Of Church Censures
I. The Lord Jesus, as King and Head of His Church, has
therein appointed a government, in the hand of Church officers, distinct from the civil
magistrate.a
a. Is. 9:6-7; I Tim. 5:17; I Thess. 5:12; Acts 20:17-18;
Heb. 13:7, 17, 24; I Cor. 12:28; Matt. 28:18-20.
II. To these officers the keys of the kingdom of heaven
are committed; by virtue whereof, they have power, respectively, to retain, and remit
sins; to shut that kingdom against the impenitent, both by the Word, and censures; and to
open it unto penitent sinners, by the ministry of the Gospel; and by absolution from
censures, as occasion shall require.a
a. Matt. 16:19; 18:17-18; John 20:21-23; II Cor. 2:6-8.
III. Church censures are necessary, for the reclaiming
and gaining of offending brethren for deterring of others from the like offenses, for
purging out of that leaven which might infect the whole lump, for vindicating the
honor
of Christ, and the holy profession of the Gospel, and for preventing the wrath of God,
which might justly fall upon the Church, if they should suffer His covenant, and the seals
thereof, to be profaned by notorious and obstinate offenders.a
a. I Cor. 5; I Tim. 5:20; Matt. 7:6; I Tim. 1:20; I Cor.
11:27-34; Jude 23.
IV. For the better attaining of these ends, the officers
of the Church are to proceed by admonition, suspension from the sacrament of the Lord's
Supper for a season; and by excommunication from the Church, according to the nature of
the crime, and demerit of the person.a
a. I Thess. 5:12; II Thess. 3:6, 14-15; I Cor. 5:4-5, 13; Matt. 18:17;
Tit. 3:10.
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