A Biblical Theology of Church Discipline

This book discusses strategies for meaningful discipline within church communities. Drawing from pastoral and academic experience, Charlie Ray III turns to the New and Old Testament to reexamine what the Bible says about church discipline. Ray contends that a study of the Old Testament, and specifically Old Testament law, clarifies both the grounds for and the process of church discipline within the church today. By illuminating how New Testament authors repeatedly appeal to the Old Testament Law—both for the foundational principles of and processes for church discipline—Ray reveals how the modern practice of church discipline should be similarly influenced by a study of Old Testament law. While recognizing that the Old Testament does not neatly provide answers for every question about church discipline, Ray suggests that it provides a working model for navigating sensitive, yet vital, issues within church communities. By embarking on a study of biblical theology, extending from capital punishment in the Old Testament through excommunication in the New Testament, Ray formulates a rigorous biblical theology of church discipline for the church of today grounded in the wisdom of the Bible.