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Topic:
Excommunication
The word "excommunication" means expulsion from communion.
Jewish excommunication.--The Jewish system of excommunication was
threefold. The twenty-four offences for which it was inflicted are
various, and range in heinousness from the offence of keeping a fierce
dog to that of taking God's name in vain. The offender was first cited
to appear in court; and if he refused to appear or to make amends, his
sentence was pronounced. The term of this punishment was thirty days;
and it was extended to a second and to a third thirty days when
necessary. If at the end of that time the offended was still
contumacious, he was subjected to the second excommunication. Severer
penalties were now attached. The sentence was delivered by a court of
ten, and was accompanied by a solemn malediction. The third
excommunication was an entire cutting off from the congregation. The
punishment of excommunication is not appointed by the law of Moses; it
is founded on the natural right of self-protection which all societies
enjoy. In the New Testament, Jewish excommunication is brought
prominently before us in the case of the man that was born blind. (John
9:1)... In (Luke 6:22) it has been thought that our Lord referred
specifically to the three forms of Jewish excommunication: "Blessed
are ye when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from
their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil,
for the Son of man's sake."
Christian excommunication.--Excommunication, as exercised by the
Christian Church, was instituted by our Lord, (Matthew 18:15,18) and it
was practiced and commanded by St. Paul (1 Corinthians 5:11; 1 Timothy
1:20; Titus 3:10) In the epistles we find St. Paul frequently claiming
the right to exercise discipline over his converts; comp. (2 Corinthians
1:23; 13:10) We find, (1) that it is a spiritual penalty, involving no
temporal punishment, except accidentally; (2) that it consists in
separation from the communion of the Church; (3) that its object is the
good of the sufferer, (1 Corinthians 5:5) and the protection of the
sound members of the Church, (2 Timothy 3:17) (4) that its subjects are
those who are guilty of heresy, (1 Timothy 1:20) or gross immorality, (1
Corinthians 5:1) (5) that it is inflicted by the authority of the Church
at large, (Matthew 18:18) wielded by the highest ecclesiastical officer,
(1 Corinthians 5:3; Titus 3:10) (6) that this officer's sentence is
promulgated by the congregation to which the offender belongs, (1
Corinthians 5:4) in defence to his superior judgment and command, (2
Corinthians 2:9) and in spite of any opposition on the part of a
minority, (2 Corinthians 2:6) (7) that the exclusion may be of
indefinite duration, or for a period; (8) that its duration may be
abridged at the discretion and by the indulgence of the person who has
imposed the penalty, (2 Corinthians 2:8) (9) that penitence is the
condition on which restoration to communion is granted, (2 Corinthians
2:8) (10) that the sentence is to be publicly reversed as it was
publicly promulgated. (2 Corinthians 2:10)
Derived from Easton's and Smith's Bible Dictionaries
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