Burden Bearing And The Recovery Of Offending Christians (Galatians 6:1–5) -- By: Don B. Garlington

Journal: Trinity Journal
Volume: TRINJ 12:2 (Fall 1991)
Article: Burden Bearing And The Recovery Of Offending Christians (Galatians 6:1–5)
Author: Don B. Garlington


Burden Bearing And The Recovery Of
Offending Christians
(Galatians 6:1–5)

Don B. Garlington

Toronto Baptist Seminary

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

I. Introduction

Church discipline is perhaps the most delicate issue which faces any congregation of Christians. On the one hand, believers are sensitive to the claims of truth on the conscience. They are further aware that truth is for the purpose of promoting godliness. Consequently, sin is to be taken seriously, and discipline, when necessary, is to be administered according to the gravity of the offense in question. “If your brother sins,” says our Lord, “correct him” (Matt 18:15). On the other hand, Christians are aware that the truth has not been entrusted to the church in abstraction from the welfare of the people who are the recipients of that truth. If sin is exposed and corrected, it is only to the end that Christ may be glorified by the recovery and restoration of his errant sheep (cf. Jas 5:19–20). The problem of church discipline, accordingly, resides in the balance of love of truth and love of people. The seriousness of a want of such balance is underscored by the NT itself. For some time, the Corinthians refused to do anything about the incestuous person among their ranks, whose sin was unprecedented even among pagans (1 Cor 5:1–5). Yet, once discipline was applied, the same church swung to the opposite extreme, so that the man was in danger of being swallowed up by grief (2 Cor 2:6–7). The potential endangerment of the well-being of the church, then, is that of excess in one direction or the other: either an overtolerance of sin or an overkill of severity in rectifying sin.

The following essay attempts to address only the latter aspect of the problem. From Jonestown to the present day, both the secular and the Christian media have forced us to recognize the reality of intolerance and brutal discipline among those who call themselves Christians, particularly where a cult-like attachment to authority figures is in evidence. Again it is a phenomenon addressed by the NT. In writing to his friend Gaius, the apostle John singles out Diotrephes, who loved to put himself first, with the result that he not only refused to acknowledge John’s authority: he also refused to

welcome the brethren, even to the extent that he excommunicated those who did welcome them (3 John 9–10). As some commentators have observed, the difference bet...

You must have a subscription and be logged in to read the entire article.
Click here to subscribe
visitor : : uid: ()