Scriptural Explanation of Excommunication, Part 1

“Evil men do not understand judgment; but those who seek the Lord understand all things,” Proverbs 28, verse 5.

“Whoever walks uprightly shall be saved; but he who is perverse in his ways shall fall at once,” Proverbs 28, verse 18.

“For no one can lay any other foundation than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ,” First Corinthians 3, verse 11.

Menno Simon wishes all fellow believers, brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, the grace and peace of God our heavenly Father, through Christ Jesus his beloved Son, our Lord, who loved us and has cleansed us from our sins in his blood. To him be the honor, praise, kingdom, power and glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

Dear brothers, for some time now I have found that much strife has arisen over the ban, and this so violently and indiscreetly that I fear brotherly love, Christian peace and unity are, with some, more diminished than increased, as was the case in olden times. It appears that some, through ambition and self-conceit, are so eager for this corrupting dispute that they hold the opinion in this matter that it is not the banned themselves who should be shunned, but only their false doctrine and offensive life—not noticing that they have already become entangled in false doctrine. For by this they nullify the plain ordinance of Christ, “Let him be to you as a heathen man and a publican,” and also the plain words of the holy apostles, Matthew 18, verse 17; Romans 16, verse 16; Second Thessalonians 3, verse 14; Titus 3, verse 10.

Others think that the ban should not be practiced any further than what pertains to the evangelical practices, such as the breaking of bread and the kiss of peace; and they twist the plain sayings of the Scriptures to make their opinions good, namely: Do not keep company with such a one; with such a one do not eat; “Let him be to you as a heathen man and a publican,” and other similar sayings, First Corinthians 5, verse 10; Matthew 18, verse 17.

Again, there are some who acknowledge the ordinance of Christ and the doctrine of the holy apostles concerning excommunication as right and just, and yet they do not observe it—some, I presume, from being lukewarm; some from carnal love and favor toward the apostates; and others because they are neighbors or relatives, or perhaps because of former attachments and favors.

The express ordinance of Christ and his holy apostles concerning excommunication is lamentably weakened, obscured and twisted by the first-mentioned, and visibly transgressed and dishonored by the latter; thus the door is opened wide to all corruption. They thus act against all love. First, against the love of God and Christ, for by this they despise and disobey his holy word, will and ordinance. Second, against brotherly love, for by such perverseness and disregard they offend and grieve their brothers. Third, against the love of their own souls, for by this they willfully expose themselves to the danger of being corrupted. Fourth, against love toward those who deserve the ban, for they despise the counsel of the Holy Spirit and do not seek to shame them into repentance. Fifth, also against common love, for by keeping company with the apostates they make the people of the world suspect that we are one and the same people with the apostates and the perverse. And since the precious word of God and his holy church are thus blasphemed and profaned by many because of their recklessness and disobedience, I have therefore, in a Christian spirit and brotherly love (of which God is my witness), undertaken to explain, for the benefit of my beloved brothers and fellow believers in Christ Jesus, the proper grounds of the ban according to divine truth: how the ban was instituted by Christ, how it was taught and explained by his holy apostles, and what its fruits and benefits are. But I leave this explanation to the judgment of those who seek and fear God with all their hearts and who are enlightened and taught by the Spirit of God. Whoever seeks God and the good of his neighbor will acknowledge that this explanation agrees with the foundation, meaning, word and will of God.

Dearly beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, I, your poor, unworthy servant and partner in the faith and tribulation of Christ, trust and pray, for the sake of the precious blood of my Lord Jesus Christ and for the sake of love toward all, that no one will willfully and knowingly contend against Christ Jesus and his holy word, nor against his own conscience, in order to maintain his error and so avoid the disapproval and shame of the world.

