A “True-blue Presbyterian” is an enlightened, true-hearted son of a church that aims at pursuing the chief end of man: to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.

1. Historical Antecedents

Let us glance at the origin of this homespun word – often a term of reproach – but, like the banner of Caledonia [the ancient Latin name for Scotland], significant of strength and loyalty.

The term seems to be suggested by some part of the dress which was blue; and some say that, after the fashion of other Presbyterian things, it is taken from the Scriptures. “Did you ever hear of such a word in the Bible?” exclaimed master Charles, who had learned a good deal in the Scriptures, at home and in parochial school. “Stop a minute,” said I, “my young scholar, and bring me the family Bible. Now turn to Numbers, 15th chapter and 38th verse.” The boy, with some amazement, read as follows:

“Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the garment a riband of blue. And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the Lord, and do them.”

“Well,” said Charles, “I always knew that Presbyterians tried to do the commandments of the Lord, but I never thought of this blue before!”

Without entering deeper into the origin of our clannish blue, (the reproach of which color, by the bye, tinges the vesture of our Congregational brethren, whose far-famed legislation was scandalized with the name of “blue laws”), we will content ourselves with assuming that blue characterized the Scottish tartan from time immemorial, like red the dress of Southern Englishmen, and that in the civil wars of the seventeenth century, a “true-blue Presbyterian” was synonymous with a Scotsman who fought for liberty and his church. What is the meaning of the word now-a-days? That, dear reader, we shall explain very briefly, and in its truest sense. The word has some definite meaning at our hearth-stones, and in our school-houses and churches.

2. A Confessionalist

A true-blue Presbyterian is a Christian who loves the old fashioned Bible doctrines in the Confession of Faith. He lays much stress on God’s sovereignty and the doctrines of grace.

All Presbyterians do not thus magnify revealed truth; this characteristic more properly belongs to the “true-blue.” The Word of God, in its simple and spiritual meaning, as explained in the Confession of Faith, not for “substance of doctrine,” but for true doctrine, is dear to the heart of a thorough Presbyterian.

Though infidels blaspheme, and Arminians deride, and papists mystify, the doctrine of election, it stands forth in the prominence of heaven towering sublimity in the vision of the Christian we are describing. “You need not quote Paul,” said an infidel, combating the doctrine of election, “Paul was a Presbyterian.”

The fathers across the waters, with Calvin and Knox at their head, were thorough believers in all the distinctive doctrines of grace. So were our own great ancestors, Makemie, the Tennants, Dickinson, and Davies. “As to our doctrines,” replied Francis Makemie, when arraigned by the High-church governor of New York, in 1707, “we have our Confession of Faith, which is known to the Christian world.” In that compendium of Bible truth the real Presbyterian believes, as containing the best human interpretation of the Divine will.

3. The Sabbath and Law

He is also a strict friend of the Sabbath and of divine ordinances. A Scot’s Sabbath is a purgatory to a worldling. But the Lord’s day is a day of sober meditation and of spiritual delight to those who have faith in Divine teachings.

Sobriety and joy are not inconsistent terms. May-poles, feasting, and dancing, which agreed with the taste of King Charles’ Christians, were the horror of those of Covenanter stock; whilst attendance on the house of God, and a reverence for its ministrations and ordinances, were the joy of the latter, and will be of their spiritual descendants from generation to generation.

4. The Covenant of Grace

A true-blue Presbyterian exalts the covenant of grace in the training of his children. He dedicates them to God from birth, seeks in their behalf the ordinance of baptism, brings them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, engages with them in family-worship, instructs them in the Bible and Shorter Catechism. He disciplines them on the principles of Solomon, is careful in the selection of their books and companions, sends them to a parochial or religious school, provides for them an honest calling, and in every way endeavors to act upon the truth, “train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”

Far be it from us to arrogate superiority over brethren of other denominations whose doctrinal views and practice coincide in general with those of our church. But it cannot be doubted that thorough Calvinists lay great stress on religious training, both at home and away from home; for what wise Christian would make a distinction in the principles of education, so as to exclude religion from the school-room?

5. A “Conservative”

A thorough Presbyterian is a conservative in church and state. Theological novelties, telegraphed from former ages, do not secure his credence. Extravagances of doctrinal statement he disrelishes. He does not approve of new measures, boisterous excitements, and man’s devices in church affairs. A true friend of revivals, like Dickinson and Alexander, he is unwilling to hazard the permanent interests of religion for doubtful issues, but prefers in all things the good old paths. If others sneer at him, it is a small thing to be judged by man’s judgment. In the state, as a citizen, he is never carried away by the dream-land theories of reformers and infidels.

A true-blue Presbyterian is never found advocating the abolition of capital punishment, resisting the law of the land, affording new facilities for divorces, encouraging agrarianism in any shape. Conservatism, as opposed to extravagance, is the law of his life; the first and second nature of the inner man.

6. A Churchman

A thorough Presbyterian loves his own church. Why should he not? Has he not been nurtured by her care? Does she not hold forth the truth? Are not her methods founded on the Scriptures? The form of church government is not trivial and unimportant matter. Sessions, Presbyteries, Synods and General Assemblies are ramparts, which he may go round about and admire. Her mode of worship, simple, Scriptural, God-ward, uncontaminated by the pomp and circumstance of artificial forms, is dear to his inmost soul. The more simple, the better for him. Hence he dislikes choirs, and abhors organs, as usurpers of the precentor’s place, to stop the voice of the people.

The history of his church is a chapter in Providence which calls forth gratitude to the Giver of mercies. What church has done more to maintain the gospel in purity, and to vindicate civil and religious liberty? Ye Covenanters, worshipping in your glens and fighting for your firesides; ye Huguenots, shut out of France, but not out of Heaven, persecuted witness of grace and truth; ye Puritans of England and Westminster divines, brethren in spirit and in principles; ye ancestors of ours in this goodly land, preachers of the Word with mighty power, and organizers of our Zion in troublous times, we honor you as the servants of the living God, raised up for your mission in His providence! In short, the true Presbyterian’s heart is with his church, which Christ has honored with blessings, and will honor, even with life for evermore.

7. A Missionary

The thorough Presbyterian aims at extending the knowledge of the truth, as he understands it, among all nations. As he loves his church, so he desires to see her excellence perpetuated and extended. He prizes her institutions.

No Missionary Society compares in his judgment with the General Assembly’s Board of Missions; no Education Society has claims equal to the Board of Education of the Presbyterian Church; no Board of Commissioners draws out his sympathy like his own Board of Foreign Missions; no Tract or Sunday-school society comes up to the Board of Publications. These institutions of his church he patronizes on the ground that it is the church’s duty to do her own work, and that no church is better able to attend to her own affairs than his own.

Hence he rallies around Presbyterian institutions, with a view of planting them wherever Providence invites, at home or abroad. A Synod is as useful in India as in Pennsylvania; a religious academy as necessary in Africa as Ohio; and the old-fashioned literature of Calvinistic divines as nutritious the world over as in the highlands and lowlands of Scotland.

