01.02.05. Church Discipline

Chapter 7.

Church Discipline

Articles 69-79. The churches have historically agreed that their covenant together should include a section on church discipline. It was considered beneficial that within a federation of churches discipline should be administered in a uniform fashion. Rather than repeat what Scripture and Confessions already teach about church discipline, Section 4 of the Church Order spells out how scriptural principles on church discipline should be put into practice.

1. The Need for Church Discipline 1.1 The Church is Holy The church is not a society or club belonging to the members. The church is the result of the Lord’s work through Jesus Christ, and so is His possession. Since the Lord is holy, His people are holy also. To His people of the Old Testament the Lord said in Exodus 22:31, "And you shall be holy men to Me..." and in Leviticus 11:44, "For I am the LORD your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy...." Peter echoes this in the New Testament with these words of 1 Peter 1:15, "but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct" and in 1 Peter 2:9, "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people...." The church, the people of the Lord, is to be identified with holiness. ^161. This holiness of the Lord’s church is drawn out the more when Scripture speaks of God dwelling in the midst of His people. The Lord told Is­rael in Exodus 29:45 that, "I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God." The same thought is echoed in the New Testament in 1 Corinthians 3:16. Paul says to the saints in Corinth, "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" Since a holy God dwells with His people, Christ’s church both is holy and must be holy.

1.2 Sin May Have No Place in the Church

Satan, whom Peter compared to a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8), makes it his business to attack and devour God’s church. Satan does so under vari­ous guises. As Paul warns the Corinthians. "... Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11:14). Though we belong to the Lord we remain vulnerable to sin and evil, prey to Satan’s attacks (1 Corinthians 10:12). Therefore the church, though it is and must be holy, can also be infiltrated with sin. In light of the holiness which holy God demands of His church, such infiltration of sin is not acceptable. God shall see to it that sin tolerated in His church shall receive His punishments. In the Old Testament God taught this principle with the words of Deuteronomy 28:15, "But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses wilt come upon you and over­take you." Deuteronomy 28:16-68 list the curses God promised to send upon His disobedient covenant people. This principle has not changed in the New Testament. This is clear, for example, from what Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 11:27-32. There the apostle stresses the need for self-examination prior to the celebration of the Lord’s supper." For he who eats and drinks in an un­worthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself." To eat and drink judgment to oneself is to call God’s judgment upon oneself. Since the Corinthians failed to judge themselves, failed to examine themselves for the presence of sin in their lives, God judged them and found them wanting. So they suffered weakness, sickness and many ’slept’ (’sleep’ is here a eu­phemism for death). Unholiness amongst God’s flock in Corinth attracted God’s displeasure in a graphic manner. This drove home to the members of the congregation that they had to make a point of cutting sin out of the church. See also Acts 5:11.^162.

1.3 The Wages of Sin is Death

How is one to cut sin out of the Church of the Lord? The pattern of the Old Testament involved physically killing the sinner. In Deuteronomy one reads of several examples of sins that required punishment. The purpose of the punishment was to remove sin, unholiness, from God’s people. Hence the repeated refrain, "so you shall put away the evil from among you." For example, Deuteronomy 13:1-18 speaks of the possibility of a false prophet aris­ing within Israel saying, "Let us go after other gods... and let us serve them" (Deuteronomy 13:2). God’s response to such prophecy is. "... that prophet or that dream­er of dreams shall be put to death.... So you shall put away the evil from your midst" (Deuteronomy 13:5). A similar warning is given in the Deuteronomy 13:6-11. If anyone sought to entice God’s people away from faithful service to Him, that sin­ner had to be cut off in order to remove the sin from Israel. Said God to Is­rael, "you shall not consent to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him or conceal him; but you shall surely kill him.... And you shall stone him with stones until he dies, because he sought to entice you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. So all Israel shed I hear and fear, and not again do such wickedness as this among you." The penal­ty for transgression against God’s commandments was death. The sinner had to be removed so that sin itself might be removed. Holy God could tolerate no unholiness amongst His holy people. So one reads again in Deuteronomy 17:2-7 that "any man or woman who has been wicked in the sight of the LORD ... shall be put to death.... So you shall put away the evil from among you." As for the man who would not accept the verdict of the priest or judge, he too had to be put to death. "So you shall put away the evil from Israel" (Deuteronomy 17:8-12). Again, in Deuteronomy 19:19 one reads that a false witness is to receive the punishment the accused man would have received, and "so you shall put away the evil from among you." Sin could not be ignored or tolerated amongst God’s people, for it polluted them and called for God’s inevitable judgment. This same principle is carried through in the New Testament. 1 Corinthians 5:1 tells of a man in the church living illicitly with his step­mother. The church in Corinth had failed to deal with this brother’s sin and so there was evil in their midst. Paul therefore urges the saints at Corinth to "deliver such a one to Satan" (1 Corinthians 5:5). Paul explains the term ’delivering to Satan’ in 1 Corinthians 5:13 by a quote from the Old Testament. He writes, "Therefore put away from yourselves the evil person." The sinner was, therefore, to be cut off from the flock, excommunicated. For in the ¹⁶³ church of Jesus Christ there is no room for evil. Again, in his letter to Tim­othy, Paul records what he did to two brothers who suffered shipwreck con­cerning the faith. Paul says that he has "delivered to Satan" these two brothers "that they may learn not to blaspheme" (1 Timothy 1:19 f). The concept of excommunicating a sinner from the church arises also in 2 Thessalonians 3:14; where Paul addresses the church of the Thessalonians with this instruction, "And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him...." John instructs his readers about the person who brings a false teaching under the guise of being a Christian: "If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him" (2 John 1:10). The church discipline of the Old Testament, then, reaches through into the New Testament. The reader notices, though, a difference in the manner this discipline is administered. The Old Testament spoke of death, while the New Testament speaks of putting away, of placing distance between one­self and the sinner. One is inclined to think that New Testament discipline is far gentler, much less radical, than Old Testament discipline was. That perception, however, is incorrect. God has moved forward in His plan of salvation. So the saints addressed in the letter to the Hebrews are told (Hebrews 12:18-29) that they, unlike their brethren of the Old Testament gathered around Mt Sinai, "have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire...." Instead, these New Testament saints "have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel" (Hebrews 12:22-24). The implication of these words is to be found in the Hebrews 12:25-29, "See then that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth (the reference is to the Israelites gathered around Mt Sinai, who saw so much of God’s holiness), much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven.... Therefore, since we are receiving a king­dom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consum­ing fire." Much has happened since Mt Sinai, for God has sent His Son to earth to die for sin. In the events of Calvary, we have seen more of God’s holiness than the Israelites ever saw around Mt Sinai. That makes our re­sponsibility in the New Testament dispensation the greater. If we give ourselves ¹⁶⁴ to sin, the penalty is worse for us than it ever was for the saints of the Old Testament.

