Church Discipline – The Kingdom Curriculum X (6)

Church Discipline

The Kingdom Curriculum X (6)

“You shall not murder.” Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 5:17

“But if anyone hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him and attacks him fatally so that he dies…you shall purge the innocent blood from Israel, so that it may be well with you.” Deuteronomy 19:11

The Purging Power of the Church

As we saw earlier, the principle behind the death penalty – purging the violent in order to preserve life and wellbeing for the community – was a necessary one in the Old Testament, before the Spirit of God was available to indwell and transform the hearts of even the most hardened sinners. It’s still a necessary practice, even in the age of grace.

Some people simply refuse to repent of their sins, even though they may have done violence against another person in the church. And many of these matters will never come to the attention of the civil magistrate. Mean-spiritedness, anger, incivility, spiritual or psychological abuse, adultery: these are all very much present in the Church today, and all of them are of the character of what Jesus described as murder and the Law of God indicates should be punishable by death. It is the duty of pastors and elders, as they rule in the gates of their own churches, to take steps to purge such wickedness out of the Body of Christ.

The Church doesn’t wield the sword, but it has the resources of church discipline to bring to bear for righteousness’ sake. Confronting the sinner, admonishing him, suspending him from the sacraments, and, as a final measure, excommunication – these are powerful tools for suppressing sinful practices, discouraging the harboring of sin in the heart, and making space for righteousness to flourish. The church that does not practice discipline against sinful members despises the Law of God and the order He has created so as to bring His Body and Bride to purity and holiness.

Society and government may wink at evils which deserve serious punishment; the Church must move to purge them from its midst. But it must do so with love and a commitment to full restoration.

The Apostle John taught that those who would follow Jesus must walk in the commandments of God (1 John 2:1-6). Order your copy of The Law of God by going to www.MyParuchia.com and clicking on Publications, Waxed Tablet. Begin meditating on God’s Law today.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore.

T.M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001,2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.