James Strahan. EXALTATION.— See Ascension.
EXCOMMUNICATION.— Excommunication is a form of ecclesiastical censure involving exclusion from the membership of the Church. Such ex- clusion may be temporary or permanent. It may cut oti' the oflender from aU communion and every privilege, or it may be less severe, allowing some intercourse and certain benefits.
1. The term. — The word 'excommunication' is not found in AV or RV, nor are the obsolete forms ' excommunion ' (Milton), 'excommenge' (Holin- shed), ' excommuned ' (Gayton). There are general references to the subject, and one or two cases are mentioned with some detail. The Greek verb d(popi^u) signifies ' mark ott' from (dv6) by a boundary (fipos).' It is used sometimes in a good sense (e.g. Ac 132, Ro 1\ Gal 1'^), and sometimes in a bad one {e.g. Lk 6-2 ; note the three degrees of evil treat- ment— d<popiao}(nv, oveidicruaiv, iK^dXwaiv rb 6vo/j.a). See also Mt 13^9 25='2, 2 Co 6I', Gal 2 '2. It is em- ployed by various Greek writers — Sophocles, Euripides, Plato, and others— and is found fre- quently in the LXX. Excommunicatio is a Latin word of later origin. It is used in the Vulgate.
2. Warrant for the practice in the Apostolic Church. — Excommunication in apostolic times rested upon a threefold warrant.
(1) Natural and inherent right. — Every properly constituted society has the right and power to ex- clude members not conforming to its rules. The Church has authority to exercise a right which every society claims. An analogy is sometimes drawn between the Church and the State. The State has power to send into exile, to deprive of civil rights, and even claims and exercises the power to inflict a death-sentence. So, in spiritual matters, the Church may pass sentences of separa- tion more or less complete, and though the supreme judge alone can pronounce the sentence of death in an absolute sense, yet the Church can pass such a sentence in a relative sense — the ofl'ender being regarded as dead from the stand- point of the ecclesiastical court. Upon this point — whether in excommunication and in ' binding and loosing ' the power of the Church is final and absolute — two divergent views have been held. As typical of these two schools of thought, see Dante, de Mon. III. viii. 36 ft'., and Tarquini, Juris eccl. Inst.*, Rome, 1875, p. 98. The former declares it is not absolute, ' sed respective ad aliquid. . . . Posset [enim] solvere me non poeni- tentem, quod etiam facere ipse Deus non posset ' ; the latter states that St. Peter (Mt W^) is invested
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with 'potestas clavium, quae est absoluta et monarchica.'
(2) The example of the Jewish nation and Church. — In the Pentateuch it is stated that certain heinous sins cannot be forgiven. By some form of excommunication or by death itself the sinner is to be 'cut off.' Thus the sanctity of the nation is restored and preserved. In the later days of Judaism the penalties became somewhat milder as a general rule. The foundations of Jewish excom- munication are Lv 13^«, Nu 5'^- 3 12'^- 1« 16, Jg 5^3, Ezr 7'-®, Nell 13-^. The effects are described in Ezr 7-^ 10^. The Talmud mentions three kinds of excommunication, the tirst two disciplinary, the third complete and final expulsion. There was separation, separation with a curse, and final separation with a terrible anathema. For Gospel references see Lk 6--, Jn 9^^- ^- s* 12^2 152^ The sentence might be pronounced on twenty-four different grounds.
(3) T/ie authority of Jestis Christ. — The main basis of authority for the Christian Church is the teaching of its Founder. The passages of most importance on the subject under consideration are Mt 16'* 18'*, Jn 20^. Excommunication must be preceded by private and public exhortation, con- ducted in the spirit of love, with caution, wisdom, and patience. Only as a last resort, and when all else has failed, must the sentence of banishment be pronounced (see Mt IS^^"'"'- 36-«- «-50). From Christ Himself the Church received authority, not only to ' bind ' the impenitent and unbelieving and to ' loose ' the penitent believer, but also, in its properly constituted courts, to condemn and expel gross offenders and to forgive and re-instate them if truly penitent.
3. Legislation in the Apostolic Church. — The general methods of procedure are made clear by St. Paul's method of dealing with the case of the incestuous person at Corinth (1 Co 5, 2 Co 2^"'^). The excommunication of the oti'ender Avas a solemn, deliberate, judicial act of the members of the Church specially gathered together ' in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ' for the purpose, and equipped with the authoritjr and ' power of our Lord Jesus Christ.' The act of exclusion was that of the Church itself and not of the Apostle Paul. The power was not in the hands of an official, or body of officials. Wherever it has become the prerogative of a priesthood it has led to great abuse and the results have been disastrous both to priests and people.
The object of this act of discipline was to reform the sinner (1 Co 5^), and to preserve the purity of the Church. Where a difference of opinion existed as to the course to be pursued, the verdict was decided by the majority (2 Co 2^). The sentence might be modified or rescinded according to sub- sequent events (2''-8). «To deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit majr be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus ' (1 Co 5^), is an obscure passage. Perhaps St. Paul thought that a sin of the flesh was more likely to be cured by bodily suttering than in any other way. In his opinion certain afilictions of the body were due to the operations of Satan (2 Co 2'^ 12^,