Re: Church Discipline

From Kevin DeYoung, Daily Doctrine (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2024), 328: 

"Four basic steps. (1) Go to the person alone. (2) Take one or two others with you. (3) Tell it to the church. (4) Treat the person as an outsider. These steps should not be understood or undertaken woodenly. They deal with person (as opposed to public) offenses, and do not envision situations where someone's safety may be in jeopardy. The general rule of thumb us to keep the circle as small as possible and give the guilty party every opportunity to repent and change. As a last resort, the unrepentant sinner is excommunicated. The New Testament language of treating as a pagan (Matt 18:7) or removing from your midst (1 Cor 5:2, 13), or handing over to Satan (1 Cor 5:5; 1 Tim 1:20) is the spiritual and ecclesiastical appropriation of the Old Testament's civil penalty of putting someone 'outside the camp' (Deut 17:7; 19:19; 21:21; 22:24; 24:7).

"Three promises. God promises to those who properly exercise church discipline: (1) Heaven will stand by you (Matt 18:18). (2) God will act for you (18:19). (3) Jesus will be in the midst of you (18:20). God gives his church the keys of the kingdom so that the heavenly membership of God's kingdom above might be reflected in the earthly membership of his church below.

"Two big ideas. (1) Discipline is what we do as followers of Christ. Mutually correct, rebuke, repent, discipline, bind, and loose are not optional for the church (Gal 6:1). (2) Discipline is what we do as the family of God. Notice the deliberate familial language in Matthew 18. We are dealing with siblings (18:15), and the discipline ultimately comes from our Father (18:19). Discipline is the merciful act of a Father who loves his children too much to let us go our own way.

"One overarching goal. Discipline is for the purity of the church and for the honor of the Lord Jesus. We must never overlook these ends. And yet the New Testament emphasizes a complementary goal: the restoration of the sinner. We do not want to punish our brother; we want to win him back. We want to see our friends return to the right path (James 5:19-20). Anytime the church delivers someone 'to Satan,' it is in hope and in prayer that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord (1 Cor 5:5)."