Presbyterian Polity, Worship, and Sacraments — Unit 5: Church Discipline and Membership

Key Verse

"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." (Matthew 18:15, NKJV)

Learning Objectives

When you finish this unit, you should be able to:

1. Explain what church membership is, why Scripture supports it, and what the Reformed churches require of those who join.

2. Explain why discipline is called a mark of the true church by the Belgic and Scots Confessions, and describe the debate over how the marks are counted.

3. State the purposes of discipline and the steps of Matthew 18, and show how other passages (1 Corinthians 5, 2 Corinthians 2, Galatians 6, 2 Thessalonians 3) shape the practice.

4. Distinguish the stages of discipline, from admonition to excommunication, and describe how a repentant person is restored.

5. State the main objections to church discipline and give the Reformed answer to each.

The Voice of This Course

This course is written from inside the Reformed and Presbyterian tradition, for students who belong to it. It is conservative and confessional. Many faithful Christians in other churches doubt that Scripture teaches formal membership, and many are uneasy about discipline. We state their views fairly and then give our answer. In this last unit on government we ask who belongs to the flock and how the elders watch over it.

What Is Church Membership?

The Westminster Confession of Faith (chapter 25) teaches that the visible church consists of all those throughout the world who profess the true religion, together with their children. It is the kingdom of Christ and the house and family of God. This does not mean that every member of the visible church is saved. It means that Christ has appointed the church as the place where His people are gathered, fed and kept. The Belgic Confession (Article 28) teaches that all believers are bound to join themselves to the true church and to keep its unity.

Where does Scripture show membership? Reformed churches point to these things:

• Believers were "added." On the day of Pentecost about three thousand were "added" to the church (Acts 2:41), and the Lord "added to the church daily those who were being saved" (2:47).

• There was an "inside" and an "outside." Paul told the Corinthians that it was not his business to judge outsiders, but that the church was to judge those inside (1 Corinthians 5:12-13).

• Leaders knew their flock. Elders are to "take heed to all the flock" and to shepherd the flock "among you" (Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:2). Hebrews 13:17 speaks of leaders who watch over souls and who will give account. A shepherd cannot answer for sheep that he cannot name.

• There was a list. Paul told Timothy that a widow was to be "taken into the number" of those supported by the church (1 Timothy 5:9).

• Letters of commendation passed between churches. The believers in Achaia were urged to receive Apollos by letter (Acts 18:27), and Paul commended Phoebe to the church in Rome (Romans 16:1-2).

Some friends respond that the New Testament has no membership roll or vows, and that a church is simply whoever shows up. We answer that the principle is clear, even if the form is not prescribed. The churches knew who was in and who was out, and the elders were responsible for them. A membership roll is a practical way to carry out this teaching. Without it, the elders cannot shepherd and discipline cannot be done.

What the churches require

Reformed churches ask those who wish to join to give a credible profession of faith in Christ. The session hears an account of his faith and examines his knowledge of the gospel and his way of life. If he has not been baptized, he is baptized. He then takes vows, which usually include faith in Christ as Savior and Lord, a promise to forsake sin, a promise to attend worship and the Lord's Supper, and a promise to submit, in the Lord, to the government and discipline of the church.

Children of believers who have been baptized are also members of the visible church (Unit 8 treats baptism). They are sometimes called non-communing members, until they make a profession of faith and come to the Lord's Table (Unit 9).

Members who move are given a letter of transfer to another faithful church.

The Marks of the True Church

How can we tell a true church from a false one? The Reformers answered with the marks of the church. The Belgic Confession (Article 29) names three: the pure preaching of the gospel, the pure administration of the sacraments as Christ instituted them, and the exercise of church discipline in punishing sin. The Scots Confession (chapter 18) names the same three. Calvin, in the Institutes (Book 4, chapter 1), taught that where the Word is preached and heard and the sacraments are administered, there is a church, and he treated discipline as the sinews of the body, holding it together (Book 4, chapter 12).

