As I’ve read and reread the New Testament, I am increasingly struck by the glaring lack of discipline today as compared to the early church.
I cannot recall a sermon or teaching in my entire Christian life on the Matthew 18 process of confronting a believer who has sinned against you. In case you haven’t either: we are supposed to confront a fellow believer privately and one-on-one, then with two or three witnesses, and lastly before the church. If he or she refuses to listen, we move through the process until finally we are to consider that person no longer a member of Christ’s body.
To Judge or Not to Judge?
I startle other Christians when I quote 1 Corinthians 5:12, which says, “Surely it is your business to judge those inside the church” (Phillips Translation, emphasis mine). How do we reconcile this directive with “Judge not, lest ye be judged”? (Maybe the oft-quoted King James rendering of Matthew 7:1 reflects our outdated misunderstanding of the verse?)
The following four verses give more context, concluding with, “First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.” We are to avoid passing superficial or hypocritical judgment on others. We could learn from Jesus’ response in John 8:11, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”
It is important to note that Paul makes it clear we are not to judge those outside the church in the same way. (Please put the picket signs, megaphones, and Facebook tirades away!)
Within the church, we are to hold one another accountable with love and gentleness.
Roman Catholics, to their credit, have historically enforced church discipline by denying communion to the unrepentant. Of course, there are times, however, when they have abused this practice. The fault lies in the abuse, not the practice itself.
Getting Kicked out of Church
Modern evangelicals would mock the idea of excommunication, not once recalling that it happened in the early church! In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul rebukes the church in Corinth for its failure to practice appropriate discipline.
A man was living with his father’s wife, presumably in a sexually immoral relationship. Rather than confronting him, the church permitted it. Moreover, it seems that they boasted about how free, accepting, and tolerant they were! Paul does not mince words:
“Should you not have rather mourned, so that he who has done this would have been removed from among you?… I have already pronounced judgment in the name of the Lord Jesus on the man who has done such a thing… You are to hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.”
1 Corinthians 5:2-5
Notice the goal is restoration, not simply punishment.
Of course, not everyone in a church on any given Sunday has submitted himself to the authority and accountability of spiritual leaders. The prerequisite for effective church discipline is meaningful church membership. Distinguishing who is and is not “inside the church” is more than a matter of where they are on Sunday morning. When one makes the intentional commitment of church membership, he accepts the church’s disciplinary role in his life. The leaders of a congregation should encourage membership, teach congregants what it entails, and keep track of the membership list.
Incumbent in keeping a church membership list is the necessity of regularly updating it. We must purge unrepentant or absent individuals from it. When I recently asked a pastor why churches no longer practice such discipline, he cited the fear of lawsuits. Do we fear lawsuits more than we fear God?
The Outcome of an Undisciplined Church
We have devolved into a church that tolerates almost anything among its members.
This hurts the “believer” who is happily allowed to continue in sin, doing damage to his or her own soul along the way. This hurts the congregation, as the victims of that believer’s sin often increase in number (see the effects of Achan’s sin in Joshua 7). Most importantly, this hurts the witness of Christ in the world – a world whose watching eyes see holier-than-thou hypocrites and turn away in disgust. And when the one continuing in sin happens to be someone in leadership, whether laity or clergy, the damage only increases.
Whether the matter is simply a disagreement or an issue of ongoing sin, Christian leaders have often handled conflict poorly. Most often the course of action is to ignore it and hope it goes away. Martin Luther King, Jr., railed against such inaction, specifically in the face of racism, in his Letter from Birmingham Jail. However, disagreements and hurts rarely go away.
They deepen.
They metastasize.
If left unchecked, they cause implosions and schisms.
Whereas we ought to expel the unrepentant members, it is often the hurt members who leave to find healthier community elsewhere. Or worse: they give up on church altogether.
It is no wonder Jesus focuses so intently on unity in the High Priestly Prayer found in John 17. He prays that his disciples “may be one” four times in a single chapter! In Titus 3:10 and Romans 16:17, Paul denounces factions and those who cause division; he orders believers to have nothing to do with them. What would he say to those of us who have the power and responsibility to prevent division or harm to the body of Christ but do not exercise that authority?
11 responses to “Church Discipline: The Solution to Church Hurt”
Confronting sinners?
We’re so far away from that you should probably expect some harsh comments!