One might ask how the penalty for us, excommunication, could possi­bly be worse than the death penalty of the Old Testament. Is the death penalty not the ultimate punishment for sin? The point is that the death penalty is not the equivalent of going to hell. Rather, for the child of God death is the gateway to Heaven (Php 1:21-23; 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10). The sinner of the Old Testament who was condemned to death could still repent of his sin and embrace in faith the gospel of forgiveness proclaimed by the sacrifices of the tabernacle. The death sentence would be for him, then, the means by which the Lord would take this repentant child of His to glory. One may think here, for example, of the murderer on the cross (Luke 23:41-43).

Excommunication, on the other hand, has eternal repercussions: it is not simply something that is valid for this life only. When Jesus addressed His disciples about how to exercise discipline against wayward members. He said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, whatever yon bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 18:18). Excommunication serves as a message to a wayward member that he is spiritually dead, is on his way to hell. This makes excommunication far worse than the death penalty of the Old Tes­tament. At the same time, there is mercy here, for the excommunicated is not directly sent to hell. He receives opportunity yet to repent (see Para­graph 6.1 and 6.4 below). This opportunity, though, takes nothing away from the radical seriousness of excommunication. The church of Christ, then, holy as it is. may never minimise or ne­glect church discipline. We live in the New Dispensation and so have seen more of God’s justice displayed in Christ Jesus. That means consequently that we have a greater responsibility to tolerate no love for sin in the church of Christ. To remain a true church, the church must remain faithful in exercising church discipline.

2. The Purpose of Church Discipline In their covenant about Church Discipline, the churches express first in brief terms what the aim of church discipline is.

FRCA: Article 69 -Aim of discipline

Church discipline shall be exercised in accordance with the Word of God and to His honour. Its aim is to reconcile the sinner with God and the neighbour, and to remove the offence from the church of Christ. ^165.

CanRC: Article 66 - Nature and Purpose

Since Church discipline is of a spiritual nature and, as one of the keys of the kingdom of heaven, has been given to the Church to shut and to open that kingdom, the consistory shall ensure that it is used to punish sins against both the purity of doctrine and the piety of conduct, in order to reconcile the sinner with the Church and with his neighbour, and to remove all offence out of the Church of Christ - which can be done only when the rule given by our Lord in Matthew 18:15-17 is followed in obedience.

Church discipline is able to serve its intended aim only if it is conduct­ed according to God’s Word. John Calvin saw church discipline as serv­ing the following three aims, all three of which can be found back in the Ar­ticle quoted above:

1.    "... that they who lead a filthy and infamous life may not be called Christians, to the dishonour of Cod, as if his holy church [cf Ephesians 5:25-26] were a conspiracy of wicked and abandoned men, "

Calvin’s argument here is that because the church is God’s and God is holy, the moment sin is honoured in the congregation the name of the Lord is dishonoured. Article 69 echoes this in the words. "Church dis­cipline shall be exercised ... to [God’s] honour."

2.    "... that the good he not corrupted by the constant company of the wicked."

Here Calvin summarises the lesson of 1 Corinthians 5:6-7; where the apostle speaks of leaven. "...Do you not know that a little leaven leav­ens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened...." As yeast in a batch of dough permeates the whole batch, so sin in the congregation even­tually infects the entire congregation. For that reason the sinner needs to be removed. As Article 69 states, the aim of church discipline is "to remove the offence from the church of Christ."

3.    "... that those overcome by shame for their baseness begin to repent." This is in line with what Paul instructed the Corinthians to do in 1 Corinthians 5:5; namely, to "deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." Church discipline aims to move the sinner to repentance; it seeks the sinner’s salvation. To use the words of Article 69, "Its aim is to reconcile the sinner with God and the neighbour." ^166.

3. Who Must Exercise Church Discipline?

Church discipline tends to be considered as the exclusive responsibili­ty of the consistory. That can be explained by the fact that the consistory plays the most visible role in seeing to it that sin is cut out from the con­gregation. Further, the consistory has the authority to withhold someone from the Lord’s table, and make the public announcements which lead to excommunication. However, Scripture teaches that the exercising of church discipline is not in the first place the responsibility of the consistory. Church discipline is first and foremost the responsibility of the church membership at large. The following data of Scripture support this concept.

• The people of Israel congregated around Mt Sinai received from God this instruction: "You shall not hole your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbour, and not bear sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the chil­dren of your people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am the LORD" (Leviticus 19:17-18). Notice that this instruction is directed not to Israel’s leaders, but to the persons of Israel individually. Bach was to see it as his personal responsibility to rebuke the neighbour: failure to do so would be sin on one’s own part.