Not everyone has counted the marks the same way. The Lutheran churches, following the Augsburg Confession, speak of two marks: the Word and the sacraments. Some Reformed teachers likewise count two, with discipline necessary for the well-being of the church and not its essence. Others follow the Belgic Confession and count three. Both agree that a church that refuses all discipline has lost something Christ commanded. The Heidelberg Catechism (Questions 83-85) teaches that the keys of the kingdom are the preaching of the gospel and church discipline: by the first the kingdom is opened to believers and shut to unbelievers; by the second, the kingdom is shut to those who, though called Christians, hold false doctrine or live ungodly lives and refuse to repent.

The Purposes of Discipline

Why should a church discipline its members? The Westminster Confession (chapter 30) says that church censures are necessary for the gaining and reclaiming of offending brothers, for deterring others from like offenses, for purging out the leaven that might infect the whole lump, for vindicating the honor of Christ and the holiness of the gospel, and for preventing the wrath of God that could fall on a church that lets His covenant and its seal be profaned. Calvin gave three purposes in a similar way: that the Lord's Supper not be profaned, that the good not be corrupted by the bad, and that the sinner repent.

The first purpose is love. Discipline is meant to win back the brother who has strayed. James says that whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way "will save a soul from death" (James 5:20). A church that never corrects its members does not love them.

Two Kinds of Discipline

The tradition distinguishes two kinds.

Formative discipline is the ongoing work of teaching, preaching, encouragement and mutual care that shapes the church's life. Paul tells believers to teach and admonish one another (Colossians 3:16), and the writer of Hebrews tells them to "exhort one another daily" (Hebrews 3:13). Most discipline is of this kind.

Corrective discipline deals with sin that has happened. It follows the steps Jesus taught.

The Steps of Matthew 18

Our Lord's instruction in Matthew 18:15-17 is the foundation.

1. Go privately. "Go and tell him his fault between you and him alone." The goal is winning the brother. If he listens, the matter ends there.

2. Take one or two others. "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'" (verse 16). This applies the law of Deuteronomy 19:15. The witnesses help to confirm the facts and to persuade.

3. Tell it to the church. "And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church." In Presbyterian churches the elders act for the church, and a serious matter is brought to the session.

4. Treat him as an outsider. "But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector" (verse 17). The person is no longer treated as a member in good standing.

Jesus then gave the church authority: "Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven" (verse 18). This is the power of the keys (see also Matthew 16:19 and John 20:23). The Westminster Confession (chapter 30) teaches that Christ has given the keys to the church's officers.

Other Passages

1 Corinthians 5. A member of the Corinthian church was living in an open and shameless sin that even the pagans did not tolerate. Paul told the church to remove him, because "a little leaven leavens the whole lump" (verse 6). He told them not to keep company with a so-called brother who is sexually immoral, covetous, an idolater, a reviler, a drunkard or an extortioner (verse 11). Scripture lists these together, and we do not rank one above the others.

2 Corinthians 2:5-11. Paul later urged the church to forgive and comfort a man who had been punished, "lest perhaps such a one be swallowed up with too much sorrow" (verse 7). Many teachers believe this was the same man, and that he had repented. This passage shows the aim: restoration. The church that excommunicates must also be ready to welcome.

Galatians 6:1. Those who are spiritual are to restore a person overtaken in a trespass "in a spirit of gentleness." The spirit of discipline is humility.

2 Thessalonians 3:14-15. The church is to note one who disobeys, but "do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother."

1 Timothy 5:19-20. An accusation against an elder needs two or three witnesses.

Stages of Discipline

Reformed bodies use somewhat different terms, but the stages are usually these.

• Admonition. A private or public warning, given in love.

• Suspension. The person is kept from the Lord's Table, and sometimes from other privileges, until he repents. He is not put out of the church, and he is urged to attend the preaching.

• Excommunication. If the person remains unrepentant, he is removed from membership. This is the most solemn step: the church can no longer recognize his profession.

• Restoration. When he repents, he is welcomed back. His repentance is made known, and the church forgives him and treats him as a brother.

The church judges what can be seen, words and actions, and not the secrets of the heart, which belong to God. The elders follow due process: they hear the accused, rely on proper witnesses, avoid gossip and allow appeal to the presbytery (Unit 3).

