I am all for church discipline. As someone that happens to believe the Bible is God’s inspired Word, believing in church discipline is a requirement. When both Christ and Paul deal with discipline, it is in the context of unrepentant believers. Jesus tells us to cast a rotten body part (or a body part that causes us to sin) aside. He also says that if an unrepentant sinner won’t change even after being brought before the church, he is to be cast out of the family. Paul says that we shouldn’t even eat with a Christian that refuses to repent from his sin. Suffice it to say, there is sufficient evidence in Scripture that when a brother or sister refuses to repent, we are to cut them off.
However, some churches tend to take this too far or tend to ignore certain contexts. How many churches are uncomfortable with homosexuals or prostitutes coming into their church even when the ‘sinner’ (we’re all sinners) lays no claim to Christ? We should be willing to accept and embrace all people who do not claim Christ and let our lives serve as an example of what a Christ-filled life is. Likewise, let our lives draw the ‘sinners’ to repentance in Christ.
