Deuteronomy 13 Devotional
by Pastor Lawrence

This chapter serves as another commentary upon the first of the Ten Commandments when the Lord says to Israel, “You shall have no other gods before me.” In each of the examples given, whether in the prophet, or the close relative or friend or even the worthless fellows in another city in Israel, their abominable sin is in seeking to lead Israel astray to serve others gods, and the rightful punishment is death. Our secular society today is unnecessarily fearful of Christians gaining power in the state for this very reason because they are afraid that we will reinstitute such holy laws as prescribed in the Law of God. They ought to be thankful that I am not running for office, for sometimes I wish that we lived in more of a theocracy than this wicked democracy that we’ve inherited. At least I do think that the Law of God should still be the standard from which we derive our nation’s laws and not the fickle whims of the populace or any deranged leaders led by their lust for a society devoid of morality.

But the Church is not the State, and even if our country refuses to listen to the Word of the Lord, the Church is still bound to do so but only with ministerial and declarative power. The Church in America never seeks to use civil power to enforce its rules; nevertheless, it does maintain the right, according to Scripture, to determine its membership and to enforce conformity to God’s law through the use of Church discipline for the sake of God’s glory and the good of His Church. But how would a church today apply the law of Deuteronomy in such circumstances?

Instead of putting church members to death for encouraging such wickedness among the saints, they are to be excommunicated from the fellowship in order to “purge the evil” from among the congregation. That is a statement that is used ten times in the book of Deuteronomy that connotes the idea of sin acting like leaven in spreading throughout the whole if it is not checked and removed. In 1 Corinthians 5:13 speaking of a man living in sexual immorality, Paul says “what have I to do with judging outsiders” meaning those who are not members of the church. “Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside.” Then he quotes the Law as it is found here in Deuteronomy, saying, “Purge the evil person from among you.” Similarly, in 1 Timothy 1:20, Paul speaks of those who “have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.” Handing one over to Satan is another way of expressing the act of excommunication.

You’ll notice in our text in Deuteronomy that even if the person committing such a sin is a son or daughter, brother or sister, or even husband or wife that the particular Israelite witnessing such sin is told not to take pity upon the offender or to conceal his or her sin but is to be the first to pick up a rock and stone the offender. In fact, every Israelite living in the town was to pick up a rock and participate in the stoning. So how does that apply today? Well, when you, even as a friend or close relative see a brother or sister in Christ committing egregious sin, whether it is a direct sin against God or a gross sin against their neighbor, you are to be the first one to confront them in their sin not seeking to cover it over because of your close relationship with them. You are commanded to rebuke them in their sin and if they don’t listen to you to bring two other believers along with you to rebuke again, and if they don’t listen to them, take it to the church under the leadership of the elders. And if they still don’t listen, the whole church is to take action against the sinner in removing him or her from their midst. No one is to take pity upon them and try to cover over their offense, for it is an affront unto God and a blight upon the church.

Then in terms of the law’s requirement concerning the destruction of entire cities following after worthless fellows, the church today is required to disassociate itself with any congregation or denomination that refuses to deal with the sin in their midst. Again, instead of burning down their buildings, we are called to exercise what might be referred to as reverse-excommunication. In other words, if a church or denomination refuses to purge the evil from its midst, we must abandon that institution and no longer consider it to be a true church of Christ but rather a synagogue of Satan. When the PCA Church was founded in 1973, its members withdrew from the PCUSA, the liberal mainline denomination for just such reasons, declaring the new institution to be part of the continuing Presbyterian Church, all the while warning the nations of the evil still remaining in the previous denomination. A letter written by the PCA was printed in newspapers throughout the United States and in many other nations informing the world of the reasons for our departure from that institution. It was our way of seeking the mercy of the Lord by not associating ourselves with an institution that will be devoted to destruction because of its many abominations.

Of course, the primary thrust in all of these laws is that God’s people would not take lightly the worship of the Lord, but would love the Lord with all their hearts, clinging to Him by faith and walking by the light of His Word. What else would you expect from a church that bears the name of Christ? Oh, may the Lord give us such a love for his Word and his Law that we would have the courage to confront sin when we see it and to expel those who refuse to listen to godly counsel out of fear of the Lord.