Chapter 4

Vengeful Discipline

Nowhere is the imbalance of a group proved more convincingly than in how it handles its members that dare to disagree with it. Whatever the nature of the disagreement, the group’s leaders (whether they are identified in a formal way or not) react with a vengeance. That’s because everything outside of the group’s prescribed “party line” thinking is seen as a personal affront to God, to the group as a whole, and to the group’s leadership. As such, it invites a variety of disciplinary actions, depending upon the group’s views concerning church discipline.

Before we go into the particulars, it might be helpful to look at church discipline in a more general way. Then we’ll hopefully have a better perspective to consider how it can become unbalanced and unhealthy. We see from New Testament writings that there are occasions calling for swift disciplinary action on the part of church elders to protect the congregation from harm. False teachers must not be given the opportunity to spread what Peter called “destructive heresies” (2 Peter 2:1; see also Titus 1:10-11; Acts 20:28-31; 2 Corinthians 11:13-14).

At times, individuals who knew the Lord had to be publicly censored because of their blatantly sinful behavior. The man at Corinth (1 Corinthians 5) is one example. Paul advised the church there to put him out—quit fellowshipping with him—until he repented of his sexual immorality. In contrast to the select society mentality, however, Paul didn’t characterize the sinful man as someone “not of them,” someone to be forever written off as unworthy of their company.

In fact, in his second letter to them, Paul warns the Corinthian believers to “not be too severe” in their dealings with the sinful man. “This punishment which was inflicted by the majority is sufficient for such a man. You ought to forgive and comfort him,” lest he be “swallowed up with too much sorrow” (2 Corinthians 2:5-7). Once the Lord brought the individual to repentance, the church was to welcome him back as a restored member of the group. In other words, the discipline was meant to be corrective, not merely punitive.

How Christians respond to one another when they fall into error will affect the entire body of Christ, since we’re all related and interconnected. That’s why it’s important that we stay balanced in how we handle this delicate matter. When the problem is relatively localized in its effects, affecting just a few people, Paul’s advice in Galatians 6:1-2 is sufficient: “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” The key word here is restore. This should be the goal for any discipline directed at a member of Christ’s body. False teachers who don’t belong to Him are in a different category altogether.

We are called to exercise meekness and loving concern towards our brothers and sisters in Christ who fall into error, believing the best of them and expressing confidence that they will choose to make things right. Nowhere does the New Testament give us license to be high-handed or condescending in our attitude towards one who has fallen into sin. There are two important points we shouldn’t miss in the verse just quoted from Galatians 6.

One is that the person administering the discipline needs to be spiritual. Now spiritual doesn’t mean the person who knows the most Bible verses, has been saved the longest, or occupies some prominent position in the group. Those who are spiritual are like Jesus—in their correction they show gentleness, not judgmental condemnation. They are the ones who can apply the salve so that it heals, not just stings.

The second point is that those who administer discipline must understand their own vulnerability to sin. As they give discipline they should consciously remember that one day they might be the one in need of correction. So they are careful to “do unto others what they would have others do unto them.”

The Pain of Discipline

Many Christians have been hurt by harsh censure from someone in their church or Christian group. In some cases, they were never spoken to directly—they were victims of a smear campaign behind their backs. When they were most in need of kindness, godly concern, and restorative correction, they received stinging condemnation instead.

It’s common for such people to walk away from their experience vowing to never trust another group of Christians. As a result, they are left stunted in their spiritual growth and the body of Christ is robbed of any gifts and spiritual contributions they would have made. That’s why this issue is important and needs to be handled in a biblical way.

It’s hard to prevent all pain when discipline is administered, but it should be of short duration and followed by loving restoration and healing. After all, we don’t want to err on the opposite extreme either, closing our eyes to sinful behavior simply because we don’t want to hurt or offend anyone. Hebrews 3:13 says “exhort one another daily, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”

We should be willing to keep each other accountable in our spiritual journey. It’s especially important in the places where we have “blind spots”—patterns of behavior we can’t even see in ourselves without the help of a good friend. Jesus assumed we would do this for others—point out areas where they need to improve, but He warns us to be careful to consider ourselves and how we fall short before we try to help others. Sometimes the “beam” in our own eye makes it difficult for us to objectively see the “mote” in a fellow believer.

Reminders to put God first in our lives, to be faithful in what He has given us to do, to shun unbelief, and to “walk in the light as He is in the light” (1 John 1:7) are needed on a regular basis for us to live as we should. That’s why the Bible encourages us to continue meeting together for mutual edification. “Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another” (Hebrews 10:24-25, NIV).