A true Presbyterian is no idle religionist, asleep over the wants and woes of his fellow men. With an enterprise as energetic as his doctrines, and with a sense of responsibility stimulated by the sovereignty of his King, he aims at communicating the word of life in its purest form to the millions of mankind.

8. A Protestant

The true Presbyterian is an uncompromising foe to the Man of Sin and Popish idolatry. The Confession of Faith teaches that “such as profess the true reformed religion should not marry with Infidels, Papists, and other idolaters;” and that the Pope is “that anti-Christ, that man of sin, and son of perdition, that exalteth himself in the church against Christ, and all that is called God.”

Whether in Geneva, France, Scotland, Austria, America, the Sandwich Islands [Hawaii], or wherever the Jesuit has penetrated with his guile and guises – whether in this or in preceding ages – the true-blue Presbyterian opposes the scarlet-pointed pageantries and abominations of Romanism.

He has no sympathies with indulgences, masses, purgatory, unctions, crucifixes, impure moralities and soul-deceiving heresies. Like John Knox, he would denounce Popery in the presence of queens, or like Luther, go to contend against it though opposed by devils numerous as house tiles, or like meek-minded Felix Neff, labor among mountains to bring its deluded votaries to a knowledge of the truth.

9. Magnanimity

The thorough Presbyterian, notwithstanding his uncompromising ecclesiastical principles, has a sectarianism more tolerant and magnanimous than that of some sects which boast of larger charity – as will be discovered at the last day.

Whoever reads the severe denunciation of the Savior against formalism and hypocricy, and the tremendous threatenings of the apostles against anti-Christ, knows that Christian charity does not consist in smooth sayings and man-pleasing conduct.

The Presbyterian does not “unchurch” other evangelical denominations, after the manner of some High-church Baptist and Episcopalians, nor does he, on the other hand, seek to co-operate with other sects on conditions which compromise his own principles, and in unions which often end in alienation and strife.

All his views of truth cherish charity toward others; and practically other denominations find that, notwithstanding his peculiarities, they can live with him as peaceably, if not more so, than with those whose professions of brotherly love may exceed him.

Who assists more in relieving the wants of the poor and needy, and in substantial acts of general and public benevolence, outside his own church, than the thorough-going Presbyterian? His sectarianism is an honest and a manly one, without croakings or concealments, and bearing fruits of which he is not ashamed, either before God or man.

10. Alien Righteousness

Finally, the true Presbyterian, after aiming at a life of holiness, which acknowledges its imperfections at the best, wishes to die trusting alone in the imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Presbyterianism brings Christ prominently to view, not by the abstractions of philosophy, which the common people cannot understand, but by a tender, personal union through a living faith, which may be realized in every pious heart.

Such a system, in its relation to holiness, produces two effects: – it directly prompts to holiness, and it produces a consciousness of coming short of perfection. Perfect sanctification is the reward of the glorified; and this the believer pants for, and hopes for, only as Christ saves him here from his sins and gives him admission into heaven through His own blood and righteousness. On a dying bed the religious experience of a sincere Presbyterian will be found to magnify Christ and his cross.

His life having been “by the faith of the Son of God, who loved him and gave Himself for him,” his death testifies to the consistent desire “to be found in Him, not having his own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.”

11. Conclusion

These remarks on the characteristics of a consistent and loyal Presbyterian are not offered in the spirit of “we are the (only) church,” but simply as descriptive of one of the many shades of doctrinal belief and practice which prevail in the Christian world.

Philippians 2:5-8, “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, {and} being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

The humiliation of Jesus consists of his taking on the form of a man, and the work done in that state prior to his resurrection. This includes his conception, his birth, his growing up and living in full and holy obedience, the sufferings of his life, his death, and burial. His body was consigned to the tomb, and his human soul to the abode of departed spirits.

In the Apostles’ Creed Jesus is said to have “descended into hell.” There have been many interpretations of the meaning of this expression. It is not found in the earliest versions. The first known appearance of this statement appeared in a 390 AD version which added “descendit in inferna“. Some early translations of the Latin word inferna used the Greek word hades (αδης) while others rendered it with words that mean, “lower parts”. The placement of this phrase varied in the creed until it became fixed in later Roman versions which put it after the mention of the burial of Jesus and before his resurrection. Calvin states the obvious when he notes that such an addition must have intended to add some new idea that was perceived as missing in the earlier form (Institutes 2:16:8).

The Latin word inferna literally means “lower”. It was used of the grave into which a body was lowered, or the realm of the dead which was considered to be the underworld in Greek and Roman religions.

The Greek word “hades” also has a wide range of meanings. It was originally the proper name of the Greek god of the underworld, the ruler over the realm of the dead. Later it came to be used as a name for the underworld itself. The word was also used as a personification for death itself and was often used as a synonym for the Greek word for “death”, thanatos (θανατος).

Both inferna and hades were used to represent the Old Testament Hebrew word sheol (שאול). Its primary meaning is of the realm or dimension of those who are dead. It was often viewed in ancient times as an underworld. In 33 places in the King James Version it is translated as “grave.” The Hebrew term is in some cases used with figurative meanings. Even when speaking of the “grave” it often is not limited to just the physical place itself, but where we go to think of our departed ones whose souls are not there.

Various interpretations of “he descended into hell”

1. Jesus descended into the fires of hell.
Summary: After his death and burial Jesus suffered in the fires of hell to further atone for the sins of his people. This view is not promoted by any Christian group of any historical importance.

Problems:
a) On the cross Jesus said “It is finished” (John 19:30) indicating that the work of atonement was completed. There would be no purpose in additional suffering if the mission assigned to him by the Father was already accomplished.

b) On the cross Jesus commended his soul to the Father. There is no reason to believe that his soul went anywhere else upon its separation from his body at death.

c) There is no portion of Scripture that implies his suffering beyond the work of the cross.

2. Jesus preached the gospel to the Old Testament saints.
Summary: After his death Jesus entered the realm of departed souls to proclaim his work to the saints who had died before the time of the cross.

The Roman Catholic view is that no one could ever be saved aside from the administration of the Christian sacraments. Therefore the Old Testament believers were kept in an intermediate state called the limbus patrum until Jesus could go to them and deliver them into heaven.

Many dispensationalists similarly believe that no one can be saved unless they actively accept Jesus as their Savior by a knowledgeable act of the will. The Old Testament saints are always kept separate in their standing from the New Testament church in this view. Therefore the souls of departed believers before the cross were kept in an intermediate state called “Abraham’s Bosom”. Jesus preached to them and gave them opportunity to exercise their free choice in accepting his offered salvation. He led into heaven those who trusted in his then completed atonement.