Why would failure to rebuke the neighbour be sin on one’s own part? By giving himself to sin. the neighbour places a barrier between himself and God. and so prevents God’s blessings from coming upon him. In love for the erring neighbour, the Israelite was (said God) to make it his business to help him remove the barrier he placed between himself and God. It made no difference who the victim of the neighbour’s sinful act was. God’s point was that none was to consider the neighbour’s con­duct his own business, but each was to be concerned about the neigh­bour’s spiritual health. So too, none was to seek vengeance on the neigh­bour by standing by to let God’s wrath come upon the unrepentant brother because of what he did, nor was any to bear any grudge or har­bour hatred against the one who hurt him. Instead, the Lord gave to each Israelite the duty to rebuke the erring brother and seek his repentance; failure to do so was sin, was in fact an act of hatred.

• This principle surfaces also in Jesus’ instruction in Matthew 18:1-35. There Jesus spoke the following well-known words: "... if your brother sins against you. go and tell him his fault between you and him alone" (Matthew 18:15). One must bear in mind that the brother is guilty of sin. By sinning against you he has also sinned against God and ruined the good relationship that exists between himself and God. Jesus’ instruction ¹⁶⁷ is that you, even though you may have been offended by him, perhaps even hurt by him, you take the initiative and approach him, telling him his fault. Whether or not this is an easy thing for you to do is irrelevant, for the Lord has given us His Spirit so that we can do His will. Our motivation will not be to tell the wayward brother about the hurt he did to me. Rather, the point of the admonition must be to tell the brother that what he did affects his relationship with God and that he needs to repent of that sin lest God’s wrath be poured out upon him.

• The epistles of the New Testament make the same point. Paul urged the Galatian believers to look after each other. "Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted" (Galatians 6:1).

• When James draws out the fruits of such mutual discipline, he implies that each is to make it his business to seek out the wanderer: "Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him hack, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins" (James 5:19-20).

• Paul saw need to address the church at Corinth about the sinful rela­tionship between a brother in the church and his stepmother, and gave the instruction to drive out the sinner (1 Corinthians 5:1). But note that Paul’s instruction is not given to the elders of the church in Corinth. From 1 Corinthians 1:2 we learn that Paul addressed his letter "To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints...." The saints at Corinth are responsi­ble to drive out the wicked person from among them.

On the basis of such clear testimony from Scripture about where the onus for church discipline lies, the churches have agreed to leave church disci­pline first and foremost with the membership.

FRCA: Article 70 - Mutual responsibility (CanRC: Article 66)

If anyone departs from the pure doctrine or is delinquent in conduct and this is a secret matter which does not give rise to public offence, the rule which Christ clearly prescribes in Matthew 18:1-35 shall be observed. That is to say: the individual congregation members are to act accord­ing to the responsibility God has given to each individual church member regarding wayward brothers and sisters. Never may the churches consider ¹⁶⁸ discipline to be strictly a matter for the consistory. The churches feel so strongly about it that the matter is emphasised more pointedly still:

FRCA: Article 71 - Consistory Involvement (CanRC: Article 67)

The consistory shall not deal with any report of sin unless it has first ascertained that both private admonitions and admonitions in the presence of one or two witnesses have remained fruitless, or the sin committed is of a public character.

Article 70 spoke of "the rule which Christ clearly prescribes in Matthew 18:1-35." The relevant verses read as follows:

"Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault be­tween you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your broth­er. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ’by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. As­suredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven " (Matthew 18:15-18). In this instruction from the Lord, the first question that arises is whether the obligation to admonish a brother applies only if one has been personally of­fended by that brother. It would seem so, since Jesus’ discourse about mutual discipline begins with, "... if your brother sins against you..." If in­deed the sin must have been committed against you before you have a duty to address the sinner, "the rule which Christ clearly prescribes in Matthew 18:1-35" would in effect restrict the occasions when one would need to address the sinner. After all, not all sins are committed "against you."

It must be borne in mind that in Matthew 18:1-35 Jesus was speaking to the disciples in the specific context of sin against the self. This fact, however, does not mean that the Lord would have His people address only those who sin against them personally. Scripture lays before us a broader principle. Leviticus 19:18; for example, instructs the child of God like this, "You shall surely rebuke your neighbour." Here is no mention of whether or nor the neighbour sinned against you personally or not. Similarly, James speaks in general terms about the person to be admonished. "... If anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way..." (James 5:19-20). Paul writes in Galatians 6:1, "Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any tres­pass...." Whether one is personally affected by the brother’s sin or not, love ¹⁶⁹ for the erring brother as well as love for the God Who gave His Son to save this brother must motivate one to address the sinner. The task to ad­dress a sinner does not become operative only when that sinner has trans­gressed "against you". "The rule which Christ clearly prescribed in Matthew 18:1-35", then, has general application. Should the admonition of one person prove to be ineffective, Jesus stip­ulates that the wayward brother must be visited together with two or three witnesses. "But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ’by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word max be established’" (Matthew 18:16). Here the Lord echoes the principle of the Old Testa­ment: "One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the mat­ter shall be established" (Deuteronomy 19:15). In the presence of these witnesses one is to tell the brother what his sin is and why it is sin, and urge him in God’s Name to repent. Should he then still persist in his sins the other witnesses, motivated by the same love you have for the erring brother should also urge him to repent. Should he still refuse to repent at this stage, then "tell it to the church" (Matthew 18:17). What is to be told to the church, then, is not the initial sin alone: the line point to be told to the church is that the sinner refuses to repent of the initial sin and there are multiple witnesses who have heard that refusal. In our age of tolerance, Church discipline is considered to be an out­dated concept. So the danger is real that churches fail to exercise church discipline. However, when church discipline is not exercised in a church, we may not lay the blame first of all at the consistory’s feet. Granted, the consistory has an important responsibility in exercising church discipline (see below). But it needs to be fixed in our minds that church discipline is first and foremost the responsibility of the church membership.

