According to the Scots Confession, “ecclesiastical discipline, uprightly ministered, as God’s Word prescribes” is one of the three authentic marks of a true “Kirk” or church. Discipline in today’s world, to say nothing of the contemporary church, is, if not a bad word, at least a largely ignored one. The abiding response of today’s world is, “You can’t tell me what to do.” The truth is that discipline is largely absent in much of contemporary society. Parents tend to neglect it for fear of causing some psychological damage to their children. Teachers and employers often avoid it out of fear of possible lawsuits. The very topic itself often seems to be identified with harsh, even judgmental, practices.
This unfortunately is no less true in the church. While the present scandals in the Roman Catholic Church have their own measure of complexity, certainly the absence of Christian discipline seems to have been part of the problem. In our own Presbyterian Church (USA) discipline also seems to have become an avoided subject. We have certainly had our own share of sexual scandals, a trend which seems to be as old as the church itself as the New Testament makes clear. More recently, we have witnessed open defiance being expressed by some churches regarding more than one provision of our Book of Order. Presbyteries have seemed disinclined to act in the face of these statements of defiance. Even this past General Assembly seemed reluctant to adopt even a general statement calling for a measure of discipline. Why is this? The absence of discipline in any Christian church or congregation violates both biblical and confessional standards. Yet this is a subject which a wide spectrum of Christians seem willing to avoid. To deal with this sensitive subject requires us first to look at some basic biblical doctrines. Secondly, we need to consider how discipline “rightly ministered” could help bring health and strength back into Christian denominations including our own.
Basic Doctrine 1: God is Love
It is striking but true that the apparent lack of discipline in many congregations and church denominations comes from a disregard of God’s basic character. Discipline is not a sign of God’s judgment. It is rather a sign of God’s love: “for the Lord disciplines those whom he loves” (Heb. 12:6; Prov. 3:11-12). Throughout the Old Testament God makes clear his love for Israel (Ex. 15:13; Deut. 10:15; Jer. 31:3; Hosea 11:1). Yet this love is coupled with a continuing discipline of his people who so often prove themselves unfaithful (Deut. 8:5; Ps. 94:12; Jer. 31:18). The theme of discipline is found equally in the New Testament (Matt. 18:15-18; I Cor. 5:1-13; II Cor. 2:6-11; 7:8-9; Gal. 6:1; II Thess. 3:14-15; I Peter 1:13). The writer of the book of Hebrews reminds us that God disciplines us for our good (Heb. 12:10). The Risen Christ says, “I reprove and discipline those whom I love” (Rev. 3:19).
Discipline in the biblical sense then is a sign of God’s love. We are told even on a human level that an absence of discipline indicates an absence of real love. The parent who indulges a child is hardly showing love. Quite the opposite. How much more is this true of God? One of the problems which arises here is a faulty view of the nature of love. We have all been too influenced by a cultural view which defines love in sentimental terms. Too often our understanding of love amounts to little more than a laissez-faire indifference. Love in this sense is staying out of other people’s way, leaving them alone in effect. This concept of love is unknown in Scripture and certainly does not describe the love of God. It is the essence of God’s love to become involved with us whether we welcome his involvement or not. It is because God loves the world that he sends his son. This love takes the initiative on behalf of the beloved. God’s discipline is not condemnation (Romans 8:1). It is not punishment in any wrathful or punitive sense. It is God correcting us, turning us back from our own destructive behavior. This discipline may not feel pleasant at the time (Heb. 12:11). It is however love in action.
Basic Doctrine 2: The Church is One Body
In our contemporary world we have been seduced by the culture of narcissism to the point that we often see ourselves as isolated individuals with little or no connection to each other. One of the primary goals of discipline is to maintain the cohesiveness of the body of Christ. In the famous kenosis passage of Philippians chapter 2, Paul admonishes the believers to be of the “same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind” (Phil. 2:2). The present church, with its many divisions, (both institutional and even within denominations) is a far cry from Paul’s view. One of the key purposes of discipline in the New Testament church, which was barely a generation out of Roman paganism, was the maintenance of church unity. The church sought to preserve its unity in the face of all but the most extreme heresies.
In the absence of discipline we see disunity rather than unity. This is no doubt an overreaction to the abuse of discipline in some cases which may well have been punitive rather than restorative. Paul lifted up the standard of “godly grief” which brought one to repentance (II Cor. 7:10). Paul rightly saw the limits of discipline. He admonishes the Corinthians to “forgive and console” so that the person being disciplined “may not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow” (II Cor. 2:6-7).
In the present, however, we seem to have gone to the opposite extreme. A recent study by the Alban Institute points out that contemporary churches go to almost any length to avoid conflict. Unfortunately this very avoidance tends to lead to more conflict. There are times when we all need to be confronted because of something in our life that needs repentance. Needless to say, in a society which venerates “tolerance” above all else this is not politically correct. Confrontation cannot be used as an excuse to vent one’s anger or to put another down. Yet confrontation is necessary if the body of Christ is to be healthy. Jesus confronts the disciples numerous times for their lack of faith ((Matt. 8:26; 14:31; 16:5-9; Mark 9:19). The Risen Christ confronts the churches of Asia Minor in Revelation chapters 2-3. Paul confronts Peter for his hypocrisy (Gal. 2:11-14). Peter confronts his churches with the danger of false teaching (II Pet. 2).
