Piper Encourages Excommunication of Christians who Marry Unbelievers
Pastor John Piper spurred on churches to remove Christians who marry an unbeliever from church membership in order to “sober the disobedient believer, wake them up, and win them to a repentant and obedient heart and restoration.”
In an Ask Pastor John article posted to his blog, Piper explained three layers of sin to emphasize the serious nature of a Christian who rejects the counsel of church elders against marriage to an unbeliever.
“First, the professing believer is defying and rebelling against an explicit command of the New Testament of God. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7:39, ‘A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.’ ‘Only in the Lord’ means only to a person who is in the Lord—a believer, a follower of Jesus,” he said....
