Church Discipline (2 Cor 2:5-11)

In this study, we’re going to deal with the issue of church discipline. This may seem strange and foreign to some of us, but let’s see what God’s word has to say about this issue!

(A) THE EXPERIENCE OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE: THE PAINFUL WORK OF THE “MAJORITY” (2 COR 2:5-6)

2 Cor 2:5 describes an experience of pain – of disappointment, discomfort, hurt, and of real grief, experienced by two groups of people: Paul, and the church. When we think of church life, we often think of positive experiences such as friendship and blessing, rather than negative ones. Yet, this passage describes a unique pain, caused by Christians to other Christians, that we hardly talk about in church. 

1 Cor 5:1-3 gives us an idea of the source of this pain the church was experiencing: an individual was living in sin and sexual immorality (incest!). Not even pagans would tolerate such immorality, but the church did. This caused pain within the body of Christ – the pain of seeing believers live in sin, rather than in conformity to Christ, as if Christ had not died for their sins; as if his death was of no consequence to them. This was the pain of seeing Christ’s name dishonoured in the church by unrepentant Christians among them. 

In 1 Cor 12:21-27, the church is described as the body of Christ, made up of individual members who need one another. When the church tolerates sin within the body, we corrupt one another. Therefore, we must acknowledge that there are parts of the body living in unrepentant sin, and we must move towards and care for these members – that is the way God intended for the church to be! That is the way God designed the body of Christ to work. Church discipline is, therefore, the actions within the body to address these errors and sin. 

Paul also describes church discipline as “punishment by the majority” (2 Cor 2:6). It is a corporate congregational activity, with the consensus of the majority, to punish this individual in this way. As the body of Christ, we hold one another accountable to being followers of Christ (1 Cor 5:12-13). Church discipline is the church taking responsibility for the holiness of Christ’s name and the witness of believers. It is corporate discipleship.  

(B) THE OUTCOME OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE: TURNING AND REAFFIRMING LOVE (2 COR 2:7-9)

In response to this punishment by the majority, the individual acknowledged his sin and repented, turning from his ways. Paul then urges the church to also turn, to forgive this member, comfort him, and reaffirm their love for him (2 Cor 2:7-8). This paints a picture of God’s design for relationships within the body of Christ. Normal Christian relationships are not of “love in general”, but should consist of forgiveness, comfort, and affirmation. We are to forgive fellow Christians when they offend us, comfort them when they are in distress and doubting their salvation, and affirm them of our love for them. We are to express the way we value and treasure them, and how we are thankful to God for them. 

When a fellow believer is in sin, the goal is to get them to turn from their sin, and when they turn, we also turn to forgive them and restore the relationships that were broken by sin. It is in caring enough for the soul and eternity destiny of a fellow believer that the church would fight for their holiness. Hence, the purpose of church discipline is the sinner’s repentance and restoration of his security in Christ. 

In writing this section on church discipline, Paul was laying out a pattern for their obedience. Their response to a repentant person was a test for their obedience, says Paul, to see if they would follow the design for the church that Jesus had laid out or make up their own rules. Would they take both holiness and grace seriously? Will we? 

When we see a brother or sister straying and we go to them and initiate conversations about following Jesus, saying, “I see in your life some patterns or habits and I want you to turn”,  we participate in a kind of church discipline. Ask ourselves: Do we care about our brother’s/ sister’s holiness? Do we care about our own holiness? Will we be found obedient to Christ? 

(C) THE NATURE OF CHURCH DISCIPLINE: FIERCE AND REAL SPIRITUAL WARFARE (2 COR 2:10-11)

In 2 Cor 2:10, Paul says that anyone whom the church forgives, he also forgives. He acknowledges that churches are the local stewards of the authority of Christ in the world. In the same way that the church baptizes people in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, thereby recognizing them as a forgiven sinner on the basis of the gospel, the church also, in exercising church discipline, may deny, based on one’s contradictory lifestyle, that one is a follower of Christ. But if one turns in repentance, then the church is to affirm that their sins are forgiven based on the profession of their faith and they do so with heavenly authority in the presence of Jesus Christ (Matt 18:18-20). Therefore, if the church forgives, the pastor also forgives.

Church discipline is not a matter of business meetings or corporate procedure or sociology. As the church decides to honour the reigning Lord in our midst, we turn and restore repentant sinners for his sake. The presence of Christ in church discipline is, then, what sets churches apart from other kinds of Christian fellowship groups. When we are members of a church, we submit to the church to discharge the authority of Christ in disciplining us when we stray. When the church is found obedient in this charge of holiness and grace, the presence of Christ reigns among them – this is what the oft misquoted Matthew 18:20 means.  

Finally, in 2 Cor 2:11, Paul warns the church against the designs of Satan. When a repentant sinner is not affirmed by the church and is wallowing in uncertainty, he is most vulnerable to Satan’s trap to destroy his confidence in the gospel. 

When we sin, the voice in our heads tell us we are sinners. But there is another voice – that of the gospel – that tells us there is forgiveness to be found. If we fail to hear the second voice, we get ensnared by sin, and that is when we need the church to save us! We need the church to restore us. Bible-believing Christians often take this spiritual warfare less seriously than we ought. 1 Peter 5:8 describes the devil as a roaring lion, prowling around and seeking someone to devour. Therefore, Peter warns, be sober-minded; be watchful! Ephesians 6:10-20 urges us to put on the whole armour of God, that we may be able to stand against the devil’s schemes, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against real spiritual forces of evil. 

We fight the devil, then, by going to fellow Christians and, out of concern for their soul, point out areas where they are living in unrepentant sin, saying, “if you repent of your sins, you will be forgiven.” When they turn in repentance, we pronounce that there is forgiveness for them in the name of Jesus Christ; that though their sins are many, Christ’s mercies are more. 

As members of the body of Christ, we have the blessing of calling fellow brothers and sisters to repentance and assuring one another of the gospel. Are you in this kind of relationship with your church?