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"Church Discipline: Its Effect Upon Fellowship of Saints"
"Why Withdraw?"

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"Why Withdraw?"

Rusty Miller


In a discussion several years ago, talk turned to the court case involving a woman in Oklahoma who was suing the church because they had withdrawn from her. As the discussion turned to argument, someone finally said, "I just can't believe a loving God would want the church to do something like that."

Whether it is called withdrawing fellowship or church discipline, it is one of the most controversial (in worldly thinking) things we do. In fact, for the most part, what we call the liberal churches have all but abandoned the practice. Many have pronounced it an idea which is no longer relevant to the needs of the church today. They say it serves no purpose to ostracize a fellow Christian.

That kind of thinking would surprise the apostle Paul, for when he wrote to the church at Corinth, he was deeply disturbed about the kind of immorality they were permitting to go unchecked among them. The immorality (a man who had his father's wife) was bad enough, but what concerned Paul was the attitude of the brethren at Corinth, "And you have become arrogant, and have not mourned instead, in order that the one who had done this deed might be removed from your midst" (1 Cor. 5:2).

Paul goes on to explain that he had already judged this man in need of deliverance to Satan (vv. 3-5). He also explains the principle of leaven to the Corinthians: "Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Clean out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, not with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (vv. 6-8).

The point is, if unchecked, the sin of the man would continue to have an ungodly influence on the church, to the point that some could be drawn away from the faith. This was not what God wanted for His church.

From there, Paul instructs the church, not to avoid sinners in the world, but to remove themselves from sinners in the church (those who would not repent). He pronounces it their duty to judge those in the church, closing with, "Remove the wicked man from among yourselves" (v. 13). In addition, Paul similarly instructs the Thessalonians, "Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep aloof from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us" (2 Thess. 3:6).

It should be pointed out that this is not excommunication. The offending brother is not "kicked out of the church." He is, rather, counted as lost. And the act of discipline is not intended to be permanent, although it may have to be. Discipline in this case serves two purposes. First, it keeps the church pure by letting all know that unrepentant sinners are considered lost, no longer a part of the family of God. Second, it is designed to bring the lost one back to God by letting him see how empty his life is without God and his brethren (Paul says, "that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus" 1 Cor. 5:5).

It is this second goal which was accomplished by Paul's instructions to Corinth. In his follow-up letter to them, Paul comments on what has obviously become a penitent man, "Sufficient for such a one is this punishment which was inflicted by the majority, so that on the contrary you should rather forgive and comfort him, lest somehow such a one be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. Wherefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him" (2 Cor. 2:6-8).

The act of disciplining an unruly member is difficult, even painful, for a church. Often there are family members still present, and at the very least, there is the love that all have for one of their brethren, but God's plan works. It has, in the past, produced repentance in those who went on to serve the church in important ways. It is an overlooked, but effective way of dealing with those who refuse to obey God's word.

We cannot allow the world's views to obscure our duty to serve God, to keep the church pure, and to see that even the vilest of sinners are brought back to His salvation.

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