I used the word 'willingly'.
This isn't about weakness in temptation.
This is about living in sin because you think grace makes it so you can do that and still be saved.
Is that really what grace was given to us for, so we can willingly and without conviction live in sin?
Rather, isn't it given to us so Christ can be Lord of our lives in saved, redeemed lives?
No, calling out sin is not persecution.
This is exactly the upside down gospel that we resist.
If calling out sin is persecution of the unrighteous then Paul was instructing the church at Corinth to persecute the unrighteous man among them who was living in gross sin.