Church Discipline
A church that will not discipline is not a church that loves its members, it is a church that has decided their comfort matters more than their holiness. The authority of the keys is a gift, not a burden.
Position
Church discipline is the rightful exercise of authority by the local church over its own members, including, in the most serious cases, the removal of a member from the fellowship. It is not optional. It is not a relic of a harsher era. It is commanded by Christ (Matthew 18:15–20) and modeled by the apostles (1 Corinthians 5; 2 Thessalonians 3:6–15). Its goal is always redemptive.
The process outlined in Matthew 18 is graduated: private confrontation first; then with one or two witnesses; then before the church. Excommunication is the last resort, reserved for the unrepentant. The purpose is to awaken the offending member to their sin, treating them “as a Gentile and a tax collector” is not a dismissal but an invitation to conversion. Paul's instruction in 1 Corinthians 5, to “deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord”, makes this explicit. The goal is restoration, but the means is removal.
Discipline is required in two categories of cases: doctrinal error serious enough to undermine the gospel (Galatians 1:8–9; Titus 3:10–11), and moral conduct that openly contradicts the Christian profession (1 Corinthians 5:11). It is not triggered by every sin, Christians sin constantly, but by unrepentant persistence in serious sin after confrontation and accountability.
The failure to practice discipline has real consequences. It communicates that sin does not matter. It misrepresents the character of God. It exposes other members to the corrupting influence Paul warns against (“a little leaven leavens the whole lump”). And it fails the offender most of all, a person who is living in open sin and suffers no church consequence receives a false assurance they may not deserve. Discipline, rightly practiced, is one of the most pastoral acts a church can perform.
Key Scripture
“Now if your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you… 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.”
Matthew 18:15–17
“You are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.”
1 Corinthians 5:5
“And if anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.”
2 Thessalonians 3:14–15
Confession Reference
The 1689 London Baptist Confession treats church discipline in Chapter 26 (Of the Church), affirming that to each local church belongs the power of receiving members, electing officers, ordaining, and “admonishing, suspending, and excommunicating.” The confession treats discipline as one of the marks of a rightly ordered church , not an extraordinary measure but a standing feature of congregational life. Jonathan Leeman's work in the 9Marks tradition has done much to recover and explain this for contemporary Baptist churches.
Resources
- Jonathan Leeman, Church Discipline: How the Church Protects the Name of Jesus
- Jonathan Leeman, The Rule of Love: How the Local Church Should Reflect God's Love and Authority
- Mark Dever, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church (ch. on discipline)
- Thomas White, Jason Duesing, & Malcolm Yarnell (eds.), Restoring Integrity in Baptist Churches
- 9Marks Journal issues on church discipline (9marks.org)