4. Against Whom must Church Discipline be Administered?

It holds true for every individual in this life, Christian or no Christian, that sin ruins one’s relationship with God. However, can a congregation member bring to the attention of consistory the misconduct of his non-churchgoing neighbour? No! As Article 20 stipulates, the consistory has been given the task of looking after the congregation. "The elders shall together with the ministers of the Word govern the congregation with pas­toral care and discipline." Office-bearers have authority only in the church in which they have been ordained, and hence have no authority over a ¹⁷⁰ member of another church (not even within a bond of churches), let alone over the non-churchgoer across the road. The objects of church discipline are the members of the Church. This was so in the Old Testament. In Deuteronomy 17:7 God com­manded, "So you shall put away the evil from among you." ’Among you’ was not a reference to what was happening amongst the Moabites; it was rather a reference to what was happening within Israel. The same idea can be found in the New Testament in 1 Corinthians 5:12-13. There Paul writes. "For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside’’ Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges. Therefore ’put away from yourselves the evil person.’" Church discipline can be administered only within the church. Therefore, if someone de­cides to withdraw from the church whilst undergoing church discipline, consistory’s authority over him ceases at the moment of his withdrawal. He is then no longer under the oversight of the consistory, and he can there­fore no longer be placed under church discipline.

Those who withdraw try to short-circuit church discipline, largely because they disagree with the discipline - as if the discipline is simply a mat­ter between people. In reality, though, church discipline is a matter between, the sinner and God. The brothers who do the admonishing (or the consis­tory that exercises formal discipline) are actually tools in God’s hands in His dispute with His sinning child. Even though a sinner under church dis­cipline may withdraw from the church, the fact remains that he still has an unresolved problem with God. Withdrawal from church, therefore, is nev­er a legitimate escape from church discipline. One day the sinner has to meet his Maker. Then he cannot afford to have sins on his hands from which he has not repented.

5. What Sins are Worthy of Church Discipline? The church is "a holy congregation and assembly of the true Christ­ian believers, who expect their entire salvation in Jesus Christ, are washed by His blood, and are sanctified and sealed by the Holy Spirit" (Belgic Confession, Article 27). Its members "flee from sin and pursue righteousness, love the true God and their neighbour without turning to the right or left, and crucify their flesh and its works" (Belgic Confession, Ar­ticle 29). Nevertheless, "great weakness remains in them" so that these saints "fight against it by the Spirit all the days of their life" (Belgic Con­fession, Article 29). The abiding weakness is so great that even those whom men consider to be ’giants’ of the faith can fall into gross sin. Noah gave ¹⁷¹ himself to drunkenness and nakedness, even though he was regenerated by the Spirit of God (Genesis 9:21 ff; cf Hebrews 11:7). Moses, though "washed by [Jesus’] blood, and ... sanctified and sealed by the Holy Spir­it" killed the Egyptian (Exodus 2:12; cf Hebrews 11:24 ff). God Himself said of Job that he was "a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil" (Job 1:8). Yet the weight of his despair was so great that he "cursed the day of his birth" (Job 3:1) and had to "repent in dust and ashes" of his sins (Job 42:6). David was regenerated by the Spirit of God when he took Bathsheba to his bedroom and when he killed Uriah (2 Samuel 11:1-27; cf David’s expressions of trust in the Lord as are recorded in the psalms he wrote when he was being chased by King Saul, eg. Psalms 3:1-8; Psalms 52:1-9; Psalms 54:1-7; Psalms 56:1-13; Psalms 57:1-11; Psalms 59:1-17; Psalms 63:1-11; Psalms 142:1-7). Well do we confess in Lord’s Day 23 of the Heidelberg Catechism that even the righteous man is "still inclined to all evil." And in Lord’s Day 44: "even the holiest has only a small beginning of the obedience Cod requires." The Canons of Dort repeat it:

"Although the power of Cod whereby He confirms and preserves true believers in grace is so great that it cannot be conquered by the flesh, yet the converted are not always so led and moved by Cod that they cannot in certain particular actions turn aside through their own fault from the guidance of grace and be seduced by and yield to the lusts of the flesh.... The lamentable fall of David, Peter, and other saints, de­scribed in Holy Scripture, demonstrates this" (Chapter V, Article 4).

It is not just "serious and atrocious sins" (Canons of Dort, V. 4) that saints can fall into. Paul writes concerning himself. "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells: for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.... O wretched man that I am!" (Romans 7:18-24). No matter how great our respect for Paul might be, he was the first to admit how much of a sinner he was and continued to be. Said Paul in 1 Timothy 1:15, "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. " Notice how the regenerated apostle used the present tense. One should, therefore, not be surprised to find sins in the church of God, be they ’common’ by our understanding or ’gross’. Nor should one be surprised to find a saint refusing to repent of sin. David certainly did not re­pent of his adultery and murder straightaway.

When, now, is a person to become an object of church discipline? When one sins? If that were the case, we all would be objects of church disci­pline all the time. When one commits a particular sin, then? Like one of the ¹⁷² "serious and atrocious sins" that Noah fell into, or Moses or David or Pe­ter? Not at all. Church discipline has a place not when someone commits a particular sin, but rather when a person does not repent from any sin he has committed. In every man there is sin, but from Psalms 32:1-2 we learn that God declares blessed the person who repents of sin. "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit." But when there is no repentance, there is no forgiveness of sin and therefore no blessing from the Lord; that sinner remains under the curse of God. And church discipline would assist the sinner to escape from that curse of God!

Ultimately, one sin alone is addressed in church discipline. It is the sin of not repenting of whatever sin one has fallen into. This is also the signif­icance of Jesus’ words in Matthew 18:17; the refusal to repent (and the re­fusal was heard by multiple witnesses) must be reported to the church.

