The matter of quarantine has taken renewed significance in recent times. However, as many saints may not be familiar with this practice, quarantine seems to have been misunderstood and misused by some. Thus, we need to come back to the Word of God to study the principles from the Bible and the ministry on the quarantine of believers. These include the meaning and purpose of quarantine, the Scriptural basis, and important principles concerning this matter.
The Meaning and Purpose of Quarantine
The principle of quarantine is to prevent the spread of contagious diseases in the Body. This is similar to quarantining a member of a family who has caught a certain disease to prevent the spread of the disease to other members of the family.
Just as in a family, this does not mean that we do not love those who are quarantined. Actually, quarantine is exercised with a view that those who are quarantined would be recovered. This preserves the contagious ones and the other members. Brother Witness Lee said:
“…To turn away from the divisive ones and those who make causes of stumbling is to quarantine these divisive ones. When a person in a family is sick with a contagious disease, the members of the family turn away from the infected person so that they will not be contaminated with the same disease. If they do not turn away from the infected member, they may become infected themselves and spread the contagious germs to other members of their family. This does not mean that the members of the family do not love the infected member or have given him up; it simply means that the other members want to prevent the spread of the contagious germs.”
(To be Saved in the Life of Christ as Revealed in Romans, Ch. 5)
The practice of quarantine in the New Testament is typified by lepers being required to stay outside the camp in the Old Testament (Lev. 13:45-46, Num. 5:2; 12:10, 14). In the case of a leper, he would be permitted to enter the camp after his leprosy has healed and he has been cleansed (Lev. 14:2-9). In Numbers 12, Miriam spoke against Moses, became leprous, and had to be shut outside the camp. However, she was brought in again after seven days outside the camp.
The Scriptural Basis
The matter of quarantine is revealed in the Bible. The New Testament presents three specific tests or problems which are to be dealt by quarantine: division (Rom. 16:17, Titus 3:10), heresy (2 John 7-11), and living in fornication (1 Cor. 5:2, 11, 13).
Division is a serious sin that damages the Body of Christ. In dealing with division, Paul exhorts the brothers to turn away from those who make divisions and causes of stumbling (Rom. 16:17). Titus 3:10 says, “A factious man, after a first and second admonition, refuse.” This is to quarantine the divisive and factious persons, but only after a first and second admonition. This does not mean that we should reject a person who participates in a meeting that we would consider a division. A divisive or factious person is one who actively promotes division.
In 2 John 7-11, the Apostle John told the believers not to receive those who go beyond and do not abide in the teaching of Christ. Furthermore, in 1 Corinthians 5, Paul speaks of “removing” the evil man, referring to those who live in gross sins. This is to quarantine the heretical ones and those living in gross sins.
Principles Concerning Quarantining Believers
Taking Care of the Feeling of the Body
In the matter of quarantine, we need to consider, honor, and respect the feeling of the Body. Everything we do involves the Body. There is no “local body,” but only one Body constituted with all the believers on the earth. Brother Lee said:
“In The Fermentation of the Present Rebellion I mentioned only four names of ones who should be quarantined. The churches in California, West Malaysia, and Taiwan also sent out an open letter to quarantine these ones. In this matter we are touching a great truth, the truth of the Body. Do we honor the Body? The churches in California, West Malaysia, and Taiwan are parts of the Body. Should we not honor them and respect their feeling? But some were not clear and strong to keep the truth to maintain the feeling of the Body, which comprises all the churches.”
(The Problems Causing Turmoil in the Church Life, Ch. 2)
In the same way, there is no “local quarantine.” To receive or exclude a believer is not a local matter. This is a matter that affects the entire Body, and therefore any quarantine made of particular believers need to be carried out with the whole Body in view.
“To receive the saints on the positive side and to exclude the saints on the negative side, however, means a lot because it affects the entire Body. You should not consider this as a local matter, because this is a matter belonging to the Body. If you exclude one from your local church, you exclude one from the Body. If you are not receiving one into your local church, you are not receiving one into the Body. This aspect is above the regions and also above the churches. It is a Body matter and not just a local church matter.”
