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A return to New Testament teaching on church discipline is one of the crying needs of the
hour. A full and complete restoration of the ancient order of things is impossible while
so many Christians fail to pursue any divinely-prescribed disciplinary plan of leading the
erring to repentance and of preserving the purity of the whole church.
Church discipline is not a question of human judgment or choice. It is a matter of divine legislation, and the Bible is just as explicit and undeviating on the subject as any other phase of Christian duty. To ignore the Scriptural attitude toward those whose conduct is evil or whose teaching is false and divisive is to ignore one of the plainest and most vital principles of the New Testament. The question for consideration in this article is this: "What is the Scriptural course that must be pursued in dealing with a church member who persists in his evil conduct or his false teaching?" It is assumed that all understand that no disciplinary measure is to be administered until after the offending brother has been thoroughly warned of his evil and earnestly exhorted to repent. In the church at Corinth a man was guilty of fornication in its most repugnant form, and the church had taken no corrective steps in the matter. The church was commanded to, "Deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh..." and "...not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolator, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat" (1 Cor. 5:5, 11). God's purpose in inflicting this punishment was two-fold. First, to save the soul of the guilty party, and, second, to protect the whole church from corruption. It is presumptuous to assume that these two objectives could have been accomplished better by some other method or attitude toward the guilty brother, and it would have been rebellion against God for any member of the Corinthian church to continue his social intercourse with that incestuous brother (1 Cor. 5). Some lazy, disorderly busybodies were in the church at Thessalonica. "Now them that are such," said Paul, "we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread" (2 Thess. 3:12). But what shall the church do if the offenders refuse to heed Paul's admonition? "And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed" (2 Thess. 3:14). Paul then made this order to the church emphatic by these words: "Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us" (2 Thess. 3:6). By following this course, they would not be treating the erring one as an enemy, but would be admonishing him as a brother in the most effective way (2 Thess. 3:6-15). Beginning their insidious work in apostolic days, false teachers have done immeasurable harm to the cause of truth and righteousness. Paul said they would "...draw away disciples after them" by "speaking perverse things" (Acts 20:30). They have overthrown "whole houses" and churches, "teaching things which they ought not..." (Titus 1:11). Their word has eaten "as doth a gangrene" and "the faith of some" has been overthrown (2 Tim. 2:17-18 ASV). Their theories have been more injurious to the church of God than all the persecutions that Christians have ever suffered from the hands of avowed enemies. All sectarianism, division, and the whole papal system are the outgrowth of false teaching. The false teachers that arise from time to time from among the brethren certainly come within the scope of discipline. Invariably, bitterness, faction, and division follow in the way of their teaching. Eating "as doth a gangrene," their foolish theories and speculations overthrow the faith of many. They render useless some otherwise effective workers at home and abroad. Those who embrace these false teachings often forsake the plan of salvation and join denominations. There is a very strong human tendency to place new theories and speculations above long-accepted truth. False teachers will overlook the most grievous errors to associate with those who agree with their pet theories. It is ridiculously absurd to claim that any error that divides the people of God is harmless. It is arguing against demonstration. The claim that something else has caused all the trouble — when confusion follows such teaching — is only a puerile attempt to smoke screen the issue and protect those false teachers whose "mouths must be stopped" (Titus 1:11). The Scriptures state plainly the attitude that must be assumed toward false teachers. Paul referred to them as "vain talkers and deceivers...whose mouths must be stopped" and told Titus to "reprove them sharply" (Titus 1:10-13 ASV). "A man that is a heretic, after the first and second admonition, reject; Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself" (Titus 3:10-11). "Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them" (Rom. 16:17). John said, "Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds" (2 John 9-11). These Scriptures reveal God's way for saving the false teacher and protecting the whole church from apostasy. They need no interpretation. They are as plain and strict and inflexible as anything God ever said. To ignore them is to rebel against God. There are false teachers disturbing the church who have had both "the first and second admonition" (Titus 3:10). They have been reproved, rebuked, exhorted, both "sharply" and with "all longsuffering and doctrine" (2 Tim. 4:2). Yet they often continue to persist in their speculative theories, causing "divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine" which we have learned (Rom. 16:17). They are such as "transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ" (2 John 9). Surely all such teachers teach "things which they ought not" (Titus 1:11). God's course of discipline must be respected. He who does not "mark them" and "turn away from them" becomes a "partaker of their evil deeds." If the false teachers who disturb the church today had been dealt with promptly as the Lord commands, the peace of many congregations and the faith of some individuals might have been saved. It is high time that brethren to turn back to the Bible in church discipline! |