Further, in the Greek it is said, not so much that the man would be better to be drowned in the depths of the sea, but that it would be better if he were drowned far out in the open sea. Deuteronomy 19:15 has it: "A single witness shall not prevail against a man for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offence that he has committed; only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses, shall a charge be sustained." The first impression is that the man must be abandoned as hopeless and irreclaimable, but that is precisely what Jesus cannot have meant. A man often hates those whom he has injured most of all; and it may well be that nothing we can say can win him back. "According to your faith be it done unto you.". Concerning the maintenance of the unity of the community, just ask, it will be done for you. "Tell him his fault, remind him of what he has done, and of the evil of it, show him his abominations." So rather than Matthew 18:20 proving that the church is merely invisible and thus denying the visible aspect of the church, the verses right before it actually reveal the contrary, that the church is visible in nature. How should Christians handle disputes (Matthew 18:15-17)? Matthew 18:15-20 The New King James Version (NKJV) 15 "Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. How can this new ban on drag possibly be considered constitutional? Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. Nevertheless, His ear was open to the call on behalf of Israel perishing, dying, dead. This was done at home; and in any cottage such a mill could be seen. In Galatians 2:11 what is meant by "I opposed him to his face"? Matthew is himself a former tax collector as is Zaccheus. And if they are truly honest with themselves, they know there is no other recourse than joining the Catholic Church. But we know that God is far more wonderful than that, for in Jesus Christ, he came to seek for those who wander away. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Your postings enrich life. More insights from your Bible study - Get Started with Logos Bible Software for Free! Believe Him and trust Him and He will work in you. Homily LX on the Gospel According to St. Matthew. Peter thought that he was going very far, for he takes the Rabbinic three times, multiplies it by two for good measure adds one, and suggests, with eager self-satisfaction, that it will be enough if he forgives seven times. Be careful that you do not offend one of those little ones, who believes and trusts in Him. What Should Christians Do When Church Leaders Gaslight Them? We must "go and tell him his fault BETWEEN you and him alone." Now, we are talking here about a sinning brother. When the incestuous Corinthian was to be cast out, the church was gathered together (1 Corinthians 5:4), and it was a punishment inflicted of many, 2 Corinthians 2:6. Silence is not allowing grace to occur, but rather a cowardice to pervade the church body. [1.] Men little weigh what their words will sound and prove in the day of judgment. He doth not say, "If you shall agree to sentence and decree a thing, it shall be done" (as if ministers were judges and lords); but, "If you agree to ask it of God, from him you shall obtain it." Matthew says that, if even that does not succeed, then the man who has wronged us is to be regarded as a Gentile and a tax-collector. Thus, in the chapter before us, we have a very comprehensive sketch of the Lord's manifestation from that time, and in type going on to the end of the age. Someone that when something really is troubling you, you have someone who can pray with you, and bear that burden with you. When we point out someone else's sin, we are allowing ourselves to partner with God in caring for our church brothers and sisters enough to help them grow in their spiritual maturity. No church censures bind so fast, but that, upon the sinner's repentance and reformation, they may and must be loosed again. Get our Question of the Week delivered right to your inbox! Josiah had made it a place accursed. (iv) Finally it stresses the supreme importance of the child. It may be saying that it is worth any sacrifice and any self-renunciation to escape the punishment of God. And if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, he is to be to you asa Gentile anda tax collector. Paul did not go to the source by talking directly to the offenders and let them give their side of the story, and then take witnesses with him for stage two, and then bring it before the whole congregation for stage three of Matthew 18! If God was there, what else could He, would He do? If the person is still not repentant, bring it before your elder board. (v) There is the quality of discipline ( Matthew 18:15-20). Ought you not to have had pity on your fellow-servant, as I had pity on you?' Thus, the fourth chapter of Mark coincides, marked with such data as can leave no doubt. Perhaps human realities dictate that close communion with another person is neither possible, nor relationally wisefor whatever legal, spiritual, or interpersonal reasons. It may seem harsh to treat unrepentant sinners in the manner described. The word is aionios ( G166) . Michelle S. Lazurekis a multi-genre award-winning author, speaker, pastor's wife, and mother. A mere Jew would have been defiled. Jesus is not condoning prejudice by naming these too classes. Moreover [Jesus said] if your brother trespasses against you, go and tell him the fault between you and him alone: and if he hears you, then you've gained your brother ( Matthew 18:15 ). Matthew has already used this saying of Jesus in a different context in Matthew 5:30. If you ask, "Who is the church that must be told?" He didn't want to see a person stuck in sin but instead enjoy the