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The Nature and End of Excommunication | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to reformed thinking. You know, if you break your arm,
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the medical diagnosis is pretty clean.
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Yeah, very straightforward. Right, the X-ray shows that
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jagged white line. The doctor points to it and says
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there is the break. It is binary and it is
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comforting really. Because we like things to be
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visible. We like things easily
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categorized. We really do.
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But when you step into the world of church discipline, and
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specifically the 18th century landscape of Jonathan Edwards,
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you are not looking at an X-ray. Not at all.
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You are looking at a surgeon preparing to amputate a
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gangrenous limb. To anyone watching from the
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gallery, it looks violent. It looks like an act of harm,
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really. Yeah, it looks cruel.
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But the surgeon knows that cutting off the limb is the only
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way to save the body. And in the unique spiritual case
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we are doing a deep dive into today, there is this radical
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hope that throwing the amputated limb out into the cold might
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actually shock it back to life. Which requires a massive mental
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shift for anyone listening today.
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Yeah, I mean, we live in an era where institutional discipline,
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especially inside a church setting, makes people squirm.
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Oh absolutely, it is super uncomfortable.
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Right, because we lean so heavily toward inclusion, we
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want wide open doors. But today we are looking at
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Edwards's sermon, The Nature and End of Excommunication, and he
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offers a rigorous, covenantal view of community.
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So different from how we think now.
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So different. He is asking us to look at this
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practice not as some archaic overreach by a bunch of
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Puritans, but as an absolute necessity for survival and
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really a severe act of Christian love.
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A severe act of love. That is such a heavy concept and
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for you listening. The goal of this deep dive into
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the source material is to grasp that specific perspective.
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We are basing this on a detailed theological analysis Edwards did
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of First Corinthians chapter 5. Yeah, that is anchor text.
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He breaks down the definition, the subjects, the goals and the
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motivations behind church discipline.
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And to really grasp this, we have to start with the biblical
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mandate. Edwards builds his entire case
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on the historical situation in Corinth.
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He points straight to the Apostle Paul, reproving that
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specific church for failing to cast out an offending member.
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And you know, the situation in Corinth was scandalous even by
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the standards of the surrounding Roman culture, which is saying
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something. Seriously, the Romans were not
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exactly prudes. No, they were not.
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But you had a member of the church living in open,
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unrepentant sexual sin with his stepmother, and the congregation
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was doing absolutely nothing, Nothing at all.
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In fact, Paul points out that they were puffed up about it.
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They were arguably proud of their tolerance.
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Like it was a badge of honor. Yeah, like, look how enlightened
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we are. Look how highly spiritual we
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are. We can transcend this.
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And Paul writes to them and essentially says, you have
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completely lost the plot. You need to act speedily and
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remove this person from your gathering.
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He does not mince words, and Paul uses a very specific
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physical metaphor that Edwards latches onto.
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He orders them to purge out such scandalous persons, comparing it
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to how the Jewish people purged leaven out of their houses right
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before the Passover. Which is such a visceral image
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if you understand ancient baking.
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Right, because they did not have yeast packets.
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Yeah, you didn't run to the store and buy a neat little
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packet of dry yeast. You held onto a piece of old
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fermented dough from your last batch, and you worked it into
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the new dough. Like a sourdough.
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Exactly like that. That old dough, the leaven, it
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has a spreading influence. It works its way through every
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single pocket of the new batch. So leading up to Passover,
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families were commanded to scour their homes.
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Just totally clean it out. Right.
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Remove every microscopic trace of that old leaven.
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It represented the spreading corruption of sin.
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And Edwards takes that imagery and expands it.
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He argues Paul isn't just talking about one specific vice
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here. This leaven represents all
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visible wickedness. It is a mandate to keep the
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visible church pure. It's a broad mandate.
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OK, let's unpack this because here is where Edwards draws a
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massive distinction, and it is something that often trips
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people up today. It is the insider versus
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outsider dynamic. Paul draws a hard boundary, but
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he draws it specifically around the person who is called a
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brother, an insider. Yeah, and we often assume the
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church is supposed to be the moral police for the entire
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culture. We really do.
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We want to hold the outside world to these high standards,
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but Paul says in that same chapter that he isn't telling
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them to avoid the immoral people or the idolaters of this world.
