IBL14: Church Law

Rebuke and Excommunication

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Religious studies

Lesson: 7-10

Genre: Lecture

Track: 143

Dictation Name: RR130CB143

Location/Venue:

Year: 1960’s-1970’s

Our scripture is 1st Timothy the 4th Chapter, and our subject Rebuke and Excommunication. 1st Timothy 4.

“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:

5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

6 If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.

7 But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.

8 For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.

9 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.

10 For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.

11 These things command and teach.

12 Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.

13 Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.

14 Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.

15 Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.

16 Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.”

Our subject is, as indicated, Rebuke and Excommunication, the Biblical doctrines concerning these things. The whole epistle of Paul to Timothy deals with this subject. So that, almost any passage or chapter of Timothy could be equally well read.

The 4th chapter perhaps is as a good a place as any to begin, because it includes a council to Timothy that he must begin with his own self-discipline, in order to have discipline within the church. So that the beginning of true order is an order in his own life. That he must give attentions to reading, to a study of the scripture, to exhortation, to doctrine. To cultivate the gift which God has given him. To take heed unto himself, in order, as the rest of the epistle makes clear, that he might take heed unto the church of God.

Now it is important therefore to see what Saint Paul in this letter is talking about when he deals with matters of punishment, rebuke and excommunication in the church. Very clearly, Timothy is told that he must speak to those who go astray, but he is also told that it is to be done with respect, with patience, and with regard for the age of the people he is dealing with. In the 5th Chapter for example Timothy is told to rebuke not an elder; that is, not to treat him as though he were a child, but entreat him as a father; the younger men as brethren, the elder women as mothers, the younger women as sisters with all purity; and so on, as Paul gives council to Timothy, concerning the means of bringing chastisement to bear on those who have gone astray.

It is to be a quiet word to those who are offenders, by Timothy as pastor, with due respect to the age and the position of those involved. In some cases when the sin is serious as the 20th verse indicates, there is to be a public rebuke before all.

Now the important point for us to understand is not the forms of rebuke and excommunication; but what is saint Paul talking about when he deals with the things that the church must punish. It is at this point that too often the church goes astray. Too commonly it deals with institutional problems, matters of the church. And yet what Saint Paul touches on here is something entirely different. Thus in the first chapter he makes very clear that the point of reference is not the institution of the church but Gods kingdom. Not an organization and its sway, but the reign of God and the rule of God in the hearts of men.

Throughout the Book Saint Paul cites certain areas where the church must punish. What are these areas? One of them very clearly is the area of authority. In the second chapter verses 5-8, or 8-15, this is very, very clear. Women have their place, men have their place, authority in the home is to be respected. In the third chapter the first 13 verses, the authority of a presbyter depends, we are told, on his qualifications. Authority is given only to men who are capable of exercising authority, of disciplining themselves and their household. Thus failure to abide by authority and to exercise due authority is a cause for rebuke.

This means, therefore, men as officers in the church and as heads of household, must exercise authority. In due places they must submit to authority, and the same is true of women. They have authority that they must exercise and an authority that they must submit to.

So that Paul very, very clearly emphasizes this aspect of authority. It is significant as he deals with the church that those who exercise authority, alone must be given authority. A man who cannot rule his household has no right to rule the church of God.

Now a second area that Saint Paul deals with when he deals with matters that the church must concern itself, is doctrine. In our scripture lesson we dealt with this. He cites some things that constitute false teaching that must be rebuked, must be cast out of the church. Forbidding to marry; Sacerdotal celibacy. The idea that there is a special holiness in remaining single. This is clearly false teaching. It was a kind of idea that was popular in Greek and Roman circles. After all, remember the vestal virgins of Rome. It is out of these pagan ideas that such ideas crept into Christendom. Paul, inspired of God, in advance of these things, warned against them. commanding to abstain from mates, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

The idea that the eating of any meat is wrong, as some began to teach before the end of the first century and some still do teach. The Adventists for example. Or the idea that on certain days meat should be abstained from. Paul clearly puts the mark on false doctrine on these things.

Then also he condemns, profane and old wives fables, all kinds of false teaching, which he describes rather disrespectfully, because he does not feel that they command respect. False doctrine, heretical teachings, the belief that bodily exercise was the key to religious development. In other words, in those days, Rome was full of ideas like Yoga, in fact the very same thing under a different name, it had come from India. And there were many who felt that by going through all kinds of contortions and physical exercises they could gain a higher spiritual state. Thus, in this second class of things that are subject to rebuke and finally excommunication, we have doctrine, false teachings, such as Asceticism and Sacerdotal Celibacy, Yoga and so on.