Problems:
a) Biblical teaching indicates that there is no second opportunity for salvation after a person dies (Hebrews 9:27). The idea that departed souls lacked salvation and received it after death is contrary to this teaching.

b) As in the previous view the soul of Jesus was commended into the hands of the Father at death. There is no reason to believe that it was then diverted to another mission.

c) No text of Scripture supports this view. There are a few texts which are used improperly by those supporting this position. But an examination of the references cited fall short of building a foundation for this view.

1 Peter 3:18-20 Did Jesus go to preach to departed souls after his death?

For Christ also died for sins once for all, {the} just for {the} unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits {now} in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through {the} water.”

Who are the spirits who received this proclamation? According to the context (verse 20) they were those alive in the days of Noah while he made the ark. God was patient with them during that time. The preaching that is said to condemn those souls held in prison occurred during their lives while the ark was being constructed, not after their deaths. They did not respond positively to the message but remained unbelievers.

Who preached to them? We know that Noah was God’s appointed witness. Jesus had come to them in the witness of Noah. Before the time of the incarnation true believers hoped in the promise of a coming deliverance by God which was assured in Eden and prefigured in the sacrifices. Noah represented God’s warning and promise by his life, by his work of building the ark, and by his words.

This verse can only mean a post-crucifixion ministry of Jesus if we ignore the continuing of the sentence into verse 20.

1 Peter 4:4-6 Did Jesus preach the gospel to the dead after his death?

And in {all} this, they are surprised that you do not run with {them} into the same excess of dissipation, and they malign {you}; but they shall give account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as men, they may live in the spirit according to {the will of} God.

The reference to those who are dead in verse 6 has a stated purpose in the two previous verses; that upon hearing it they may turn from their excess of dissipation and live to the glory of God while still alive. Though they are dead at the time of the writing of this epistle, they were obviously alive when they heard the warnings that they should turn and live godly lives. As in the previous chapter of 1 Peter (see above) the period before the incarnation is in view. The gospel had been preached to those who were dead in the time of Peter. But in their life time they were warned and presented with witness that they ought to honor the God who made them. The goal is that even though they may be judged in the flesh (while alive) as men and by men in civil courts, in eternity they live in the spirit according to the ways of God. Only when verse 6 is separated from its context can it be so poorly misapplied. It should also be noted that Jesus is not mentioned at all here as the one who preached to the people in question.

Ephesians 4:9 Does this verse support Jesus’ descent into hell after death?

(Now this {expression,} “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth?

The purpose of the Apostle Paul in this verse of Ephesians is to show that if Jesus “ascended” he must first have “descended”. The second reference is defined by the first.

The expression “lower parts of the earth” may have reference to Psalm 139:15 where David makes reference to his conception in his mother’s womb saying, “..When I was made in secret, skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth.” This would mean that the descent of Jesus in Ephesians 4:9 was his incarnation in the womb of Mary.

This idea of the incarnation is supported by the comparison with his ascension. If his ascension ended his humiliation, it implied a beginning to it which was his incarnation into this earthly life. Clearly there is no clear reference here to a special mission to hell after the death of Jesus. That would not correspond with the evidence Paul is citing to make his point.

By this coming to earth Jesus led away as his captives, the whole band of those held captive in sin (see verse 8). This would include primarily those who have oppressed the people of God and were taken away by the Triumphant Conqueror, Jesus Christ, into their deserved judgment. Verse 8 is a direct quote of Psalm 68:18. In Colossians 2:15 Paul more clearly describes this triumph of Jesus having disarmed those oppressive ones.

Psalm 16:10 Did Jesus fulfill this verse by his descent into hell?

For Thou wilt not abandon my soul to Sheol; Neither wilt Thou allow Thy Holy One to undergo decay.

Peter in Acts 2:30-32 and Paul in Acts 13:34-35 both interpret this verse for us. They do not see it as descriptive of a mission to living souls in hell, but of the death and burial of Jesus which was overcome by resurrection. The use of “soul” in this verse probably refers not to the immaterial part of the person, which could not decay as implied in this synonymous parallelism, but to the whole person. This is not an uncommon use of the term in Scripture.

3. Jesus displayed his triumph over Satan in hell.
Summary: Jesus entered Satan’s domain after his death to triumphantly display his victory over the power of the devil and to plunder his kingdom. This is the primary view of the Lutherans.

Problems:
a) It would be a strange place in the Creed to make mention of this display of triumph prior to the first mentioned indication of victory, the resurrection.

b) There are no texts of Scripture that identify such a personal visit and display of triumph after the death of Christ.

4. Jesus suffered agony on the cross.
summary: The expression is only metaphorical to show the extreme agony of Jesus as he humbled himself in Gethsemane and on the cross. This is the view of Calvin and of Ursinus in the Heidelberg Catechism.

Problems:
a) Such a metaphorical use of the word “hell” does not seem to be supported by any other use. It is unsafe to presume a figurative use of a term without sound biblical foundation for such a meaning.

b) The word order does not support this view. It is placed in the Creed after the death and burial of Jesus.

5. Jesus descended into the grave.
Summary: Since the words for “hell” sometimes mean “grave” this may simply have reference to the placing of Jesus into the tomb. This view is held by Charles Hodge and some other Reformed writers.

Problems:
a) Why would such an expression have to be added to the creed if it already mentioned his burial? Such an obscure reference would not be added if a clear statement already existed. It is unlikely that a confusing redundancy would be so universally accepted by the church in such a broadly used and debated creed.

b) the use of the word “descended” is usually an active verb, not a passive one. We would more likely have seen it say “he was placed into hell” if hell meant the grave. Jesus did not descend into the tomb of his own power.

6. Jesus’ soul entered the dimension of the dead.
summary: The separation of body and soul in the person of Jesus at his crucifixion is the basic definition of physical death as presented in Scripture. The creed mentions his burial which explains the disposition of his body, then it mentions his descent into “hell”. A reasonable explanation is that this intends to show that his real human soul was truly separated from his body in a real human death. This soul would go to some intermediate state of departed souls prior to the resurrection. The term “hell” in the creed could very well represent that abode. This is the view of A. A. Hodge and this present writer.

Support:
a) The terms used for hell in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew have been used in many cases to simply refer to the abode of the departed in a general sense. It is the dimension beyond that of the living which we cannot experience until our souls are separated from our bodies. It is not so much to be thought of as a place, as it is a state or dimension of existence.

b) The righteous are often said to descend into hell at death. Jacob (Genesis 37:35), Hezekiah (Isaiah 38:10), David (Psalm 16:10 in its primary application to himself), Jesus (Acts 2:27, 13:34-35, Psalm 16:10 in its application to the resurrection of Jesus.

The account of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31 supports this view. Both men, the righteous Lazarus and the reprobate rich man, are said to have died and gone to hell (hades). The rich man’s soul was in torment. Lazarus was comforted by Abraham while resting on his bosom.

