Direct Answer
The field is the world, so the church has no job removing tares from the world, yet it has a duty toward those within it. Dropping the first truth leads to force, and dropping the second leads to a church that just lives with sin.
Support from the Message
- Bill says it is not our job to remove tares from this world. - He says the church got this wrong at Nicaea, when it accepted Constantine's penalty of death for having Arius' teachings. - He says Augustine went further, reasoning from Sarah and Hagar that the church should drive the world out of the country. - He rejects the idea that the church is just a mixed bag we must live with, because Jesus says the field is the world. - He says that when someone persists in lawlessness, we make it clear they are no longer part of us and work redemptively to bring them back.
Discussion Follow-up
Which error is your own church more tempted toward? What would redemptive correction look like among you?