So we see first of all, authority; failure to exercise it, or contempt for it, is grounds for punishment, and second, doctrine which is false. The third area is the area of morality. Very clearly in the third verse of the 5th chapter, Saint Paul declares: “Honor widows that are widows indeed.” Now it is interesting to look at this verse in a modern translation, because sometimes we cheapen words with the passing of years. Today honor is a very trifling word. It has lost a great deal of its meaning. So that, when a statement is made about honoring someone, we very often fail to realize what it means, we think it is just a kind of general surface respect. Good manners towards someone. But Moffat for example translates this same verse very literally: “Widows in real need must be supported from the fund.” That is a very practical way of honoring people is it not? “Honor Thy Father and thy Mother.” What does it mean? It means that they are in need of help, they are to be supported in any and every way. This is what Saint Paul meant when he said that faithful pastors are worthy of double honor, double support. That is clearly an aspect of the meaning of honor, a very central one.

In 1st Timothy 5, the 4th verse: “If any women have children or nephews, let them learn first to show piety at home, and to requite their parents, for that is good and acceptable before God.” Now again, as we look at Moffat, we get an insight into a very modern reading of this, which brings out the original meaning in contemporary language: “When a widow has children or grandchildren, they the children or grandchildren, must learn that the first duty of religion is to their own household, that they should make some return to those who have brought them up; in Gods sight this is commendable indeed.” So, children are to be taught their responsibility to their parents and to their grandparents. This is commendable in Gods sight.

Verse 8 in the King James: “If any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he has denied the faith and is worse than an infidel.” Well, this comes out in the English, Moffat renders it: “Whoever does not provide for his own relatives and particularly for his own family, has repudiated the faith; he is worse than an infidel.” In other words, is to be excommunicated.

Now very clearly, what Saint Paul is telling Timothy when he tells him the things that are to be punished in the church, is more than rules and regulations of the church, but rather fundamental matters of morality. Matters of authority. Matters of doctrine. Matters of family life and care for one’s own.

Just as honor means more than verbal respect, so requite in the fourth verse, and provide, means more than merely financial support. It means, in the 4th verse, when the widow has this obligation, that she must provide them with Christian education. One which will teach them their responsibilities to God and to their family, as well as to all men.

Now this seems like a big order to churches today, and they are very much disinterested in doing it. But let us remember that the early church, which was a persecuted church, which was a church regularly robbed, because it was an illegal body in the Roman Empire and Christians were targets for any kind of expropriation. That early church still provided for the widows and orphans who did not have relatives. That church also went through the streets of Rome at night, down to the river Tiber, where unwanted babies were tossed under bridges, and collected those babies and reared them. That was the early church. It cared for its own.

Saint Paul has more to say. In the 18th verse of the 5th chapter, the 17th and 18th, he says: “17 Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.

18 For the scripture saith, thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward.”

So here we have another aspect of matters within the church that require punishment. A church has an obligation not only to provide for those in need within its circle, to provide for its pastor, to see to it that all provide properly for their labourers. Now this is not a fair wage law, it simply requires honest and fair dealing with employees. And those who are dishonest here must be dealt with.

Again, the 10th verse. It speaks of lodging strangers. Now this is not an aspect that is relevant to us today, in the immediate sense. What it has reference to is this: as I have cited before, hotels in those days were also houses of prostitution. There was no feeling that there was anything wrong with prostitution, and so when you were provided with a room and a bed and a meal, the girl went with it, it was a package deal. The only question was, if you had other tastes, you could demand a boy instead.

Now, this was the degeneracy of life in those days. And as a result a Christian traveler could not go to an inn outside of Palestine. In Palestine the inns were of a different character. But if he went to Rome, if he had no friend to stay with, he was really in a difficult position. And this is why when Saint Paul went somewhere, he attended immediately the synagogue, or called on a Jewish family, to establish a relationship so he could have a place. And the first convert he made, he stayed with them. and so there was the responsibility of lodging strangers, of providing for those who because of moral standards could not go to the Roman motel.

We do not have that problem today. But the point of this is still valid. Whenever there are situations and conditions where Christians have special and emergency needs, they should be covered by this requirement of lodgings to strangers, of providing hospitality, of providing emergency relief, of ministering to the relief of the saints.

Thus very clearly, the purpose of the church in scripture is not to build up the church as an institution, but to further the reign of God in the hearts of men, and Gods law order in society. Its purpose is to create a community where believers are members one of another, where they minister to the relief of one another. Where they are mindful that they are called under God to love one another, to defend their common faith, and their common household faith. To pray for one another in need, and to chastise those who offend against the body of Christ. This is rebuke and excommunication according to the word of God. Let us pray.