Conclusion: If we adopt this last interpretation, it fits well with the flow of thought in the creed, it explains why it was added and is consistent with the rest of the Scriptural account. Jesus was not only crucified and rendered dead, not only was his body laid in a tomb, but also his soul went to the normal place of departed human spirits, sheol. This would have been a fitting response to the ongoing debate about the dual natures of Christ and the reality of his human nature which demanded not only a true body but also a true soul that would have been separate in a real human death with the soul continuing in a conscious state. The real humanity of Jesus is preserved by this statement.

Note: The Bible quotations in this lesson are from the New American Standard Bible (1988 edition) unless otherwise noted.

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Ecclesiology: Lesson 6 – Church Censures
by Pastor Bob Burridge ©2002, 2011

Lesson Index
Our Personal Duty When Others Sin
The Authority of Church to Censure Its Members
The Purpose and Process of Church Censures

Our Personal Duty When Others Sin

Sadly, there are times when God’s people sin and need the encouragement of others to be restored to godliness. This is always the primary goal of what we commonly call church discipline. As a spiritual family we are obligated to do all we can to help one another when we fall into sin.

There are two aspects of biblical discipline. We mostly think of the negative steps that occur after someone is so entangled in sin that he resists personal help. This is where church censures may become necessary. There is also the positive side of discipline. This is where we encourage one another to godliness to avoid falling into sin as much as is possible on this side of glory.

We’re told in Hebrews 10:24 “and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds.” The King James translation has, “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works”

This points to what we are to stir up in others. Believers in Christ are a spiritual family. It’s not what we become. It’s what we are. As such, loving one another isn’t a recommendation. It’s our duty.

When Jesus said, “Love your neighbor as yourself”, he was directly quoting from the ancient law of Moses in Leviticus 19:18.

Paul’s advice in Galatians 6:2 is, ” Bear one another’s burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ.”

We are neither created nor redeemed to live isolated lives.

Paul illustrated this in 1 Corinthians 12:21 by imagining our body parts arguing with one another, “the eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’; or again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.'”

Imagine an army in the heat of battle where all the soldiers argue and don’t get along. A common tactic in war is to disrupt the morale and confidence the enemy troops have in one another, in their cause, or in their leadership. Often supplies are intercepted or blocked, communications are interfered with and conditions are made to deteriorate stirring undisciplined combatants into bickering. This breaks up their ability to function as a unit. Instead of relying upon the special skills of one another, each starts acting on his own and looking out for only himself.

Fingers may not be noticeably important when you’re jogging, But they are a lot more handy than feet when opening a snack package. Every part of the body of Christ is as important as every other, and depends upon every other. It’s the same as how we need all our own body parts working to support one another. If we don’t help one another out as a spiritual family the part each is there to provide will be missing.

Not everyone can do everything. We need to rely on others to get all the work done. This is why God has called some to be shepherds and teachers in the church as Elders. He has called some to to be Deacons to make sure the daily needs are met. Some are Sunday School teachers to help us learn together under the Elders’ direction. Some help the Deacons in their mercy ministries to the needy, or by making repairs, mowing the church’s lawn, getting supplies, cleaning up after worship and social activities and providing transportation to those unable to drive. Some organize our social activities. Some are reliable in prayer, and others are good examples to us as parents or as children. Some remind us of how important it is to be reliably present in worship. Each brings his special ability to strengthen the others. No one does what they do perfectly. But all are to cooperate in love.

One thing every member of the church can and must do is to be encouraging to the others as best he can.

The efforts of the powers of evil shouldn’t have us reeling in disability. Rather than get discouraged, we are told what to do. Just as an army prepares for battle, we need to get involved and carefully design our encouragement of one another in the church. This is the preventive discipline that if lacking creates the need for negative discipline, the correction of disobedience.

Our duty demands careful consideration. Like the other things that help us grow, it doesn’t happen without a plan. The Greek word used in Hebrews 10:24 is katanohmen (κατνωμεν) which means to plan, plot, and scheme.

If you don’t have a clear plan for stimulating others to love and to good works, you’re not obeying this command of God’s word. The church will suffer by its lack of your talent and help.

Those who don’t actively encourage their brothers and sisters in Christ, are like crippled body parts being drug around by the rest of the body. It’s like going into battle without communications among the soldiers, without food supplies or medics. We need everyone to help us become what we ought to be in the service of Christ.

That doesn’t mean everyone has to be an expert at biblical counseling or have immediately helpful answers to all the problems people struggle with. It doesn’t mean that all believers are equally well trained in Bible exegesis and Theology.

Hebrews 10:24 is very specific about our duties toward one another. The goal is to provoke good effects in other believers. The word translated as “provoke’ is paroxusmos (παροξυσμος). The NASB has “stimulate”. It means to stir up someone, to instigate them in some way.

There are two categories for what we are to provoke others to do. The first goal is to provoke those around us to love. Love isn’t just a romantic or warm feeling. It is when our attitudes and actions toward others are in agreement with what pleases God. We promote their well being as if God’s glory was more important than our own desires. The feelings associated with love are the blessings that follow when we act in love according to what God says it is.

It’s one thing to work on love in ourselves. This verse teaches us that it is also our duty to cause love to grow in others. We need to plot and plan ways to make it happen. We are to encourage them to put into practice the duties of love found in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. This means we should find ways to encourage those around us in our homes, church, work, and community. We should help them learn to be patient and kind. They should grow to avoid jealousy, bragging, arrogance, and rudeness. We encourage them not to seek things selfishly, or to become easily provoked, or to keep books on past wrongs. We should by example teach them to rejoice in God’s truth rather than in unrighteous things, to bear all things, to give people the benefit of the doubt, to hope in God’s promises, and to endure because love never fails.

We also should provoke others to good works kalohn ergohn (καλων εργων). There is no confusion about what those works are. God tells us what is good in his word. By our encouragement and good example we should plan ways to stir others to do what is good. Their progress is their own responsibility, but it is also our duty to help them tactically.

This is our two-fold duty toward all the believers we know and come in contact with. Each of us should ask ourselves, “What can I be doing to make everyone around me, treat others in love, and to do good works?”

Our plan should be molded around the methods the Bible prescribes. We should be good examples by being loving and doing good deeds ourselves. We should make these godly things part of our conversations so we are all reminded about them. We should pray for one another’s progress. We should appreciate and rejoice with others when they do good things.

Puritan John Owen notes that this behavior says something about our own spiritual maturity, “Love and good works are the fruits, effects and evidences of the sincere profession of saving faith”

Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” Do we love him? Then we will take this assignment very seriously.

We weren’t made or redeemed to live alone. God designed us to need one another. Jesus established a church. He did not come to save spiritual hermits. Moffatt calls one who never commits to a local congregation “a pious particle,” The idea of a Christian without a church family he calls, an “oxymoron”, a self-contradictory statement if ever there was one.

If a Christian is to be like Christ, then like Christ he cannot be isolated from other believers. A secret disciple is no disciple at all. Another commentator writes, “either the discipleship kills the secrecy, or the secrecy kills the discipleship.” Failure to be loyal members of a church demonstrates a disloyalty to the Kingdom of God. It is disloyalty both to the King, and to the people who make up his kingdom on earth.