freedom afforded to them through Christ Jesus, just as he had experienced. a. Whatever the time may have been, whatever the incidents added by others, the account is given here for the purpose of showing, that as Israel's case was desperate, even unto death, so He, the Messiah, was the giver of life, when all, humanly speaking, was over. And don't you know that if you could see Him, if He actually stood here visible, if you could reach out and touch Him, you know that the problems would all go away. There is no note of the time when he came, but simply the fact that he did come. Where the fault is plain and great, the person proper for us to deal with, and we have an opportunity for it, and there is no apparent danger of doing more hurt than good, we must with meekness and faithfulness tell people of what is amiss in them. Jesus predicted the existence of the church, the body of Christ, in Matthew 16:18. Sheep are proverbially foolish creatures. "That ye may know it (then saith He to the sick of the palsy), Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thy house." The point in the beginning of the next chapter (Matthew 20:1-34) is not reward, but the right and title of God Himself to act according to His goodness. It is the power of grace. If all this avail not, then. Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. God has forgiven you so very much, all of your past sins. If the person with the concern has confronted the other, and that person denies it or the sins severity, take the next step and intervene on their behalf. Handbook on Church Discipline by Jay Adams. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them ( Matthew 18:20 ). Let them read their error in One who was evidently superior to the condition and the ruin of man in Israel. When we are children, we cannot buy our own food or our own clothes, or maintain our own home; yet we never doubt that we will be clothed and fed, and that there will be shelter and warmth and comfort waiting for us when we come home. For us, treating like tax collectors and Gentiles means: have no contact, turn them over to satan, or worsecondemn them to hell. They could follow their track for miles; and they would brave the cliffs and the precipice to bring them back. And if he neglects to hear them, then take him before the church: but if he neglects to hear the church, then let him be as a heathen, a publican [a sinner, a rank sinner]. The Lord, however, in the same chapter, shows that it was not a question alone of what was to be done, or to be suffered, or is to be by-and-by, but what He was, and is, and never can but be. If he will not listen to you, take with you one or two more, that the whole matter may be established in the mouth of two or three witnesses. Times without number two people have agreed to pray for the physical or the spiritual welfare of a loved one and their prayer has not, in the literal sense, been answered. Get Your Bible Minute in Your Inbox Every Morning. Matthew 18:17-18. What Does the Bible Say about Resentment? For God no man is unimportant and no one is lost in the crowd; for the Christian every man is important and is a child of God, who, if lost, must be found. Matthew 18 begins with the disciples' query regarding who would be the greatest in the kingdom of the heavens. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Such action, however, is for the protection of the flock. (i) First and foremost, it means that prayer must never be selfish and that selfish prayer cannot find an answer. In Matthew 15:1-39 we have another picture, and twofold. We are in chapter 18 and at this point, Jesus has spent a couple of years with His disciples traveling around and spreading the Good News. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and It is true that in this particular instance Mark no more surrounds the leper with notes of time and place than do Matthew and Luke. There are some stubborn spirits to whom the likeliest means of conviction prove ineffectual; yet such must not be given over as incurable, but let the matter be made more public, and further help called in. Every nation had its angel; every natural force, such as the wind and the thunder and the lightning and the rain, had its angel. None should come under the censure of the church as obstinate and contumacious, till it be very well proved that they are so. And He was Jesus, Emmanuel. - Matthew 18:15-17 NIV. Again and again he rushed into speech in such a way that his impetuosity drew from Jesus teaching which is immortal. Reject Him as the Messiah; in that rejection the moral glory of the Son of man would be laid as the foundation of His exaltation and manifestation another day; He was Lord of the Sabbath-day. It is human never to forget a man's past and always to remember his sins against him. When God intends special answers to prayer, he calls for a solemn assembly, Joel 2:15; Joel 2:16. These steps simply described are: 1. I call it "the Matthew 18 principle" for solving school problems. It does not seem exactly as a pictorial view of what the Lord was doing, or going to do, but rather the repeated pledge, that they were not to suppose that the evil He had judged in the elders of Jerusalem, or the grace freely going out to the Gentiles, in any way led Him. We have it in Acts and the Epistles. Drowning was sometimes a Roman punishment, but never Jewish. On being asked why, he answered. How did He treat tax collectors and Gentiles? This made it to be plainly and only a difficulty for God to solve. [1.] It may be so. December 2022. There must be the mouth to praise the Lord, and speak of the glorious honour of His majesty, as well as eyes to wait on Him. In most situations the scope of public announcement would be a local church congregation, the