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abominations, Rev. 2:14,20,24. On the whole the Reformed churches have excelled in the
exercise of Church discipline. They strongly stressed the fact that the Church of Christ must
have an independent government and discipline. The Lutheran Churches did not emphasize
this. They were Erastian in Church government, and were content to leave the exercise of
Church discipline in the strict sense of the word in the hands of the government. The Church
retained the right to exercise discipline only by means of the ministry of the Word, that is, by
admonitions and exhortations addressed to the church as a whole. This was entrusted to the
pastor and did not include the right to exclude anyone from the communion of the Church. At
present there is in the Churches round about us a noticeable tendency to be lax in discipline, to
place a one-sided emphasis on the reformation of the sinner through the ministry of the Word
and—in some instances—through personal contacts with the sinner, and to steer clear of any
such measures as excluding one from the communion of the Church. There is a very evident
tendency to stress the fact that the Church is a great missionary agency, and to forget that it is
first of all the assembly of the saints, in which those who publicly live in sin cannot be tolerated.
It is said that sinners must be gathered into the church, and not excluded from it. But it should
be remembered that they must be gathered in as saints and have no legitimate place in the
Church as long as they do not confess their sin and strive for holiness of life.
3. THE POTESTAS OR MINISTERIUM MISERICORDIAE.
a. The charismatic gift of healing.
When Christ sent His apostles and the seventy disciples out,
He not only instructed them to preach, but also gave them power to cast out devils and to cure
all manner of diseases, Matt. 10:1,8; Mark 3:15; Luke 9:1,2; 10:9; 10:9,17. Among the early
Christians there were some who had the gift of healing and who could perform miracles, I Cor.
12:9, 10,28,30; Mark 16:17,18. This extraordinary condition, however, soon made way for the
usual one, in which the Church carries on its work by the ordinary means. There is no Scriptural
ground for the idea that the charism of healing was intended to be continued in the Church of
all ages. Evidently, the miracles and miraculous signs recorded in Scripture were intended as a
mark or credential of divine revelation, themselves formed a part of this revelation, and served
to attest and confirm the message of the early preachers of the gospel. As such they naturally
ceased when the period of special revelation came to an end. It is true that the Church of Rome
and several sects claim the power of miraculous healing, but the claim is not borne out by the
evidence. There are many marvelous stories in circulation of miraculous cures, but before they
are given credence it must be proved: (1) that they do not pertain to cases of imaginary
sickness, but to cases of real diseases or physical defects; (2) that they do not refer to imaginary
or pretended, but to real, cures; and (3) that the cures are actually wrought in a supernatural
way, and are not the result of the use of natural means, either material or mental.[Cf.
especially, Warfield, Counterfeit Miracles.]