Church Discipline Under Predestination: Restoration, Not Damnation

There is also an important pastoral implication for communal discipline and discernment. The Christian community in understanding predestination can exercise discipline not with the intention of condemning people to perdition, as if the community had power over salvation, but as an instrument of restoration and of conforming to the ethical standards of God’s kingdom. Discipline does not deny predestination. It is part of the process through which God realizes the sanctification of the elect. Calvin also observes that predestination has implications for how the community understands diversity and differences among its members. All were chosen. All are loved by God. All possess equal dignity before God. Not because they are equal in gifts or capacities, but because all share the grace of election. This does not level differences but provides a common foundation of dignity that transcends human hierarchies. Pastoral consolation is also enormous. The Christian community in times of persecution or suffering can find strength in the understanding that its election does not depend on present circumstances. circumstances. If we suffer, we suffer knowing that we were chosen by God and that our suffering has meaning in the divine plan.