particular collection of disciples of which the wayward brother is a part. We know the answer. They can manipulate a group of individuals and thus control and shape a community's experiential reality: a reality that too often accrues to the material, social, or psychological benefit of the church leadership. Surely not by inaccuracy; surely not by indifference to order, but contrariwise by divine wisdom that arranged the facts with a view to a purpose worthy of itself: God's arrangement of all things more particularly in this part of Matthew to give us an adequate manifestation of the Messiah; and, as we have seen, first, what He was to the appeal of the Jew; next, what He was and would be to Gentile faith, in still richer form and fulness. And his lord was angry, and delivered him over to the tormentors, until he should pay all that was due from him. This is an unfortunate and illegitimate understanding and application. When we are children we set out on a journey with no means of paying the fare, and with no idea of how to get to our journey's end, and yet it never enters our heads to doubt that our parents will bring us safely there. The sayings on binding and loosing in Matthew 18:18 (and 16:19) have presented a puzzle that resists precise resolution. What does Matthew 18:17 mean? The Lord has nothing for them, or for Him, but to go right on to the end. If he were willing to follow the Lord, it was for what he could get. Jesus said, "Unless you turn." The evil spirits asked leave to pass into the herd of swine, which thus typify the final condition of the defiled, apostate mass of Israel; their presumptuous and impenitent unbelief reduces them to that deep degradation not merely the unclean, but the unclean filled with the power of Satan, and carried down to swift destruction. He said. he is as a religious person z.''. Matthew 18:15-20 . From verse one in Matthew 18 Jesus deals with matters which are related: How we think of others, with self-exalting pride or humility (vss. the apostle directs there (Matthew 18:5; Matthew 18:5), Is there not a wise man among you? Of its purity, that it might have an expulsive faculty, a power to cleanse and clear itself, like a fountain of living waters, which is necessary as long as the net of the gospel brings up both good fish and bad. He is not going to lower Himself to a human measure. . Leading up to this point (Matthew 18:1-14), Christ has expressed His identification with little children and what it will take to inherit eternal life. So, I believe now, there is no attempt ever made on the Name of the Son of God, there is not a single shaft levelled at Him, but the Spirit turns to the holy, and true, and sweet task of asserting anew and more loudly His glory, which enlarges the expression of His grace to man. There are many lovely characteristics in a child--the power to wonder, before he has become deadeningly used to the wonder of the world; the power to forgive and to forget, even when adults and parents treat him unjustly as they so often do; the innocence, which, as Richard Glover beautifully says, brings it about that the child has only to learn, not to unlearn; only to do, not to undo. God could not be limited by a question of place; His word was enough. There are no restraining walls. There certainly is a protocol that Jesus outlines in Matthew 18:15-17 about correcting brethren in sin, but when should it be applied? Jesus blessedly answered their thoughts, had there only been a conscience to hear the word of power and grace, which brings out His glory the more. If the bonds of fellowship and friendship are strong, then an erring member will more naturally want to return to the fold. What special mercy and tenderness, not only in the end, but also in the way the Lord deals with Israel! "Their angels," said Jesus, "always behold the face of my Father who is in Heaven." 33), it is added, "And with many such parables spake He the word unto them . Having said this, pointing out someone's sin or speaking the truth to them does not mean we can assassinate their character or use harsh comments under the guise of telling the truth.. While ministers preach the word of Christ faithfully, and in their government of the church strictly adhere to his laws (clave non errante--the key not turning the wrong way), they may be assured that he will own them, and stand by them, and will ratify what they say and do, so that it shall be taken as said and done by himself. and a sinking ship are serious difficulties to a man. Here, too, these Pharisees question and reproach His grace, when they see the Lord sitting at ease in the presence of publicans and sinners, who came and sat down with Him in Matthew's house. But, from first to last, what a trial of spirit, and what triumph! And when they had sent away the multitude, they took Him even as He was in the ship. The very size of the millstone shows the awfulness of the condemnation. Men are apt to have so little patience with the foolish ones. We may take this great promise of Jesus into two spheres. [Note: Walvoord, Matthew: . Then follows the rise of what was great in its littleness till it became little in its greatness in the earth; and the development and spread of doctrine, till the measured space assigned to it is brought under its assimilating influence. It is the death-blow to human tradition and ordinance in divine things, and in reality depends on the truth of the absolute ruin of man a truth which, as we see, the disciples were very slow to recognize. i) Simon Peter knew that he was not the foundation. And if he refuses to listen to the Church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax-collector. And when the devil was come out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel." 17 And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, 18 "See, we are going up to Jerusalem. First of these comes the treasure hidden in the field, for which the man sells all he had, securing the field for the sake of the treasure. 