In Volume 8 of the Master’s Trumpet, we considered the relation of noncommunicant, baptized members to the discipline of the church. Should such members be subject to the formal judicial process of ecclesiastical discipline up to and including excommunication? After noting that this question is essentially a practical application of Covenant Theology to church order, we surveyed the arguments against the formal discipline of baptized members and responded to each of these in turn, to establish the view that baptized members are under the whole discipline of the church, up to and including the censure of excommunication. Having established this principle, we proceed in this article to deal with some practical questions of how this discipline might be implemented, at what age formal process should become relevant, and for what judicial discipline might be instigated.
Standing on the pavement, we watched as twenty-two men, purportedly suspended from the ministry of the Free Church of Scotland, left the Assembly Hall. It was the largest mass suspension of ministers in Scotland since 1662: they had been forbidden to preach, and if they accepted the discipline, would have to sit in the pews and watch hostile preachers take over their pulpits. This they would not do. Together, we sang Psalm 46 and proceeded to the Magdalen Chapel for the reconstitution of the Free Church of Scotland. Why were we there? Was it just a battle over one man, or was this the proclamation of Christ’s Kingship?
The Reformed have historically identified three marks of the visible Church: first, the preaching of the true Apostolic doctrine of the Gospel; second, the administration of the two sacraments appointed by Christ; third, the Biblical government and discipline of the Church. Church members are under its discipline, but a related area of confusion concerns how baptized members, who have not yet communed at the Lord’s table, stand in relation to Church discipline. How should a Kirk Session deal with a baptized member who has grown up in the Church but fallen into sin and turned their back on the means of grace and pastoral care?