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Because you couldn't. Right.
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To do that, you'd have to leave the planet.
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You'd have to isolate your community on a mountaintop
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somewhere. The severe boundary is drawn
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exclusively around the person who has joined the visible
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church. I have to say, I have always
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struggled with this double standard.
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Why is the standard so much harsher for an insider, a
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professed brother, than for an outsider?
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You know, the heathens of the world?
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I mean, isn't sin just sin? It feels like a double standard
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until you look at the covenant they've made.
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This is the logic of the visible church.
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A person who claims the name of Christ, who professes to be a
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believer and joins that community.
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They have publicly taken the name of God upon themselves,
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right? They put the jersey on.
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Yeah, they are a representative. When that person lives in
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visible wickedness and refuses to repent, they bring far more
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dishonor to the religion than someone who never made a
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profession at all. Because the outsider makes no
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claims. Right.
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The outsider isn't making any claim to holiness.
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The insider's sin is aggravated by their profession because they
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are actively communicating a lie to the world about who God is
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and what God requires. They are wearing the uniform
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while betraying the country. That is a great way to think
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about it. So Edward summarizes his core
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doctrine right here. He states that members of the
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visible Christian Church who become visibly wicked ought not
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to be tolerated, but cast out. That is the thesis.
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And establishing that an insider faces stricter judgement
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naturally leads to the question of what that judgement actually
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looks like in practice. Edwards divides the reality of
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excommunication into two halves, the prohibitive and the
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positive. Let's look at the prevative
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reality first. Prevative simply means the
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deprivation of a benefit you previously enjoyed.
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You're being cut off from the privileges of God's visible
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people. In the Jewish context, Edwards
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notes. This was being put out of the
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synagogue. In the Christian Church, It is
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withdrawing from a member. Edwards views the entire world
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as divided into two spheres, God's visible people and the
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visible Kingdom of Satan. Being inside the visible church
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is an immense privilege, so having that stripped away is a
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severe deprivation. It's massive, and the first
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thing you lose in that prohibitive reality is charity
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and society. The Apostle Paul calls charity
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the bond of perfectness. It is the connective tissue
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holding the body together. When someone is justly
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excommunicated, that bond is severed, Edwards says.
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The Church can no longer look upon this individual charitably
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as a St. The charitable esteem of the
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community is completely withdrawn.
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They can't acknowledge this person as a fellow Christian
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anymore. Which is harsh.
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It is instead they have to esteem them as an enemy of God.
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Christ said to treat them as an heathen man and a publican.
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That implies a total withdrawal of the common respect paid to a
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brother. It's like having your passport
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revoked. I mean, imagine living abroad.
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One day you have the full protection of the embassy.
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You are recognized as a citizen in good standing.
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The next day you are stateless. You lose all those diplomatic
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benefits. That's a spot on analogy.
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But Edwards is incredibly careful with his definitions.
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Here. He makes a sharp distinction
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between withdrawing complacency and maintaining benevolence.
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So if you are a church member looking at an excommunicated
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person, how do those two things work together?
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Well, benevolence is the desire for someone's ultimate
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well-being. The church should still wish
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well to the disciplined person. They should still want them to
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be saved. Right, You don't hate them.
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No, not at all. In fact, excommunication itself
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is an act of extreme benevolence, because the whole
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goal is to shock them into repentance for their eternal
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salvation. But complacency, which is taking
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delight in someone enjoying their fellowship as a fellow St.
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That has to be entirely cut off. You can't take pleasure in their
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spiritual company anymore. You have to view them with
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displacency. So it is like a parent who
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catches their teenager doing something wildly destructive.
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The parent still has benevolence.
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They still love the child and want the best for them, but the
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complacency, the casual laughing and joking together on the
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couch, that stops immediately. Yeah, the dynamic shifts
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completely. There is a severe displacency
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with the behavior and this loss of complacency it translates
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directly into the loss of society.
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The Church is commanded to withdraw from them.
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Which brings us to the know not to eat rule.
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Paul says with such a one no, not to eat.
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Historically, people have often assumed this applied strictly to
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the Lord's Supper. They thought Paul just meant you
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banned them from taking communion.
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Just the sacrament. Right.
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But Edwards deduces a much broader sociological application
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here. And his logic is airtight.