18 "Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Had she not such confusion of thought that, if the Lord had heeded her words, it must have been destruction to her? Thus, and after the tenderest sort, there is that which evidences the Messiah on earth present to heal His people who appeal to Him; and the Jew, above all counting upon His bodily presence demanding it, I may say, according to the warrant of prophecy, finds in Jesus not merely the man, but the God of Israel. But if he neglect to hear the church, let him be - The Jews gave the name heathen or Gentile to all other nations but themselves. Since Jesus uses Church only one other time (in Matt 16:18), it is obvious that this Church must mean the one He built upon St. Peter. He is there wherever faithful hearts meet, however few they may be, for he gives all of himself to each individual person. I feel like the past few years I am having to deprogram myself and relearn a lot. Copyright 2023, Bible Study Tools. If this be a sound judgment, the comparison of the first chapter of Mark affords decisive evidence that the Holy Ghost in Matthew has taken the leper out of the mere time and circumstances of actual occurrence, and has reserved his case for a wholly different service. I believe that was Podcast 18. (Matthew 19:30.) Why? In this he had laboured, as he said, from his youth up: "What lack I yet?" And so if you humble yourself as a little child, that person will be the greatest". 16 But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to In other words, it is certain that in the gospel of Luke, in whose preface we have expressly the words "set in order," the Holy Ghost does in no way tie Himself to what, after all, is the most elementary form of arrangement; for it needs little observation to see, that the simple sequence of facts as they occurred is that which demands a faithful enumeration, and nothing more. Even so it is not the will of the Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish ( Matthew 18:12-14 ). This chapter 18 conversation took place in private, in a house (see commentary on Matthew 18:1-5). And He arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. It is not enough that Israel be awakened from the sleep of death, and see aright. The "church" of Matthew 16:18 is the Messianic Church, Jews who had recognized Jesus as Messiah, Christ, the Son of Godthe profession that Peter made in verse 16. - Deuteronomy 17:2-7. "And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed Him, crying and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us." 17 If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector. The pastor should approach it from the perspective of wanting to get the persons side of the story. as if it were a just action, take one or two others along with you, Wretched we, that we should need such proof of it; wretched, that we should be so slow of heart to answer to it, or even to feel its immensity! "Hey, He is here. God's sternest judgment is reserved for those who put a stumbing-block in the way of others. We would never have any consistency on doctrine and morals, the very ingredients that are necessary to our salvation. Oh, what a heart is ours! thoroughly. Those that were priests in the house of God would not they at least receive their own Messiah? I feel like Ive been spinning my wheels for years and now like a babe relearning everything fresh and new. that take and give unto them for me and thee." Can Martian Regolith be Easily Melted with Microwaves. Your website has helped me greatly over the past 2 years. The heavy-handed application of Matthew 18:15-20 leaves a trail of pain, broken relationships, and human carnage among Gods people. Thank you and God bless you. New International Version (NIV). 17: If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. So Jesus said that in a child we see the characteristics which should mark the man of the Kingdom. At last they got him to tell why. However, not only does the Bible never say that, the Bible tells us the Church is the final authority. Thus the great tree and the leavened mass are in fact the two sides of Christendom. Next is the one pearl of great price, the unity and beauty of that which was so dear to the merchantman. After this, in the chapter we have the positive hindrance asserted of what man counts good. Next, we find Him confessed by the centurion, no longer as the Messiah, when actually with them, confessed according to a faith which saw the deeper glory of His person as supreme, competent to heal, no matter where, or whom, or what, by a word; and this the Lord Himself hails as the foreshadowing of a rich incoming of many multitudes to the praise of His name, when the Jews should be cast out. But every Scripture that treats of that time proves what dread, what anxiety, what dark clouds will be ever and anon. In this passage there may well be stressed both the necessity of self-renunciation for the Christian individual and discipline for the Christian Church. Your blog on the cleansing of the Temple was EPIC in my life! Matthew 18:15-17 contains the words of Christ to his church, instructing us on how to deal with internal conflict with a brother or sister who sins against us and doesn't know it. In truth, this was Emmanuel, God with us. It was not more truly Christ's kingdom as man than He was God's own Son, His beloved Son, in whom He was well pleased, who was now to be heard, rather than Moses or Elias, who disappear, leaving Jesus alone with the chosen witnesses. To teach a child, to bring up a child in the way he ought to go, is something which is done not only for the sake of the child, but for the sake of Jesus himself. In what follows we have that which is necessary, to complete the picture of the other side. All Reading Plans / Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous) / Isaiah 7:10-16 (The sign of Immanuel); Psalm 80:1-7 17-19 (Show the light of your countenance); Romans 1:1-7 (Paul's greeting to the church at Rome); Matthew 1:18-25 (Our God near at hand) ( English Standard Version) December 18, 2022. 