There must be care in receiving

Care for the glory of the Lord, with regard to whom we introduce into fellowship, is something almost nonexistent today in Christendom. However, the Bible teaches that the assembly should be careful not to receive into fellowship someone who may be involved with evil, whether moral, doctrinal, or ecclesiastical evil. The principle is simple. If a local assembly is responsible for judging evil in its midst, excommunicating evildoers (1 Cor. 5:12), then naturally it is understood that it must be careful about what or whom it brings into its midst.

Someone rightly said that the local assembly should not have an open fellowship, nor should it have a closed fellowship, but a protected fellowship. The assembly should receive to the Lord's table every member of the body of Christ who has no impediment according to biblical discipline. Although every Christian has the right to be at the Lord's table, not every Christian has the privilege of being there, for someone may be deprived of that privilege because of his involvement with some kind of evil.