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Really. Eating a casual meal is one of
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the lowest, most common forms of keeping company.
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Partaking in the Lord's Supper is the absolute highest form of
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Christian communion. Paul is saying do not have
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company with them, not even in this everyday common way.
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Plus, Paul explicitly gave Christians permission to eat
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with heathens. You could have a normal dinner
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with your Pagan neighbor. So if Paul forbids eating with
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an excommunicated brother, he means withdrawing common table
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fellowship to show acute displeasure.
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And just think about the impact of that in an 18th century New
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England village. Your survival, your social life,
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your commerce, it is all tied up with your neighbors who are also
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your fellow church members. Your whole world.
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Yeah, when the community withdraws table fellowship, it
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creates a massive tangible boundary line.
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It cuts off their social oxygen. But this raises a major
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practical question. If we are cutting off social
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oxygen, does this mean a total boycott?
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I mean, imagine you are in that congregation.
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If the excommunicated person falls off his horse and breaks
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his leg, do you just walk past him?
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Do we abandoned them if they are sick?
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Or if it is your own father, do you stop seeking to him?
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What's? Fascinating here is Edward shows
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incredible nuance, preserving the natural order of things.
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Basic humanity, civil duties and family relations remain
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completely intact. OK, good.
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The members of the Church are still obligated to perform the
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common duties of humanity. If they are sick, you relieve
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them. If their house is on fire, you
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help put it out. You protect their life and
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property. So a child still honors their
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excommunicated parent. A husband and wife are not
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released from their marriage vows.
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Right. The withdrawal is ecclesiastical
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and social in the realm of optional companionship.
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It is not a dissolution of natural bonds.
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You do not abandon your family. Actually, the Church is
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commanded to pray for them and admonish them, showing greater
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concern for their welfare than if they had always been an
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outsider. So that makes the Discipline
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incredibly surgical. You are not just shunned from
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society at large like an outcast in the woods.
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You are cut off specifically from the fellowship of the
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visible church. Edwards outlines what this means
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for public worship to the Discipline person might still be
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physically sitting in the back of the meetinghouse, but they
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have zero fellowship in the worship.
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Right. Imagine sitting in the Pew.
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The minister stands up to pray. He isn't just reciting a
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personal devotion. He acts as the mouth of the
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worshipping society. He speaks in the name of the
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United visible Saints when he says we.
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The excommunicated person is explicitly excluded from that
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pronoun. The Church might pray for them,
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but the Church does not pray with them.
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Oh wow, you would feel that chill instantly.
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Very isolating. It is the same when the
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congregation sings. You are singing to your
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brethren, not to the visible enemies of God.
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The fellowship is broken, but Edwards argues there is an even
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heavier internal loss. The person is removed from the
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covenant blessings. The visible church is where God
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has set His Tabernacle. It is the community that has the
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divine covenant to plead when they pray.
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To be cast out is to lose the right to plead those promises.
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Edwards uses the example of King.
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King wasn't just sent away, he was cast into a land of
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banishment away from the face of God.
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The excommunicated person is no longer in the way of the smiles
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of Providence or the light of God's countenance that belongs
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to those inside the covenant. That primitive reality, losing
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the passport, losing the we in prayer, losing the table
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fellowship, it is devastating, but is only half the equation.
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Edwards says there is a positive reality inflicted as well.
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It isn't just about what is taken away.
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An actual condition is inflicted on them.
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The language he uses, pulled straight from Paul, is
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terrifying. They are delivered to Satan.
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Yeah, this shifts the discipline from passive deprivation to
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active infliction. They are thrust out from the
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visible people of God and pushed back into the miserable
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circumstances of the world, which Edwards categorizes as the
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visible Kingdom of the devil. So what does this all mean?
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Is God literally handing a person over to a demon?
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How does this square with a loving God?
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You have to look at the theological framework Edwards is
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operating in. The world outside the covenant
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of grace is under the visible tyranny of the devil.
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When a person is thrust into that realm, God is essentially
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taking his hands off the steering wheel.
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Edwards argues that God makes the devil the instrument of
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chastisement. Satan becomes a tool in God's
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hands. Yes, the person's rebellion
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requires severe chastisement so God may let Satan loose to
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sorely molest them outwardly or inwardly.
