(formative disciplinary care should always precede corrective disciplinary care.)
Only where the personal disciplines of learning and devotion, worship and fellowship, righteousness and service are being steadily taught in a context of care and accountability (Matt. 28:20; John 21:15–17; 2 Tim. 2:14–26; Titus 2; Heb. 13:17) is there a meaningful place for judicial correctives. The New Testament clearly shows, however, that in that context judicial correctives have a significant place in the maturing of churches and individuals (1 Cor. 5:1–13; 2 Cor. 2:5–11; 2 Thess. 3:6, 14–15; Titus 1:10–14; 3:9–11).
Jesus instituted church discipline by authorizing the apostles to bind and to loose (i.e., prohibit and permit, Matt. 18:18) and to declare sins remitted or retained (John 20:23). The “keys of the kingdom,” first given to Peter and defined as power to bind and loose (Matt. 16:19), have usually been understood as authority to formulate doctrine and impose discipline, an authority now given by Christ to the church in general and to commissioned pastors in particular.
Packer, J. I. (1993). Concise theology: a guide to historic Christian beliefs. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House.
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