Church discipline is the forgotten stepchild of the modern church. It is rarely practiced and often viewed as provincial and antiquated. Children are disciplined for unruly behavior (and that is becoming a rarity in today’s culture); some adults may practice self- discipline. However, the thought of an adult correcting or admonishing another adult is not always well received, unless it comes from a very good friend (who may be persuaded to back off the rebuke). The church, however, is told to mind its own business and avoid the appearance of being judgmental. The leadership of a church admonishing an individual is downright preposterous to many. Church discipline is often viewed as harsh, unloving, and/or judgmental. The Bible has been replaced by moral relativism as society’s moral compass. Before our very eyes we are seeing evil triumph due to the lack of biblical confrontation.# Jay Adams, in his Handbook of Church Discipline, states that the “Failure of church discipline… has led to chaos in the church.”# Church discipline must be understood, practiced and enforced in today’s church by the members and the leadership. As long as the purpose and intent of such discipline is misunderstood and not consistently applied, the unity and purity of the church is at stake. Through all of this, all discipline, when performed and applied correctly, is for the believer’s good and God’s glory.
Discipline can mean anything from punishment to educational training, instruction to control.# According to Dictionary.com, the word discipline comes from the Latin word disciplina, a noun which can be translated as training, instruction, system, or obedience.# Closely linked is the noun discipulus—it is easy to see from where the English words disciple and discipleship come.# A disciple is one who is trained or instructed in a particular discipline, such as academia or a skilled trade. It is not only expected but required for a doctor to be trained and well educated in his discipline—none would opt for an uneducated doctor guessing his next move during surgery, as though playing the game Operation! In the same way, instruction and knowledge is applied to matters of faith. Just as the physician must tend to the physical, material body, the church is charged with tending to the immaterial# part of the body—the soul. In John 21 Jesus charged Peter three times to care for his flock—an allegory referencing Christian believers: “Tend My lambs”; “Shepherd My sheep”; “Tend My sheep”.# All the instruction needed for all teachers and leaders of the church to shepherd adequately is contained within the pages of the Old and New Testaments: “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3: 16-17 NASB).
When a child is disobedient, the parents have an obligation to correct—to discipline. Discipline is not abuse—as previously stated; the term denotes training, instruction. It is an act of love and concern on the part of the parent. It is far more dangerous to withhold discipline (training, instruction) than it is to correct in the moment of disobedience. Discipline early and consistently is the key to aiding a child in learning correct and acceptable behavior—Proverbs 22 instructs parents to “Train up a child in the way he should go”—to not do so is neglect. Discipline is an act of love. Yet it behooves one to remember, “Love is oftentimes tough. Love is not sentimentality.”#
Christians are commanded to love one another throughout the Bible.# “Church discipline is…simply watching over one another in love.”# G.I. Williamson stated it this way: “Lack of church discipline is to be seen for what it really is—not a loving concern as is hypocritically claimed, but an indifference to the honor of Christ and the welfare of the flock.”# The word discipline evokes many opinions and emotions among the body of Christ instead responding rightly in truth. John Calvin, in his work the Institutes of the Christian Religion, stated:
But because some persons, in their hatred of discipline, recoil from its very name, let them understand this: if no society, indeed, no house which has even a small family, can be kept in proper condition without discipline, it is much more necessary in the church, whose condition should be as ordered as possible.#
Galatians 6:1 teaches, “If another Christian is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path.” Church discipline may seem to be anything but gentle and humble to the uneducated individual sitting in the pews. Yet “church discipline is one of the primary means God uses to correct and restore His children when they fall into sin. It is also one way in which He maintains the unity, purity, integrity, and reputation of the church.”#
In some ways American culture has returned to the times of the Judges: “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes”# (Jdg. 21:25 NASB, emphasis added by the author). Moral relativism has become the cultural heartbeat of society—instead of operating from facts, feelings reign supreme. There is an “enormous zone of personal privacy and moral autonomy”# among individuals today. According to Al Molher, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, “The very notion of shame has been discarded by a generation for which shame is an unnecessary and repressive hindrance to personal fulfillment.”# He continues by explaining, “Without a recovery of functional church discipline—firmly established upon the principles revealed in the Bible—the church will continue its slide into moral dissolution and relativism.”#
The church today is suffering from an infection which has been allowed to fester. As an untreated boil oozes germ-infested pus and contaminates the whole body, so the church has been contaminated by sin and moral compromise. As an infection weakens the body by destroying its defense mechanisms, so the church has been weakened by this ugly sore. The church has lost its power and effectiveness in serving as a vehicle for social, moral, and spiritual change. This illness is due, at least in part, to a neglect of church discipline.” #
Not all discipline is (nor should it be) a public affair. To be most effective, discipline begins with each individual, at the heart level. The focus must initially turn from self-worship and adulation to God-centered worship and devotion. Julie Ganschow, Biblical counselor and author, explains this process: “The first change that must take place is in the heart itself. We cannot change our own heart. Because our heart is deceitful and wicked (Jer. 17:9), we cannot possibly know the depths of its depravity, nor can we conjure up enough goodness within ourselves to change in a real and lasting way.”# Recognizing sin within and making changes that give honor and glory to God are the first step in discipline. It is between the individual and God. This is self discipline. We are to “discipline (ourselves) for the purpose of godliness.”
