What Does the Bible Say About Church Discipline?

God disciplines us lovingly, for our good.

  • If God did not discipline us, we would have reason to question whether or not He even claims us as His own children (vv7-8).
    • Just because I have my own children doesn't mean I am responsible for disciplining the children of others.  Indeed, outside a classroom setting, we all discipline our own children in ways that we would never presume to discipline other children.
    • If God didn't discipline us, He would be treating us as someone else's children, not His own.
    • Discipline is therefore an ironically comforting token of membership in God's family.
  • God disciplines us for our own good, so that we may share His holiness and yield the fruit of righteousness (vv10-11).
    • God's loving discipline has separation from sin (holiness) and conformity to God's standard (righteousness) as the proper ends in view.
    • So as we think about and experience God's discipline and church discipline, we do well to remind ourselves that God's ultimate goals in disciplining us are the positive goals of cultivating holiness and righteousness in us - our growth is His goal.