What Does the Bible Say About Church Discipline?

God wants us to discipline each other for our own salvation and holiness.

  • Paul's concern was for the holiness of the sinning brother's church.
    • Wickedness spreads through a church like yeast through bread, changing the shape and consistency of the whole (1Cor 5:6).  So Paul presses on the Corinthian congregation their responsibility to clean out the old leaven so that their Sunday celebrations could be holy.
    • Paul believes that the holiness of the church is compromised when believers associate with any so-called brother who lives a lifestyle that grossly contradicts his verbal profession (1Cor 5:11).  Hypocrisy compromises holiness, and therefore must be addressed.
    • In this way we can see that church discipline has the same goals in view as God's Fatherly discipline - the holiness of His children.
    • Notice also that it is the congregation's responsibility to clean out the old leaven (1Cor 5:7), and to remove the wicked man from among themselves (1Cor 5:13). It is not simply the elders' or deacons' or leadership team's responsibility, and Paul doesn't recommend that they appoint a committee.  Preserving the holiness of the church through the godly exercise of church discipline is the responsibility of the whole congregation.