I trust that, as Christians, they do not hold grudges against one another, but seek to win their erring brothers back to Christ. In the same way, if a God-fearing person errs, he is anxious to return to the right way; if he falls, he wants to rise; and if he is wounded, he wants to be healed again, James 5, verse 19. And if by the grace of God he is delivered from his error and misunderstanding through the word of the Lord, he is not ashamed, but is exceedingly glad, and praises and thanks his God that he has been led from the crooked way to the right one, and from his error to a true and sound understanding. He earnestly seeks to deliver and set free those whom he formerly led astray and deceived by his false doctrine and misunderstanding; for true love does not seek its own, but God and its neighbor. Whoever has ears to hear and a mind to understand, let him hear and understand what the word of the Lord teaches us so very clearly concerning excommunication.

Christ Jesus says, “Moreover, if your brother trespasses against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear you, then take with you one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he neglects to hear them, tell it to the church; but if he neglects to hear the church, let him be to you as a heathen man and a publican. Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven,” Matthew 18, verses 15 to 18.

Here, faithful brothers, stands the firm foundation of God like an immovable rock or mountain, on which all who try to overturn and nullify it will be wounded and hurt, namely: that we are to shun and avoid the apostates if they pay no heed to all the brotherly services and admonitions that have been given them in faithfulness of heart, according to the doctrine of Christ and the dictates of pure love, and if they obstinately continue in their errors—just as the Jews shunned and avoided the heathen and publicans in the time of Christ.

In the first place, by command of the Lord through Moses, the Jews did not admit the uncircumcised heathen to their passover, nor to their divine service, as appears from the Acts of the Apostles; for they were strangers to the citizenship of Israel, and Israel alone was the church.

In the second place, they avoided daily dealings with them so completely that they considered it unclean to enter their houses or to eat and drink with them. This also applied to the publicans. As the Jews, then, did not admit such heathen and publicans to their worship or to their daily dealings, but shunned and avoided them, so Christ also would have us shun and avoid an apostate, unrepentant brother, as was said above. And this is the proper and natural foundation of these words of Christ, as holy Paul well explains in First Corinthians, chapter 2, of which more will be heard later. [Note 1]

See, brothers in the Lord: all who want rightly to understand the meaning of the words of Christ quoted above should know that Christ does not point to the Jewish custom toward the heathen and publicans in the time of Moses and the prophets, but to the custom of his own times. One should first make a distinction between the heathen and the publicans, and not consider them one people; and then consider well, and judge according to the Scriptures, how these two classes were dealt with in the time of Moses and the prophets, before the scepter was taken from the Jews and they were put under the yoke of the Romans.

In the first place, it is beyond dispute that the heathen were not of the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; that they were uncircumcised, without God and religion, and without law—indeed, a people that was no people, as Moses says, Deuteronomy 32, verse 27. In the second place, it is likewise beyond dispute that the publicans and sinners were Jews. For Luke says that the publicans came to John to be baptized. Again, that the publicans justified God and were baptized with the baptism of John. Again, all the publicans and sinners came to Jesus to hear him; but the heathen did not come to John and to Christ. Therefore it is clear that the publicans and sinners were not heathen but Jews. It is also apparent from the case of the sinful woman, and from the publican Matthew, who was chosen an apostle of the Lord; and no apostles were chosen from the heathen. This is plainly true, Ephesians 2, verse 12; Luke 3, verse 2; Luke 7, verse 29; Luke 15, verse 1. [Note 2]

Since the Gentiles and the publicans were two distinct peoples, as has been said, and if we are to turn to the law to find out what freedom the Jews had toward the Gentiles, then in the same way we must also find out from the law how the Jews acted toward the publicans; for the one word is as valid as the other, since both were spoken and attested by the mouth of the eternal Wisdom.

We are aware, beloved brothers, that Moses in his law allowed outward Israel a great deal of liberty in dealing with the Gentile nations, as in buying, trading and usury. But we also know that, on the testimony of two or three witnesses, he judged the willful and open transgressors rigorously to death, without mercy, according to his law, Deuteronomy 17, verse 6; Second Corinthians 13, verse 1. If we were to understand the words of Christ mentioned above, Matthew, chapter 18, as being of the same nature and rigor as those of the law of Moses, then it would follow, first, from the word heathen, that we were free to deal with the apostates in daily dealings as Israel was free to deal with the heathen. And second, from the word publican it would follow that we should stone and kill the apostates when their apostasy was established by two or three witnesses. But it would not be right either to take too much liberty with them or to put them to death. Taking life is also entirely inconsistent with the nature and doctrine of Christ, “For the Son of man has not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them,” Luke 9, verse 56.

