A prominent evangelical leader—Al Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville—indicted today’s churches with the following alarming evaluation: “The decline of church discipline is perhaps the most visible failure of the contemporary church.”
When was the last time you remember a church exercising this scriptural mandate?
Discipline is never joyous at the time, whether when a parent must exercise discipline toward a disobedient child, or a teacher toward a student, or a civil authority upon a delinquent citizen, or—God forbid—a church upon a wayward saint who is a member of His Body, serving in and through a local body, a church.
- The precept of church discipline is based on scriptural injunctions. Old Testament Israelites, in covenant with their creator God, were given commandments regulating their diet, dress, and demeanor. To ignore these distinct directives was to jeopardize one’s standing as part of God’s family—and, in severe instances, even one’s life. In the New Testament economy, as God instructed His people about their walk and worship, the precept of discipline is inculcated into His Word. There are many examples of this, including Paul’s guidance to the church at Rome concerning those in that body who were causing “divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned…avoid them.” (Romans 16:17ff.)
- The purpose of discipline was for the good and spiritual well-being of the local assembly and for the spiritual reclaiming of the wayward worshipper. James put it this way: “If any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way, shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.” (James 5:19,20) The death James alludes to in this passage is the sin unto death of which John spoke in his first epistle, where he mentioned that there is sin unto death (which a brother can sin) and sin not unto death.” (I John 5:16-18)
- The people of church discipline, then, are people living in open, flagrant sin that not only endangers their own well-being but puts in jeopardy the testimony and the validity of the whole body of believers. Paul wrote to the church at Corinth (I Cor. 5) reprimanding them because they had tolerated and ignored the fact that one of their members was living in immorality (the awfulness of which even unbelievers condemned); yet the church had become “puffed up” about the situation, rather than mournful about it, evidently “proud” of the exercise of the supposed “liberty” that they were embracing.
- The practice of church discipline, therefore, was established in epistles that apostles wrote, and also in the explicit teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ when teaching the apostles, who would become the foundation of the Church that He had promised He would build. (Matt. 16:18) In Matthew 18:15ff., Jesus sets forth clearly the steps in the practice of disciplining members of the local assembly who were walking disorderly.
- The pattern of church discipline can be observed in how Jesus told His followers to deal with a conflict between two estranged brothers. He told the offended brother to go to the offender and explain to him how he had been offended; if no resolution occurs through that meeting, he is go to a second time—this time with one or two members of the church accompanying him. Finally, if this meeting proves unfruitful in bringing about a resolution, he is to take the matter to the church (through proper channels, beginning with the pastor/elders). (Matt.18:15-18) The essence of this pattern or procedure was reiterated by Paul when he instructed the Corinthian church in how to deal with the member there who was living a life of reproach.
- The purity of the local assembly is at stake. Al Mohler, quoted above, went on to say: “The absence of church discipline is no longer remarkable—it is generally not even noticed. Regulative and restorative church discipline is, to many church members, no longer a meaningful category, or even a memory. The present generation of both ministers and church members is virtually without experience of biblical church discipline.” One might ask then: “Is today’s church known for its purity or for its tolerance of just about any aberrant behavior?”
- The peace that the practice of church discipline can afford is immeasurable in its benefits. Paul told the Galatians that if a brother was “overtaken” in a fault, one of the members in tune with God’s Spirit might, in meekness, when going to the brother, be used of God to restore the wayward member. (Gal. 6:1) Again, in his second letter to the Corinthian church, Paul intimates that the discipline that he had urged the church to exercise upon the fallen brother (I Cor. 5) had been successful in reaching its desired end; and now the brother, having repented, should be “forgiven…comforted… and confirmed” in love. (II Cor. 2:5-11)
- Finally, a word about the pitfalls of church discipline. When exhorting the Galatian church about restoring a brother who had been overtaken in fault, Paul instructed that someone who was “spiritual” should approach the brother “in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” (Gal. 6:1) The ever-lurking monster of pride must be guarded against as one of the common pitfalls prevalent in our watch-care of one another.
As a pastor for most of my adult life, it was the unhappy duty on a few occasions to lead our church in the exercise of Biblical, local-church discipline. Some produced the desired effect; some, sadly, did not. To all pastors, I would encourage you with these words: if people visit your church from another local assembly, be sure to make a courtesy call to the pastor of the church they have belonged to. That pastor might inform you that your visitors have been disciplined by the church they are leaving. You must honor that disciplinary action. Encourage them to return to their church and, if possible, resolve problems there biblically. This is not always done. One more word from Dr. Mohler: “The contemporary church sees itself as a voluntary association of autonomous members, with minimal moral accountability to God, much less to each other.” Selah.
“Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way, shall save a soul from death, and shall hide the multitude of sins.” (James 5:19,20)
YOU and GOD 