(1 Timothy 4:7, NASB). When God brings these areas of sin to light, it should be a cause for rejoicing—“My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD or loathe His reproof, for whom the LORD loves He reproves, even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.” (Pro 3:11-12 NASB).# However, It is when this step is ignored or rejected that behaviors develop which are often dishonoring before the Lord. Jay Adams points out that, “If a brother will not discipline himself, then another must take that task on himself.”# When a believer joins a church a covenant is initiated—the believer is putting himself into the hands of a body which, “through the elders, will minister to his needs, and in everything he will be in subjection to the church.”# If an area of sin continues to grow in a believer’s life, the level of church involvement necessarily increases. With each step the goal is restoration, not retribution—this is a very important point that is often missed. Initially, as a problem arises between two individuals, the matter stays between them: "If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.” (Matt. 18:15 NASB). If reconciliation is not obtained, one or two more are brought along to confront the erring individual (Matt. 18:16) with the same goal: repentance and restoration. If this is not successful and the individual persists in sin, refusing to repent, it must be taken before the church (Matt. 18:17). “The church acts against sin within itself in order to continue an effective witness.# When the members know that the church will take action to maintain its order, they are discouraged from sin. This is heightened if they see discipline being maintained#.”# If none of these are successful, the erring member is removed from the fellowship of the church. “At the same time the persistent sinner is put back into the world, which is the domain of Satan. The brother has chosen to serve Satan and is now relinquished from the protective grace of God so that Satan can do with him as he wishes.”# This is the practice of 1 Corinthians 5:5: “I (Paul) have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” The individual is let loose to experience his own depravity for the destruction of his flesh—always bearing in mind the warning in Matthew 10:28: "Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matt. 10:28 NASB).
We are disciplined for our good, to conform us more into the image and likeness of Christ—but ultimately, all praise and glory is directed to God Himself. Discipline honors God and gives Him the glory.
The importance of maintaining the unity, purity, integrity and reputation of the church is paramount for the glory of God to be maintained. God is jealous for His own glory—He will not share it with another. Jesus Christ paid the ransom for the people of God with His very life. He protects the church by maintaining its purity. In 1863 the Reverend Eleazer Savage penned these words: “The high and professed object of discipline, is the purity of the Church.”# Carl Laney states, “Christ has a deep interest in the purity of the church.”# He draws the parallel between the Old Testament feast of Unleavened Bread and Paul’s admonition in 1 Corinthians 5: “Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.” (1 Cor. 5:6-7, NASB). Those disciplined can be—and indeed, some are—restored to fellowship within the church. One sign of true repentance is described by Reverend Savage: “A real penitent will be likely to confess too much, rather than too little.”#
There is an indescribable beauty to properly handled church discipline. A person may be hurling along towards a cliff at full speed, unaware of their impending demise; between them and the cliff stands his church family, calling out for him to stop before he runs off the edge into oblivion—they are standing in the gap, pleading their cause. "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13 NASB).
A very poignant conclusion has been written by a man of authority on the topic: Jay Adams. Reinventing the wheel seems unnecessary and superfluous in this circumstance. I quote:
Discipline is not easy to do correctly or even to do at all. It involves courage and fortitude. It requires care and precision. It must be done in neither a sloppy nor a careless manner. Therefore the process must be carried on with the knowledge and assurance that what is being done is right in God’s sight. But even though discipline is difficult and runs many risks, churches dare not run the greater risk of withholding a privilege and blessing provided by Christ, thus depriving sinning members of all the help He has provided for them. Nor dare they disobey Him in refusing to follow His program for church discipline lest, in the end, they find themselves disciplined by Him (cf. 1 Cor. 11:31-32)#.
Bibliography
Adams, Jay E. Handbook of Church Discipline: A Right and Privilege of Every Church Member. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1974.
Baker, Don. Beyond Forgiveness: The Healing Touch of Church Discipline. Portland: Multnomah Press, 1984.
Brown, Nathan. Adventist Review. 2010. http://www.adventistreview.org/article.php?id=511 (accessed March 18, 2010).
Dictionary.com. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/discipline (accessed June 14, 2010 ).
Eccles, Dic, et al. Local Church Practice. Sussex: Carey Publications, 1978.
Elliff, Jim, and Daryl Wingerd. Restoring Those Who Fall: A Church Discipline Statement. statement, Kansas City (Parkville): Christian Communicatiors Worldwide, 2006.
Ganschow, Julie. Biblical Counseling for Women. July 17, 2009. www.bc4women.blogspot.com (accessed June 14, 2010).
Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology. Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 2000.
Irons, Margaret M. Reflections on the Assembly, and elements of spiritual abuse.
http://www.geftakysassembly.com/Articles/BiblicalExposition/ChurchDiscipline.htm (accessed March 18, 2010).
Laney, J. Carl. A Guide to Church Discipline. Minneapolis: Bethany House Publishers, 1985.
Mizzi, Paul. Truth for Today. http://www.tecmalta.org/tft246.htm (accessed March 18, 2010).
Molher, Jr., R. Albert. The Highway. 1998.
http://www.the-highway.com/discipline_Mohler.html (accessed March 18, 2010).
Savage, Rev. Eleazer. Church Discipline, In Two Parts, Formative & Corrective; in which is developed The True Philosophy of Religious Education. Rochester: Sheldon & Company, 1863.
University of Notre Dame. http://www.nd.edu/~archives/latin.htm (accessed June 14, 2010).
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