Let everyone take heed. For if a person takes the word heathen alone and judges it according to the law of Moses, and leaves out the word publican, he wrongs not man but the Son of God, and disgracefully annuls his holy word and truth. For he does not say, Let him be to you as a heathen, but “as a heathen man and a publican.” Christ says, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” Therefore it is most advisable not to break the word of Christ Jesus, but to set aside human understanding, acknowledge the truth, give heed to Christ Jesus, and believe and obey him. Then he will be like the wise builder; if not, his house will fall, and “great will be its fall.”

Further, most beloved brothers, we understand that there are some who take these words of Christ to mean that we are not bound to shun an apostate and impenitent brother any further than Gentiles now shun Gentiles, or fornicators shun adulterers and drunkards, whom they perhaps call the publicans. I would earnestly beseech and exhort such people, first, to consider this matter well before they accept, believe and teach it as a true foundation, and to consider to what people Christ was sent from the beginning, and among what people he began to build and establish his church. Christ explains this sufficiently when he says, “I am not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” Matthew 15, verse 24. Paul also says, “Now I say that Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers.” Since he was sent from the beginning to the Jews, and preached to them and taught them, and not to the heathen, these words of Christ should not be understood to mean that we should deal with an apostate as believing heathen now deal with an unbelieving heathen, but that we should deal with him as the literal Jews dealt with such people in the time of Christ. For Christ, I say, did not preach to the heathen but to the Jews; and so by these words he did not point them to anything but the Jewish ban, namely, how they shunned the heathen and open sinners in his times.

In the second place, I pray that every God-fearing heart consider what the word Gentile implies, and see whether all fornicators, adulterers, the greedy, unbelievers, perjurers, idolaters, murderers and drunkards are not included in the word Gentile. Indeed, Paul says that they are without Christ, have no God, are dead in sins, and are children of wrath, Ephesians 2, verse 11. Since, then, all sinners and Gentiles are expressed in the word “Gentile” (for the Gentiles who do not have Christ are also sinners and without grace), and since Christ speaks here of open sinners as well as of Gentiles, and moreover since every word of Christ has its full weight and measure, the word of Christ therefore cannot be explained to mean that we should deal with an apostate brother as we would with other Gentiles who never received or acknowledged the word of the Lord.

In the third place, I hope that no true brother who is called by the name of the Lord will knowingly and willfully adulterate the word of the Lord, but that he will give it its due praise and honor, and acknowledge that these publicans and sinners of whom the evangelists speak were not Gentiles but Jews, as is apparent from Matthew 9, verse 10; Mark 2, verse 17. Since it is beyond dispute that the publicans and sinners mentioned were Jews and were sentenced to death according to the law, and since Christ points us to the publicans as well as to the Gentiles, it must follow that his word should not be explained as referring to the times when Israel still exercised the liberties toward the heathen that Moses allowed them in his law; for at that time the transgressors, on proof, were sentenced to death according to the law. It would then also follow that the lives of the apostates, on proof, would be taken at our hands. O no, for we know that such a bloody ban is an abomination before God; it is not even known among Christians, much less practiced.

If anyone should assert that it applies to the present time—that is, to treating an apostate as we now treat a Gentile—and not to the time of Christ, as the Jews then treated a Gentile, he must also restore the Jewish people with their law and religion and their open transgressors, which is impossible. Everyone must admit this.

