Discipline, or the Lack Thereof, and the Detriment Done to the Body of Christ

Despite the Puritan-style title, this article will be concise, but hopefully potent. Articles on this issue require potency in a period in the life of the Church in which churches (I specifically have evangelical churches in mind here) tend to minimize church discipline for many reasons. All of these reasons are selfish, arrogant, and audacious. It is not my concern here to highlight reasons for the lack of church discipline, but rather to show that church discipline now, as in every age, is crucial to purity, reconciliation, and the ministry of the Church.

When a church fails to discipline its members (this includes leaders), the entirety of God’s people feel the results. That’s correct; when those in sin are not disciplined by the church for their sinfulness the whole body suffers. Paul in 1 Corinthians 12:26, in telling us of the importance of all members of the body of Christ, gives us a universal truth: “If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it.” Consider it, if your little toe hurts, your whole body is in agony with it.

Not only this, but the sinfulness of one member of the church can lead to the corruption of the whole. As Paul warns the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 5, the church is not to seek to discipline the sinful world (for they continue to live in the sinful age, and are not partakers in the kingdom of God and of the Spirit), but to pass judgment upon those within the body. “For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves” (vv. 12-13). We are not even to associate with them—for their benefit and our own (v. 11). “A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough” (v. 6), and so corruption will breed corruption—sin will snowball.

Matthew 18:15-20 tells us how we are to practice church discipline and its effects (21-35 tells us of how often and how many times we are to forgive those who fall into sin and seek repentance and reconciliation). Church discipline is to be practiced so that not even one of the “hundred sheep” should be lost, even if any one should stray (vv. 12-14).

We must not let fellow Christians continue in sin. As James tells us, “My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:19-20). Sin must be taken seriously and dealt with in the utmost solemnity—for a brother who continues in sin could lose his soul to death. It is the duty of those who see a brother in sin to seek for that brother’s repentance and reconciliation (cf. Galatians 6:1-3). To not follow this command is a sin—“to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin” (James 4:17). And as John tells us, “If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death” (1 John 5:16-17). In the context of 1 John, the sin that leads to death seems to be apostasy. Lesser sins could easily escalate into this “sin that leads to death,” as a person could reject the Lord through continual sin and prove him/herself to be unregenerate (cf. 1 John 2:3-6). And even if this does not occur, it is still the obligation of the brother who sees a brother in sin not leading to death to pray for and confront the one who is in sin.

Now for a practical example of how this is true. I will use an example and look at it from multiple levels of what could occur. Let’s say that a brother in Christ is interested in a young Christian lady. Now let’s say that this young man has an “accountability partner.” This young man who is dating the young lady starts to lust after this girl and begins going beyond safe boundaries—boundaries that have been set between he and his accountability partner. Let’s unpack every instance of what could occur.

1) The accountability partner talks to the young man and finds out that he has been sinning—in this case, physically/sexually going beyond set boundaries. The accountability partner, in passivity, decides not to confront the other brother at all in his sin, but rather allows him to continue in his actions—even as the physical boundaries are crossed further and further. Maybe the accountability partner even tells the brother that he doesn’t think that he should be doing what he is doing, but yet does nothing more. The brother in the relationship in this case continues into sexual sin further and further until finally he goes all the way (yes, sexual intercourse—or even oral sex—it doesn’t really matter, sin here is sin). Now, for the example, let us also say that he later breaks up with the girl (even if he doesn’t, the sinful act has been committed and harm has been done—sin against the girl (and she has sinned against him), against the Body, against their parents, against God, etc).

What’s the detriment? Who is hurt? Well, first, the brother and the sister are both hurt. They have sinned against one another—this could have quite possibly been avoided had the accountability partner taken some sort of action. The accountability partner is also harmed in this—the brother has sinned against him and their relationship. Obviously the Lord is an injured party in this—as sin is always against God (cf. Psalm 51:4). The witness of these two young people is also injured if not compromised—the world can now indict them for their sin. The local church is injured, since sin in the body causes hurt to all the members individually and to the body as a whole (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:26). Even those who are not within the immediate picture will be hurt by this sin. The woman’s future husband (and the man’s future wife) are hurt by this—they will no longer be marrying virgins—yes, this does cause pain to the human soul to know this. This may affect the brother and the sister’s performance at work, in school, or in many other areas of life, affecting those around them. If you disagree with this assessment, you are blind to the fact that “a little leaven leavens the whole lump” (1 Corinthians 5:6).

2) Let’s take the same scenario, except let’s say that the accountability partner practices the first step of church discipline and confronts his brother who is in sin. He tells him that what he is doing is wrong and seeks to help the brother to do what is right. One of two things could happen at the sin in this germ-state. Either the brother could repent of his actions and the sin is “nipped in the bud,” bringing about quick and quite painless reconciliation, or else the brother continues in sin.

But let’s say now that the accountability partner does not move on to step two of church discipline, and he does not bring another close and trusted brother to confront the brother in sin. Thus, despite the fact that initial discipline was taken for the purpose of reconciliation, the discipline practice of Matthew 18 was not followed through, and thus the brother continues in sin until all the results of the scenario mentioned above are realized and the pain again snowballs and so does the sin.

3) Let’s take this same scenario from point two and say that the accountability partner once again practices the first step of discipline. However, let’s say that this time he brings a second person to confront the brother when he does not initially repent. The same two outcomes could occur—either the brother is reconciled in a quite painless manner (only two other people know), or else the brother continues to sin. But let us now say that the accountability partner and the second witness do not bring the sinning brother before the local church. Thus the brother continues in sin which eventually snowballs and thus the trail of hurt again brings lasting and widespread pain.

4) Now let’s say that the two brothers do bring the matter before the local church. In doing this, the local church confronts the brother in sin and tells him of his need to repent and be reconciled. Again, the brother could either repent and face what is still a minimal amount of pain in reconciliation (it might be embarrassing for the moment, but the church must be quick to accept reconciliation of the brother and not bring the matter to the foreground ever again), or the brother could continue in sin. If the brother continues in sin and the church does not take the final step in church discipline—complete excommunication from the body—the same pains occur.

5) Finally, let’s say that the church does excommunicate the brother from fellowship for his continuation in sin. The church has done what is in its power—it has concurred that the brother in sin is unrepentant and so thus, not a brother in Christ at all, but a sinner just as any other heathen (Matthew 18:17), and so in need of evangelization—not receiving the fellowship of the local body of believers, period (cf. 1 Corinthians 5).

By giving this brother over to Satan, so to speak, this man (no longer to be considered a brother, though hopefully he will repent and so will show himself to be a true brother) will hopefully fall under the conviction of the Holy Spirit and see his sinfulness—as he faces this lost and lonely world alone. Hopefully this will also cause the sister whom he is dating to see his sinful estate and to leave him (I have not addressed her side of the story, for brevity), as that is the best and kindest thing that she could possibly do for him—if she continues with him, she encourages his sinfulness. This is the farthest that the body of Christ can go—displacing an illegitimate member from its ranks—loosing on earth what has been loosed in heaven (Matthew 16:19; 18:18-20). This is not cruel—rather, it is the utmost in kindness and in obedience.

Thus, it is evident that to not practice church discipline is both sinful and cruel. When discipline is not practiced, sin and pain snowball out of control and affect far reaching corners of the globe. The Kingdom of God for the exaltation of Jesus Christ in all things, to the glory of God the Father, demands that local church discipline be practiced. To love one’s brother demands that you practice discipline—as does loving one’s God. To not practice church discipline is the same as telling God that His method and Word are erroneous—nothing could be more arrogant or audacious!