What about Church Discipline for Vaccinating? 10 Considerations

by Steve Halbrook
Updated 9/28/2025
see also: The Bible Versus Vaccination
Loads of Articles Addressing Vaccination from a Biblical Worldview

When it comes to the matter of vaccination being a violation of the Sixth Commandment, we have already established that it should be criminalized by the civil government. But if vaccinating oneself or one’s child, as we have argued, is indeed a sin, we must also ask whether it is a matter for church discipline.

This is indeed a matter that must be approached soberly. Discipline can ultimately proceed to excommunication.

Of course, some churches are too lenient and allow for just about any sinful behavior. On the other hand, there are those that are outright tyrannical that micromanage the lives of congregants and discipline for petty reasons.

The question is, can any particular sins sooner or later be subject to church discipline? Not just adultery, idolatry, or intentional, unjustified killing, but sins that may not, shall we say, rise in our estimation to the same level? Even those done with good intentions — including vaccination?

And if something like vaccination should be subject to church discipline, how many warnings should one who vaccinates first get before discipline is carried out?

This is why I don’t claim to have the definitive answer on whether vaccination should be a matter of church discipline. I haven’t worked out all of church discipline’s nuances.

Whether vaccination should be a disciplinary offense is something that churches that both 1) understand the evils of vaccination and 2) have a good grasp of how to biblically apply church discipline must ponder and decide for themselves.

As such, instead of proposing an answer, let me at least offer some items for local churches for consideration. Maybe these will be helpful as they try to figure out it if vaccination (at least at one point or another) should be a disciplinary offense; and if so, how to approach it.

1. On the one hand, vaccination is a harmful poison that violates the Sixth Commandment. However, those who do so to themselves or their children presumably do so with the good intention of fulfilling the Sixth Commandment. So it is not high handed, deliberate sin (like abortion); cast in the best light, the harm is done out of ignorance. Perhaps, then, it is at worst a sin of ignorance.

2. Due to relentless propaganda campaigns by the vaccinators, many have a hard time being convicted that they should not vaccinate — and when they do become convicted, sometimes it is gradual. (Sadly, sometimes more immediate conviction comes when one is personally injured by vaccination or loses a child to it; sometimes we must first feel the heat before we see the light.)

3. Despite not being a flagrant, high handed sin on the part of those who vaccinate out of ignorance, given the short- and long-term dangers (sudden death, cancer, etc.), there is a sense of urgency to keep congregants from vaccinating — especially when it comes to vaccinating such vulnerable people as infants, the elderly, and those with health challenges. (Only God knows how many infants a day die from vaccine-caused “SIDS,” or suffer brain damage from vaccine-caused “autism.”)

4. There may be some cases where vaccination is morally lawful; for instance, when one who is grown up (not a child!) chooses to vaccinate himself because he is forced to do so in order to perform a service for saving lives or souls. (To be extra clear, not because vaccines work and they are needed to protect one from spreading fake viruses — they are absolutely useless — but because one cannot perform said services otherwise due to tyrannical mandates.) For example, when one is required to be vaccinated in order to work as a paramedic or firefighter — or one is required to be vaccinated to enter a country to work as a missionary. (This is all assuming, of course, that there is not a way around doing so. See the section “Is vaccination ever morally permissible?” here.) In such a case, it may be loving one’s neighbor by knowingly risking one’s life (by taking a poisoned shot) to help others. Consider, for example, whether it properly applies the Scripture, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13, ESV). But then, some vaccines are created by the torture and murder of newborn children, so then there is the further question of whether such vaccines can ever be morally justified even in the circumstances above.

5. The church must be sure to inform congregants on the truth of vaccination. Be the watchman who warns! (Ezekiel 33:6) It is unfair to discipline if no time was taken to educate. Consider having a book table with anti-vaccine literature, speak against vaccination in sermons (in terms of it being against God’s moral law), and have private, gracious one-on-one conversations with congregants. (Out of concern for the flock, all of this should be done anyway by the local church whether or not vaccination should be a disciplinary offense.)

6. With the church informing congregants on the evils of vaccination, at what point can it be said that vaccination is still done out of ignorance? When does accidental ignorance become willful ignorance? Where does sincerity end, and hard-heartedness begin?

7. If vaccination should be a matter of church discipline, what about other procedures in the name of health? It would indeed be tyrannical for a church to micromanage one’s medical decisions — and arrogant to think that when it comes to health, it has it all figured out. Some medical procedures are debatable as to their safety and effectiveness. Surely there should be discretion here. However, in vaccination, we are talking about something that has shown throughout its history to be worthless and extremely harmful to one’s life and health — especially to a child. Like mercury treatments and indiscriminate bloodletting (as we have seen in history), there is a point where medical intervention obviously goes too far. Moreover, vaccination is an unnatural process in violation of God’s created order, and is more analagous to pro-death procedures like euthanasia and abortion than to a possibly legitimate medical procedure.

8. There is the question of vaccine shedding and transmission. When one is vaccinated — at least for certain vaccines — is he putting the health of those in proximity to him at risk? For instance, many have complained about getting sick when in proximity to those who have gotten the COVID shot. There is even the question of miscarriages being caused by COVID vaccine transmission. While I believe virology is a scam, is it possible that certain vaccines have a mechanism that transmits illness in a different way, such as aerosolized poison from one’s pores, activation of emissions triggered by EMF or 5G, etc.?

9. When considering discipline, even more aggravated than getting vaccinated and/or vaccinating one’s children is being one who promotes or administers vaccination. Poisoning others (often fatally) — however well-intentioned — for a living is a very serious matter. Every day, applying this trade means potential deaths and lifelong injuries.

10. Finally, be clear on where you stand. Church congregants should not be taken by surprised if they come under discipline for vaccination. A book table with anti-vaccine literature (as mentioned above) should make things clear right away about the church’s position. In addition, consider taking an official position on vaccination in the church’s official doctrinal statement. (While I don’t endorse everything about New Covenant Baptist in Spokane, WA, it does include such here.)

I hope many find this helpful and it sparks further thought on the matter of vaccines and church discipline. When a church is unsure how far to go on this matter, it can at the very least warn the flock about the dangers of vaccination.

Ideally, Christians will become convicted on their own not to vaccinate than having to undergo a disciplinary process.

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