The word Gentile cannot be understood as applying to the time when the Gentiles were not yet so strictly shunned by the Israelites, for then we would have to sentence the apostates to death according to the word “open transgressors”; nor as applying to the present time, for now we do not have the Jewish transgressors. Therefore no one can successfully maintain, according to God’s truth, anything other than that it applies to the time of Christ, when they did not put transgressors to death, but separated and avoided both the publicans and the heathen alike by means of the same ban.

Having sufficiently proven to the pious and God-fearing by the reasons given above that Christ spoke these words of his own times and of no other, we will now show in plain language, first, the real reason why they so scrupulously avoided the heathen, and second, why they shunned the open transgressors and did not inflict capital punishment on them.

It is well known to all readers of the Bible that the Lord God faithfully warned Israel not to make an alliance or terms of friendship with the Canaanites, Hittites and others, nor to intermarry with them, lest they be led astray by them and follow strange gods, Deuteronomy, chapter 7. Joshua says, “Take good heed therefore to yourselves, that you love the Lord your God. Otherwise, if you in any way go back, and cling to the remnant of these nations, these that remain among you, and make marriages with them, and go in to them, and they to you, know for a certainty that the Lord your God will no longer drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps to you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which the Lord your God has given you,” Joshua 23, verses 11 and 13.

Israel did not take this fatherly warning of God to heart, but against it befriended and mingled with these strange nations; and so the threat that the Lord God made through his faithful servants Moses and Joshua came true. They became thoroughly degenerate through the strange women and idols they mingled with, and were severely scourged and punished by the Lord—indeed, so much so that the gifted Solomon, whose wisdom was famed far and wide, was so enchanted by the heathen women that he became unfaithful to the Lord his God (who had appeared to him twice) and turned his heart to strange gods. I think, beloved brothers, this is the just reward of those who despise the counsel of the Lord.

And because, deceived by the cunning of the heathen, they often sinned against their God, and were therefore so often chastised by God with his just punishment, they at last took the warning of God given through Moses and Joshua to heart more than they had before. They gave up their dealings with the heathen altogether, so that, as it appears, they also gave up some liberties which Moses had allowed them—indeed, so that they considered it improper to enter their houses or to eat with them, as may be plainly seen. And they did this so that they would not be led astray and turned away from their God as before. This is why the Jews so completely avoided dealings with the heathen. Whether this reason carried weight, every theologian may judge and weigh by the words of God, Numbers 33, verse 35; Judges 3, verse 13; First Kings 11, verse 1; First Kings 3, verse 12; First Kings 9, verse 2. [Note 3]

Again, the reason why they shunned the public sinners and did not punish them with death is this: the prophecy of the patriarch Jacob had now come true—the royal scepter, taken from Judah by Pompey the Great, was now in the hands of the Romans, who had their own officers in Judea, obedient to their superiors. Therefore the Jews did not punish with death, according to their law, those who willfully transgressed; for at that time they were subject to the scepter of the Romans. That this is the truth the Jews declared before Pilate when they said, “It is not lawful for us to put any man to death.” According to the law they were permitted to—indeed, it was strictly commanded them—but the lost scepter now made it unlawful. For the Roman servants, Herod, Pilate and so on, who at that time held the scepter on behalf of the Romans, did not want to judge according to the law of the Jews, but according to the rights and statutes of the Romans, in whose name they ruled and to whom they were bound by oath. When a Jew transgressed the law of Moses, and not the Roman morals, those officials did not inflict capital punishment because the law of Moses required it. And since the Jews were not allowed to punish him according to the law, for the reasons mentioned above, they separated him from their communion, excommunicated him from their synagogue, and shunned him.

See, faithful brothers: for the reasons given, the Jews in the time of Christ shunned both the heathen and the Jewish publicans. They shunned the heathen lest they be led astray and deceived; but the publicans because according to the law they deserved death, Genesis 49, verse 10, and yet the Jews were not allowed to kill and destroy them because of the Roman dominion.

Perhaps some will ask: Why, then, did they scourge the apostles? Why did they stone Stephen? And why were many saints put to death by Saul? Why was their community destroyed, if they were not allowed capital punishment?