Almighty God our heavenly Father we give thanks unto Thee for, the vision of Thy reign which is given to us in Thy word. We thank Thee that Thou hast called us first to be Thy people, and that through the blood of Jesus Christ Thou hast cleansed us from all sin. We thank Thee that in Christ Thou hast made us members one of another, and has given us so great a calling, to subdue the earth and to exercise dominion over it in Thee. Restore us oh Lord to this glorious calling, and grant that again churches flourish and abound, which seek Thy face. Which magnify Thy word. Which are indeed families of grace. Oh Lord our God, prosper us according to Thy word. In Jesus name, amen.

Are there any questions now, first of all with respect to our lesson? Yes.

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] I know that at the Passover service it is for Elijah, as the forerunner. So in the Passover service they do always have a place set, for Elijah. Whether they do at other meals I don’t know. Any other questions? Yes?

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Yes, they are to live up to the word of God. Now, what you…

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Yes. You have raised a very good point, because too often what passes for righteousness is self-righteousness. And too often there is too much indulgence of Christians. Very, very commonly people will raise the question about someone: “Well, I guess we ought to be tolerant and put up with, after all they are a Christian.” Does this mean we have a lower standard of behavior for a Christian? You see, that is the implication of this. And unfortunately, in many cases there is a lower standard, because they say: “Well, he is a Christian,” or, “He is a minister,” or “He is and elder,” or “He is a fine member of the church,” or “She is a prominent member of the church,” and “Therefore we ought to put up with this.” And so you wind up with a lower standard of morality for Christian than for pagan. Judgement is required, it has to be according to the word of God, it cannot be in terms of what we like or do not like, you see, according to our social standards, but according to Gods standard.

And therefore it has to be grounded always in terms of the scripture. And that is why Saint Paul is going over it, he is citing the grounds. Now going to a dance is never mentioned in scripture. So you see…

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Yes. But the by-law of the church should have nothing in it that is not covered by the word of God. Very clearly and firmly grounded on the word of God. Yes?

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Yes, yes that is true. A child of yours is your child. That child may sometime disobey you and incur your displeasure, but it is still your child. Thus when we are truly saved, we are Gods elect. We can fall away to a degree in that we can fall into sin, but we can never fall away in the sense of being reprobate.

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] Yes… what was that again?

[Audience Member] …?...

[Rushdoony] No, right you are not reprobate then, you are not capable of it. God has redeemed you, and it is His doing, and He will preserve you.

If there are no other questions there is something I would like to share with you, we had something of a little shake down, or shakeup this week, and along those lines it is interesting to consider something far more fearful that took place in the last century. Let me add by the way that in my Biblical Philosophy of History I dealt with the subject of various natural disasters, earthquakes, hurricanes and the like, and commented on the fact that in the first 15 or so years after World War 2, there were far more, almost twice as many, as in the 50 years before World War 2. Every kind of natural disaster has greatly increased.

However, this deals with one that happened in the last century, which is perhaps the most fearful ever recorded. The eruption of Krakatoa in 1883. Krakatoa was a volcano in the East Indies, which was on an island, uninhabited, for two centuries Krakatoa was supposedly dormant and believed to be extinct, but on May 28th, 1883, it came to life. And for three months it continued to erupt mildly. But it finally blew up at an incredible rate on August 26th, 1883. And it is quite a remarkable account: “It was exactly 10:02 August 27, when the island finally erupted in the most violent explosion in human history. 2/3rds of the island of Krakatoa exploded upward with a roar that could be heard over an area four times as large as the United States. Professor Willard H. (Harson?), Chairman of the department of Geology at Wayne State University Detroit, has stated that Krakatoa probably released 1 million times more energy than the largest H bomb yet set off. The gigantic outburst hurled aloft 13 cubic miles of material. 2/3rds of which fell in the straits or nearby land areas. The remainder, over 4 million cubic miles of dust, drifted around the world until it had fallen on every country.

Two weeks after the eruption, volcanic clouds appeared over Australia. By September 20 they were seen in South Africa and California. This was man’s first intimation of the presence of high-altitude winds known today as jet streams. It was,” (I am skipping through) “Because of this explosion that they were able to chart the jet streams for the first time. And the advance of the colossal dust cloud was marked by extraordinary phenomena, the earth never before had been treated to such brilliant sun rises and sun sets. A Yokohama sunset was described as blood red, green suns were seen at Panama, (Orion?) observers reported a sunset as fiery red, and so on. In New York and Connecticut, flaming sunsets set fire engines racing out to extinguish non-existing fires.

In one case, one ship captain who was some miles from the blast, had three feet of dust fall in a very short time on the decks. Another Captain found his barometer suddenly rising and falling as much as an inch at a time. Another Captain reported the explosion had shattered the ear drums of over half his crew. Breathing was extremely difficult at sea, lightning running in all direction illuminated the heavens, and all expected that the last days of the earth had come. Debris from the volcano covered the sea with a layer of hummus so thick that in places ships were unable to force their way through it. High and huge floating islands of this material covered the sea for hundreds of miles, sometimes to a depth of seven feet. One ship sailed for 3 consecutive days through 500 miles of floating debris.