(Elders’ Training Book 4: Other Crucial Matters Concerning the Practice of the Lord’s Recovery, Ch. 3)
Fearing God
We should be careful in carrying out a quarantine over any brother or sister. We must fear God and deal with believers in our spirit by the Spirit. In Elders’ Training, Book 10: The Eldership and the God-ordained Way, Brother Lee presented fifty-one cases in the New Testament in which the oneness of the Body and the one accord were tested. Out of these fifty-one cases, the majority were taken care of in a positive way, and only three specific tests were dealt with in the way of quarantine. These were division, heresy, and living in fornication. This indicates that the Lord’s intention in these tests is to “adjust, correct, rescue, recover, and perfect” for the building up of His Body. (Elders’ Training Book 10: The Eldership and the God-ordained Way, Ch. 5)
“Let me repeat, the elders must follow the Spirit in every matter. If they prohibit a saint from attending the table meeting or quarantine him from the fellowship of the church, they must be in fear and trembling. They cannot make arbitrary decisions based on the letter of the Bible. If a saint commits a sin for which he should be quarantined, but he repents, he should be forgiven. A saint should be quarantined only if he remains unrepentant. We cannot be a court of law; otherwise, we are an organization. We must remember that even if a saint has sinned, he is still a member of the Body of Christ. We must take care of the problem according to our organic function. We must fear God in all things. This is an organic lesson that the elders must learn in their administration of the church.”
(Crucial Words of Leading in the Lord’s Recovery, Book 3: The Future of the Lord’s Recovery and the Building Up of the Organic Service, Ch. 16)
Not Being Excommunication
Quarantine is not excommunication. To excommunicate someone would be to give him up, while quarantine is carried out in view of recovering the affected person. Paul told the saints in Corinth to “remove the evil man” (1 Cor. 5:13); but after the brother who was condemned repented (2 Cor. 7:9-12), Paul asked the church to forgive, comfort, and love him (2 Cor. 2:7-11).
Without Natural Affection
Quarantine must be exercised without personal affection or loyalty. Just as Moses and Aaron had to reject their natural relationship with Miriam in dealing with her (Num. 12:9-16), personal relationships must not be considered when quarantining believers.
“We also need to turn away from those who make divisions (Rom. 16:17; Titus 3:10; 1 Cor. 1:13). Even if a close relative such as our husband, wife, father, mother, brother, or sister is a division-maker, we must turn away from their division. The same applies to our intimate and close friends. Although it is difficult to turn away from those who are our intimate friends, we must realize that friendship is one thing and that the fellowship in Christ and in His Body is another thing. When Moses’ sister, Miriam, became leprous, she was quarantined in Moses’ presence (Num. 12)…”
(The Practice of the Church Life according to the God-ordained Way, Ch. 1)
To Be Carried out by Wisdom, with Patience, and in Love
Brother Lee spent much time on the subject of quarantine in chapters 6 and 7 of Elders’ Training, Book 4. There Brother Lee charged those bearing responsibility not to excommunicate the erring saints but to apply the Lord’s discipline to them “by wisdom, with patience, and altogether in love.” God’s holiness, His righteousness, and the church’s testimony must be upheld but quarantine must never be carried out in man’s unrighteous wrath (James 1:20).
After writing about dealing with the divisive ones in Rom. 16:17, Paul says, “Now the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet shortly. (Rom. 16:20a)” This shows that as a result of the proper practice of quarantine, Satan will be crushed under our feet. May we all learn to apply this matter in the proper way, in love and with care for the feeling of Body, so that Satan would be crushed under our feet!
Key Verses
Titus 3:10 A factious man, after a first and second admonition, refuse,
2 John 9 Everyone who goes beyond and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God; he who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.
2 John 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not say to him, Rejoice!
1 Cor. 5:2 And you are puffed up? And have you not rather mourned, that the one who has done this deed might be removed from your midst?
1 Cor. 5:11 But now I have written to you not to mingle with anyone who is called a brother, if he is a fornicator or a covetous man or an idolater or a reviler or a drunkard or a rapacious man, with such a one not even to eat.
1 Cor. 5:13 But those who are outside, God will judge. Remove the evil man from among yourselves.
Rom. 16:17 Now I exhort you, brothers, to mark those who make divisions and causes of stumbling contrary to the teaching which you have learned, and turn away from them.