To this I answer that none of this happened without the consent of the Romans, for they themselves confessed before Pilate, saying, “It is not lawful for us to put any man to death,” John 18, verse 31. The stoning of Stephen was not done lawfully, but merely in a riot, as Luke declares, saying, Exclamantes autem voce magna, continuerunt aures suas, and impetum fecerunt unanimiter in eum; and the Zurichers have translated this into German as follows: “They cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord”—as they also meant to do with Christ, and with Paul, Acts 7, verse 57; Acts 10, verse 31; Acts 21, verse 30; Acts 23, verse 12; Acts 26, verse 10; Luke 4, verse 29. Again, as for Saul, or Paul, destroying the church and putting many of the saints to death, as he related before Agrippa, we may be sure that he did not do so without the consent of the magistracy. For it is clear and beyond dispute that the scepter did not allow them to put anyone to death, and for this reason they said, “It is not lawful for us to put any man to death”; the scepter had been taken from them and had come into the hands of the Romans, as has been explained above. If they had been allowed to practice their own law of blood, they would not have delivered Christ to Pilate; Lucius would not have taken Paul from the rioting Jews; Herod would not have imprisoned Peter, nor killed John the Baptist and James. For in worldly justice it would not do for one to seize the jurisdiction of another; such a policy would doubtless soon fail, Acts 21, verses 27 to 40; Acts 24, verse 7.

We are well aware, beloved brothers, that there are some who call this Jewish shunning or ban, to which Christ has directed us, a Pharisaic leaven, and say frankly, We do not want to be pointed to a leaven without the Scriptures. Whoever these may be, we pray them for the Lord’s sake, first, to consider well what they say; for in my opinion they do not understand their own words. Does not Moses say, “Whoever does not listen to my (God’s) words, which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him,” Deuteronomy 18, verse 19? Does not Jeremiah say that he “shall execute judgment and justice in the earth”? Does not the Father say from high heaven, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear him”? Does not Paul say, “In whom (Christ) are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge”? Jeremiah 23, verse 5; Matthew 17, verse 5; Colossians 2, verse 3. I am sure that the word and teaching of Christ is Scripture enough for all the pious. It is he, I say, and not I, who points his believers to the use of the ban. Tu quis es, qui ex adverso respondes Deo? That is, Who are you that would answer God with perverseness?

If there is any brother under the whole canopy of heaven who can show by the divine truth that these words of Christ apply to any other time than the time of Christ, without violating the Scriptures, then I will gladly hear him and open my ears to the truth. For I do not want to contend against the truth, which is my testimony; I want to uphold it. For the sake of the truth I have had to hear and suffer much these many years, and by the grace of the Lord I am still prepared to testify to the truth even to death. But I know and am convinced that it cannot apply to any other time without violating the word and Scriptures of Christ, as we have sufficiently shown and proven to the reader above by an abundance of reasons and Scriptures.

Second, I ask, for God’s sake, that my beloved brothers weigh in the balance of the Scriptures what leaven is and what the Scriptures mean by it, before they call this ban, to which Christ directs us, a Pharisaic leaven. It signifies, first, the word and its power, or rather, faith and its power. Second, it signifies a corrupting, ungodly being or man. Third, a deceiving, leavened, corrupting doctrine. If the Jewish ban and shunning to which Christ points us was a leaven, as some mistakenly assert, then they must show by the power of the Scriptures what leavening and corruption it caused in the pure word and in the hearts of the Jews. For although the Lord God permitted Israel some liberties through Moses in their temporal dealings, as was said at the beginning, he did not expressly command them to deal with the heathen, but rather warned the Jews against them. They now scrupulously observed God’s faithful warning, which they had been taught through many perils, and for that reason, probably, they did not make use of the privileges granted them for dealing with the heathen, lest by these means they be ensnared and corrupted in their hearts by the heathen. Let the spiritual now judge whether this can be called leaven according to the Scriptures, since by it they did not neglect the law and command of God but in fact left it unchanged and whole, and were thus shielded against the corrupter.

