Likewise, the Nazarines (Jews) and Christians (Gentiles) who believed in Yeshua as the Messiah "excommunicated themselves" from the synagogues by refusing to obey the rabbis and those appointed over them. As I recall, Kefa (Peter) and Yochanan (John) took a lashing for their stubborn disobedience to the Sanhedron, the ultimate religious authority in their day.
They were right to do so. So was Luther.