6. The ’How’ of Church Discipline 6.1 Determination of Repentance

It is intriguing that the Church Order precedes the two articles con­cerning formal church discipline procedures with an article on repentance. In so doing the churches give expression to their hope and expectation that church discipline will achieve its desired effect. The aim is not to get rid of a person from the congregation, or to get him into hell. The aim of discipline, as Article 69 had said, is to save the sinner. As soon as possible, a disciplinary procedure is to cease. This hope and aim receives early for­mulation in the Church Order like this:

FRCA: Article 72 - Repentance (CanRC: Article 69)

When someone repents of a public sin or of a sin which had to he reported to the consistory, the latter shall not accept his confession of sin unless the member concerned has shown real amendment. The consistory shall determine whether the congregation shall be in­formed afterwards. The remorse of David after his affair with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 12:13), his repentance after he numbered the people (2 Samuel 24:10), and Peter’s tears after he denied the Lord (Luke 22:62) serve as examples of repentance from sin. After repentance, each was received again in grace (cf 2 Samuel 12:13 b; 2 Samuel 24:18, 2 Samuel 24:25; Mark 16:7; John 21:15-19). ^173.

6.2 Discipline of Communicant Members The Church is the gathering of the true Christian believers (Belgic Con­fession, Article 27), including the children God in mercy has given to these believers (Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 27). With all mem­bers, adults and children alike, God has established His covenant of grace. Given the nature of the covenant, all must respond to it.

Those members of the Church who have responded to God’s covenant of grace by professing the faith are known as "communicant members"; these have taken upon themselves the responsibilities God has built into the covenant. Those who have not (yet) responded to God’s covenant of grace (and so have not yet taken upon themselves the responsibilities that come with the covenant) are known as "non-communicant members". With re­spect to discipline, the two groups cannot be treated fully alike. Hence two articles appear in the Church Order detailing the steps of church disci­pline to communicant and non-communicant members respectively.

FRCA: Article 73 - Discipline in respect of communicant members (CanRC: Article 68)

A communicant member who obstinately rejects the admonition by the consistory or who has committed a public or some other serious sin shall be suspended from the Lord’s Supper. If he continues to harden himself in sin, the consistory shall publicly announce this to the congregation so that the congregation may be engaged in prayer and admonition and the excommunication may not take place without its cooperation.

It is the responsibility of each, before he attends the supper of the Lord, to "examine himself" (1 Corinthians 11:28). The elders, however, also have a responsibility (see Article 57). The table of the Lord should not be profaned by a person who refuses to acknowledge sin and repent of it. For the sake of the Lord’s holiness and the sanctity of His table, then, the elders shall close the table to the sinner. By so doing, the message is im­pressed on the sinner that he may think he will join in the supper of the Lord of the Last Day (Revelation 19:9-10), but, if he continues in his sin, he in fact will not join in that supper. His being withheld from the table on this earth, then, is intended to spell out to him the seriousness of his situation, and so encourage repentance

If the brother nevertheless refuses to repent, the consistory and con­gregation can appeal to the promises he made when he publicly professed the faith. He said at this public profession that he believed the doctrine of ¹⁷⁴ the Word of God and promised to continue in this doctrine always, he em­braced God’s covenant promises as true for himself, he declared that he loved the Lord and desired to serve him, and he promised "to submit will­ingly to the admonition and discipline of the Church, if it should happen ... that you become delinquent either in doctrine or conduct." Because the sinner made these declarations "before God and His holy Church" at some point in the past, appeal can be put on the sinner, on the basis of his own statements, to repent of his sins and return to his promises. For that reason the churches have agreed to no less than three public announcements.

6.3 Congregational Involvement

How must the consistory deal with the sinner who refuses to repent? Discipline, we noted above, is first and foremost a congregational respon­sibility (see Chapter 7, Paragraph 3). When, therefore, there is a hardening in sin, the consistory involves the congregation by way of public an­nouncements.

6.3.1 Announcements The churches have agreed to the following procedure:

FRCA: Article 74 - Announcements during the procedure (CanRC: Article 68)

In the first public announcement the name of the sinner shall not be men­tioned. In the second public announcement, which shall be made only after the advice of classis has been obtained, the name and address of the sinner shall be mentioned. In the third public announcement a date shall be set at which the excommunication of the sinner shall take place in accordance with the adopted Form. The time interval between the var­ious announcements shall be determined by the consistory. The first public announcement urges the congregation to pray for the wayward member. The congregation does not (should not) yet know the identity of the sinner, but already the congregation can be mobilised to use the greatest weapon God has given to His Church: prayer. As James wrote, "... the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess your tres­passes to one another, and pray for one another..." (James 5:15-16).

If the prayers of the congregation do not lead to repentance, a second announcement provides the name of the member so that, in addition to praying, the congregation may also take up contact with the member, be it ¹⁷⁵ by way of correspondence or a visit. Again, where there is a continuing hardening in sin a third announcement informs the congregation of the date the member will be excommunicated, together with the urge to seek once more to impress on the erring brother the need to repent. Excommunication is done in a church service in the presence of the congregation, for it is the congregation - be it under the leadership of the consistory - that excom­municates. This is again according to the pattern of 1 Corinthians 5:1-13, where the apostle told the congregation to deliver the sinner to Satan (1 Corinthians 5:5).

6.3.2 Time Frame

All of this takes time. Why may an excommunication not occur imme­diately? The Church Order seems to allow for the passage of considerable time between the consistory being informed of the refusal to repent and the step of excommunication. The Form for the Excommunication of Communicant Members speaks of "several earnest admonitions" which the unrepentant sinner has received. Repeated admonitions, with time to heed the admonitions and repent, require time. It is quite apparent that church discipline according to the Church Order is not something that is quickly done.

Nevertheless, one may wonder whether an extended time frame is real­ly Scriptural. After all. Jesus did not seem to allow for much time to lapse between ’telling it to the church’ and excommunication. Said Jesus: "And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector" (Matthew 18:17). Paul does not seem to have much patience either: "Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition" (Titus 3:10). Further, is the church not holy? If a member, then, refuses to confess and repent of sin, is it not proper that his excommunication follow as a matter of urgency?