It has been said that spiritual snobbery reveals a Pharisaical heart and mind. Such detached renegades are looking for an acceptable club, not a church united by Sovereign Grace. It shows their total disregard of one of the most clear and fundamental teachings of the law, the prophets, the Apostles, and of Jesus himself.

The importance of actively participating in the church as a family of believers shouldn’t be forgotten or neglected. Therefore our gatherings on Sundays are good times to focus our efforts on this duty:

Hebrews 10:25 – the next verse from our text says, “not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near.”

In Dr. Kistemaker’s commentary on Hebrews he writes, “One of the first indications of a lack of love toward God and the neighbor is for a Christian to stay away from the worship services. He forsakes the communal obligations of attending these meetings and displays the symptoms of selfishness and self-centeredness.”

The Greek word for assembling in this text is from the word episunagogae (επισυναγωγη), from which we get the word “synagogue”. It is the gathered church as commanded by Christ.

When we meet on the Lord’s Day, we should try to sincerely and properly greet one another. It is not reasonable that everybody gets into a conversation with everybody else, but we should make an effort to reach out beyond our own little group of close friends.

Our concern and encouragement shouldn’t be directed only to those who are like us. We need to reach beyond those in our own age group, those who dress as we do, those who have hobbies or interests in common with us, or who grew up where we did.

We have something greater in common. We all share in the same spiritual heritage by our spiritual birth into the family of Christ. We all struggle against the remaining greed and lusts of our sinful hearts. We all live in a world that has different values and expectations of us. We all have to work hard to provide for our needs in a fallen world.

If someone isn’t coming up to you don’t judge him. Your duty is to encourage him to love and to good works. Be a friend first yourself. We all need that kind of help and understanding.

Beyond our Sunday gatherings we need to be a real family of believers. We need to pray for one another, to be in contact with others in the church, to remember the situations each family is facing, and to help in practical ways when we are able.

If we really trust the promises of Jesus Christ without wavering we will come to worship with plans to encourage those who worship with us so that they improve in love and in good works. We will also remember our spiritual brothers and sisters during the week.

This is what will make our church family stronger and more Christ-like. This is how those seeking Christ will find what they are looking for in the church.

Hebrews 3:13 puts it this way, “But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called ‘today,’ lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”

Simple encouragements are an important part of our daily growth in Christ. So, “… let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works”

Sadly, bad behavior can not be completely prevented. We are all but sinners saved by grace. There are situations where love demands that we deal with wrong and hurtful behavior. This negative side means that sometimes, we have to lovingly and effectively advise and correct one another when wrong things are done.

Here’s the problem. It’s not easy to approach someone effectively to encourage them to correct wrong behaviors. It may take a while to learn, but it is not wise just to launch out into correction. That usually provokes defensiveness and rarely stirs the person to love and to good works. Often harsh attacks against an erring brother show an immature self-pride. People might degrade struggling sinners out of a distorted pious belief they are better than others.

While it is true that the one who needs correction might not be as spiritually aware of some things, it is important to remember that we are all just sinners saved and preserved by grace. We grow at different rates and all of us have issues we need to correct.

Sometimes the easy route is to ignore problems in other believers. It’s less challenging not to get involved in helping a brother overcome his temptations. It’s easy to just say it’s none of our business. There might be a fear that it would cause “strain on their relationship.” At times people just don’t feel qualified to say anything since they sin too.

The biblical mandate, the way God tells us is best, is very different. We shouldn’t arrogantly condemn others with an attitude of pride and superiority. And we shouldn’t keep quiet, withholding the help God gives us to offer. God’s way of helping others is summarized by Jesus in Matthew 18 which divides this spiritual help into three very practical levels.

First there is the individual level of help. In most cases this is all that needs to be done. Matthew 15:15 And if your brother sins, go and reprove him in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.

It’s important that the first attempts to help be done in private. First, we need to be sure that we haven’t misunderstood the situation. It’s our duty to listen carefully to understand that what we think we see is accurate. Proverbs 18:13 warns us, “He who gives an answer before he hears, It is folly and shame to him.”

At the same time, we should be careful not to make a person’s sins known to others. If we abandon the importance of privacy, we can do great harm.

A believer should never share his negative suspicions or knowledge with others. This is that destructive sin of gossip. It might even be well intended. Sin often gets past our guard by wearing an appealing disguise. There are times when people tell about someone’s sins in the form of a “prayer request”. Though meaning it for good, this can ruin the reputation of a brother.

We should try to avoid even listening to conversations about another person’s sins. A person who gossips is one who needs our loving and careful correction.

Sins are very serious and personal matters. They should only be confessed to God and to the person directly sinned against. The feeling of forgiveness is an assurance given by the Holy Spirit when we deal with sin in God’s way. But there have always been false teachings that lure us away from this promise.

The practice of confessing to human priests for absolution isn’t Biblical. It looks to humans for what only Christ can do. We come to him directly and privately.

Also, the trendy idea of openly proclaiming sins and faults in groups is a similar error. It relies on a humanistic view of psychology where confession of that sort feels good because it is cathartic. It lets us vent our inner hang-ups and hear stories about the similar sins in others.

But that’s not where the Bible directs us for the comfort of forgiveness. It tells us to confess our sins to God, believing that he really removes our guilt in Christ.

We might admit wrongs directly to the one we hurt so that we can repair the damage. We might even go privately to a brother or to an Elder for spiritual direction, prayer, and encouragement. But the practices of priestly or group confession puts our hope in the wrong place. That is not what the Scriptures mean by confessing our faults to one another. Misplaced hope usually produces more problems and misses the real assurances of God.

The goal of our correction is to help the erring brother. He needs to be won back to honoring Christ in his attitudes and behavior. Being won back involves 4 things that must be done when any believer sins:
1. Confession: A Christian should admit (confess) that his sin horribly offends God.
2. Repentance: Sincere sorrow for sin is shown by turning from it, and by striving with God’s help to replace it with God-pleasing behaviors and attitudes.
3. Faith: We need to trust that Jesus Christ satisfied the penalty for the sin, and that the new life he puts in us enables us to be able to overcome our sins.
4. Restitution: The repentant sinner know that he has an obligation to make restitution when possible for whatever harm, damage, or inconvenience his sin might have caused to others.

We are called by God to find effective ways to encourage the sinner to do these things. To accomplish this we need to approach an erring brother or sister with a right attitude. The New Testament describes this as admonition. People sometimes think of the word admonish in a purely negative sense. It often implies a harsh scolding, or a lording it over someone as a moral superior. But in the Bible the word has a much richer, a more tender and positive meaning.

To admonish is a translation of the Greek word nouthetein (νουθετειν). It’s a common word and theme in the New Testament. Colossians 3:14-17 gives a list of characteristics that go along with admonition:

And beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:14 the apostle Paul writes, “We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with all men”

Putting together the 11 places where this word is used, we biblically admonish one another when we help others become stronger in the Lord, by humbly offering advice from God’s word, and by our good example. It must be offered in humility, with love, tenderness, patience, and brotherly concern. It is a loving confrontation rather than a hostile one.