Excerpts from the Ministry
The Meaning and Purpose of Quarantine
I do feel that all the churches must do something to help the saints to know the real situation in the recovery. The saints must be helped to realize that a “contagious disease” is now among us, and, as in the field of medicine, we must quarantine the diseased ones. To quarantine does not mean that we do not love those who are “ill,” nor does it mean that we cut them off. It means that we do something to preserve both the contagious ones and the rest of the Body. (Elders’ Training Book 10: The Eldership and the God-ordained Way, Chapter 6)
In dealing with the divisive ones, we must also take Paul’s word in Titus 3:10: “A factious man, after a first and second admonition, refuse.” A factious person is a divisive and sectarian person. According to Paul’s word in Romans 16:17 and in Titus 3:10, after a first and second admonition, we must reject such persons and turn away from them. To do this is to quarantine such persons. To quarantine a person does not mean that we hate that person. If one member in a family became ill with a contagious disease, the rest of the family would need to quarantine him for the safety of the whole family. Otherwise, the entire family would be affected. Likewise, to practice Paul’s word in Romans 16:17 and in Titus 3:10 is to quarantine the divisive members in the Body of Christ. This is not my teaching; it is my presentation of the holy Word to you. (Elders’ Training Book 10: The Eldership and the God-ordained Way, Chapter 7)
We have studied 1 Corinthians 5:13 particularly. The word translated remove here was taken from the Septuagint (Greek) version of the Old Testament. The removal of the sinful brother in 1 Corinthians 5 was like the putting of a leper outside the camp in the Old Testament (Lev. 13:45-46; Num. 5:2). In Numbers 12 Miriam rebelled against Moses, and she was stricken with leprosy. She was removed from the camp for seven days, until her leprosy was cleared up. This was a form of quarantining. There has been much talk among Christians concerning the matter of excommunication. It is wrong to excommunicate a believer. To excommunicate someone is to give him up, but to remove a person is to quarantine him with the hope that he would become sound. (Elders’ Training Book 10: The Eldership and the God-ordained Way, Chapter 5)
The Scriptural Basis
According to Romans 16:17 and Titus 3:10, we need to exercise to quarantine the divisive ones. Romans 16:17 charges us to turn away from those who make divisions. To turn away from them is to exercise to quarantine them. Titus 3:10 says that we should refuse a factious (sectarian, divisive) person after a first and second admonition. To refuse such a one also is to exercise to quarantine him. (Elders’ Training Book 10: The Eldership and the God-ordained Way, Chapter 6)
We also need to quarantine the heretical ones, those who go beyond the teaching concerning Christ (2 John 7-11). According to 2 John 10, we should not receive such persons into our home, and even we should not greet them. This also is to quarantine them. (Elders’ Training Book 10: The Eldership and the God-ordained Way, Chapter 6)
In addition, according to 1 Corinthians 5:2 and 11 through 13, we need to quarantine the fornicators, who live in such a gross sin, by removing them from the fellowship of the church. (Elders’ Training Book 10: The Eldership and the God-ordained Way, Chapter 6)
Among all the tests of the oneness of the Body and of the one accord of the church listed above, only three—divisions, heresies, and fornication—are intolerable and need a quarantine by the churches and the saints according to the apostles’ teaching. Divisions damage the Body of Christ, and heresies insult the person of Christ and also damage the work of Christ. Thus, divisions are related negatively to the Body of Christ, and heresies are related negatively to Christ in His person and His work. Fornication is a gross sin that damages the humanity made by God to be the members of the Body of Christ. If these three things are taking place in the church, the Body of Christ would be annulled, the very Christ would be altogether damaged, and the humanity used as the constituents of the Body of Christ would be fully corrupted. Therefore, these three problems cannot be tolerated, and we should exercise to quarantine those who are involved in these problems, in order to preserve the building up of the Body of Christ. (Elders’ Training Book 10: The Eldership and the God-ordained Way, Chapter 5)
There may be some divisive members among us. Paul refers to these ones in Romans 16:17, which says, “Now I exhort you, brothers, to mark those who make divisions and causes of stumbling contrary to the teaching which you have learned, and turn away from them.” Some make division purposely. We have to turn away from these division-makers. Titus 3:10 says that we must reject the factious, sectarian, members. Some members are very factious, very sectarian, very divisive, and their purpose in contacting others is to cause division. There are some like this today who have the intention of remaining among us to spread their poison. No doubt, they are division-makers, and they are factious, sectarian. Since they are division-makers, we have to turn away from them. Since they are still factious after being admonished again and again, we have to reject them.