It is because of the holiness of the church of God that the churches have agreed in Article 73 that such a member "shall be suspended from the Lord’s Supper." The instruction of the Lord in 1 Corinthians 11:27-32 was not lost on the churches; it was because the table of the Lord had not been guarded in Corinth (church discipline was not exercised) that many in the congregation were sick or had died. So the first formal step of church dis­cipline, suspension from the Lord’s table, cannot be long in coming. The el­ders need to guard the purity and holiness of the table of the Lord. But from here on, one needs to recognise that a certain measure of pa­tience is required when dealing with unrepentant sinners. The road to re­pentance requires time and so one needs to be wary of excommunicating ¹⁷⁶ too hastily. Take David, for example. How long did it take for him to ad­mit to his sin of adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah? Even af­ter he found out that Bathsheba was pregnant (certainly a period of weeks), he added to his sin by having Uriah killed. It was not until after the widow Bathsheba had been taken into his house (had six months now passed since the initial sin?) that, through Nathan’s prompting, David con­fessed his transgression. In Psalms 32:1-11 David himself admitted that God’s heavy hand had to press on him for some time before he acknowledged his sin. David said, "When I kept silent, my bones grew old Through my groaning all the day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me: My vitality was turned into the drought of summer" (Psalms 32:3-4). This certainly cannot be read to assume a quick repentance. In the broken-ness of this life, repentance amongst God’s elect does not necessarily hap­pen overnight. Further, the church needs to show to the wayward something of the patience and compassion that God showed to Israel. Repeatedly He sent prophets to warn; God did not send His people into exile after the first admonition (2 Chronicles 36:15-16). The steps of withholding someone from the communion of the table of the Lord, the first, second and third announcements before excommuni­cation, and the involvement of classes, all take time. The three announce­ments are not to be made in consecutive weeks. A number of months may well be required. In recognition of the patience required in order for a sin­ner to come to repentance, the churches have agreed in Article 74 that "the time interval between the various announcements shall be deter­mined by the consistory." That the advice of classis is sought by a church prior to proceeding with a second announcement is in agreement with the Lord’s word in Proverbs 11:14 : "in the multitude of counsellors there is safety." Seeking advice acts, then, as a safeguard to ensure that a church, rather than trying to get rid of a stubborn member, is truly seeking to gain the member.

6.3.3 Excommunication In due time, excommunication becomes necessary. The hardened sin­ner is cut off from the church of Jesus Christ. No longer may he consider himself to belong to the redeemed for whom Christ laid down His life. In­stead, he must know himself to be Satan’s property (1 Corinthians 5:5; 1 Timothy 1:20). ^177. At this point, church discipline formally comes to an end. This does not, however, close the chapter on the excommunicated person, since the aim of church discipline included the sinner’s repentance (Article 69). In Matthew 18:17 Jesus instructed His disciples, "... But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him he to you like a heathen and a tax collector." What did Jesus mean by having to treat the excommunicated member as a heathen and a tax collector? Was it Jesus’ point that the unrepentant were to be avoided like the plague? The answer is No. It is true on the one hand that the Lord God instructed Israel to remain separate from the heathen around them, and permit no warm and friendly relations with them (Deuteronomy 7:2; Joshua 2:14). At the same time God’s saving work in Jesus Christ was not meant for the people of Israel alone (Genesis 12:3). Israel’s manner of interacting with She nations around them, though at arm’s length, still had to demonstrate compassion and draw foreigners to faith in God (see Leviticus 19:10. Leviticus 19:33-34). This, in fact, is also how Jesus Himself treated hea­thens and tax collectors. He did not leave them alone or avoid them. Jesus tended to the needs of the Roman centurion (Luke 7:6), the Syro-Phoenician woman (Mark 7:29). and the demon-possessed man of the Gadarenes (Mark 5:8). Zacchaeus "was a chief tax collector." but Jesus "said to him, ’Zacchaeus, make haste ... for today I must stay at your house (Luke 19:2-5). In Matthew 18:17. then, Jesus does not give instruction to close the door on the excommunicated. Rather. His wish is that the wayward covenant child remains the object of one’s interest, love, and admonition. This attitude of Christ is what the Form for Excommunication urges us to imitate. After a member has been excommunicated, the Consistory ad­dresses the congregation with these words.

"We exhort you, beloved Christians, not to look on him (her) as an en­emy. On the contrary, try to warn him (her) as a brother (sister). But do not associate with him (her), that he (she) max he ashamed and come to repentance. " This is a scriptural exhortation derived from 2 Thessalonians 3:14-15, where Paul writes to the Thessalonians, "And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him, that he max be ashamed. Yet do not count him as an enemy, but admon­ish him as a brother." Though the children of God are to ensure that there is distance between the excommunicated member and themselves, the ex­communicated person must remain the object of loving admonition. The purpose of excommunication is and remains the repentance of the sinner. ^178.

6.4 Purpose Achieved The churches reckon with the gracious work of God in breaking hard­ened hearts. What, then, ought to be done when a sinner returns in repen­tance? The churches have agreed to follow a uniform pattern in reinstating the repentant sinner as a member of the Church.

FRCA: Article 75 - Re-admission (CanRC: Article 70)

When someone who has been excommunicated repents and desires to be again received into the communion of the church, the congre­gation shall be informed of this desire in order to see whether there are any lawful objections. The time between the public announce­ment and the re-admission of the sinner shall be not less than one month. If no lawful objection is raised the re-admission shall take place, with the use of the adopted Form.