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Paul explicitly says they are delivered to Satan for the
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destruction of the flesh that is heavy.
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It is. The objective is to use this
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severe spiritual affliction to crush their pride, destroy their
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fleshly rebellion, and force them into humility.
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It's calculated spiritual trauma.
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The Church is praying that the terror of being handed over to
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the Kingdom of darkness will wake up a sleeping conscience.
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But Edwards is completely clear eyed about the theological
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stakes here. He admits the outcome is
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entirely at God's sovereign disposal.
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That is the heaviest part of the sermon, honestly.
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God might use this terrifying ordeal to humble them, leading
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to repentance and restoration. Or in His sovereignty, He might
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suffer the devil to completely harden them and destroy them
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forever. The Church applies the
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discipline with the hope of recovery, but they do not
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control the final result that rests solely with God.
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When the stakes are raised to such terrifying heights, eternal
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destruction versus salvation, it becomes crucial to know who
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actually has the authority to make this judgement.
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Who holds the keys to lock someone out of the visible
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church? Edwards is very precise about
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the agents of discipline. The principal authority
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inflicting this punishment is Christ himself.
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Excommunication is not a human invention or a social clubs
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bylaws. It is executed in the name of
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Christ according to his will. Edwards insists we must look at
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it as truly coming from Christ, as if he were physically present
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inflicting it. But Christ isn't standing at the
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pulpit reading the names. The local church is doing it.
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Right, the church acts ministerially.
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They are an embassy acting on behalf of the King.
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Just as a faithful minister doesn't preach his own ideas but
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the word of God, a church executing discipline acts by
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Christ's authority. Edwards points to Matthew 18,
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where Christ talks about binding and losing on earth and in
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heaven. When the church acts strictly
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according to the biblical rules, Christ confirms the act in
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heaven. He acknowledges it as his own
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action. So it is a heavenly decree
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manifested on earth. That brings us to the subjects
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who actually qualifies to be locked out.
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Edwards states it is only visibly wicked members, which
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happens via 2 paths. The first path is gross sin.
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And he makes a crucial distinction here between common
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human failures and gross sins. Everyone in the church
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struggles. Everyone falls short daily.
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Those common failures do not obstruct the charity of the
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community. We know we are all works in
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progress. I mean, if a church
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excommunicated every member who had a selfish thought on a
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Tuesday, the building would be empty by Wednesday.
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Exactly or practically empty. But a gross sin creates a
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massive stumbling block when someone commits a visible high
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handed offense. It forces the community to doubt
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the soundness of the person's heart.
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We naturally assume that if they're brazen enough to commit
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this public scandal, they're likely practicing many secret
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sins as well. Unless they immediately confess
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and show genuine repentance, they face discipline.
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Edwards lists offenses directly from Paul.
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Fornicators, idolaters, drunkards.
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We generally understand those as gross sins, but he also lists
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covetousness, railing, and extortion.
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Covetousness is an internal desire for what isn't yours.
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Railing is severe complaining, using abusive speech against
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others. If a modern church discipline
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people for being greedy or for complaining, they would make the
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Evening News. Oh, they.
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'D go viral immediately. Right.
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Why did Edwards demand such strictness for things we often
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brush off as personality flaws? Think about how railing actually
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functions inside a closed community.
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It isn't just a bad attitude, it is an infection.
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Abusive complaining destroys trust, it creates factions, and
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it erodes that bond of charity from the inside out.
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It is toxic. Edwards equated it to gross sin
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because mechanically it tears the visible church apart just as
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effectively as physical immorality.
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The biblical writers view greed as a form of idolatry.
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These are not minor infractions. They manifest a heart completely
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unsubmitted to Christ's rule. Which leads directly into the
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second path to excommunication, contemacy.
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It is a word we rarely hear today.
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It means stubborn impenitence, flat out rebellion.
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If we connect this to the bigger picture, merely falling into a
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gross sin is a stumbling block. But if you repent, charity is
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restored. Consummacy is different.
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When a person remains obstinate, when the church uses all the
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proper gentle means to reclaim them, and they refuse to listen,
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they prove themselves to be visibly wicked.
