What Does The Bible Say About Church Discipline?

Last updated on: November 30, 2015 at 8:46 am by Jack Wellman

What Does The Bible Say About Church Discipline? 2015-11-30T08:46:15-06:00 Jack Wellman

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What does the Bible say about church discipline? Does it still have application today?

Love and Discipline

God sees discipline as an act of love. What parent would let their children do anything? Don’t most parents care enough to keep their children out of danger? To God, and I hope you can see it too, love and discipline are necessarily tied together. The author of Hebrews writes “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives” (Heb 12:5-6) so “God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons” (Heb 12:7-8). You cannot say that you love your child if you don’t discipline them because the opposite of love is not hate…it is apathy and that’s a dangerous thing to have if you’re a parent; dangerous for the child that is. Our church has a prison ministry and the numbers

The Blessings of Discipline

It is not easy to see blessings come from discipline? Apparently the psalmist could and so wrote “Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O LORD, and whom you teach out of your law, to give him rest from days of trouble, until a pit is dug for the wicked” (Psalm 94:12-13). Our church has a prison ministry and the numbers of men who said that they had no father or that they could do just about anything they wanted to as a youth ended up getting them into trouble, although they would still say they take responsibility for their actions, however many wish they had been disciplined more when they were young. They now see this as a lack of love, care, and affection. God disciplines us because He loves us as Paul wrote “we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world” (1st Cor 11:32) so you may not see the connection between love and discipline and blessings and discipline but there is no doubt that “blessed is the one whom God reproves; therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty” (Job 5:17).

Church Discipline: Step One

The basic model for church discipline is found in Matthew 18:15-20. In the first step of church discipline methods that Jesus taught, He says “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother” (Matt 18:15). Hopefully your brother or sister can be shown their fault and they will repent and turn again to God but you must go to them privately as first. There is no reason to tell anyone else if you can settle the matter one on one. It is unwise to bring anyone else into it or tell others and cloaks it in a prayer request by saying “Brother or sister so and so is doing this or that and I’m going to pray for them so would you pray for them too?” That is nothing less than gossip.

Church Discipline: Step Two

If going to them privately doesn’t help because “he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses” (Matt 18:16). That doesn’t mean take half a dozen witnesses with you and show up at the person’s door or confront them at church publically. No, this is still a private matter, even though you are taking someone else with you now. Perhaps the second or third (at most) person will see this as a non-issue and think that it’s not a problem that should be brought up at all, and certainly not before the church. If there is a serious sin issue, perhaps the other witnesses will help persuade the one in sin to repent and that they will repent of that and turn away from that sin. If that is the case, then this is where it should end. It doesn’t need to shared with others.

Church Discipline: Step Three

The main purpose of church discipline is so that the brother or sister who is in sin and is warned will turn from that, whatever it is, but “If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector” (Matt 18:17). This is the most difficult part of church discipline. It should always be the very last option every time but if talking to them one on one and in private doesn’t help, you must bring one or two more with you but if that still doesn’t work, then sadly, it’s time to bring it before the whole church in the hopes that they would see their error and turn away from it and forsake whatever that sin was. Jesus says that “if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven” (Matt 18:19) because “where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (Matt 18:20).

Conclusion

Church discipline should be reserved only when a Christian is in a grievous sin. It is not for gray areas where the Bible is silent or some other imagined infraction. A Christian that desires to live in obedience to God and is truly humble will not be offended when they are corrected. They know that “Faithful are the wounds of a friend” (Prov 27:6a) and “Blows that wound cleanse away evil; strokes make clean the innermost parts” (Prov 20:30). The believer should not only believe but live out the verse that says “Great peace have those who love your law; nothing shall offend them” (Psalm 119:165). If they are offended, then that’s not your fault. Either they don’t love God’s law and thus don’t have great peace or they love their sin and don’t want to repent. Either way, it is a risk you must take because you love your brother or sister. It is the most loving thing you can do for your friend or fellow brother or sister in Christ.

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.

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