Church discipline is first and foremost the responsibility of the con­gregation. When, therefore, church discipline has achieved its desired pur­pose, the congregation is again to be involved. The churches have agreed that there should be a period of not less than one month before the repentant sinner is readmitted. In this period the congregation is given opportunity to raise any lawful objections to the dinner’s readmission. This is not to make things difficult for the sinner, but to ensure that the sinner’s repentance is indeed genuine. See Article 72. The congregation, after all, has a fundamental role to play in maintaining con­gregational holiness. The congregation also has more eyes and ears than the office-bearers. A reasonable time has to be granted to the congregation to be satisfied that the returning sinner is truly repentant. The announcement made to the congregation acknowledges repentance as a fruit of excommunication: "Beloved in the Lord: In the year ... broth­er (sister) was excommunicated from the Church of Christ. The consistory may now inform you with gratitude that this remedy has borne fruit."

6.5 Discipline of Non-communicant Members

Non-communicant members, like communicant members, are includ­ed in God’s covenant, and therefore have all the riches of Christ promised to them (see Chapter 6, Paragraph 2.1.1). Given what God has done for them and to them, it follows that they must in due time respond to their bap­tism with faith in Jesus Christ. By the grace of God, many do and so also live a life of service to God. These make profession of faith (see Chapter ¹⁷⁹ 6, Paragraph 2.1.3). Others, however, do not. By their conduct or their lack of faith they show themselves to be unbelieving and ungodly. Can such persons continue indefinitely to belong to Christ’s body? The answer is negative. Christ’s body is holy, and therefore must be holy. The aims of church discipline (see Paragraph 2 above) are valid for the non-communicant sinner too. Granted, he has not made profession of the faith, and so not taken to himself the responsibilities the Lord has built into the covenant of grace. For that reason, this wayward non-communicant mem­ber cannot be approached in a manner identical to those who have voiced the vow of faith. The Churches have agreed to the following procedure:

FRCA: Article 79 - Discipline in respect of non-communicant members (CanRC: Article 68)

A baptised member shall be admonished by the consistory when he as an adult fails to make public profession of faith or where in other respects he is not loyal to the calling to new obedience in God’s covenant. If he obstinately rejects the admonition of the consistory and thereby clearly demonstrates that he is indifferent and averse to the covenant or is even hostile to the service of the Lord, the matter shall be made known to the congregation without mentioning the name of the sinner; and the congregation shall be urged to pray for him. If the member continues in sin and is unwilling to listen to the admonitions, then with the advice of the classis the consistory shall make a second public announcement, mentioning the name of the sinner and the term after which the excommunication shall take place. If he does not in the said term show any real repentance, the consistory shall in a church service exclude him from the communion of the church, using the adopted Form. If he, after this excommunication, comes to repen­tance and desires to rejoin the communion of the church, he shall be admitted by way of his public profession of faith after the consistory has made his repentance known to the congregation.

Since the non-communicant member has not promised allegiance to God through public profession of faith, an effort to move him to repentance cannot include an appeal to the promises he made to God. That is why the second announcement as pertains to communicant members has been omit­ted. Instead, the church proceeds directly (of course, after an interval of time) to the sinner’s excommunication. Here, too, though, excommunica­tion is not the end of the matter. The aim remains the repentance of this wayward covenant child. For the non-communicant member readmission to the Church is by way of public profession of faith. ^180.

It should be noted that the churches have not agreed to an age when non-communicant members who fail to make profession of the faith should be censured. There is wisdom in this decision. A person’s character as well as his personal circumstances and culture dictate that each case be dealt with on its own merit.

7. Sin Amongst Office-Bearers The men whom God calls to office in His church have need of God’s saving work as much as anyone else. They are as inclined to evil and are as inclined to refuse to repent from sin as another. The Bible gives ample evidence of office-bearers who fell into sin. There was King David who refused to repent of his sin of adultery and murder (2 Samuel 11:1-27; 2 Samuel 12:1-31), the disciple Peter who denied his Lord three times (Matthew 26:69-75), the apostle Peter who erred in doctrine (Galatians 2:11 ff), the sons of Aaron who burnt unholy lire (Leviticus 10:1-3), the many kings of Israel and Judah of whom it is written, "and he did evil in the sight of the LORD, ac­cording to all that his fathers had done. " In recognition of the fact that of­fice-bearers can fall into sin, Paul told the ciders at Ephesus to "take heed to yourselves" (Acts 20:28). Let no one, then, be surprised when an of­fice-bearer falls into sin.

7.1 Manner of Discipline How, though, ought the Church to deal with office-bearers who fall into grievous sin? The following is agreed:

FRCA: Article 76- Suspension and deposition of office-bearers (CanRC: Article 71)

If a minister, elder or deacon has committed a public or otherwise gross sin, or refuses to heed the admonitions by the consistory, he shall be suspended from office by the judgment of his own consisto­ry and of the consistory of a neighbouring congregation. In the case of a minister this neighbouring congregation shall be appointed by the classis. If he hardens himself in the sin, or if the sin committed is of such a nature that he can not continue in office, an elder or a deacon shall be deposed by the judgment of the above-mentioned consistories. Classis, with the advice of the deputies of synod, shall judge whether a minister is to be deposed.

Why must an office-bearer be suspended from office immediately? Why is no consideration given for the passing of some time, as in Articles ¹⁸¹ 73 and 79? One factor is the holiness of the church of the Lord. That a known leader has given himself to gross sin gives cause for congregation and community alike to deride the good name of the Lord. More, by defi­nition a leader is followed. If a leader in the congregation gives himself to sin and no consequence follows with respect to his leadership, the flock may feel free to follow his bad example. For the sake of the holiness of the flock, then, the office-bearer who has become delinquent in doctrine or conduct must be dealt with strictly and swiftly. Where an office-bearer has fallen into grievous sin, the consistory that appointed the brother to office also suspends him from office. In Article 76 one does not read of the congregation’s involvement as in Articles 73 and 79. Here the consistory shall need to deal decisively in giving leader­ship to the congregation.