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Edwards quotes Romans 16 and Thessalonians, showing that
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anyone who causes divisions or refuses to obey the Apostolic
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word must be cast out. The root issue here is rebellion
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against the Word. Edwards argues that contemacy in
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any manifest sin deserves excommunication.
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If you persistently refuse to obey the divine instructions, it
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does not matter if the initial sin was a massive public scandal
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or just persistent, unrepentant covetousness.
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You are showing a heart entirely opposed to Christ.
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You are standing before the embassy, hearing the command of
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the king and saying I refuse to submit, that rebellion is the
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ultimate disqualifier. Now, knowing the severe
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mechanics and the subjects of this discipline, the
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conversation must turn to the ultimate goals.
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Why put a congregation and an individual through this
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agonizing process? Edwards lays out three specific
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ends. The first is keeping the church
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pure. We have to bring back the leaven
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metaphor here. When wicked men are tolerated,
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the ordinances of God are defiled.
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If an openly unrepentant person is partaking in the Lord's
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Supper, it defiles the ordinance.
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It dishonors God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the entire
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religion of the Gospel. The Church itself becomes an
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object of contempt to the outside world.
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Edwards also points out the undeniable psychological reality
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here. Toleration breeds imitation.
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A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
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If the church members do not bear public testimony against
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the sin by censuring it, they contract guilt by their silence.
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And they expose themselves to the infection.
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Imagine seeing your fellow church member living in open,
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unrepentant greed or engaging in shady business practices and the
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leadership does nothing. You'd start wondering.
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Right. The natural human inclination is
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to rationalize. You think, well, it must not be
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that bad. The boundaries are not actually
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that strict. The contagion spreads.
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Discipline is a matter of self preservation for the spiritual
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health of the entire body. That flows right into the second
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end, deterring others. Edward cites Deuteronomy 1311.
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And all Israel shall hear and fear, and shall do no more such
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wickedness. Watching someone lose the
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fellowship, lose the covenant privileges and be delivered to
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Satan, it sends a shockwave through the congregation.
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It is a massive wake up call. You are sitting in the Pew
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watching the reality of God's holiness play out in real time.
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It reinforces the fact that sin has disastrous, tangible
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consequences. But the third end is perhaps the
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most gripping because it focuses entirely on the offender.
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The third goal is reclaiming the soul.
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This is where we see that severe benevolence we talked about.
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The church has tried gentle means, they've tried counseling,
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prayer, private warnings. Nothing worked.
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So they use this severe tool to bring the person to conviction,
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shame and humiliation. Think back to the surgeon
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amputating the limb from our intro.
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Here is where that metaphor gets flipped on its head.
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The goal isn't just to save the body by cutting off the
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gangrenous arm. It is the radical, almost
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impossible hope that throwing the arm out into the cold will
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somehow cure the gangrene so the arm can be reattached.
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It is the spiritual equivalent of a severe intervention for an
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addict letting someone hit absolute rock bottom.
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That is the exact mechanism. The family has tried talking,
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they've paid off debts, they've offered endless support.
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The addict is just using the support to destroy themselves.
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Finally, the family changes the locks, cuts off the money and
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lets the person hit absolute rock bottom.
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It feels cruel, but it is the only way to shatter the
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delusion. The church is holding up a
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mirror and saying look at where your rebellion leads.
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By rejecting them, the church shows them what it looks like to
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be forever disowned by God. By delivering them to Satan in
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the present, they get a visible taste of what it means to be
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tormented without rest. It is a temporal intervention to
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prevent eternal disaster. It is the final, most severe and
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most loving tool the Church has to wake up a sleeping
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conscience. Edwards is stark about this.
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If this fails, destruction without remedy follows.
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The Church has played its final card.
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It highlights the absolute urgency.
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This isn't about enforcing petty rules or winning an argument.
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It was about snatching a soul from the fire.
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And Edwards does not just leave this hanging as abstract
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doctrine. He urgently applies these truths
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directly to his listeners, demanding action.
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He gives them five motives to maintain strict discipline.
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The first motive is the honor of God.
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He argues that tolerating visible wickedness broadcasts a
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terrible lie. You are speaking a language to
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the world through your inaction. If you tolerate sin, you were
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telling the world that Christ does not require holiness from
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his disciples. You declare that the religion of
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the gospel is not actually a holy religion.
