(note: This node is 30th in a series of 33 nodes. for the entire series, please see the metanode
Westminster Confession of Faith.)
CHAPTER 30 - Of Church Censures
I. The
Lord Jesus, as
king and head of his
Church, hath therein appointed a government in the hand of Church officers, distinct from the
civil magistrate.
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.
III. Church censures are
necessary for the
reclaiming and
gaining of offending brethren; for deterring of others from 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.
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.
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Westminster Confession of Faith - Chapter 29 | on to
Westminster Confession of Faith - Chapter 31