Paul used that same language in Colossians 1:28, “And we proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in Christ.”

To become complete in Christ, we need to be taught and admonished with all wisdom. Explaining and reminding others about what God says in his word is central to biblical admonition. To improve in biblical admonition, you don’t need a seminar or a degree in counseling. You need to make effective use of all the means of grace:

• A helpful brother is one who knows his Bible well and can use it effectively. He studies God’s word daily and thinks about how he should apply what he learns. He makes sure he doesn’t skip sermons or lessons at church any more than he would skip meals. He values the various curricula offered in each program his church leaders put together for him.
• A helpful brother prays for God’s blessing on all he and his loved ones set out to accomplish. He can be counted upon to pray for his brother and sister in the Lord as they struggle with sin.
• He is regular in the worship of the church, valuing every worship opportunity. He worships in spirit and in truth as he takes part in each element of worship.
• He becomes personally involved with the church family and its work. He is there in times of fellowship and shows true interest in what others are going through. He knows how to tenderly and wisely encourage and correct those he loves in the Lord.

Our admonition should never be done with a harsh or disrespectful attitude. To be a biblical helper there is more than just seeing wrong in another, being right about their having done wrong, and then telling them about it.

Real spiritual help must be offered in obedience to God. Otherwise it’s more of a hindrance than a help. A spiritual helper must show the fruit of the Holy Spirit in his approach to another believer. The familiar King James wording of Galatians 5:22-23 lists those characteristics: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance

We add to that the similar advice of … Proverbs 15:1, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger”

Galatians 6:1-2 tells us, “Brethren, even if a man is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; {each one} looking to yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ.”

A supporting Christian friend remembers that he too is just a sinner saved by grace. He is always considerate and respectful when he admonishes someone caught up in sin.

But, if we aren’t able to help on our own, we should get someone else to help. Matthew 18:16 says, “But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed.”

When we need to bring someone else into it we should not forget these principles. We should do all we can to preserve the privacy of the person’s faults. It is good to bring in one of the Shepherds of the church, or a spiritually mature mutual friend. This way it is not just personal. It is not just your word against the other person’s. God’s law reflects the importance of consulting others in a confidential and discrete manner.

The Authority of Church to Censure Its Members

Westminster Confession of Faith 30

I. The Lord Jesus, as King and Head of his church, hath therein appointed a government, in the hand of church officers, distinct from the civil magistrate.
II. To these officers the keys of the kingdom of heaven are committed; by virtue whereof, they have power, respectively, to retain, and remit sins; to shut that kingdom against the impenitent, both by the Word, and censures; and to open it unto penitent sinners, by the ministry of the gospel; and by absolution from censures, as occasion shall require.

If the personal approach fails, the matter should be brought to the church for help. Matthew 18 continues …

17 And if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax-gatherer.
18 Truly I say to you, whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
19 Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven.
20 For where two or three have gathered together in My name, there I am in their midst.”

By comparing other passages about church discipline we see that we do not tell the whole church. It is one of the duties of the Elders to act for the church in dealing with its people. But even when they come into the picture, the Elders, which includes the Pastors, continue the same methods. They need to tenderly urge obedience to God’s ways.

Sadly, if the brother or sister refuses even this level of admonition, the Elders are obligated to guard the Lord’s Table by suspending them until they repent. They may eventually have to remove his membership, which is what verse 18-20 are talking about. It does not mean his salvation is revoked. Only God can do that. They may however, have to recognize that his trust and love of Christ has come into doubt. Every step must be done in love with the goal of helping and restoring the erring brother.

This is the process of church discipline. We all have a part in it. We are obligated to try very hard to lovingly help people in private as friends, and as a spiritual family. We encourage and pray so that the negative times are very few. But when these times come upon us, we dare not abandon the ways God promises to bless.

There are times when each of us might be on the receiving end of correction. Our family or friends might have to approach us in love to help us overcome our sin. If they do, we should remember the advice of Proverbs 12:15, “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, But a wise man is he who listens to counsel.”

The teaching and admonition of our friends and church is how the word and ways of Christ are established among us. It is the method God promises to bless when it is done his way.

When this positive and personal discipline fails to restrain sin in others and to help them grow in godliness, we are obligated to deal with their faults carefully and in the way God specifies in his word. The Bible grants limited authority to earthly leaders which must be respected as they discipline wrong doers.

In the area of civil sins, the authorities of the state are to deal with them by the principles of God’s word. We covered that in our unit on the Civil Magistrate. God has authorized the government of the church to operate distinctly from the civil authorities.

Upon This Rock – the Keys of the Kingdom
The officers of the church continue to function as they had in ancient times. God has given them authority only over those who are members under their shepherding care. Their area of authority is limited to the matters that have to do with involvement in the covenant community and the partaking of the sacraments of the church.

This spiritual oversight is specified in a way that does not encroach upon the rightful authority of heads of homes, or of the civil governments. The duties of the church toward these other areas of life is limited to the spiritual discipline of individual church members, and to the informing and challenging of those other authorities concerning what God has revealed and demanded in his word.

One of the most central passages of the Bible which summarizes the authority of the church leaders is Matthew 16. There it speaks of the “keys of the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew 16:13-28 (also Mark 8:27-9:1 and Luke 9:18-27) tells about the time when Jesus asked his disciples who they thought the Son of Man was. First they explained what men commonly were saying at the time. Then Jesus asked them “But who do you say that I am?”

Peter answered for the group in verse 16. “Thou art the Christ, Son of the living God,”

The word Christ means “the Anointed One of God”. It is the Greek form of the Hebrew word we commonly translate as Messiah. He was the one born of a woman’s seed to crush the head of Satan (Genesis 3:15), the one anticipated by the prophets to deliver Israel from oppression.

Only Matthew, in 16:17, records the comment Jesus made about Peter’s answer. And Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.

The Apostle’s understanding could not have come from flesh and blood. This means that the natural ways we get to know things in this world could not have been the source of his understanding. Fallen man can’t possibly understand spiritual truths on his own due to the corrupt state of his fallen nature (Romans 3:10-12 John 6:44 1 Corinthians 2:14). The truth Peter expressed had to have been revealed by the Father in Heaven. It was made known to him by a sovereign work of God upon his heart.

Then Jesus spoke words of promise to Peter. In Matthew 16:18-19 Jesus said, “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

There are various interpretations of what Jesus meant when he told Peter, “upon this Rock I will build my church”.

The Roman Church claims that this established Peter as the first Pope. They claim that the church was built upon this papacy as its foundation. Since no mention of this office or authority is found in Scripture we will not give it serious consideration. They also extend the scope of the rest of Christ’s promise to include the power to admit to eternal life or to condemn to everlasting judgment. This is clearly a departure from the text which speaks only of the Kingdom, the place where God’s reigning authority is manifested.

