Ideally, confrontation would never have to happen. People would be convicted of their own sin, and would repent.
- Private sin with a confession to God and seeking forgiveness & reconciliation from any people indirectly affected.
- Public sin confessed and corrected in the same venue. If between two people, correction made there, if publicly, correction with to the same audience, whether from the pulpit in the classroom or on TV.
The purpose of confrontation is the care for the spiritual well-being of others. It is primarily unselfish, and done in the pursuit of unity. Correction is done to bring people back to the unity of the one Spirit and one faith. If someone is in sin, they are divided from the unity of the Spirit.
Doesn't public confrontation causes trouble
The right thing to do is the right thing to do. Do the right thing, regardless of the consequences.
As Martin Luther King Jr. said, "The time is always right to do the right thing."
Isn't confrontation divisive and slanderous, especially if it's public?
Jesus, Paul, and John taught that this was the way to confront religious or church leaders that were leading people away from the true message. I'm not ready to call Jesus and his apostles slanderous.
Divisive is used to mean the opposite of unifying. Paul is clear in Ephesians 4 that unity is not a product of keeping sins hidden, but of growing together in preserving the unity provided by the one Spirit. If someone is in sin, especially if their sin is in what they are teaching that is leading others astray, that's what is divisive and disruptive to the unity in the faith.
I'll write more on what unity in a Christian church is, according to the Bible soon.
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