Chapter 30 — Lord's Day 30
Section 85. Q. 85: How is the kingdom of heaven closed and opened by Christian discipline? A. According to the command of Christ: Those who, though called Christians, profess unchristian teachings or live unchristian lives, and who after repeated personal and loving admonition, refuse to abandon their errors and wickedness, and who after being reported to the church, that is, to its officers, fail to respond also to their admonition — such persons the officers exclude from the Christian fellowship by withholding the sacraments from them, and God himself excludes them from the kingdom of Christ. Such persons, when they promise and show real amendment, are received again as members of Christ and of his church.