What does the Bible teach about how to restore a member who has been excommunicated?
The church’s goal when practicing discipline is to “gain your brother” who is in danger because of sin (Matthew 18:15). In Matthew 18, Jesus makes this goal explicit for the entire process of discipline, from start to finish, as the hope is the brother will “listen.” The church must keep open the invitation for the excommunicated to be reconciled with repentance. After someone has been excommunicated, it is difficult to discern if the repentance is genuine or if it is merely worldly sorrow. When the repentance is believed to be genuine, the church has the responsibility to restore. Paul gives clear instructions to the church to forgive, comfort, and reaffirm love for the member under discipline who is now repentant (2 Corinthians 2:5-11).
First, the church “turns to forgive” as an extension of Christ to the repentant (2 Corinthians 2:7). The high calling of Christ is for us “to forgive as Christ has forgiven us” (Ephesians 4:32). This means we do not seek any further “payment” for whatever sins have been committed or pain that has been suffered. When someone confesses their sin with Christ as their Savior, we trust that Christ has paid for their sin in full. In Matthew 18, Jesus provides the picture of a king who forgives a ridiculous amount of debt for his servant, in order to warn those who have received much forgiveness that forgiveness for others is expected. Forgiveness in this story is absorbing the debt owed at the lenders’ expense.
Forgiveness calls us to absorb the consequence of the wrong we have suffered in order to receive back the one who caused the pain. Forgiveness is also a turn in our posture because the church no longer seeks distance from an unrepentant sinner, but welcomes him back into our fellowship as a fellow follower in Christ. Forgiveness toward a repentant believer means we must now begin the work of rebuilding a relationship of trust and joy. The church’s forgiveness is willing to suffer loss to restore the believer, but this does not mean the repentant person should not seek to make restitution if available. Their confession of wrongdoing is necessary and is a form of restoration. This would also include telling the truth where they once lied or giving back what they once stole (whether it be money or reputation). There is a significant amount of room between a member shaking down the repentant like the servant in Matthew 18 and seeking to see genuine repentance through restoration when it is possible.
However, there are circumstances where abuse or harm has occurred to the point of other members feeling threatened or in danger. This is where the difficulty of discerning genuine repentance is important. Members are called to forgive and seek to build trust, but the elders must lead the church through this process in a way that protects members who may have been a victim of the one being restored. These members need to be cared for and corrected for their own unforgiveness, while also making sure they are shown patience in their turning back toward a relationship that could cause harm. Restoration to membership also does not mean someone is brought back in every way. An elder who is disciplined, for example, is not restored to the office. There are instances where reconciliation is inviting someone back to the table, but not allowing them to serve in the nursery or needing to be “supervised.”
Second, the church also “comforts” the repentant (2 Corinthians 2:7), which demonstrates how forgiveness leads to pursuing a renewed relationship. The one who was set outside of the fellowship has suffered “punishment from the majority” and Paul says that this was “enough” (2 Corinthian 2:6). Discipline is an act of love, but it causes pain for the body and is usually received by the unrepentant as harsh. Once repentance is clear from the one who has been disciplined, the church should comfort him. This means intentionally and clearly receiving him back into the fellowship of the church. We are called “to welcome him as God in Christ has welcomed us” (Romans 15:7). It also means we do not treat him with suspicion or make sure he goes through a series of tests or expect that repentance needs to be proven over a period of time. The goal is to welcome back the repentant, and provide discipleship and accountability.
Finally, Paul “begs” the church “to reaffirm their love” for the repentant (2 Corinthians 2:8). Jesus’ new commandment to “love one another as he has loved us” (John 13:35) sets the bar for how the church pursues members with love. The church should be practicing love for repentant sinners regularly within the body because they have been loved by Christ first and follow his example. The occasion that makes this situation significantly different is that the person’s unrepentance made loving them painful and difficult. Christ’s love for the church is all the more needed as the measure and model for embracing the one who is under discipline but now repentant, to receive them back in the church.
This love is best expressed when the church welcomes the brother back to participate in the Lord’s Supper. The punishment of discipline was not welcoming him to the Lord’s Supper and removing our affirmation of his faith. The Lord’s Supper is how we remember and remind one another of God’s love for us, our love for one another, and affirm each other in the faith. After receiving the brother back, we all rejoice together and comfort one another that God loves us while we are sinners and forgives us of our sin.
Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son provides us an example and a warning about how a repentant brother should be received. The younger son had rebelled and removed himself from the home of the father. He came to his senses and started back home with fear of how he would be received, so he rehearsed a speech asking to be a servant. When the father sees him far off, he runs out to him and embraces him. While the son is going through his rehearsed speech asking to be a servant, the Father insists on loving him like a son. He does not interrogate him, nor does he have a delayed period of testing. He goes out to his son and receives him back with great rejoicing. This is an example for the church to consider how we “reaffirm our love” for the repentant.
The warning in the parable is that we do not want to be like the older brother who refuses to go home and rejoice because he is sulking about how the father has received his once wayward brother. He even refuses to acknowledge him as his brother by calling him “that son of yours.” The older brother represents the Pharisees who refuse to rejoice that God forgives repentant sinners (Luke 15:1-2). The attitude of the older brother is an example of what Paul warns the church against in 2 Corinthians 2 that would overwhelm the repentant with “excessive sorrow” (2 Corinthians 2:7). We discipline the unrepentant sinner, trusting God’s Word that it will lead to repentance and we trust God’s Word that the punishment is “enough” when we see clear repentance (2 Corinthians 2:6).
Paul’s last exhortation challenges the church to recognize the high calling to obedience. The same church had once not been obedient to protect the name of Christ regarding the man sleeping with his father’s wife (1 Corinthians 5). Now they are called to the other side of excommunication to receive a brother back (though we are not sure Paul has the same person in view). He ends with the reminder that Satan is scheming, which probably alludes to how Satan the accuser would like to keep the brother who has repented out of the church and away from confidence in Christ. The church needed to remove this man when he was unrepentant for the witness of the church, the glory of Christ, and for his own shame, to recognize how far he had removed himself from God by denying Christ. Now the repentant sinner needs the church to receive him back for witness of the church, the glory of Christ, and for him to grow again in confidence of how near he has been brought to God by the blood of Christ.
Keith Goad
Pastor
Jefferson Park Baptist Church