be fitly united in the same mind and in the same line of thought.” God’s thoughts must become yours. That is why we come together as a congregation to study the Word of God, so that his thoughts become ours. If we do not have God’s thoughts, if we do not meditate upon these things that the inspired disciples brought to the attention of the early church and that have been recorded for our learning now, if we do not learn these things, we are not going to have God’s thoughts; and only those who love righteousness are the ones that are going to inherit the kingdom of heaven. As he said, “Do you not know that unrighteous persons will not inherit God’s kingdom?” So in order to inherit that kingdom or the blessings of the new world our minds must turn toward God’s teaching, and not back to that other organization, the Devil’s organization, which is going to be destroyed.

EXAMPLES

13. Why do we today consider ancient Bible examples of disfellowshiping?

¹³ Now let us look at some examples from the Bible of Jehovah God’s casting out people, away from his congregation, getting rid of them because of their wrongdoing; for, just as he did it in times past, he will do it today, because he wants his representative people to be clean people that will be servants of his and will stand for his name and for his true worship. There are many examples in the Bible, but let us take just a few of them.

14. What lesson do we draw from the example of Korah and his allies?

¹⁴ Take Korah. There were some there in the time of Moses that became proud, three of them, in fact, that thought, ‘Well, we have just as good a standing with God as Moses has, being of the tribes of Israel. Why should he get all the credit to be the mediator?’ But they were talking against God’s representative. Moses came to the fore and made his statements very clear. He said, ‘Tomorrow morning we’ll see who is God’s servant and whom he is using to carry on his work now. What happens on the morrow is not going to be just the natural death of these people, but God is going to perform a miracle and clean out from the congregation Korah, Dathan, Abiram and all those associated with them.’ Next morning what happened? The ground opened up, and all of their property, their children, and their wives went down into this hole alive. And Korah and the 250 princes who offered incense were devoured by fire from Jehovah. Numbers 16:32, 35 (AS) says: “And the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods. And fire came forth from Jehovah, and devoured the two hundred and fifty men that offered the incense.” God was showing his displeasure with people that blasphemed against him, who would not accept the arrangement that God made. So then, those that rebel against God he will disfellowship. He will get rid of them. He will clean them out of the congregation.

15. How does Miriam’s experience illustrate the matter?

¹⁵ Now we can turn to another example in the Bible. Numbers 12 tells us about Miriam and Aaron. They got a little high-minded. Miriam was Aaron and Moses’ sister, but she became proud and foolish. Because she wanted to take the position of a man in the congregation and have something to say about the arrangements of the Lord among the Israelites, she was stricken with leprosy. She had to be disfellowshiped or put out of the congregation for seven days; and then only after the pleading of her brother Moses to Jehovah to save her life so He would not kill her with leprosy, she was cleansed and came back. She had acted proudly and foolishly. The Lord God was not going to have that kind of people in his congregation. She came around. She came back, but first she was punished, and Aaron learned his own place from this experience of his sister.

16. How does Achan’s experience show God will not tolerate thieves?

¹⁶ Then we have thieves, whom the Lord God will not tolerate in his organization. We have the example of Achan. When the children of Israel crossed the Jordan and took Jericho under the direction of Jehovah, he winning their battles for them, the instructions were given to the Israelites that all of the things that were in the city were devoted to destruction, except that the things of gold, silver, brass and iron were to be reserved for Jehovah. No one must take any of the spoil for himself. But Achan thought a little bit differently about that. When he got into Jericho he found a Babylonian mantle, 200 shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold 50 shekels in weight, and he said, ‘Well, I’ll just take that home and bury it and keep it for myself. No one will ever find it out.’ But he was in Jehovah’s congregation; now corruption was inside it. This had to be found out. They went on to battle at Ai and the Israelite armies were failing. They could not win. Joshua learned there was corruption in the congregation. It had to be gotten out, and according to Jehovah’s arrangement the evidence pointed to Achan as the corrupter. They found he had his spoil hid in his tent. Now what happened? God did not just throw him out of the congregation and put him away for seven days as he did Miriam. He had Achan stoned to death, and his family with him, because he was a thief.—Josh. 6:17 to 7:26.

17. How do the fallen “sons of God” illustrate disfellowshiping?

¹⁷ Centuries earlier, in Noah’s days before the flood, there were those angels in heaven, spirit creatures, who became disobedient. They saw that the daughters of men were fair, and they left their estate and came down to earth and took to themselves wives. In this they were disobedient. And so 2 Peter 2:4 (NW) tells us concerning them: “God did not hold back from punishing the angels that sinned.” No, but he threw them into Tartarus, delivering them “to pits of dense darkness to be reserved for judgment”. They were disobedient, they violated God’s law, and he barred them from his counsels. For a test of his faithful creatures they are still in existence, yes, but God’s judgments are written against them for their final destruction.

18. How does Jude show putting up a hard fight for the faith has a connection with this matter?

¹⁸ Finally we can go on to Jude’s letter. In it we are told that we must put up a hard fight for the faith. This faith was delivered to us by Christ Jesus; we have to fight for it. It is the faith that was given to the congregation of the followers of Christ Jesus, and he does not want that faith corrupted or changed in any manner. Anyone who tries to change it, whether he be rebellious, proud, thievish, disobedient or corrupt morally, is going to be cleaned out. He is going to be removed. Now we do see that evil men slip in, ungodly men, and these we must try to find and throw out of the congregation. Just as Jude says at the 8th and 16th Jude verses 8 and 16: “These men, too, indulging in dreams, are defiling the flesh and disregarding lordship and speaking abusively of glorious ones. These men are murmurers, complainers about their lot in life, proceeding according to their own desires, and their mouths speak swelling things, while they are admiring personalities for the sake of their own benefit.” Yes, these types of persons that have just been described are the kind we do not want in the congregation of the Lord, and if they are there then they must be removed by the congregation. Otherwise a little yeast ferments the whole lump.

Propriety of Disfellowshiping

1. Is it proper to disfellowship, and what does Titus 3:10, 11 say?

IS IT proper to disfellowship? Yes, as we have just seen in the above article, God put out of his congregation those that were opposed to him and that were corrupt. He disfellowshiped them. He got rid of them, and he advises us to do so with such persons. At Titus 3:10, 11 (NW) we read: “As for a man that promotes a sect, reject him after a first and a second admonition, knowing that such a man has been turned out of the way and is sinning, he being self-condemned.” So there is authority in the Greek Scriptures for anyone that starts sects or divisions to be rejected after he has been talked to a first and a second time and still he does not change his course of action.

2. (a) What authority for it do we have at Romans 16:17, 18? (b) According to Revelation 3:16, for what does Jesus disfellowship?

² We have other authority, too, in Romans 16:17, 18 (NW): “Now I exhort you, brothers, to keep your eye on those who create divisions and causes for stumbling contrary to the teaching which you have learned, and avoid them. For men of that kind are slaves, not of our Lord Christ, but of their own bellies, and by smooth talk and complimentary speech they seduce the hearts of guileless ones.” Here we have a plain statement from God’s Word that we should get rid of these persons that cause offense and divisions within His congregation. We have the authority, we have the right, and it is proper to get rid of them. They have no place in the congregation of God. Christ Jesus even disfellowships