Love everybody, everything, and anything! Right? If not, expect cancellation, hate, and name calling to follow. We are so far from calling a spade a spade, I can’t even comprehend. We don’t want to see our fear, shame, or guilt.. just others. Great article, thanks for sharing!
Unity. The whole body. If one part is sick the whole body is affected and it’s weighty. It ends up not feeling like church and more like people pleasing. Thank you for your insights always.
Well said Maggie.
Excellent stuff Cole.
I’d love to hear your take on what Biblical church membership looks like in a future post. With the excel sheet membership rosters we have nowadays, it can feel a bit easy to detach from the humanity of the church.
I don’t have very prescriptive thoughts on membership because I believe there is a freedom for each congregation to decide for themselves what they expect – insofar as it does not contradict scripture or attribute any righteousness to works (rather than faith). For example, is there a waiting and discernment period? Do we make them take a class? Sign a contract? What about homebound congregants? Who decides when one has been absent too long? Who communicates that with them? What if they are attending services but refusing to serve or exercise any spiritual gifts? Do we announce the dismembership of absent congregants?
When you become a member of a United Methodist church, you stand before the congregation and commit “to faithfully participate in its ministries by your prayers, your presence, your gifts, your service, and your witness.” Just a verbal, public commitment. There may be better or worse ways to do that, but I am hesitant to give blanket instruction where scripture does not. It seems to matter more that we do it than how. But just for fun: let’s hash out what the best practices might be over our next cup of coffee!
I feel blessed by being in a church that has done a series on this. And what I am most struck by, as you mentioned, the goal is always restoration.
It makes even the thought of discipline different for us as believers. And if done correctly, going quickly to the offender, it will be much less likely to come to the point of removing someone from the Body.
Thanks for writing on this important, but often ignored out of fear or lack of understanding, subject.
I have been very much encouraged by your report (and others’) of your church teaching and practicing this!
Good thoughts. Some questions and a slight amount of pushback for you lol.
Who determines what sins = excommunication? I might follow that up with, what current sins do you have in your life? Then, what makes the excommunication sin worse than yours?
That could lead to all sorts of interesting discussions!
Jesus says “when someone sins against you.” So that sounds like active conflict is the context to “church discipline.” Would you agree?
Also, check out the Greek for the word sin spattered throughout Matthew 18…super interesting! (Most of the “sin” translated words earlier in Matthew 18 infer making someone not trust someone they should! I’m thinking that someone is God.)
Jesus ends that little section with “treat them like tax collectors and gentiles” which it sure seems like he continually invited INto community. Which I think I’ve heard you talk about before.
Then there’s a bit about binding and loosing, a super interesting thing for Jesus to throw in right there about interperating the scriptures and applying them to our lives. I’m curious your thoughts on that.
Then right after that Peter asks, in response to this teaching, “how many times do I have to forgive someone?” Leading me to believe that the point Jesus was making may have been about mending relationships. Thoughts?
I always appreciate your questions! I’ll try to give brief answers, so give me grace.
If you get to the excommunication part of the process, according to Matthew 18, “the church” decides (I would posit that should include the elders of the church, maybe even the majority of the congregation). Jesus’ talk about binding and loosing (and his promised presence!) seems to vouchsafe these authoritative decisions to the disciples, who would become the first overseers of the church. To wield that responsibility is no small matter, so it should be reserved for egregious sins or consistently unrepentant members (again, a subjective judgment). It seems vague enough in scripture to vary freely from church to church in practice.
The Matthew 7 passage makes it clear that I would have no business rebuking someone for the same sins of which I am guilty. I appreciate your challenge to look inwardly first.
I agree, this passage is referring to active conflict, but the other scriptures (in Titus 3:10, Romans 16:17, Galatians 6:1) expand such rebuke to “transgression” and not simply conflict. I am interested in studying more the different ways “sin” is used in Matthew 18; I’ll have to get back to you on that.
I’m glad you caught the tax collectors and sinners reference. How to we treat them? With LOVE and invitation. Grace and truth. Do they repent? Forgive 77x. Welcome them back into the fellowship. Rejoice! Now, if their patterns of repentance over time prove false, the church may decide against renewing membership. That would certainly be messy. We ought to pray for our leaders who would have to make those determinations for the good of the body!
Cole thank you for being vulnerable and writing out your thoughts. You are brave. I love how you respond to people’s comments you can see your excitement.
I appreciate the encouragement!