However, a consistory may not suspend an office-bearer on its own accord. An office-bearer "shall be suspended from office by the judgment of his own consistory and of the consistory of a neighbouring congrega­tion. In the case of a minister this neighbouring congregation shall be ap­pointed by the classis." The churches have agreed that no consistory may act unilaterally; the judgment of a neighbouring church must be sought to safeguard against consistories getting rid of office-bearers for unlawful rea­sons, be they personality clashes or otherwise. Since a minister has a task also within a bond of churches, classis plays a larger role in his suspension and deposition than for elders and deacons.

Suspension from office gives the office-bearer the opportunity to re­pent. But if there is no repentance or the nature of the sin warrants it, an office-bearer must be deposed simply because the congregation needs to be protected.

7.2 Which Sins require Suspension?

Article 77 mentions specific sins that are grounds for the suspension or deposition of office-bearers:

FRCA: Article 77 - Serious and gross sins on the part of office-bearers (CanRC: Article 72)

As serious and gross sins which are grounds for the suspension or deposition of office-bearers the following are to be mentioned par­ticularly: False doctrine or heresy, public schisms, blasphemy, si­mony, faithless desertion of office or intrusion upon that of another, perjury, adultery, fornication, theft, acts of violence, habitual drunkenness, brawling, unjustly enriching oneself; and further all ¹⁸² such sins and serious misdemeanours that rate as ground for ex­communication with respect to other members of the church. As in any case of church discipline, people’s emotions can stand in the way of determining correctly what is sin or not. That helps to explain why a list of sins is mentioned here. Regardless of one’s personal connections with the sinner (as was also the case in Deuteronomy 13:6), sin must be labelled as the sin it is, and judged accordingly.

7.3 Mutual Discipline

Office-bearers also need to engage in mutual discipline, speaking frankly with each other concerning the shortcomings they see in each oth­er’s work. That office-bearers have an obligation towards each other was already stated in Articles 16 and 20: "[Ministers] shall watch over their fel­low office-hearers... " and " [elders] shall watch that their fellow office-hearers are faithful in carrying out their duties...." This is carried further in Article 78 as follows:

FRCA: Article 78 - Christian censure (CanRC: Article 73)

The ministers, elders, and deacons shall mutually exercise Christ­ian censure and shall exhort and kindly admonish one another with regard to the execution of their office.

Office-bearers are common, average people, quite able to be negligent in their God-given task of looking after the Hock of the Lord. To ensure that the Hock for which Christ shed His blood is tended as best as is humanly possible, every effort ought to be made to encourage one another to carry out the office to the best of one’s ability. This is in keeping with Paul’s in­struction to the elders of Ephesus: "Take heed to yourselves" (Acts 20:28). Not only is each office-bearer to look to himself that he carry out his office properly, but each office-bearer is also to look to his neighbour, that the flock is well tended by the other office-bearer also. So, if there is need, office-bearers are to admonish each other on points of doctrine or conduct. Paul’s candidness with Peter (Galatians 2:11-21) and his words of admonition and encouragement to the elders (see, for example, Acts 20:17-35) serve as Biblical precedents. To make sure that the brothers indeed have nothing against the way any other brother carries out the office God laid on him, the good practice has developed at consistory meetings to give opportunity at fixed intervals for brothers to make use of Article 78.

^183.

---------- ¹ John Calvin. Institutes of the Christian Religion, IV. 12.5. The quotes are from the Bat­tles translation.

² This is the order of the original Church Order of Dort, and is followed by the Free Re­formed Churches of Australia. The Canadian Reformed Churches have placed the entire church discipline procedure into one article, and placed it before their article on repentance.

³ This is the fourth question of the "Form for the Public Profession of Faith", Book of Praise, pg 593-594.

⁴ In the first public announcement the name of the sinner shall not he mentioned. In the sec­ond public announcement, which shall be made only after the advice of the classis church has been obtained, the name and address of the sinner shall be mentioned. In the third public announcement a date shall be set at which the excommunication of the sinner shall take place in accordance with the adopted Form. The time interval between the various an­nouncements shall be determined by the consistory.

⁵ The wording of the announcement to be used is found in the Book for Praise, pg 610.

⁶ Book of Praise, pg 610-614.^191.

⁷ Ibid, pg 612.

⁸ Quoted from the adopted form referred to in Article 75, namely the "Form for Readmission into the Church of Christ" as printed in the Book of Praise, pg 615-18.

⁹ A baptised member shall be admonished by the consistory when he as an adult fails to make public profession of faith or where in other respects he is not loyal to the calling to new obedience in God’s covenant. If he obstinately rejects the admonition of the consisto­ry and thereby clearly demonstrates to be indifferent and averse to the covenant or is even hostile to the service of the Lord, the matter shall be made known to the congregation without mentioning the name of the sinner; and the congregation shall be urged to pray for him. If the member continues in sin and is unwilling to listen to the admonitions, then with the advice of the classis church the consistory shall make a second public announce­ment, mentioning the name of the sinner and the date at which the excommunication shall take place. If he does not in the said term show any real repentance, the consistory shall in a church service exclude him from the communion of the church, with the use of the adopted Form. If he, after this excommunication, comes to repentance and desires to rejoin the communion of the church, he shall he admitted by way of his public profession of faith after the consistory has made his repentance known to the congregation.

¹⁰ If a minister, elder or deacon has committed a public or otherwise gross sin, or refuses to heed the admonitions by the consistory, he shall be suspended from office by the judg­ment of his own consistory and of the classis church. If he hardens himself in the sin, or if the sin committed is of such a nature that he can not continue in office, an elder or a dea­con shall be deposed by the judgment of the above-mentioned consistories. The second-appeal church, with the advice of the deputies of synod, shall judge whether a minister is to be deposed.

^192.