Church Discipline Is ‘Meant to Produce Joy’ Not Oppression, Theology Professor Says

Congregations should practice church discipline for staff and members, says a theology professor who believes the practice is “meant to produce joy.”

Jeremy Kimble, assistant professor of theology at Cedarville University and elder at Grace Baptist Church in Cedarville, Ohio, was recently interviewed by Dallas Theological Seminary professor Darrell Bock on the podcast “The Table.”

In an episode posted online on Tuesday, Bock asked Kimble about the concerns some have with the concept of church discipline, namely that it can create “a pretty grim congregation.”

“Everyone’s keeping an eye on everyone to make sure that they’re dotting all their i’s and crossing all their t’s. And there’s the danger of almost a kind of legalism setting in the atmosphere, and almost an oppressive kind of environment,” said Bock.

Kimble responded that he felt it’s important for church discipline to be done with a proper recognition of “what sin actually is,” noting that with sin “we reject what is life giving and pure and good, for what is going to produce death and destruction.”

“If we can get back to that doctrine of sin, we can then start saying something like, ‘Discipline is done for progress and joy in the faith.’ It’s not meant to produce a, as you said, a grim, austere kind of environment….