Fighting infection
Looyenga employs the analogy of the immune system and microbial infection to explain how the church must maintain doctrinal and practical purity, drawing from Paul's exhortation in 1 Corinthians 5 to purge out false doctrine and sinful practices from the body of Christ. The article presents church discipline as a God-ordained means of preserving the health and fruitfulness of the congregation, comparable to how the physical immune system protects the body from harmful infections.
"Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened." I Corinthians 5:6, 7 During the time of the early New Testament, the nature of human disease was not well understood. Had Paul been aware of how infections of the body worked, he might well have chosen the analogy of viruses or bacteria to exhort the Corinthians to purge the disease of sin out of their midst. Through the inspiration of the Holy...
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