BCO 37.6

37.6. 36-6

36-6. Excommunication is to be administered according to one or other of the two modes laid down for indefinite suspension, or to be inflicted in public as the court may decide. In administering this censure the moderator of the Session shall make a statement of the several steps which have been taken with respect to the offending brother, and of the decision to cut him off from the communion of the church. He shall then show from Matthew 18:15-18 and 1 Corinthians 5:1-5 the authority of the church to cast out unworthy members, and shall explain the nature, use and consequences of this censure. He shall then administer the censure in the words following: Whereas, _________________________, a member of this church has been by sufficient proof convicted of the sin of _______________________, and after much admonition and prayer, obstinately refuses to hear the Church, and has manifested no evidence of repentance: Therefore, in the name and by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, we, the Session of ________________________ church do pronounce him to be excluded from the Sacraments, and cut off from the fellowship of the Church. Prayer shall then be made that by God’s blessing this solemn action of the court may issue in the repentance and restoration of the offender, and in the establishment of all true believers.

For discussion

1. Put this answer in your own words, then say what it rules out — what belief is it written against?