1It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. 2And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. 3For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. 4When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
The sin is specific to a man in Corinth who thought it permissible to sleep with his stepmother. Paul then issues a challenge to their arrogant attitude, rather then the people showing sadness for the situation and trying to fix it. So Paul instructs the people to excommunicate him from the church body and give him over to his sins, in hopes that his sinful nature will be overcome before the day of the Lord.
This I think was a tough pill to swallow for some of the young adults in the group. This idea of excommunicating people is something that really doesn't happen anymore. But Mark Dever lists church discipline as an essential mark of a healthy church. So how is it to be carried out?
Jesus lays out the model in Matthew 18:15-17.
15 "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
- Private rebuke- this is to be between you and the one who wronged you. (18:15)
- Plural rebuke- this now involves two or three people, either people familiar with the situation and leaders of the church. (18:16)
- Public rebuke- bring the issue before the entire congregation. (18:17a)
- Excommunication- the person is told to leave the church. (18:17b)
What type of sins warrant this approach to discipline?
- Unrepentant moral evil (1 Cor. 5:1)
- Divisiveness and serious doctrinal error (Rom. 16:17-18, Titus 3:9-10)
- General transgressions (Gal.6:1, 2 Thes. 3:6-15)
It seems pretty clear to me that this is something that should be in place in churches everywhere. What happened?
What happened indeed?
ReplyDeleteI think part of the problem is that Scripture's authority was challenged. Either through willful disregard or unconscious neglect, we don not take the Bible as seriously as we should. There are many indications of this, the lack of church discipline being one.