Q - Tito pls explain yung teaching na pag may nagkasala ay "tell it to the church" for correction, discipline or expulsion?
A -
In the formative years of Christianity, "church" meant a house fellowship: a small group of believers that gathered in a home.
Naturally the few people in the "church" were family members, close relatives and friends and even servants or employees of the house owner.
So, "telling the church" about a member's sins for correction was effective because they were personally close to and really cared for one another. The genuine goal for telling the church was para magkatulungan sa pag-aayos ng problem. Also, being personally related and close to one another, everyone was a stakeholder in one another's individual conduct kasi madadamay sila sa mga pagkakamalli ng isang member.
And because they were economically and socially interdependent, effective na pang discipline yung expulsion kasi yung matigas ang ulo ay mapipilitang sumunod. Otherwise, expulsion meant na mawawalan sya ng trabaho, tahanan and all other support systems.
YUNG "TELL IT TO THE CHURCH" was originally meant FOR THE HOUSE CHURCH of usually no more than 10 -20 people.
IBANG-IBA naman sa present time na yung church ay more than 50 ang members, minsan hundreds or even thousands pa nga!
Wala na yung everybody's personal connections/ relations, care, or direct involvement in one another's personal conduct. At dahil marami nang hindi personally loving, pag nalaman nila ang "sins" ng iba ay malamang na pag-chismisan pa nila, at i-judge. Negative ang effect. SO WHY TELL THE CHURCH today? WHY mechanically implement that culture-and -time-bound practice in the past--- today?
Hindi na rin effective and expulsion kasi all the expelled member has to do is transfer to another church. Marami syang choices na lilipatan. Hindi tulad noon na yung home church lang nya ang only church in town.
Verses have to be understood in the context of the original recipients and contextualized to the immediate realities of believers at other times and places
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