God’s people are called to be holy. The sin of any member of the church has an adverse effect on the whole church. This includes communicant and baptized members, both of whom are subject to the discipline of the church.
Web transcription of the official 2026 PDF, with links (Crown & Covenant Publications), or the unchanged file. Punctuation is adapted for the website; the original PDF governs.Transcribed from the official 2026 PDF, with links (or the unchanged file). Punctuation is adapted for the website; the original PDF governs.
Contents
Section I · Chapter 1. The Scriptural Foundation and Basic Principles of Church Discipline
God has established an orderly manner for dealing with sin in His church. This order, as set forth in Matthew 18:15-17, involves loving personal confrontation, using witnesses, and calling upon church leaders for counsel and judgment.
Five purposes of church discipline are: primarily, to reclaim a sinning member; then to deter others from similar offenses; to maintain the honor of Christ and the purity and peace of His Church; to maintain the truth of the gospel; and to avoid the wrath of God coming upon the church.
A church which does not follow our Lord’s commands regarding church discipline will certainly lose His blessing, deteriorating more and more in doctrine and in life.
Discipline should be exercised with prudence, discretion, humility, and in full dependence upon the guidance of the Spirit of God, with love for both the Lawgiver and the lawbreaker.
Not everything displeasing to an individual is ground for formal disciplinary process. Offenses which require discipline are of three kinds: heresy; disregard for or violation of the moral law (refusal to submit in the Lord to the teaching and government of this church as being based upon the Scriptures and described in substance in the Constitution of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America); and contempt for the courts of the church (refusal, in case of need of correction in doctrine or life, to respect the authority and discipline of the church).
Scripture: Ex. 23:1; Num. 35:30; Deut. 13:1-11; 17:2-13; 19:15-20; 21:18-21; 22:20-22; Josh. 7:1-26; Matt. 16:19; 18:15-18; John 20:21-23; Acts 5:1-11; 1 Cor. 5:1-13; 2 Cor. 2:5-11; 13:1; Gal. 6:1; 2 Thess. 5:12-15; 2 Thess. 3:6, 14-15; 2 Tim. 5:19-21; Titus 3:10-11; Heb. 12:1-13; 13:17; Rev. 2:2, 20.