Sincerely beloved brothers, if we are to regard this often-mentioned Jewish ban, to which Christ directs us, as a leaven because for conscience’ sake they gave up some of these liberties (for liberties are of such a nature that we may enjoy them or not, as we choose; otherwise they would not be liberties)—not contrary to the law, but rather in keeping with the faithful warning, counsel and admonition of God contained in the law—then the holy prophet Jeremiah would have had good reason to rebuke the Rechabites as leaven, because, on account of the command of their father Jonadab, they would not drink wine, plant vineyards, sow the soil or build houses, although all this was free to them according to the law of God; for the possession of the land and the other blessings were promised to them along with Israel, Jeremiah 35, verse 14. O no, the Lord did not count it against them as leaven; it was counted to their honor that they had honored the command of their father, and by it they obtained the promise of the Lord.

I would further say that if it is to be called leaven when we do not make use of our freedom for conscience’ sake or for the sake of the brothers, then freedom cannot be called freedom, and Paul must have been an impure leaven for teaching that, when necessary, we should deny ourselves our liberty for the sake of the brothers, Romans 14, verse 14; First Corinthians 8, verse 13; First Corinthians 9, verse 14; First Corinthians 10, verse 23.

From all this it is evident, as I understand the word of the Lord, that it is a frightful blasphemy, unknown to a God-fearing Christian, to undertake in this way to master and instruct Christ, the eternal Wisdom of God, as to how he should teach us and what he should command us, and to call leaven what he commands us—although it is a strong and comforting shield against corruption and deceit, and therefore not contrary to the law but in keeping with it. Of this we are convinced; for if it were leaven, contrary to the law, as some say it is, then Christ Jesus would by no means have approved of it, commanded it, and said, “Let him be to you as a heathen man and a publican,” since in other places he diligently warned his followers against leaven.

Some will perhaps contradict me by saying that the Jews’ shunning of the heathen—that is, not eating with them even when the food was clean—was openly contrary to the express command of the law. For Moses had commanded Israel to keep the feast of weeks and the feast of tabernacles to the Lord their God, with a tribute of a free-will offering of their hands, which they were to give to the Lord their God, and so on; and that they should rejoice before the Lord their God—they, and their sons and their daughters, and their male servants and their female servants, and the Levite that was within their gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow that were among them. To such people I would reply that these strangers also had to keep the Sabbath, and shared with the Levites, the widows and the orphans in the tithes of the third year, the firstfruits of the land, and the gleanings of the field, the olive trees and the vineyards.

The stranger also had, with Israel, an offering for sins of ignorance, and also the same punishment as Israel; they had to hear the reading of the law every seventh year, at the solemn feast of the year of release. It therefore follows from these and similar Scriptures that these strangers were citizens among the Israelites, and not uncircumcised heathen. For they were already among the Israelites while they were still journeying in the wilderness. Moses says, “You stand this day, all of you, before the Lord your God: the captains of your tribes, your elders and your officers, with all the men of Israel; your little ones, your wives, and the stranger that is in your camp, from the hewer of your wood to the drawer of your water, that you should enter into covenant with the Lord your God, and into his oath, which the Lord your God makes with you this day,” Deuteronomy 5, verse 14; Deuteronomy 16, verses 13 and 14; Exodus 20, verse 10; Exodus 23, verse 12; Deuteronomy 14, verse 29; Deuteronomy 24, verse 19; Numbers 15, verse 27; Leviticus 4, verse 13; Numbers 9, verse 14; Deuteronomy 29, verses 10 to 12.

I think, brothers, that the passages cited sufficiently show and prove that they were called strangers because they were not of the seed of Israel and had no part in the distribution of the land. Therefore Moses commanded the Israelites to allow them the right to the tithes of the third year, to the gleanings of the field, the olive trees and the vineyards, and to the firstfruits of the land, as we have shown and explained from the writings of Moses.