): "Do not you judge
them that are within?"

Accordingly, in the first way the Church does not forbid the faithful
to communicate with unbelievers, who have not in any way received the
Christian faith, viz. with pagans and Jews, because she has not the
right to exercise spiritual judgment over them, but only temporal
judgment, in the case when, while dwelling among Christians they are
guilty of some misdemeanor, and are condemned by the faithful to some
temporal punishment. On the other hand, in this way, i.e. as a
punishment, the Church forbids the faithful to communicate with those
unbelievers who have forsaken the faith they once received, either by
corrupting the faith, as heretics, or by entirely renouncing the
faith, as apostates, because the Church pronounces sentence of
excommunication on both.

With regard to the second way, it seems that one ought to distinguish
according to the various conditions of persons, circumstances and
time. For some are firm in the faith; and so it is to be hoped that
their communicating with unbelievers will lead to the conversion of
the latter rather than to the aversion of the faithful from the faith.
These are not to be forbidden to communicate with unbelievers who have
not received the faith, such as pagans or Jews, especially if there be
some urgent necessity for so doing. But in the case of simple people
and those who are weak in the faith, whose perversion is to be feared
as a probable result, they should be forbidden to communicate with
unbelievers, and especially to be on very familiar terms with them, or
to communicate with them without necessity.

This suffices for the Reply to the First Objection.

Reply Obj. 2: The Church does not exercise judgment against
unbelievers in the point of inflicting spiritual punishment on them:
but she does exercise judgment over some of them in the matter of
temporal punishment. It is under this head that sometimes the Church,
for certain special sins, withdraws the faithful from communication
with certain unbelievers.

Reply Obj. 3: There is more probability that a servant who is ruled
by his master's commands, will be converted to the faith of his
master who is a believer, than if the case were the reverse: and so
the faithful are not forbidden to have unbelieving servants. If,
however, the master were in danger, through communicating with such
a servant, he should send him away, according to Our Lord's command
(Matt. 18:8): "If .