Capital Punishment and Church Discipline: Dealing with a Possible Misunderstanding

Earlier I made the argument that expulsion from the fellowship of the church is a New Testament application of the death penalty prescribed for breaking the Old Testament law in Deuteronomy. Before addressing some applications of this principle from Deuteronomy 13, I would like to address a possible misunderstanding of this claim.

Some Christians might look at this issue on its surface and think that the New Testament downplays the punishment for sin found in Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy, people were to be put to death for sexual immorality (22:22 for example), but in the New Testament, people are to be removed from the fellowship of the church for sexual immorality. This seems, on its surface, to be a much lighter sentence. Some Christians might even express a sense of gratitude for not living in the days of the Old Testament because they feel they are not subject to these harsh Old Testament punishments.

This misunderstanding demonstrates an error concerning the nature of the church and the nature of church discipline. The author of Hebrews helps us understand this point:

28 Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. 29 How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:28-31, ESV)

The punishment for lawbreaking in the Old Testament, if confirmed based on the testimony of two or three witnesses, was physical death by stoning. The author of Hebrews shows us that the punishment for those who reject Christ is greater than the punishment for those who died under the law in the Old Testament. Those who reject Christ are subject to a fate worse than physical death, falling under the vengeance and wrath of the living God.

The New Testament does not lessen the penalties prescribed in the Old Testament, but in fact the New Testament demonstrates the true significance of the Old Testament law. Sin leads to death. And while it is true that sin leads to physical death, there is a fate worse than physical death, which is the ultimate consequence of sin, the judgment and wrath of  God.

Those who infer that the New Testament lightens the load of Deuteronomy’s punishments do not fully understand the importance of the church or the seriousness of church discipline. In removing a member from the church, the church is in effect proclaiming that the unrepentant sinner is subject to a fate worse than death. Paul refers to this as handing them over to Satan (1 Corinthians 5:5). As best the church understands, the unrepentant sinner is trampling underfoot the Son of God, and profaning the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and outraging the Spirit of grace (adapted from Hebrews 10:29). Therefore this person has demonstrated that he is subject to the righteous vengeance and wrath of God as made visible in his removal from the fellowship of the church.

Church discipline is not an issue to be taken lightly, especially in a day when so many churches will welcome in those under discipline from another church. Church discipline is designed to help destroy the flesh of the unrepentant member (the unrepentant sin in their life). In other words, church discipline is intended to cause pain in the life of the unrepentant member with the hope that he will repent and be restored to God and to the church (1 Corinthians 5:5).

Some will object that the gospel is supposed to be good news, but this doesn’t sound much like good news to them. Where is the good news in all of this talk of church discipline? The good news of the New Testament is not that sin ceased to be a problem. In fact, the New Testament helps us to understand the dire nature of our enslavement to sin. But the good news comes as we see our desperate state of affairs in slavery to sin and death, and we realize that we can be free from the condemnation of sin and sentence of death through faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 7:24-8:1).

So we as Christians rightly ought to celebrate that we live after the coming of Christ. But we do not celebrate because the penalties of the Old Testament have been lessened, leaving us free from the penalty of capital punishment for breaking God’s law. We do not celebrate because we are free from the law in the sense that we can live however we choose, not having to worry about all those “bothersome” commands of God. Instead, we rejoice because we have seen the greatness of the solution to the problem of sin provided in Christ. We see what the Old Testament prophets longed to see (Matthew 13:17), and we see the fulfillment of what they prophesied about (1 Peter 1:10-12), the glory of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit” (1 Peter 3:18, ESV).