One of the most difficult aspects of church life is the carrying out of spiritual discipline.
The world regards it as an intrusion on individual freedom. 'What right have you to judge others?' is the response of most non-Christians. Even Christians may be so unaccustomed to biblical teaching on its necessity that they also question its validity.
The Bible leaves us in no doubt about its importance. The church's responsibility is not to judge those outside the church, but those inside. Church discipline takes seriously the pervasive power of wrong influence in the church (1 Corinthians 5. 6,7). Although the ex-ample in 1 Corinthians concerned sexual immorality, that is not only the ground for church discipline, although, sadly, it may be the most frequent. Grasping attitudes, idolatry, slander, drunkenness and swindling all constitute grounds for church discipline. Disputes between believers, false teaching and apostasy are further reasons for its exercise. Church discipline aims to promote the health of the whole church.
