Revelation 2:20 “I have this against you – you tolerate the woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess and … deceives my people.”
Tolerance has become the gold standard for compassion and goodness in the world. Many Christians have been lulled into believing that worldly tolerance is a godly idea. Paul, however, challenged believers who had brought this worldly “tolerance” into the Church to instead call believers to repentance. In 2 Thessalonians 3:6 Paul wrote: “WE COMMAND YOU, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from any brother who lives an undisciplined life – not walking according to the instruction they received from us.” In this letter, he was specifically dealing with lazy believers who were refusing to work. Paul instructed the church to distance themselves from such people, yet not to treat them as enemies; rather encourage them to repent.
In his letter to the church in Corinth, Paul was even stronger: “Now I am writing to you clearly not to associate with anyone who calls himself a Christian yet is sexually immoral, greedy, an idolator, verbally abusive, a drunkard, or a swindler. Do not even eat with such a person. Remove the evil person from among you.” 1 Cor. 5:11&13. Paul is saying that choosing to live in sin is tolerated in the world, but cannot be tolerated in the Church. Don’t we all sin? Yes! But Paul is writing about believers who refuse to repent and change. They are not merely making mistakes; they are choosing to walk in sin and darkness. “Praise God, I’m a Christian thief. And God helps me to not get caught.” That sounds insane, yet many believers are promoting this absurd teaching in other aspects of life.
The words of Jesus to the Church at Thyatira are even stronger: “I have this against you – you tolerate the woman, Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and by her teaching deceives my servants to commit sexual immorality. She is unwilling to repent, so I am throwing her on a bed of violent illness. I will also strike all of those who follow her with a deadly disease. I will repay each of you what your deeds deserve.” (Rev 2:20-23) This must be clear: within the Church, the gold standard for following Jesus is repentance, not tolerance.