We've been considering the three “marks of the true church” as outlined in the Belgic Confession, and we've come to the last: “if church discipline is exercised in punishing sin.” There's at least two words in that statement that make modern church ears uncomfortable — discipline and punishing. They sound controlling, legalistic, unloving. Did the author of the confession get it wrong? Is it a product of a sterner time that has little relevance for today? To the contrary, the Confession reflects enduring biblical truth.
We must be quick to note that the church is full of sinners. That’s who we were before coming to Christ and that’s who we are after coming to Christ. The issue of concern is not the presence of sinners, but the presence of impenitent sinners. When a person comes into the Church through faith in Christ they are entering into a new framework of living. They have a new standard of morality, a new paradigm for understanding the world. To shift one’s thinking (or to use a Biblical description, put on “the new self”) God has put in place a number of devices that facilitate the process. Local church membership and the mutual accountability it entails, biblical preaching and teaching, gathered worship, spiritual “disciplines” such as prayer and fasting, and, if need be, loving admonition and correction, all play an important role in making us who we have been created to be. We need these elements so that we can move on to the maturity that God envisions for us.
As is evident from the list above, there’s a lot of “discipline” that goes on before a church ever has to “purge the evil person" from among them. (1 Corinthians 5:16), and that’s a good thing. Excommunication is something that should be extremely rare if the folks in a church are intent upon putting on the new self, "created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:24) But if there is one in their midst that refuses to heed Christ, unrepentant about their sin, or intent on spreading false doctrine, that one must be treated “as a Gentile and a tax collector,” that is, one out of fellowship with God and his people. (Matthew 18:15-20)
That last point is important to emphasize. As John teaches, the purpose of proclaiming the gospel is to have fellowship with God and his people. (1 John 1:1-3) Sin intrudes on that fellowship, and when it does the necessary thing is to confess it, knowing that God forgives sin (1 John 1:8). If one refuses to acknowledge sin for what it is then that one makes God out to be a liar and demonstrates that the gospel has not been embraced (1 John 1:10). Such a one has no place within the church until he is ready to confess what all true churches confess, that Jesus Christ is Savior and Lord.