This is according to the practice of the quarantining of the lepers in typology (Lev. 13:45-46; Num. 12:10-15). When Moses’ sister, Miriam, rebelled, God punished her with leprosy. Then she was quarantined. To be quarantined is to be put aside for the profit of the whole congregation. This is because certain diseases are very contagious. If a person is sick with a highly contagious disease, he is quarantined, separated even from his family members, until he is healed. This is for the protection of the entire family. The Scriptures charge us in the same way. Anyone who is spiritually sick of the disease of division, having become a divisive person, must be quarantined. Division is very contagious, so the church has to learn to quarantine the divisive ones. According to the apostle’s teaching, we must either turn ourselves away from them or reject them. This protects the entire church so that the church can remain in a safeguarded situation. (The Intrinsic View of the Body of Christ, Chapter 6)
Principles Concerning Quarantining Believers
Turmoil after turmoil has transpired because of our not knowing the Body. The only remedy that can cure us of this kind of illness is the seeing of the Body. When Brother Nee taught about the Body, he said that with whatever we do, we have to consider how the churches would feel about it. When we do something, we must not forget that we are members of the Body, and the Body is not only a local church. The local church is not a “local body”; if it is, it becomes a local sect. The Body is the Body of Christ, constituted by the Triune God with all the believers on this earth, with all the local churches. (The Problems Causing the Turmoil in the Church Life, Chapter 3)
Both the ministry and many churches in the recovery made a decision to quarantine certain divisive ones. Some did not accept this decision and have even joined these divisive ones. They have disregarded the feeling of the Body. How we behave ourselves depends upon the degree of our seeing of the Body. (The Problems Causing the Turmoil in the Church Life, Chapter 3)
We must be clear and strong in the truth, and we have to practice the truth. We must practice the truth in Romans 16:17 and Titus 3:10. Whatever we do involves the Body, so we have to keep the truth. The only remedy to the situation is for the faithful ones to come back to the truth. We must be the overcomers, the ones who overcome all these situations. We must come back to the truth to practice the recovery in the way of the recovery according to the Lord’s word, not according to what we think or how we feel. (The Problems Causing Turmoil in the Church Life, Chapter 2)
When we accept someone at the Lord’s table, we have to consider the Body. According to the principle of Romans 14, we accept all of the Lord’s children, but according to Romans 16:17, we have to mark those who make divisions and turn away from them. We cannot receive division-makers who have been quarantined by the Body. Furthermore, we have to realize who has the function and qualification as the priest to discern leprosy among the Lord’s children. Again this is a matter of practicing the Body life. If a local church receives someone who has offended the Body to the uttermost, that local church is obviously not going along with and not one with the Body. We have to take care of the Body. (The Problems Causing Turmoil in the Church Life, Chapter 3)
I hope that we will spend some time to learn the proper way to face each kind of problem. We all must be impressed that among so many kinds of problems, only three are intolerable. Even with those involved in the three intolerable sins, we must be careful to deal with them in our spirit by the Spirit. We should be careful to carry out a quarantine over them to restrict the spreading of the contagious diseases. Concerning all the others, we must exercise our long-suffering, with love, in hope of recovering them. There might be a few hopeless cases. Concerning the three problems of division, heresy, and gross sin, we need to be very careful in dealing with those involved, in order that the building up of the Body of Christ may proceed in a proper way, not allowing the Body of Christ to be damaged by divisions, Christ to be damaged by heresies, and the humanity that is for the Lord’s Body to be damaged by gross sins. Such a study of fifty-one cases in the New Testament as tests of the genuine oneness and the proper one accord helps us to find the proper way to solve our present problem in the rebellion among us. Thus, it also is a part of the scriptural remedy for our problem. (Elders’ Training Book 10: The Eldership and the God-ordained Way, Chapter 5)
