What Is Excommunication in the Bible — In Biblical Context

The Biblical Context

Excommunication is the most serious act a local church can take — the formal removal of an unrepentant believer from the fellowship and privileges of the church. The term comes from the Latin 'excommunicare,' meaning 'to put out of communion.' In the New Testament, this is described as 'delivering to Satan,' 'not keeping company,' 'not eating with,' and 'putting away.' The purpose is not vengeance but salvation, not rejection but rescue. The classic text is 1 Corinthians 5, where Paul commands the Corinthians to remove an unrepentant man living in incest. 'In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.' 'Delivering to Satan' means removing the person from the sphere of God's visible kingdom — the church — and placing them back under the domain of the prince of this world. The 'destruction of the flesh' refers to the painful consequences of sin that God may use to bring the person to repentance. The goal is explicitly stated: 'that the spirit may be saved.' First Timothy 1:20 mentions Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom Paul 'delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.' Second Thessalonians 3:6, 14-15 addresses those who walk disorderly: 'withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly... And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.' These passages reveal the balance of excommunication: separation with the hope of restoration, severity with love. The person is to be 'ashamed' — brought to recognize the seriousness of their sin — but still regarded 'as a brother,' not an enemy. Jesus taught that the one removed should be treated 'as an heathen man and a publican' (Matthew 18:17). This does not mean hatred but a change in relationship. Just as Jews did not share table fellowship with Gentiles and tax collectors, the church withdraws its table fellowship — the Lord's Supper — from the unrepentant member. But like Jesus, who ate with tax collectors and sinners to call them to repentance, the church continues to love and pray for the excluded person. Excommunication is the nuclear option of church discipline, to be used only after private and public confrontation has failed. When it is practiced biblically and lovingly, it can be the means by which a wandering soul is shaken awake and brought back to the Savior.

Where It Sits in Scripture

Supporting Passages