History and Honest Concerns

Church discipline has a mixed record. In Geneva, Calvin's consistory of pastors and elders oversaw the moral life of the city, and Calvin struggled for years with the city's magistrates over who had the right to excommunicate. Course 1 tells the story. Historians disagree on how the system worked. Some stress its severity. Others stress that many cases ended in reconciliation and that the consistory spent much of its time on quarrels between neighbors and families. In Scottish kirk sessions, too, discipline could be intrusive and at times harsh.

Honest Reformed teachers admit that abuses have occurred. Elders have been proud, and some have acted from anger or favoritism. Yet the answer to misuse of a command is to obey it rightly. The opposite failure is as real: in many churches today, serious public sin goes unaddressed, and the gospel is damaged.

Objections and Answers

Objection 1: "Judge not." Jesus forbids us to judge others (Matthew 7:1).

Our answer. Jesus condemned hypocritical and self-righteous judging, and told us to remove the plank from our own eye first (7:3-5). The same Jesus gave us Matthew 18, and Paul told the Corinthians that the church must judge those inside (1 Corinthians 5:12). Discipline is humble, loving correction, done by those who know they are sinners too.

Objection 2: The parable of the wheat and tares forbids us to uproot sinners.

In Matthew 13:24-30, the master told his servants to let the tares grow with the wheat until the harvest.

Our answer. Jesus explained that the field is the world (13:38), and the lesson is that the final separation belongs to God. The church cannot see hearts, and we should be patient with imperfect believers. But the same Jesus commanded discipline for open and unrepentant sin, and Paul practiced it. The parable teaches that the church will never be perfectly pure. It does not teach that the church should tolerate open and unrepentant sin.

Objection 3: Church discipline is useless because a person can leave and join another church.

Our answer. We cannot stop a person from leaving, and Christ does not call us to force anyone. But a church should not receive a member who is under discipline elsewhere without inquiry, which is one reason for letters of transfer. Faithfulness does not depend on results.

Objection 4 (harshness): Discipline drives people away and is unloving.

Our answer. A discipline that is cold and proud does damage, and we confess it. But love without correction is not love. The writer of Hebrews tells us that the Lord disciplines those He loves (Hebrews 12:6), and Reformed elders imitate His purpose, which is to restore.

Pastoral Application

A husband in a small congregation has left his wife and children and is living with another woman. The pastor learns of it from the man's wife, who weeps and asks for help. The man does not come to church any more.

First, the pastor does not act alone and does not spread the news. He goes to the man with a trusted elder and speaks with love, urging him to return to his wife and to repent. Marriage, one man and one woman for life, is God's gift, and the pastor says so with sorrow and not with anger.

Second, if the man refuses, the pastor takes two or three elders, as Jesus taught, and they visit him again.

Third, when he continues to refuse, the matter is brought to the session. The elders pray, hear the evidence, invite the man to appear, and decide on suspension from the Lord's Table.

Fourth, the elders keep praying for him and keep the door open, while the elders and deacons care for his wife and children.

Fifth, if he repents later, the session receives his confession and publicly welcomes him back, as Paul urged the Corinthians to forgive and comfort.

Summary

Church membership rests on the Bible's picture of a flock that is "added to," that has an inside and an outside, and that is watched by shepherds. Reformed churches ask for a credible profession of faith and for vows, and they count the baptized children of believers as members. The Belgic and Scots Confessions list discipline as a mark of the true church, though some Reformed teachers count only two marks. Discipline aims to win the brother, to protect the church and to honor Christ. It begins with formative care and, when sin appears, follows Matthew 18 through private rebuke, witnesses, the church and, if necessary, suspension and excommunication, always aiming at restoration. We answer the objections from Scripture, and we confess that abuses have occurred. Discipline is a gift of the King to His church, to be practiced with humility.

Further Reading

• John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (Beveridge translation, 1845), Book 4 chapter 1 and chapter 12.

• The Belgic Confession (1561), Articles 28, 29 and 32.

• The Scots Confession (1560), chapter 18.

• The Heidelberg Catechism (1563), Questions and Answers 83-85, and Ursinus, Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism, on the keys of the kingdom.

• The Westminster Confession of Faith, chapters 25 and 30.

• Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology (1872-73), the section on the church and its discipline.

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