Diotrephes did not receive the apostles and babbled against them with evil words; neither did he receive the brothers, and those intending to do so he forbade and cast them out of the church. If the apostle John would have come to the church, he would have brought Diotrephes’s works to the remembrance of the believers (v. 10). We need to be careful in dealing with such a case. Diotrephes’s actions surely constituted a great sin. However, the apostle did not indicate that Diotrephes’s sin was intolerable to the extent that he needed to be quarantined. John did not tell us to quarantine such a person. Even sinful acts such as this in the church life should be dealt with through much consideration, with the expectation that the sinful acts could be corrected after a certain amount of loving rebuking and punishment. (Elders’ Training Book 10: The Eldership and the God-ordained Way, Chapter 5)
The believers who live in gross sins should be excluded from the unique fellowship of the Body of Christ. Some of the believers in Corinth not only committed gross sins occasionally but also lived in gross sins. In 1 Corinthians 5:9-13 the apostle teaches us to remove this kind of person from our midst. However, many Christians interpret the word remove as excommunicate. This is a mistake. The sense here is not to excommunicate but to remove. The removing here is not an excommunication but a form of quarantining, as is used to isolate those who are sick of a contagious disease (cf. 2 Cor. 2:1-8). (The Ministry of the New Testament and the Teaching and Fellowship of the Apostles, Chapter 7)
In his writing of 1 Corinthians 5:13 Paul quoted the word remove from the Septuagint. In Leviticus and Numbers God charged the Israelites to “remove” a leper from their fellowship that this one might be healed (Lev. 13:45-46). After his healing, such a one was to be brought back into the fellowship (ch. 14). The dealing here with a leper was a quarantining. This, not excommunication, is what is meant in 1 Corinthians 5:13 by the removal of one who is living in gross sin. The Ministry of the New Testament and the Teaching and Fellowship of the Apostles, Chapter 7)
The strongest portion of the Word that we have looked at concerning the matter of cutting off a saint from the fellowship of the church is 1 Corinthians 5:13, which says, “Remove the evil man from among yourselves.” Most Christian teachers interpret the word remove as meaning to excommunicate. Actually, there is no excommunication here. Paul uses the word remove. The fact that this is not a case of excommunication is also fully proven by Paul’s second Epistle to the Corinthians. The apostle Paul tells us that after he wrote the first Epistle, he regretted that his charge was too strong (2 Cor. 7:8). In addition, the brother who was condemned repented, so Paul wrote a second letter, asking the church in Corinth to forgive this brother, to receive him, and to love him (2:5-10). Paul charged the saints there not to reject this brother at all; otherwise, Satan would have the ground to come into the situation (v. 11). Second Corinthians proves that what Paul charged in 1 Corinthians 5 was not an excommunication. Merely according to Paul’s own word in 1 Corinthians 5, to remove this evil one does not constitute a kind of excommunication. First, the word remove is not a legal term. All Paul says is to remove him. If this were a legislative matter, the word excommunicate might be used. Paul, however, did not use such a word. This shows us that our understanding concerning this matter should be reconsidered. All the leading ones who bear the responsibility for the Lord’s testimony of the churches must consider this, because to deal with a brother is not a small thing. We need to study our constitution, which is the New Testament. (Elders’ Training, Book 04: Other Crucial Matters Concerning the Practice of the Lord’s Recovery, Chapter 7)
In the Old Testament there is the type of leprosy. Moses and Aaron’s sister became leprous, and she was quarantined (Num. 12:9-16). Moses and Aaron had to reject their natural relationship and affection in order to follow God’s speaking to deal with Miriam. According to the type of the Old Testament, who is leprous depends upon the decision of the priest, the one who knows the law, the written word, and who also has the present word according to the Urim and Thummim (Lev. 13). For the priest to discern whether or not someone had leprosy was not an easy thing. Someone may have leprosy, and others cannot discern it. Another one may have what looks like leprosy, when actually it is not. The proper one who has the written word and the living word has the discernment to judge whether or not someone has leprosy. (The Problems Causing Turmoil in the Church Life, Chapter 2)