Church discipline is a forgotten practice which the Lord has appointed for the blessing and keeping of His people. Even God’s covenant people need boundaries! Even a church planted by an Apostle is not immune from the influence of the culture surrounding it.

In applying discipline to the Corinthian church, the Apostle Paul uses the illustration of leaven spreading through the whole lump. He says “a little leaven leavens the whole lump” (1 Cor 5:6), meaning that unless this sin was dealt with immediately, the whole church would become affected. Leaven as evil spreading, seems to have been a popular illustration with Paul and he already used the term in dealing with the problem in Galatia – see (Gal 5:9).

Sin spreads. Sin is contagious. It does not need nurturing – it has internal powers of its own for growth. We all carry the seed of it in our hearts. It is there in each one of us. Regeneration does not eliminate it.

But sin can be contained and limited and even killed in some instances. Just as any disease can be cured and retarded by antibiotics, so the Lord has appointed means for the inhibiting and conquering of sin.

One of those means is church discipline. Today, church discipline is a largely forgotten practice. But many painful situations and experiences could be avoided if it was practiced properly. In fact failure to discipline, is perhaps the main reason why a denomination can gradually, over time, become compromisers with sin. A church can slowly accept a sin, until eventually it becomes no great sin at all and is perceived as something God permits among His covenant people.

Familiarity and breeds tolerance. The more common a sin is, the less sinful it appears and the more acceptable it becomes in that society. But there is no such desensitivity with God. He is absolutely holy in Himself and is not subject to any mitigation of sin. His mercy of course is constantly in exercise and even increases in accordance with our need of His sparing hand.

Dealing with sin at its first emergence will prevent others from treating it with leniency and from joining in the practice of it. We all of course, sin in our hearts, but to give countenance to and the overt practice of it in our lives, is censurable.

Church discipline, like medicine, must be properly applied in order for it to bear fruit. Being a spiritual institution, the church must first ensure that the discipline is bathed in prayer and love. There must be no sense of joy that such a person is under discipline and justice has been done now that the person has been found out and dealt with.

The whole object of discipline is the reclaiming and the ‘winning back’ of the offender. This is vital for blessing. When someone is disciplined, there ought to be real sadness of heart in the church and sincere and hopeful prayers for a speedy and genuine repentance.

Discipline is beneficial in that it ought to be a deterrent to make other believers more watchful against this sin. Paul said to Timothy “those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear” (1 Tim 5:20).

Discipline also is a means which God may use for the withholding of any judgment He could justly bring upon a church for its countenancing and approval of sin. Paul made it very plain to the Corinthians that God did not tolerate sin forever, but would eventually visit with judgment “That is why many of you are weak and ill and some have died” (1 Cor 11:30).

Church discipline is for public sins – discipline is not for sins of the heart – else “who could stand”? (Ps 130:3). Discipline is for sins that are clearly against the express com­mandments of God. Matters of indifference, matters about which the Church down through the years have always regarded as breeches of God’s law, ought not to be subject to discipline.

The Apostle Paul was clear that discipline had to be to be administered in the Corinthian church when there was a clear case of incest, “sexual immorality”. He ordered that he “who has done this thing be removed from among you” (1 Cor 5:2). The discipline is to be removed after repentance when the church should “turn to forgive and comfort him or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow” (1 Cor 2:6-8).

If discipline is not administered where there is real sin, a slow but real sapping of spiritual life will leak out of the Body of Christ. Such a possibility made the Apostle Paul seriously consider leaving Asia to come to Greece to deal with that type of crisis in the church there. Discipline is important.