Then it created of course, tidal waves. Which reared up to mountainous size. Proceeded by a torrent of wind, the sea wave or tsunami higher than the highest palm stormed up the beaches, rushed across the lowlands, and leaped up to lap at hilltops, leaving death and destruction in its wake. Moving at incredible speed, the massive wall of water shattered ships, villages, and people. Roaring like a thousand express trains it smashed onto the land, hurling people, animals, buildings and trees into a watery chaos. A gunboat was lifted up and deposited 2 miles inland, thirty feet above sea level, her entire crew of twenty men perishing in the deluge. One wave rushed inland with such force that at a distance of three miles from the shore it still retained a height of thirty feet.

At still another place the sea swept inland as high as a 14 story building, destroying stone houses on a hill 130 feet above sea level. One town in Java 53 miles from Krakatoa was obliterated by a wave estimated at a height of 135 feet. A survivor reported ships hurled aloft and carried inland, and stone lighthouses toppled like toys. In one town all the houses were swept away in one blow like a house of cards.” And so on. These waves actually reached as far as the shores of England, around the world.

Then it goes on to describe some of the reasons that caused it. “Then if Krakatoa provided a scene of total destruction it likewise set the stage for a drama of miraculous re-birth. Before the shattering eruption the island was a mass of greenery. From base to summit it was covered by a dense growth of tropical vegetation. But the searing fury of the blast changed all of this into a sterile, lifeless desert. No animal, no plant, no seed, no spore survived the holocaust. When the ashes settled and the lava cooled, the island was devoid of life as a newly born planet. This cataclysm presented scientists with a unique laboratory. Here was an unprecedented opportunity to study the colonization of a completely lifeless world. What would the first immigrants be, and how would they develop?

From Java and Sumatra some 25 miles away across the Sunda Strait, the colonists began to arrive. The first sign of life was found just 9 months after the eruption. A botanist after a careful search of the island found a solitary spider, hopefully spinning a web. Within two years some forms of plant life had taken growth. 15 species of flowering plants and 11 kinds of fern were growing. A decade passed and the island wore a thin mantle of green, a fringe of coconut trees lined the shore. There were four varieties of orchid and scattered patches of wild sugar cane. By 1908 263 varieties of animal life had arrived; most of these invaders were insects, but there were also 16 species of birds, four of land snakes and two of reptiles. 50 years after the upheaval a luxurious growth of tropical vegetation again covered the island, and in the dense young forest over a thousand forms of animal life had established themselves.”

“Life on Krakatoa has not fully reestablished itself, the island still does not support its original complement of plants and animals. Nevertheless history’s most shattering explosion and its aftermath provides a priceless illustration of nature’s tremendous power of restoring itself. Total destruction, followed by swift renewal.”

I think this is a very interesting article, especially when we have faced something in our own area. And it is interesting to realize, too, that although we think of this as earthquake country, there is abundant evidence that the worst earthquake in history struck in 1811, in Missouri, Illinois, and that country. The most devastating earthquake ever known. Also, earlier than that in the colonial period very severe earthquakes were experience along the entire Atlantic seaboard, in England, and especially in Lisbon Portugal. Those areas have not had quakes for a long time. Like Krakatoa it is assumed that they don’t exist. But earthquake country is the whole world. Scripture says: “For He hath founded upon the seas and established it upon the floods.”

Life in this world is not given a sure foundation except in God. And that is why the 46th Psalm that was written at such a time, and is worth rereading: “The mountains shake with the swelling thereof.” And it speaks of the mountains dissolving into the sea. And what is the refrain? “But the Lord of Hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge.” We are an earthquake country everywhere in the world. We are also a volcano country, incidentally. Mount Lassen in Northern California, although they don’t tell you about it, during World War 1 blew up. And it could any time again.

But we do have an unshakeable foundation, not in the ground under our feet, but in the Lord of hosts.

Our time is just about up, and I would like to remind you of the Senholdt seminar this Saturday. We have close to a hundred already, but we can take some more. It will begin at 3 PM, Knox berry farm at the chicken house, but please be there at 2:45 for registration. Then on March the 11th, the Santa Monica Woman’s Club, 4th and Wilshire, the Reverend T. Robert Ingraham and myself as speakers, and the same meeting repeated in Wittier, at the Catherine Edwards Intermediate High school auditorium on Friday March the 12th, 8 0’clock at both meetings.

Let us bow our heads now for the benediction. And now go in peace, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost, bless you and keep you, guide and protect you, this day and always, amen.