Many American churches have either ignored or wrongly implemented church discipline. Those on one side of the issue ignore it because they believe it to be a practice of a bygone era that is too harsh for modern ministry and should have no place in today’s loving church. Their position seems justified in light of the travesties created by those on the other side of the issue abusing church discipline. Both sides surely have the best of intentions in their practices, but sincerity does not excuse error. If the hope of both for their churches is “to attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man . . .” they must understand that it is realized, not by jettisoning or abusing God’s ordained means of local church ministry, but by embracing and practicing it. These two views are not only extreme; they are popular and contribute a great deal to the confusion about church discipline.

The classic passage on formal church discipline, that is, discipline to such an extent that the entire membership is involved, is Matthew 18:15-20. There, Jesus defines it as a process, explains each of its steps, and commands the church to practice it. It is clear that the first century church took Jesus’ command seriously (cf. 1 Corinthians 5:1-7; 2 Corinthians 2:6; 2 Thessalonians 3:14-15). It was their obligation and it is ours as well. Those churches struggling with it should understand that it is not only commanded, but a clear expression of God’s love (Hebrews 12:6) and, while it may not be pleasant at the time it is received, will most assuredly produce a harvest of righteousness (v. 11). Godly discipline is a natural, integral part of the Christian life, and one must expect that he will receive discipline if he is truly God’s son.

Formal, church discipline is designed to achieve three ends. The first is to restore the sinning believer back to fellowship with God and with his local church. If a believer carries around unrepentant sin, he needs to be confronted about it, in love, with a view to winning him to repentance (cf. Galatians 6:1-3). A common misunderstanding about church discipline is that it exists only for serious sins. Actually, it seeks to correct a wrong attitude, which is expressed by sinful behavior. When a member in the church sins, he undermines God’s appointed leadership of the local church and must be held accountable for that. He needs to be confronted about his rebellious heart, no matter how minor he displays it. What constitutes discipline, then, is not any one particular sin, but the failure on the part of the sinner to confess it and submit to the leaders of God’s local church. In summary of this first end, then, we might say that the church carries out formal discipline on that one refusing to repent over sinful behavior that the leadership has confronted him about and to submit to their authority.

(To be continued in next issue.)