16 "But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed. Toward the end of Matthew 18 we know Peter understood the implications of what I am proposing: Lord, how often do I have to forgive? (Matthew. All such will find a glory in the grey, if in the child they sometimes glimpse none other than Jesus himself. Lastly, we have the Lord rebuking the ambition not only of the sons of Zebedee, but in truth also of the ten; for why was there such warmth of indignation against the two brethren? He is the Lord of the harvest. That is a must. Neither is disagreeing with your pastor. Note: There is not a shred of indication in this passage that Matthew 18 is a biblically mandatory protocol for doctrinal disputes. That is why the Kingdom of Heaven can be likened to what happened when a king wished to make a reckoning with his servants. If there be a privilege more manifest than another which has dawned on us, it is what we have found by and in Jesus, that now we can say nothing is too great for us, nothing too little for God. Reviewing, then, these closing incidents of the chapter (ver. In the time of Jesus the Jews had a very highly-developed angelology. "With greater authority." Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. And so the disciples came and said, "Who is going to be the greatest in the kingdom?". Times without number God's people have agreed to pray for the conversion of their own land or the conversion of the heathen and the coming of the Kingdom, and even yet that prayer is far from being fully answered. But when we come to see what this saying means, there is a precious depth in it. Why should I return? Doubtless, it was contingent upon the utter ruin of Israel through their unbelief; but the fall of the lesser thing opened the way for the gift of a better glory in answer to Peter's faith in the glory of His person. TELL IT TO THE ASSEMBLY. Jesus is just as much present in the little congregation as in the great mass meeting. Then the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and he freed him, and he forgave him the debt. If he doesn't pay attention to them, tell the church. The term has a metaphorical use at times (Job 38:17; Isa. This was a, In todays context, in our own various models of. Your life depends on it, you got to cut it out." Secondly, If that doth not prevail, then take with thee one or two more,Matthew 18:16; Matthew 18:16. But whereas Gentiles are such by birth, tax collectors are such by choice. The Lord pleads the cause of the disciples. This is fully explained by the apostle (1 Corinthians 6:1-20), where he reproves those that went to law before the unjust, and not before the saints (Matthew 18:1; Matthew 18:1), and would have the saints to judge those small matters (Matthew 18:2; Matthew 18:2) that pertain to this life, Matthew 18:3; Matthew 18:3. for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. To satisfy the physical needs of a child, to wash his clothes and bind his cuts and soothe his bruises and cook his meals may often seem a very unromantic task; the cooker and the sink and the work-basket have not much glamour; but there is no one in all this world who helps Jesus Christ more than the teacher of the little child and the harassed, hard-pressed mother in the home. But at the same time it is plain, although He bore the consciousness of the vast change He was introducing, and expressed it thus fully and early in the history, nothing turned away His heart from Israel. Jerusalem's proud, traditional hypocrisy is exposed, and grace fully blesses the tried Gentile. "If he will not hear the church, will not stand to their award, but persists in the wrong he has done thee, and proceeds to do thee further wrong, let him be to thee as a heathen man, and a publican; take the benefit of the law against him, but let that always be the last remedy; appeal not to the courts of justice till thou hast first tried all other means to compromise the matter in variance. By extending grace, forgiveness, and table fellowship to them. "Telling it to the Church" probably does not refer to a public announcement, but probably a discrete fellowship with some members of Church who will find an appropriate way to deal with the issue. 2. God is not like that. A king forgave a servant a huge debt, but the servant then refused to forgive a fellow servant a small debt (Matthew 18:23-30). ( Matthew 18:7 ). How he loves their beautiful little faces. that is, the man or the woman, and you shall stone them to death. Yet Jesus was accused of being the friend of tax-gatherers and sinners; and he never spoke of them as hopeless outsiders, but always with sympathy and love, and even with praise (compare Matthew 9:10 ff; Matthew 11:19; Luke 18:10 ff; and especially Matthew 21:31 ff, where it is actually said that the tax-gatherers and harlots will go into the Kingdom before the orthodox religious people of the time). They are the circumstances that preceded the discourse upon the mount, as given in Matthew 5:1-48; Matthew 6:1-34; Matthew 7:1-29. Moreover, only the Catholic Church can demonstrate a continuity and consistency in doctrine and morals which would be necessary if we are to make any sense out of Jesus words in Matt 18:17-18.