Church Discipline
On occassion a Christian will wander away
from the fellowship of other believers
and find himself ensnared by sin through ignorance
or willful disobedience. It then becomes
necessary for the church, and particularly its
shepherds, to actively seek the repentance and
restoration of that Christian. As shepherds of
the flock, the elders love the sheep and are also
held accountable by God for their spiritual welfare,
including that of the wandering sheep. As
in Jesus’ parable in Luke 15:3-8, it is a time of
joy, both in heaven and within the church,
when the wandering Christian truly repents.
One means by which the church seeks to lovingly
restore wandering believers is the process
of church discipline. In Matthew 18, the Lord
explains to His disciples how to respond when
a fellow believer sins. The principles He sets
forth must guide the body of Christ as she seeks
to implement discipline in the church today.
The Purpose of Discipline
The purpose of church discipline is the spiritual
restoration of fallen members and the consequent
strengthening of the church and glorifying
of the Lord. When a sinning believer is
rebuked and he turns from his sin and is forgiven,
he is won back to fellowship with the body and
with its head, Jesus Christ.
The goal of church discipline, then, is not to
throw people out of the church or to feed the
self-righteous pride of those who administer the
discipline. It is not to embarrass people or to
exercise authority and power in some unbiblical
manner. The purpose is to restore a sinning
believer to holiness and bring him back into a
pure relationship within the assembly.
In Matthew 18:15, Jesus says, “And if your
brother sins, go and reprove him in private; if
he listens to you, you have won your brother.”
The Greek word translated “won” was originally
used of accumulating wealth in the sense of
monetary commodities. Here it refers to the
gaining back of something of value that is lost,
namely, an erring brother. When a brother or
sister strays, a valuable treasure is lost, and the
church should not be content until he or she is
restored. The body of Christ is in the business
of recovery (Gal. 6:1), and such is the purpose
of church discipline.
The Process of Discipline
In Matthew 18:15-17, Jesus sets forth the fourstep
process of church discipline: (1) tell him his
sin alone; (2) take some witnesses; (3) tell the
church; and (4) treat him as an outsider.
Step One (Matt. 18:15). The process of church
discipline begins on an individual level. Jesus
said, “And if your brother sins, go and reprove
him in private” (v. 15a). Here, an individual
believer is to go to a sinning brother privately
and confront him in a spirit of humility and
gentleness. This confrontation involves clearly
exposing his sin so that he is aware of it and calling
him to repentance. If the sinning brother
repents in response to the private confrontation,
that brother is forgiven and restored (v. 15b).
Step Two (Matt. 18:16). If the sinning brother
refuses to listen to the one who has rebuked
him privately, the next step in the discipline
process is to take one or two more believers
along to confront him again (v. 16a). The purpose
of taking other believers is so that “by the
mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may
be confirmed” (v. 16b). In other words, the
witnesses are present not only to confirm that
the sin was committed but, in addition, to confirm
that the sinning brother was properly
rebuked and that he has or has not repented.
The presence of additional witnesses is as much
a protection for the one being approached as it
is for the one approaching. After all, a biased
person could erroneously say, “Well, I tried to
confront him, but he’s impenitent.” It would
be presumptuous to think that one person
could make that ultimate determination, especially
if he was the one who had been sinned
against. The witnesses need to confirm whether
there is a heart of repentance or one of indifference
or rejection. Such a report provides the
basis for further action because the situation has
been verified beyond the report of one individual.
At this point, it should be hoped that the one
or two who are brought along to confront the
sinner will not have to become public witnesses
against him before the rest of the church.
Ideally, their added rebuke will be sufficient to
induce a change of heart in the offending
brother that the initial rebuke did not cause. If
this change of heart does occur, that brother is
forgiven and restored, and the matter is
dropped.
Step Three (Matt. 18:17a). If the sinning
brother refuses to listen and respond to the
confrontation of the witnesses after a period of
time, those witnesses are then to tell it to the
church (v. 17a). This is most appropriately
done by bringing the matter to the attention of
the elders, who in turn oversee its communication
to the assembly as a whole.
How long should the witnesses continue to call
the person to repentance before telling the
church? The elders at Grace Community
Church avoid carrying out the third or fourth
stage of church discipline until they are
absolutely certain that the erring believer has
truly sinned, or is continuing to sin, and that
he has refused to repent when appropriately
confronted. The elders will routinely send a
letter by registered mail warning the individual
that the third (or fourth) step of discipline will
be taken if they have not received word of
repentance by a specific date. When this date
has passed, the person’s sin and refusal to
repent are made known publicly, either before
the entire assembly during a Communion service
or through a fellowship group in which the
person is known.
It has been the custom at Grace Community
Church, upon enacting this third step, to clearly
indicate to the congregation that they are to
pursue the person aggressively and plead with
him to repent before the fourth step becomes
necessary. That crucial and potent procedure
often draws the sinner to repentance and
obedience. If repentance does take place, the
sinning believer is forgiven and restored.
Step Four (Matt. 18:17b). The fourth and final
step in the process of church discipline is
ostracism. If a sinning believer refuses to listen
even to the church, he is to be ostracized from
the fellowship. Jesus said, “let him be to you as
a Gentile and a tax-gatherer” (v. 17b). The
term “Gentile” was primarily used of non-Jews
who held to their traditional paganism and had
no part in the covenant, worship, or social life
of the Jews. On the other hand, a “tax-gatherer”
was an outcast from the Jews by choice, having
become a traitor to his own people. Jesus’ use
of these terms doesn’t mean that the church is
to treat these people badly. It simply means
that when a professing believer refuses to
repent, the church is to treat him as if he were
outside of the fellowship. They are not to let
him associate and participate in the blessings
and benefits of the Christian assembly.
When a man in the Corinthian church refused
to forsake an incestuous relationship with his
stepmother, the apostle Paul commanded that
the man be removed from their midst (1 Cor.
5:13). The believers there were not even to
share a meal with him (1 Cor. 5:11), for dining
with someone was symbolic of a hospitable and
cordial fellowship. The one who is persistently
unrepentant is to be totally ostracized from the
fellowship of the church and treated like an
outcast, not a brother.
As far as the welfare of the church is concerned,
the purpose of putting the brother out is to
protect the purity of the fellowship (1 Cor. 5:6),
to warn the assembly of the seriousness of sin (1
Tim. 5:20), and to give a testimony of righteousness
to a watching world. But as far as the
welfare of the brother himself is concerned, the
purpose of the ostracism is not to punish but to
awaken, and it must therefore be done in humble
love and never in a spirit of self-righteous
superiority (2 Thess. 3:15).
When a church has done everything it can to
bring a sinning member back to purity of life
but is unsuccessful, that individual is to be left
to his sin and his shame. If he is truly a
Christian, God will not cast him away, but He
may allow him to sink still deeper before he
becomes desperate enough to turn from his sin.
The command not to have fellowship or even
social contact with the unrepentant brother
does not exclude all contact. When there is an
opportunity to admonish him and try to call
him back, the opportunity should be taken. In
fact, such opportunities should be sought. But
the contact should be for the purpose of
admonishment and restoration and no other.
Adapted from John MacArthur, The MacArthur New Testament
Commentary: Matthew 16–23 (Chicago: Moody Press, 1988); John
MacArthur, The Master’s Plan for the Church (Chicago: Moody
Press, 1991); and Stuart Scott and George Crawford, “Restoring
the Wandering Sheep,” (unpublished paper). For a fuller treatment
of church discipline, consult these resources.