None of these examples are intended as “put downs.” The goal in each case is repentance and restoration. After confronting the Galatian churches for their numerous failings, Paul admonishes them to restore one caught in sin “in a spirit of gentleness.” He adds, “Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:1-2). The problem for most of us today is that we don’t want to be bothered bearing someone else’s burdens. We are content to criticize. However, this is not discipline. Discipline demands commitment to the person caught in sin. This again is a form of love in action. Without it the church degenerates into a loose association, rather than being the living body of her Lord.
Basic Doctrine 3: Repentance Continues Throughout Earthly Life
As Reformed Christians we have to be faithful to our understanding of sanctification. We do not believe that we achieve any degree of perfection in this life. We are called to holiness but we struggle with temptation, with the world, the flesh and the devil throughout this earthly life. We grow in grace but the Westminster Confession reminds us that we face “a continual and irreconcilable war, the flesh lusting against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh” (Book of Confessions 6.076). The Larger Catechism reminds us that we daily break the commandments “in thought, word and deed” (BC 7.259).
This is the reason why discipline is listed as one of the three true marks of the church in the Scots Confession. The value of discipline for all of us is that it keeps us focused on the continuing need of repentance throughout this life. Our sanctification is always imperfect (BC 7.188). Therefore God shows his love for us by disciplining us and keeping us from falling headlong into sin. This is part of the reality of grace in our lives. This grace needs to be demonstrated in a visible way in the life of the church community. We are all at different stages in our sanctification. We are susceptible to different sins. As we experience discipline in a loving but firm manner we are able to keep focused on our walk with Christ. James summarizes this idea when he says, “confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed” (Jam. 5:16). This includes physical as well as spiritual healing.
Without the ongoing reality of discipline in our lives we easily succumb to pride. The flip side of pride is depression. We are burdened with guilt or feelings of failure. Defiance, which we have seen so often on both the individual and church levels, is often a sign of spiritual pride (“We know better than you do”). Yet persistence in such attitudes can easily lead to forms of depression, even despair. Without discipline, we cultivate the idea that we should always be getting our way. The old nature leaps at such opportunities. The net result is that we dig ourselves deeper into our own prideful rationalization. The fruit of the Spirit has difficulty flourishing in such conditions. In an attitude of repentance we should be seeking discipline so that we both as individuals and a body can be more fully conformed to the image of Christ. As Protestant evangelicals we have repudiated the idea of penance. Yet in so doing we may have gone too far and undermined the basic doctrine of repentance as a “saving grace” (BC 7.186). We evangelicals are committed to the renewal of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and rightly so. But such renewal is not possible without each of us recognizing our own need for repentance. We cannot repent without placing ourselves under discipline.
Many of us in the renewal wing of the Presbyterian Church (USA) have been disturbed by a lack of accountability in our denomination. We see our constitution undermined by, quite frankly, a lack of discipline. Defiance in the face of church standards by either individuals or church bodies cries out for discipline. Without discipline we deny essential truths of the Christian faith such as the fact that God is love, that the church is a body and that we all need to live lives of repentance. The real challenge before us is to seek biblical discipline.
The Presbyterian Church (USA) often seeks to avoid discipline. Stated Clerks, presbyteries, even the General Assembly avoid any real call to carry out discipline. Discipline seems to be identified with a lack of freedom, an absence of trust and a spirit of judgmentalism. The irony is that just the opposite is the case. Without a biblical sense of discipline there can be no trust, no freedom. Ultimately love itself is lacking. In his famous love chapter Paul says that love “does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth” (I Cor. 13:6). This statement cannot be made without a recognition of the vital place of discipline in the Body of Christ. Paul’s thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians is of a piece with his call for discipline in the fifth chapter of the same epistle. Pastors or sessions who ignore sin, or are indifferent to it, are not being tolerant. They are being unloving. They are unloving in the same way that a parent who doesn’t care when a teenager comes home at night is also unloving. The absence of love we have been told is not hate. It is indifference.
When a presbytery confronted with a defiant session or congregation chooses to take no action, that presbytery is saying they don’t care about the defiant church. When the General Assembly excuses itself from having any responsibility for defiant congregations or presbyteries, they are in effect saying they don’t care. The commitment to love, to “bear one another’s burdens” is too much for them. It might help us all if in denying the call of discipline on the local, presbytery or national level, we at least admit to ourselves that we are denying such central doctrines as the love of God, the oneness of the Body and the ongoing need we all have of repentance.
In raising the call for discipline all of us must recognize that judgment begins with the household of God (I Pet. 4:17). If we don’t begin by acknowledging our own need for discipline we are hardly in the place to call for someone else’s discipline. This can place us in the position of judging another and looking for the mote in someone’s eye, oblivious to the beam in our own (Matt. 7:1-5). Above all we must recognize that discipline in the church is a gift. It is part of God’s grace. If God let us all go our merry way we would easily wander from his truth.
If Moses, David and Peter needed to be disciplined, how much more is this true of each of us. The negative history of discipline has far more to do with pride and legalism than it does with the biblical standard of discipline. Discipline is one of God’s gifts to the church. It is high time now to reclaim that gift.
This article first appeared in Theology Matters, Vol. 8, No. 4 (Jul/Aug 2002).
