Introduction | Table of Contents | Chapter 17

Each Church a Temple

Again, the whole Church is spoken of as a temple, and so is each local church. As to the whole, "each several building, fitly framed together groweth into a holy temple in the Lord" (Eph. 2:21) that is a process; of a local church, whenever formed, the statement holds good, "ye are a temple of God" (I Cor. 3:16; cp. 2 Cor. 6:16, where the reference is to the individual believer). God's temple is called His house, a frequent description of the temple in Jerusalem. So a local church is described as "the house of God ... the church of the living God" (I Tim. 3:15). That the local assembly is there referred to is clear from the fact that the Apostle was giving instructions to Timothy as to the circumstances and testimony of the church at Ephesus (the instruction is of course applicable to every assembly). He was exhorting him, as he had done before, to remain there for a time (I Tim. 1:3, R.V.; 2 Tim. 4:9).

As the temple or house of God, the assembly is God's dwelling place. That is the root meaning of the word oikos, "house" (from oikeo "to dwell"; the same meaning is contained in the word oikodome, "building," lit., house, building), as, e.g., in I Cor. 3:9. Being such, a local church is essentially a place of holiness. "Holiness becometh Thine house, 0 Lord, for ever" (Ps. 93:5). Whatever is inconsistent with the character and claims of God must be absent from it. In such a community it is necessary for each believer to know how to behave himself. That is what the Apostle expresses as the object for which he wrote the first Epistle to Timothy. That this was not intended merely to refer to Timothy's individual conduct in the church, but to that of all the saints therein, both the immediate context and the general tenor of the Epistle indicate.

The awesome holiness of the Sanctuary, wherein God dwelt in the midst of His people Israel, was ever impressed upon them, and that with the beneficent design that His character might find reflection in theirs. They were to be holy as He is holy. Precisely so with an assembly. The very reason for its existence demands that it be kept fit for the presence of God. The spiritual power and glory of the Lord's presence cannot be experienced where holiness is not maintained. To harbour anything contrary to the character and claims of God is to do despite to the Holy Spirit.

The Basis of Discipline

Consistently with the maintenance of holiness, with its consequent blessing, the church at Corinth was enjoined to put away from among themselves the "wicked person" who had defiled God's spiritual temple. The command to do so was based not only upon the character of God but upon the claims of the death of Christ. On this ground they were to "purge out the old leaven." "For our passover also hath been sacrificed, even Christ: wherefore let us keep the feast (or, as in the margin, 'keep festival' not here the Lord's Supper but the constant and joyous maintenance of a life and testimony well pleasing to God and effective in its witness in the world), not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (I Cor. 5:8). That was what the passover lamb had meant to Israel. Only so could they be His people, separated to Him by sanctification and cleansing. "Purge out the old leaven," says the Apostle, "that ye may be a new lump, even as ye are unleavened." Spiritual standing must find its counterpart in conduct.

The Scope of Discipline

One who was so disciplined was not merely debarred from the Lord's Supper, but was put away from amongst the assembly, and therefore excluded from the fellowship of the believers in their daily life and intercourse, a fellowship of which the breaking of bread is only one expression. For any member of the assembly to ignore the act and continue social intercourse as if there had been no sin, would be merely carnal sentiment, void both of holy love and righteousness, and grieving to the Spirit of God. So with seeking spiritual help from the ministry of one from whom it has been necessary to separate on account of evil doctrine. He who has missed his way is ill suited to be a guide. The command concerning such is, "If any one cometh unto you, and bringeth not this teaching (i.e., the teaching of Christ), receive him not into your house, and give him no greeting: for he that giveth him greeting partaketh in his evil works" (2 John 10, 11).

Further, for a person to be under the discipline of expulsion from an assembly involves his being outside every other assembly. No circles of fellowship are required for the maintenance of this, nor are they Scriptural. Human devices may prove effectual in preventing one evil, but they do so only by introducing another. The restrictions of men, however rigid, ever fail to fulfil the will of God. Unscriptural barriers against a spiritual evil prove barriers to real blessings. Due care on the part of the spiritual guides in the churches should be sufficient to obviate the intrusion of one under discipline into any particular assembly. Let a note of commendation be required. For such a person simply to go off and seek the fellowship of another assembly and there to be received, is to ignore the authority of Christ and to contravene the unity of the Spirit, which we are enjoined to endeavour to keep (Eph. 4:3). An act of church discipline is not simply the act of the assembly; when rightly used it is the exercise of the authority of Christ carried out in His Name and power (I Cor. 5:4). The realization of that is itself sufficient to enforce the solemn and binding character of the discipline.