Some believe that Peter was not the rock of which Jesus was speaking. They see it as a play on words to show that Christ was the rock, and that Peter was merely a small part of, or ledge of, that rock. The linguistic arguments presented to support this view are based upon trivial differences in words and grammar that do not hold up. Besides, it really proves nothing because Jesus particularized saying, “upon this rock”. If he mean a ledge, then he is still talking about Peter.

A variation of this view is that instead of speaking of Peter, Jesus was saying that upon the basis of his profession, or its divine origin, the church would be built. But this ignores the rest of the promise of Jesus which speaks of the keys of the kingdom being given to Peter as an individual. He is not saying that the keys will be given to some profession of faith or to the work of the Father in revealing truth to otherwise dead hearts.

Jesus was clearly addressing Peter in this passage. In some way, Peter is the rock upon which the church was to be build. But what does that mean? In the most fundamental sense, Jesus Christ is the foundation of the church. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 3:11 wrote, “for no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”

But in a secondary but very real sense the Apostles are the foundation of the church as the called ministers of Christ. Ephesians 2:20 says of the church, “having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone.” And in Revelation 21:14 John writes, “the wall of the city (the new Jerusalem) had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.”

Peter played an important role in laying the Apostolic foundation for the church. He preached at Pentecost (Acts 2), he initiated the bringing of the gospel to the gentiles, and he wrote two of the inspired New Testament books to direct the church.

Before mentioning the keys of the kingdom, Jesus assured Peter that the church will be victorious and triumphant, “the gates of hades will not prevail against it.”

Certainly there will be enemies. Satan, his legions, and duped followers will oppose and persecute the church as they did the prophets in more ancient times. But the opponents only prevail for a moment. Their success is only seen if we re-define the standards of victory. By God’s standards, and in the larger picture, they will fail.

Paul wrote in Romans 16:18, “the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” This is a strange testimony for a man who would soon be held in prison, for a church on the brink of Nero’s persecutions just a few years in its future. Yet there were many triumphs by the martyrs burned alive in the gardens of Nero and on put to death the floor of the Colosseum.

John writes in Revelation 17:14 “These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful.”

In verse 4 of the hymn Onward Christian Soldiers by Sabine Baring-Gould (1865) we read, “Crowns and thrones may perish, Kingdoms rise and wane, but the church of Jesus constant will remain. Gates of hell can never ‘gainst that church prevail; We have Christ’s own promise, and that cannot fail”

The world may at times be larger, richer and make a bigger show of things. However, in Christ believers are reconciled with God, forgiven of their sins, privileged to know the moral principles that please their Creator, promised satisfaction in the issues of life, assured to dwell in the presence of the Sovereign God forever, united in a spiritual family as the church of God, and granted access to the table of the Lord here on earth as they wait. What great honors!

If we become discouraged when we compare the success of the true church with the foolish bragging of a world on it’s way to hell, then we are using the wrong ruler for measuring what God is doing among us.

Jesus then charged Peter with the “keys of the kingdom”. Keys operate locks. They determine who may be kept out, and who may go in.

Certainly men are never given the authority to determine who will be eternally saved and lost. But God did give power to men to admit and bar from membership in the earthly manifestation of his kingdom, particularly as it is represented in the Church.

The Heidelberg Catechism in its answer to question 83 explains, “the preaching of the holy gospel, and Christian discipline, or the excommunication out of the Christian church: by these two, the kingdom of heaven is opened to believers and shut against unbelievers.”

By the preaching of God’s word, the gospel, the door of the kingdom, is opened to some, and closed to others. Some responded to the gospel with joy and faith. Others with anger and hatred of Christ. Peter was fundamentally engaged in the work of confronting men with the gospel. (See Acts 2:38,39 3:16-20 4:12 10:34-43 and 3:23.)

Just as Peter and the other apostles laid the apostolic foundation for the church, we too follow their example by proclaiming the gospel which will bring some into the church and will turn others from it.

The kingdom is also opened to some, and closed to others by formal church discipline. When a professing member of the church persists in sin or heresy, and refuses to submit to the authority Christ placed in the officers of his church (the Apostles, and later the Elders) they defy the authority God gave these men in guarding admission to the sacraments, and in defining the membership of each local flock of Christ’s church.

If in extreme cases a person is removed from membership, it is because his life has been found to be inconsistent with and contradictory to a true profession of faith. It means we have no biblical grounds upon which to believe they are truly born-again by the grace of God.

Jesus granted the rest of the Apostles this same authority in Matthew 18:18. It was not unique to Peter. The Apostle Paul applies this to the Elders of the church in his letters to the churches. In Romans 11:16-28 the olive tree illustration shows that our ecclesiastical discipline is a judgment of what God is making known about those in the church. We must follow the rules of evidence and of fair hearing which God provides for us in his word. 1 Corinthians 5:1-5 appears to be an example of one such person cut off from the communion of the church in Corinth.

The details of the authority and its relationship with God’s promise is summed up in the expression, “… whatever you shall bind on earth, shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth, shall have been loosed in heaven” (NASB). And in the KJV it reads, “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

The verbs in the expressions “shall bind/loose” are aorist active subjunctives, and in “shall have been bound/loosed” they are perfect passive participles. More literally it reads, “whatever you bind on earth has been bound in heaven … whatever you loose on earth has been loosed in heaven”

Making the perfects to have a futuristic meaning is purely interpretive and is weak grammatically. It may unjustly imply that the action in heaven is based upon the judgment of the apostles.

It should also be noticed that it’s not who you bind or loose, but what. It is not the people as individuals which are being considered. It is the cases and evidence brought before the Elders that is actually being judged.

Lexical studies also show that the terms ‘binding” and ‘loosing” are rabbinic terms used in their writings for “forbidding” (placing bonds on someone to restrain them from some privilege), and “permitting” (allowing them to be loosed so they may enjoy some privilege). This reverses the common understanding of the order. To bind a man regarding the Kingdom is to keep him from being a part of it, and to loose a man is to allow him to engage in the Kingdom as a member in good standing.

When a person persists unrepentantly and without concern in what is forbidden, church discipline removes his recognition as a child of God, following God’s instructions for discerning what has been the person’s standing in heaven all along.

When someone repents of sin and submits to Christ’s law, he is received into the full privileges of membership in the church as a child of God.

After the resurrection Jesus said to the Apostles in John 20:23, “if you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”

What the apostles bound or loosed here on earth ought to represent the person’s standing with God to the best of the officers’ ability. This is not an infallible judgment. It reflects the person’s standing with the Kingdom of God in heaven only to the degree that the Apostles or Elders have followed the standards of God’s word faithfully. An unrepentant person shows no evidence of being born again and so should not be numbered here on earth as being among the citizens of God’s kingdom. Those who credibly repent and submit to the ways God has revealed in his word show reason to include them in the privileges of church membership. God promises to condemn the unrepentant and to redeem the repentant. The judgment of the church simply follows that revealed promise in making its rulings.

