Church Discipline

February 17
The title of today’s blog is church discipline. I’m writing it to teach any who read my blog how and why the bible says it's supposed to be done. The reason for biblical discipline is that the name of God might not be blasphemed among the Gentiles (Rom. 2:24). The biblical instructions for it have been completely ignored, rewritten, and/or misapplied in the past three traditional churches I attended, so I know from personal experience how vital it is for God’s people to thoroughly understand what His word has to say on the issue. I have written an exhaustive study on the topic for anyone interested.


It’s truly sad how many people in churches today sit idly by and watch unqualified church leaders banish members from traditional churches under the guise of administering discipline because they know even less about the topic than those leaders. I guess it takes seeing it done improperly many times and being the victim of its improper application a time or two to realize how much damage misinformed church leaders do to the kingdom of God when they abuse their power regarding discipline. Apparently some pastors believe it is their unique responsibility to handle all church discipline. That glaringly violates the basic principle of Matthew 18 which demands only the one who knows of the sin in the brother’s life should approach him at first.

I’ve witnessed ill informed congregations follow the lead of a tyrannical church leader, lock step, like good little Nazi soldiers. Of course, I’m not suggesting they really were Nazis. The image just popped up in my mind when I thought about how they truly believed they were doing the right thing because their “senior” pastor was so convincing. Just like the Nazis blindly followed Hitler in World War II, they have no sense of the magnitude of their sin for allowing the unbiblical application of this process in the church. Frankly, I truly wouldn’t want to be any of those church leaders when they stand before Jesus (James 3:1).

Matthew 18:15-17 makes it abundantly clear it is the members of the church’s responsibility to discipline those in their midst who are living in sin (see also Rom. 15:14). However, it very clearly provides a three step process by which discipline is to be administered. It would take a lot more space here than I want to take to write in detail, so I will defer to the simple teaching of Matthew on the subject.

Step one: go personally and in private to the person and show him from scripture what he is doing wrong. He must know the specific act he is engaging is sin. Explain how he can confess his sin and repent. If he does that, the issue is over.

Step two: take one or two more with you if he does not respond in confession and repentance as a result of the first visit. Beseech him to repent the second time as indicated by the specific sin specifically shown him from God’s word. The one or two you have taken in the second step are there to confirm he has correctly and lovingly been shown what his problem is specifically from God’s word; and, that he refuses to confess his sin and repent of it. If he confesses and repents, the issue is over.

Step three: If the sinning person refuses to confess his sin and repent one must bring the issue before the church and have him removed from fellowship. I don’t care who says otherwise, there is no biblical authority for any church leader or hand-picked representative body of the church to decide if that person is to be excommunicated. There is no biblical authority to send the person being disciplined an email or postal letter informing him of the church's actions. The failure of clear communication throughout the process, absolute adherence to biblical mandates, and personal, eye to eye, communication is a must. The one accused of having sinned must also have opportunity to attend the excommunication process and have his say about whether or not the process was properly followed. Sending an email or postal letter is such a heinous and callous misuse of God’s word I suspect the leader who does it will get some special attention from God one day.

The final step is a church wide issue and must be handled as such if it is to meet the biblical mandate. And, it is, in my humble opinion because of those church leaders who fail to follow the entire process properly from beginning to end that so many refuse to have anything to do with the biblical teaching about church discipline. And, I strongly suspect it is also why there are so many today who will never again darken the doors of a traditional church.

Contact me by requesting my exhaustive study on the topic below if you would like to have it. It’s free, I’ll email or postal mail it to you. Now go tell someone how he can become part of Jesus’ church so some lame guy who thinks he’s god’s (lower case “g” intentional) chief shepherd can toss him out of “his” church when he disagrees with him about something. Just kidding, of course.

Step three: Bring the issue before the church and have him removed from fellowship. I don’t care who says otherwise, there is no biblical authority for any church leader or hand-picked representative body of the church to decide if that person is to be excommunicated. There is no biblical authority to send the person being disciplined an email or postal letter. As a matter of fact, doing it that way is such a heinous and callous misuse of God’s word I suspect the leader who does it will get some special attention from God one day. The final step is a church wide issue and must be handled as such if it is to meet the biblical mandate. And, it is in my humble opinion because of those church leaders who fail to follow the entire process properly from beginning to end that so many refuse to have anything to do with the biblical teaching about church discipline. And, I strongly suspect it is also why there are so many today who will never again darken the doors of a church.

Contact me by requesting my exhaustive study on the topic below if you would like to have it. It’s free, I’ll email or postal mail it to you. Now go tell someone how he can become part of Jesus’ church so some lame guy who thinks he’s god’s (lower case “g” intentional) chief shepherd can toss him out of “his” church when he disagrees with him about something. Just kidding of course.