Corrective Church Discipline: The Missing Mark

Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr. once wrote these sobering words concerning the lack of church discipline in most evangelical churches:

"The decline of church discipline is perhaps the most visible failure of the contemporary church. No longer concerned with maintaining purity of confession or lifestyle, the contemporary church sees itself as a voluntary association of autonomous members, with minimal moral accountability to God, much less to each other."

Dr. Mohler went on to say that he believed church discipline to be "the missing mark" in most churches; and thus the proof, that "Christ has abandoned many churches who are blissfully unaware of His departure."

This assessment and observation is no doubt strong but painfully true. For the "deadness" which is seen and felt in so many local churches, can be largely attributed to the absence of church discipline which results in the absence of Christ's felt presence and power (see Matt.18:20). Even in churches where there is a large attendance of people with exciting music and a myriad of programs, if there is no practice of church discipline, then all appearance of "spiritual life" is only an illusion of something that is in truth, base carnality.

Biblically speaking, church discipline has two sides: first, there is formative discipline. This is carried out by the regular teaching of God's Word, the example of Christian living, and the mutual ministry of the collective members who make up the body of Christ. Its goal is the instruction and edification of Christ's church as a gathered community of His people (Rom.12:1-16; I Cor.12:4-27; Eph.4:11-13). This form of church discipline is attempted in most churches to a greater or lesser degree.

It is the other side of church discipline however which has gone missing from a vast majority of local congregations. This is called corrective discipline. Concerning the nature and form of this type of discipline, Mark Dever noted: "[It] is the act of excluding an individual who carelessly brings disrepute onto the gospel and shows no commitment to do otherwise...[it] helps the church to reflect God's glorious character faithfully [and] it helps the church to remain holy. It's an attempt to polish the mirror and remove the specks." To say it another way, corrective church discipline is that special means of grace whereby the church helps wayward members to return to the path of holiness which they have left due to sin (see Matt.18:15-17; I Cor.5:1-13; Gal.6:1-2; II Thess.3:14-15).

Now it might seem strange to describe corrective church discipline as "loving". How could something so negative be so loving? The truth is, there is nothing more "unloving" and even hateful, that to knowingly allow fellow Christians to pursue a path of sin. As members of Christ's body we are responsible for the spiritual welfare of one another (Gal.6:2; Heb.10:24). It therefore matters for the internal health of the church, the external witness of the church, and the faithful display of God's glory by the church, to rescue, restore, and if necessary, exclude sinning members.

But when churches fail to carry out corrective discipline they are sending a damning message to those inside and outside of their congregations. To those inside, they are saying, "You can be a Christian without repentance and holiness"; and to those outside, they are saying, "Jesus is not a Savior who saves from sin but He condones all sin." In both cases, the absence of corrective discipline perverts the message of the gospel and denies the Lordship of Jesus Christ.