Drawing on the analogy of a watchman, God reminds Ezekiel how crucial his prophetic task is. If a sentinel sees an enemy advancing against a city and warns the people, but they do nothing, the people only have themselves to blame when they succumb to the enemy. But if the sentinel fails to warn the people, when disaster strikes he is guilty of a great crime. A crucial element of the analogy is the correlation between physical death and the death of sin, which is no less real for being “spiritual.” Not to warn the wicked of their sinfulness is as disastrous a dereliction of duty as failing to warn them of impending (but preventable) physical destruction.
As he continues to exhort the Romans to conform themselves to Christ rather than to the age, Paul focuses on the call to love as a manifestation of the Christian’s conformity to Christ. A little earlier in the letter, he had urged the Romans to avoid repaying evil with evil, but instead to bless, live at peace, “conquer evil with good” (12:21). Since loving others is the fulfillment of the law, which the Christian must heed as the will of God, we are obliged to love others—it is a debt we owe them. The earlier exhortation makes clear that this “debt” extends even to those who persecute or harm us; it is not an option.
Jesus’ instructions make it clear that when the church must address sin, it should be done in a way that minimizes publicity and shame. The intention is to right the wrong, not to punish. The process thus begins between the two individuals involved, expanding beyond them only if necessary. Only those who, after repeated attempts, refuse to listen should be treated “as a Gentile or tax collector,” in other words, “excommunicated.” It’s helpful here to recall Jesus’ attitude toward Gentiles and tax collectors in this Gospel (9:10–11), which is to invite them into the kingdom, suggesting that his desire is that the “excommunication” be not only a last resort, but also not the last word.