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You slander the character of God. 2nd motive is self
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preservation and holiness. Strict discipline actively
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increases the holiness of the entire community.
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Knowing that your brethren or observing your conduct and
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knowing there are real boundaries makes individuals
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highly guarded against sin. It creates an environment where
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holiness is expected and supported.
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People become more careful to maintain good works.
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Then we hit the third motive, the witness to the outside
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world. And here's where it gets really
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interesting, because this completely contradicts modern
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church growth strategies. Today, people often think strict
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rules, severe discipline and high boundaries will drive
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outsiders away. The fear is that the community
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will think you are a cult and no one will ever visit.
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But Edwards argues the exact opposite.
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He brings in Paul's words from First Corinthians 14.
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Paul describes an unbeliever walking into the assembly.
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If the Church is functioning correctly, maintaining strict
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discipline and high immoral boundaries, the unbelievers,
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convicted of all, judged of all the secrets of his heart, are
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laid bare. The text says the result is that
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he falls down on his face, worships God, and reports that
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God is truly present in the congregation.
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Here's the paradox. If the church is actively
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shunning people and delivering them to Satan to preserve its
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own holiness, doesn't that destroy their witness?
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Edward says no. The world does not need a church
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that looks exactly like the world.
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When pagans see a community that takes sin seriously, a community
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that actually holds its members to a standard of genuine
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holiness, it acts as a powerful mechanism for conviction.
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It proves the presence of God is real.
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Compromise and endless tolerance do not win the world.
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They just prove to the world that the Church's message is
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hollow. That is a staggering paradigm
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shift for anyone listening today.
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The 4th motive Edwards gives is true benevolence.
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We've touched on this, but he hammers it home.
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Genuine love grieves when a brother wanders into
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destruction. If you.
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Truly love your brother. Your compassion demands you use
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all proper means to reclaim him. Infinite wisdom provided these
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rules of gospel discipline. Who are we to decide that God's
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instituted methods are too harsh?
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If we have real benevolence, we will execute the discipline even
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when it is excruciating to bring them back.
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That brings us to the 5th and final motive, the capstone of
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his argument, the absolute authority of Christ.
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Even if there were no other practical benefits, the absolute
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authority of Christ is sufficient.
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Christ explicitly commanded this.
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If you love me, keep my commandments.
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If the king gives a direct order, the subjects don't form a
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public relations committee to decide if the order is
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culturally viable. It's obedience.
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This raises an important question regarding the modern
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clash we experience. We live in a highly
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individualistic culture where faith is viewed as a private
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transaction between you and God. Edwards presents a heavily
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corporate, covenantal view of a church body that is accountable
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to Christ's direct commands. We do not have the liberty to
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discard his instructions regarding discipline just
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because they feel difficult or culturally offensive.
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Edwards ends by promising that if a church strictly follows
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these rules instituted by Christ, they have every reason
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to hope for His blessing. Christ smiles upon the means of
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grace He has appointed. It comes down to trust.
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Do we trust that Christ knows how to govern His Church better
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than we do? Do we trust that His severe
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methods are rooted in a higher wisdom and a more genuine love
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than our permissive tolerance? When you pull all of this
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together, the sheer gravity of Edwards's vision is striking.
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It is a portrait of a holy community taking sin with
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absolute seriousness. It is a body protecting the
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honor of Christ at all costs while holding out the severe,
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agonizing hope for the redemption of the fallen.
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It isn't driven by anger or petty control.
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It is driven by preservation and reclamation.
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It forces us to interrogate our own definitions of love.
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Have we substituted A shallow, non confrontational niceness for
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the robust, painful love required by the Gospel?
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Edwards challenges us to recover a view of the Church that is
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visibly, sharply distinct from the Kingdom of Satan.
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I want to leave you with the final thought to Mull over
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circling back to that surgeon amputating the limb.
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If the final goal of casting someone out into the cold
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reality of the world is to wake them up to the horrifying
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reality of being separated from God forever, how might our
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modern reluctance to practice church discipline actually be a
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form of spiritual neglect disguised as compassion?
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Are we letting the gangrene spread and kill the patient just
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because we are too squeamish to make the cut?
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Thank you for joining this deep dive into the source material.
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Keep reading, keep thinking, and keep seeking truth.