(This is part 2 of a 2-part series)
Not every sin requires public discipline. As I’ve said elsewhere, my wife might privately rebuke me for selfishly eating all the ice cream. I might even continue in this pattern unrepentantly. Yet that’s probably not the kind of sin that would warrant public discipline. Instead, churches should publicly address those sins that are simultaneously outward, significant, and unrepentant.
To say a sin is outward is to say it can be seen with the eyes or heard with the ears. Church leaders shouldn’t speculate about the state of people’s hearts, as if to say we accuse their hearts of being “proud” or “greedy” when we have no evidence for it. Remember, Jesus calls for two or three witnesses.
To say a sin is significant is to say it’s consequential enough that the church doesn’t feel like it can continue to affirm the person’s profession of faith because of it. Selfish ice cream consumption probably doesn’t rise to this level. Leaving one’s wife for another woman does. In between these two examples is a vast spectrum that requires much wisdom.
To say a sin is unrepentant is to say that the person has been challenged but refuses to let go of the sin with his or her actions, even if their words promise otherwise.
Pace of Discipline Depends on Repentance
How fast or slow should this process be? It depends entirely on the demonstration of repentance. After all, public discipline occurs not because of sin. Public discipline occurs because there is unrepentance.
Christians sin. Christians also repent. So the pace of discipline depends upon a person’s willingness to fight sin. Sometimes it moves slowly, as with a cycle of addiction where the person takes steps to change, even if they don’t fully succeed. Sometimes it moves quite quickly, as with my friend who was resolute in his sin because “God told me it’s okay” (see part 1 here).
When does restoration occur? When there’s repentance. Sometimes repentance is obvious, as with a man returning to his estranged wife. Sometimes it’s difficult to discern, as with someone waging war against a substance addiction, but who takes a step backward with every step forward. Wonderfully, my own church has witnessed multiple cases of restoration following discipline. A man returned to his wife. An addict and thief confessed before the church. A liar came clean.
All for the Sake of Love
Church discipline was once common in Protestant churches. But toward the end of the 19th and moving into the 20th century, churches seemed to grow tired of holding their members accountable. They became more interested in other things, like attracting the “unchurched.”
Yet as one 19th-century theologian put it, when church discipline leaves a church, Christ goes with it. Churches that don’t practice discipline undermine their own preaching. For instance, they might condemn adultery from the pulpit, but if they don’t remove the known adulterer from their membership, they tell the church that adultery is not that big of a deal after all. You can have both Jesus and adultery.
Further, such a church will soon find that it looks just like the world. Its evangelistic witness will be compromised. “Why join that church when they look just like me — only they’re hypocritical about it?”
To be sure, church discipline can be done badly, even abusively. This occurs when churches require what Scripture doesn’t require, and when they don’t exercise case-by-case pastoral sensitivity. Abusive church discipline is a great evil to be guarded against, as with abusive husbands, parents, or police officers.
Yet we shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. Discipline should always be done for the sake of love: “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves” (Heb. 12:6). To forsake discipline when it’s warranted is not to show love but hate (see Prov. 13:24).
The goal of discipline is always redemption (1 Cor. 5:5), protecting other sheep (v. 6), and honoring the name of Christ (v. 1).
So, do you want a church that’s healthy, loving, and evangelistically vibrant? Then practice church discipline.
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For Further Reading
- Greg Wills, Democratic Religion: Freedom, Authority, and Church Discipline in the Baptist South 1785-1900 (Oxford University Press).
- Jonathan Leeman, Understanding Church Discipline, in Church Basics (B&H, 2016).
- Jonathan Leeman, Church Discipline: How the Church Protects the Name of Jesus (Crossway, 2012).
- Jonathan Leeman, The Church and the Surprising Offense of God’s Love: Re-introducing the Doctrines of Church Membership and Discipline (Crossway, 2010).
- Jonathan Leeman, “Church Discipline Primer,” 9Marks.org.
— Editor’s note: A version of this article was originally published at The Gospel Coalition. Jonathan Leeman (Ph.D., University of Wales) is editorial director for 9Marks Ministries in Washington, D.C.