Unhealthy Discipline

In unhealthy Christian groups, members are dealt with harshly, and discipline is administered for the sole purpose of punishing and humiliating. When someone steps outside of the group’s prescribed behavior patterns or ways of viewing Scripture, the leadership begins to separate that person from the rest of the flock in blatant or clandestine ways. The usual pattern is for the dissident person to be called in to speak to the elders/leaders/teachers privately. If he cannot be persuaded to return to what they consider normative behavior or belief, then other steps are taken that involve the group as a whole.

Since they are doing the teaching and preaching, the leadership can draw parallels between the dissident member’s attitude or behavior with unflattering examples from Scripture. One example they often use is King Saul. The story is recounted in 1 Samuel 15.

Before attacking the Amalekites, Saul was told to make sure his army utterly destroyed every person as well as every animal as a punishment for what they had done to Israel. When the Lord’s prophet Samuel arrived on the scene and saw that Saul had spared not only their king, Agag, but the best of their sheep and cattle, he cried out to the Lord all that night. When he confronted Saul the next day, Saul tried to defend his actions, saying that he had spared the animals so he could use them in sacrifices to the Lord. But Samuel could see through the excuse, and he didn’t hesitate to deliver the message he had received from God:

“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.” (vv. 22-23)  

In unbalanced groups, the lesson behind the biblical lesson is clear: Members who don’t listen to the word of their leaders are rebellious and stubborn. If they persist in their rebellion, they should be considered no better than witches or idol worshippers. The comparison couldn’t be more unflattering or damaging because Bible students know how Jehovah God viewed witchcraft—it was something so abhorrent that people involved in it were punished severely and harshly (see Deuteronomy 18:10-12).

It’s easy to see how such a damning comparison can encourage a variety of hateful responses, including gossip, shunning, and public rebuke. It takes a very strong person to hold up against this kind of group censure. That’s why most dissidents end up leaving the unbalanced group. Some stay longer than others, but eventually it becomes so awkward and counterproductive that it seems the most Christian thing to do. In most cases, unless something within the group dynamic changes, the individual can’t ever clear his name or gain back any influence he lost by his “rebellion.”

I actually saw this kind of discipline take place in our group. The unfair comparison was applied to one of our elders/teachers who didn’t agree with some policy being promoted by the other leaders, and as a result he was effectively shut down and silenced. Other members might not have fully understood what was going on, or maybe they were just too intimidated to question the unfair comparison. In any case, this leader had to take a back seat from that time on. Eventually, he moved on to another place where he could begin to use his teaching gifts once again.

This punitive action on the part of the leaders didn’t just affect the teacher, leaving him with no opportunity for exercising his gifts from the Lord. It also robbed the rest of the congregation of the ministry he would have provided had he not been subjected to this imbalanced and vengeful discipline. We could see in a practical way what Paul meant when he wrote “If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it” (1 Corinthians 12:26).

The sweet fellowship we had once enjoyed turned sour, and even those not involved in the contentious issue could sense the tension when we met together. I no longer went to our church meetings with a joyful heart. In fact, it was hard to worship the Lord in those circumstances. The only one who can benefit from a vengeful attitude in a Christian group is Satan. If only we could remember that in the heat of controversy!

How adherence to a view or position becomes more important than our relationships within the Lord’s body is hard to understand when we look at New Testament teaching on the subject. But our pride and sectarian loyalties take over in such environments and snuff out the “sincere love of the brethren” that comes through our bond in the Spirit (1 Peter 1:22).

Charles Finney ran into the same kind of spirit when he was preaching revival meetings in the 1800s. He called it “loveless light” and explained it this way:

“While men’s minds are enlightened about what they ought to be and say, they are not at the same time enlightened about how to act as they try to fulfill these duties. Malign emotions take the control of the will, and hurry the individual away into an outrageous and vindictive effort to sustain what he calls right and truth. Their prayers, their exhortations, everything they say or do, are but a stream of scolding, faultfinding, and recrimination.”[1]

Such attitudes and behavior don’t happen overnight. Gradually the unbalanced group is drawn into these malign emotions, and the result is a kind of vindictive, vengeful discipline towards its uncooperative members. When it first appears, it may distress many within the group, but gradually they become used to the leadership’s heavy-handed rule and, out of fear for their own position, they say nothing. In time, some even begin to participate in the disciplinary measures and enjoy the Pharisaical feeling of superiority it gives them.

All of this grieves the heart of God. As brothers and sisters in Christ begin to “bite and devour one another” their collective witness in the world is lost, and they end up being “consumed by one another,” as Paul said in Galatians 5:15. This is why we must be alert to the characteristics of unhealthy Christian groups and resist the attitudes that will develop unless we fight against them. 

In the next chapter we’ll look at yet another unhealthy characteristic that accompanies imbalanced Christian groups. Then we’ll turn our attention to God’s desire for all of us: the Larger Place.

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  [1] Charles G. Finney, “Revival Enthusiasm” in Reflections on Revival, compiled by Donald Dayton (Minneapolis: Bethany Fellowship, 1979), 52-53.

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