The Object of Discipline

Godly discipline ever has restoration in view. There is a double purpose, immediate and ultimate: immediate, that the erring one may learn the mind of the Lord in deep exercise of heart, be brought to a new apprehension of the sinfulness of sin, and be granted the grace of repentance and confession; ultimate, that complete restoration may be established. "All chastening seemeth for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yieldeth peaceable fruit unto them that have been exercised thereby, even the fruit of righteousness." The saints are to see to it that "that which is lame be not turned out of the way, but rather be healed" (Heb. 12:11-13).

Following on, and in contrast to, the solemn warning in Gal. 5:19-21, that those who practise the works of the flesh shall not inherit the Kingdom of God, comes the earnest command concerning a believer, who, being off his guard, has fallen into sin: "Brethren, even if a man (i.e., any member, of either sex, of the church) be overtaken in any trespass, ye which are spiritual restore (a metaphor from the setting of a dislocated or broken bone) such an one in a spirit of meekness; looking to thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens (here especially the burden of the sense of shame and dishonour), and so fulfil the law of Christ" (Gal. 6:1, 2). Where such pastoral care brings the erring one to judge his sin, he will have been "gained."

That the restoration of an erring one is to be the earnest and prayerful desire of the whole assembly is touchingly set before us in the second chapter of the second Epistle to the Corinthians. Punishment had duly been inflicted, as enjoined in the first Epistle (2 Cor. 2:6), but the grief which had been caused was to be succeeded not only by forgiveness but by a ministry of comfort, "lest by any means such an one should be swallowed up with his overmuch sorrow" (verse 7). Nay, more, the saints were to confirm their love toward him. A wholehearted and godly restoration indeed! But this had another purpose, that of preventing Satan from getting an advantage of the saints. The adversary is persistently set against the spiritual welfare and testimony of a church; not only by marring the witness through sin, but by preventing, either through a spirit of harshness, or through negligence, the restoration of one who has been disciplined.

The Effect on the Assembly

The necessity for the act of discipline should bring an assembly down before God in deep heart-searching and humiliation. There is need of this, if only for this reason that had the saints been in a healthy spiritual condition, walking in fellowship with the Lord and in separation from the world, the sin for which the expulsion had become necessary might never have occurred. The church at Corinth had failed at first in this, and had not rather mourned. Besides, the loss of a fellow-believer under such circumstances means essentially a defect in the church as such. For, as with the physical body, if one member suffers, "all the members suffer with it" (I Cor. 12:26).

Further, unjudged sin in the church mars the testimony in the eyes of the world, and gives "occasion for the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme." Achan's sin prevented Israel from standing before their enemies (Josh. 7:13). To be evil spoken of for the sake of the Name of Christ is to have "the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God" resting upon us (I Pet. 4:14). But where the fair escutcheon of His Name is marred, and legitimate ground is given to the world to point the finger of derision, there is call for deep and constant humiliation in the sight of God, and for such measures as will do all that is possible for the removal of the blot.

Where there is a real sorrow and brokenness of spirit on the part of the gathering, the act of expulsion will not be simply looked upon as the removal of an offender; instead, the priestly service will be undertaken of eating the sin offering in the holy place, making the sin our own and judging it as though it had been committed by us; judging, too, the lack of that spiritual power which might have prevented the erring one from falling into sin. "If we discerned ourselves, we should not be judged."

As to Doctrinal Error

The Apostle speaks of delivering the offender unto Satan. There was probably special apostolic authority in that respect. Such an act cannot be regarded as simply involving the alternative of being put into the sphere of the world (as that which lies in the evil one) instead of the church, for the object of that particular discipline in the case of I Cor. 5 was "for the destruction of the flesh." Again, in regard to the evil of the doctrinal error by which Hymenmus and Alexander were guilty of making shipwreck concerning the faith, the act of delivering them to Satan was wrought by the Apostle himself and not by a church. Yet one who holds evil doctrine is to be the subject of church discipline equally with one who is guilty of the sin of immorality. The church at Pergamos received blame from the Lord for having in their midst those that held the doctrine of Balaam and those that held the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. His reproach makes clear that the church was to put them away (Rev. 2:14-16).

Similar discipline is enjoined where a believer is "a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner." No company is to be kept with such; the saints are not to eat with them; that is to say, they are not to have social intercourse with them. Such dissociation necessarily involves the same attitude as in the particular instance dealt with in the chapter. In all these cases a course of unjudged sin is indicated, not sin that has been repented of.

Certain forms of discipline called for are of a less severe nature than that of excommunication. Those who are disorderly are to be admonished (I Thess. 5:14). Believers are to withdraw themselves "from every brother that walketh disorderly" (2 Thess. 3:6). Timothy is exhorted to reprove them that sin, in the sight of all, "that the rest also may be in fear" (I Tim. 5:20). "Unruly men, vain talkers and deceivers" are to have their mouths stopped. Those who are so careless and unspiritual as to give ear to such, are to receive a sharp reproof (Tit. 1:10, 11, 13).

Introduction | Table of Contents | Chapter 17

to top