Deeper Reflection
CONCERNING THOSE WHO WERE “WALKING IN IDLENESS” (V.6), Paul had repeatedly communicated his teaching by word of mouth, personal example and letter. What had been done was more than sufficient. So now, for those who persisted in disobedience, Paul calls for church discipline: “If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person…” (v.14a).Consider what the late John Stott said about church discipline on members who are guilty of serious misbehaviour in the church today: “To be sure, many churches nowadays would do nothing. The administration of discipline had fallen into disuse and the thought of reviving it is viewed with distaste.”²⁶ Is this true of us as an intentional disciplemaking church?Church discipline is for those who are “guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolator, reviler, drunkard, or swindler” (1 Cor 5:11), whose conduct is “a public, deliberate and persistent disobedience”²⁷ to God’s Word. The church discipline is “a measure of social ostracism”²⁸: “Do not associate (synanamignumi) with them” (v.14b, NIV). Synanamignumi means “to associate with one another, normally involving special proximity and/ or joint activity, and usually implying some kind of reciprocal relation or involvement”²⁹. Such “social ostracism” is to be carried out only if the culprit remains unrepentant after three rounds of confrontation of grace: first, one on one, then by “two or three witnesses” and lastly by the larger community (Matt 18:15-17). The purpose is “that he may be ashamed” (v.14b) – “to shame them into repentance for the past and amendment of life in the future”³⁰.

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²⁶ John R. W. Stott, Thessalonians, 193 ²⁷ John R. W. Stott, Thessalonians, 193 ²⁸ John R. W. Stott, Thessalonians, 193 ²⁹ Johannes P. Louw & Eugene A. Nida, 34.1 ³⁰ John R. W. Stott, Thessalonians, 194