By using the term “overseer” for one of the duties of the Elders, Paul’s letters show that these officer are to continue this binding and judging duty given the Elders in the ancient Law of God to His covenant people.

A church Session (the formal meeting together of the Elders) attempts to determine the facts in any particular case and make a judgment based upon them according to the judicial principles in Scripture. They investigate, hear the witnesses, examine evidence, and hear the testimony of the accused.

If the evidence is lacking, the name of the accused is cleared and his full fellowship in the church is affirmed. Those accusing must honestly forgive and forget the issue. If false charges have been made, the accusers must repent or face charges themselves.

If the accused is found guilty, there are two options.
1) If the accused sincerely repents, he is restored to fellowship
2) If he persists in his sin, the Elders must censure him

The Purpose and Process of Church Censures

Westminster Confession of Faith 30

III. Church censures are necessary, for the reclaiming and gaining of offending brethren, for deterring of others from the like offenses, for purging out of that leaven which might infect the whole lump, for vindicating the honor of Christ, and the holy profession of the gospel, and for preventing the wrath of God, which might justly fall upon the church, if they should suffer his covenant, and the seals thereof, to be profaned by notorious and obstinate offenders.
IV. For the better attaining of these ends, the officers of the church are to proceed by admonition; suspension from the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper for a season; and by excommunication from the church; according to the nature of the crime, and demerit of the person.

The Motives of Censure
Ecclesiastical discipline must not be neglected in the church. It is not loving to allow someone to continue in harmful behavior without taking reasonable steps to stop them, and to help them to live according to what God has revealed is good.

The confession divides the motives for censure into five basic categories:
1) We should be concerned to restore a sinning brother to godliness and full fellowship with God and with the other members of his spiritual family in the church on earth. It is significant that the section of Matthew 18 that deals with discipline comes right after the lesson of Jesus about seeking the lost sheep.

2) We should be moved by our love of the offenders to deter them from sin by the threat of censure. Often times temporal consequences are easier for our finite and sinful minds to consider when we do wrong. A person may persist in some immorality if nothing negative seems to immediately come of it. If he knows he will be confronted by the church, and perhaps lose his access to the Lord’s Table or become excommunicated, he might be deterred from persisting in his sin. The temporal censure illustrates for him that God does not view sin lightly. When others in the church see those who unrepentantly sin face such consequences, they too will be reminded that there are moral principles higher than our immediate pleasures. Growing up in a church where concern about sin is evident is healthy and good for our children as they develop more spiritually mature ways of making moral decisions in their lives.

3) We should be highly motivated to purge moral infection from harming the rest of the church. The Bible uses the analogy of leaven spreading throughout the loaf of bread to show how sinful attitudes can spread throughout the church. Unchecked gossip breeds more gossip. Mean attitudes can stir others to forsake kindness and patience. Immorality overlooked gives the impression, particularly to our young children, that such things should not only be tolerated, but also that they are not horribly wicked or dangerous.

4) We should be diligent to vindicate the honor of Christ. When the church tolerates sin within its membership, and takes no steps to correct it biblically, the reputation of Christ, and the life transforming claims of the gospel are brought to question. The world sees accepted hypocrisy where there ought to be repentance and a striving for moral growth. This confusion brings disgrace upon the Lord we say we love and serve, and hinders a right understanding of the gospel message.

5) We should be concerned to prevent God’s wrath from rightly falling upon a corrupt church. If the unrepentant and notoriously evil are admitted to the Lord’s Table, and given positions of leadership in the church, God may deal with the whole congregation or denomination by withdrawing his blessings and peace. In 1 Corinthians 11:29-32 Paul warns the church about the consequences of desecrating the covenant sign and seal of the Lord’s Supper by unfit persons partaking. “For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. But if we judged ourselves rightly, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord in order that we may not be condemned along with the world.”

The Methods of Censure
The church is not free to invent its own methods of discipline. The Elders of the church are given four basic tools for dealing with stubbornly unrepentant sinners in their congregations. Three of them apply to all the members of the church, and one of them applies only to church officers.

1) The first stage of discipline by the church is a formal admonition. This comes after personal attempts to bring the sinner to repentance have failed. When personal and pastoral counsel is ignored, the Elders acting as a formal Session having fairly heard the evidence issues a firm but loving warning. The Elders ask the offender to cease doing whatever wrongs that have come to the attention of the church, and to repent sincerely doing whatever is reasonable to correct any harm he may have done.

2) The second censure is suspension from the Lord’s Supper. It is harmful for the unrepentant member and the rest of the church for him to continue to partake of the sacraments hypocritically. His participation is a profession of confidence in God’s work of grace and submission to his lordship. If he remains rebellious against God’s law and the officers of the church who are serving him the elements, he should not be permitted to desecrate this God ordained privilege. The danger is clearly stated in 1 Corinthians 11:27-32 (quoted previously).

3) The censure that only applies to officers of the church is deposition. An Elder (including Pastors), or a Deacon who persists in unrepentant sin brings contempt upon the church and may mislead those he is charged to lead spiritually. The church may after a proper trial revoke his ordination based upon properly presented evidence which contradicts his claim to a calling to office by the Lord.

4) The ultimate censure is excommunication. This is a judgment that the person has persisted in unrepentant sin, and has failed to heed the warnings of the church to the point where he no longer gives evidence that he is born again. This is a very serious step and should not be administered hastily or without a clear investigative and judicial process. When convicted of both persisting in sin unrepentantly, and of a contumacious attitude toward the authority Christ has placed in his church officers, the person’s membership is revoked until repentance and a credible profession of faith is demonstrated. He may be re-admitted to the church in the same way a new believer is admitted. Meanwhile he is to be treated lovingly and evangelistically as if he was an unbeliever (Matthew 18:17)

By this process of discipline the Elders strive to help sinning members repent and keep the church free of pretenders to Christianity. The good olive tree in Romans 11 is pruned by the removal of branches that show no fruit (the lack of evidence of submission to the Lord in their lives). Such disregard for God’s word is not consistent with a credible profession of faith. All members of the church should be alerted to that judgment by the Church if they persist in unbelief and unrepentant sin. Romans 11:20-21 says, “…they were broken off for their unbelief, and you stand only by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; for if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.”

1 John 2:19 shows that there are those who enter the church for impure and dishonest reasons. “they went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, in order that it might be shown that they all are not of us.”

1 Corinthians 5 gives a case study showing how this principle is applied.

Church officers should take this duty of judicial discipline very seriously. They should follow fair and just methods to determine cases brought before them so that the honor of Christ is preserved, the church is kept as pure as is possible, and sinners are restored to humble faith and obedience in their lives as professing believers in Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.

Note: The Bible quotations in this lesson are from the New American Standard Bible (1988 edition) unless otherwise noted.

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