First, the offense may be so serious that the only responsible decision that the church can make is to thrust the offender out of the church and view him or her as an unconverted person (18:17). He knew this would be the church as we know it, but the disciples must have thought He meant just themselves in a collective sense. In short, he had a question because he was a man. -1 Likes, 0 Comments - Pioneer Memorial Church (@pmchurch) on Instagram: "Jesus tells us in Matthew 18:20 that where 2 or 3 of us are gathered in His name, He is there with" It is always to be given with the desire for reconciliation and never with the desire for vengeance. We may go further. In the next incident the force of the plea turns on God's goodness towards the wretchedness of man. I heard the podcast of how you and Bryon handled the Matthew 18 principle. In fact, if you think that Jesus said "church" in Matthew 16: . "If he will not hear thee, if he will not own himself in a fault, nor come to an agreement, yet do not despair, but try what he will say to it, if thou take one or two or more, not only to be witnesses of what passes, but to reason the case further with him; he will be the more likely to hearken to them because they are disinterested; and if reason will rule him, the word of reason in the mouth of two or three witnesses will be better spoken to him" (Plus vident oculi quam oculus--Many eyes see more than one), "and more regarded by him, and perhaps it will influence him to acknowledge his error, and to say, I repent.". Thus it is shown that, though we have rich grace to the Gentile, there is the remembrance of natural relationship still. Approach them directly. Then, after the parable of the mustard seed (ver. The old people and work then closed in principle, and a new work of God in the kingdom of heaven was disclosed. Jesus then told the story of the servant forgiven a great debt who went out and dealt mercilessly with a fellow-servant who owed him a debt that was an infinitesimal fraction of what he himself had owed; and who for his mercilessness was utterly condemned. Surely, had he seen this, everything was there; but he saw it not, and so the Lord spread out His actual portion, as it literally was, without one word about the unseen and eternal. Jesus takes it from confronting with one person [v15] to confirming it (in obedience to the Law) by 2 or 3 witnesses [v16] to an even larger group in the church [v17]. rev2023.3.3.43278. If they listen to you, you have won them over. It is truth that I have been coming into in my own understanding over the past few years. (ii) If we feel that someone has wronged us, we should go to see him personally. This parable teaches certain lessons which Jesus never tired of teaching. If we turn toMark 1:1-45; Mark 1:1-45, the proof of what I have said will appear as to the leper. The true path to greatness is always the path of humility. We seem completely borne away from the ordinary level of our gospel to the higher region of the disciple whom Jesus loved. Oh how the Lord loves the little children. We know that this is a tempting world; it is therefore the Christian's duty to remove stumbling-blocks, never to be the cause of putting them in another's way. Verse 29 gives us strict time. It is an awful thing to receive a reproof from a church, from a minister, a reprover by office; and therefore it is the more regarded by such as pay any deference to an institution of Christ and his ambassadors. We are dependent, therefore, for determining this case, on the fact that Mark does habitually adhere to the chain of events. I am sure Peter was thinking, "Well, I might be able to forgive a guy a couple of times, but it sounds good to the other disciples if I say 'seven'". If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. Secondly, If that doth not prevail, then take with thee one or two more,Matthew 18:16; Matthew 18:16. It is bound to happen. Answer (1 of 8): (1) Preliminary comment: Matthew 18:15-35 is often treated in isolation as the classic passage about church discipline, given to provide rules for running the church and principles for applying church discipline. "As they went out, behold, they brought to Him a dumb man possessed with a devil. He did not literally mean that we are to cut off our hand or to pluck out our eye, but He is only illustrating how vital it is that we enter the kingdom of heaven. Especially is this situation true in the case of a new convert. This is not a form of excommunication to be used among Christians, nor was there ever any such form among the Jews; nor could Heathens or publicans, especially such publicans as were Gentiles, be excommunicated, when they never were of the Jewish church. and who are my brethren?" 20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. (i) It stresses the terror of teaching another to sin. 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. There can be a love which ruins; there can be a love which softens; but the love of God is a protecting love which saves a man for the service of his fellow-men, a love which makes the wanderer wise, the weak strong, the sinner pure, the captive of sin the free man of holiness, and the vanquished by temptation its conqueror. VERSION, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. 9. This ridge-like plateau is narrow, only a few miles across. God gives the church the authority to disfellowship a member who is habitually committing sin or is a danger to the congregation (Matthew 18:17; Romans 16:17-18; I Corinthians 5:1-5, 9-13; II Thessalonians 3:6, 14; Titus 3:10-11).Every private association possesses power of this sort. This, of course, is not the moment to unfold it. . All rights reserved. We know this by comparing it with the gospel of Luke. Seeking the Gospel in Malachi, the Last Book of the Old Testament. Otherwise verses in the old testament and in fact the whole Bible would be largely irrelevant to us today. 17-18). If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers. "Of whom do the kings of the earth take custom? Has 90% of ice around Antarctica disappeared in less than a decade? Lets briefly[1] examine this passage paying attention to its culture and context, and try to distill some legitimate application. In particular, to those requests that are put up to God about binding and loosing; to which this promise seems more especially to refer. 3. Believe Him and trust Him and He will work in you. Jesus was talking about the assembly of His disciples that He was calling out of the world to represent Him that He knew would become a large body. It is not for us surely to think this impossible. Demai, fol. If men would accept the fact of their dependence on God, a new strength and a new peace would enter their lives. More than one Gentile and tax collector accept the Messiah. Copyright 2002-2023 Got Questions Ministries. He desires for the members of his body to be in unity with one another. These three steps demonstrate again the truth of verse 14 in this chapter. Ask students to silently rate each offense on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the easiest to forgive and 10 being the hardest. 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. The Church or Ecclessia is a group of believers called out of the world and regenerated in their spirits. Thus He points out the utter moral incongruity of fasting at that moment, and intimates that it was not merely the fact that He was going to be rejected, but that to conciliate His teaching and His will with the old thing was hopeless. When He uttered the words, "Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me," it is to me evident that there was an allusion to the wavering let it be but for a moment of John's soul. The Parables of Christ Their Uniqueness and Interpretation, Marriage Rx Medicine for the Common Marriage, Jesus Through Eastern Eyes Archived Video Is Available, Understanding the Prophetic Mind, Temperament, and Calling Seminar, Life in the New Covenant Video Series Episode One, The Lords Prayer #4 The Life and Love of Father, The Lords Prayer Part 3 Thankfulness, The Lords Prayer Part 1 Introduction, The Lords Prayer Part 2 Jesus Our Rabbi, Vision Casting in Christian Leadership. The passage has nothing to do with a warm feeling in a church meeting from the presence of the Lord. It is about Jesuss manifest presence among the community when it engages in the hard work of maintaining peace and going the extra mile to resolve conflicts. . in weight; and they would form, at a distance of a yard apart, a line five miles long! You have an amazing ability to put into words the very things people agonize over. If he hears One thing is certain, in any person and in any Church, whatever is a seduction to sin must be removed, however painful the removal may be, for if we allow it to flourish a worse punishment will follow. Filed Under: Catholic Q&A Tagged With: church, Your email address will not be published. (Compare Mark 3:13-19, andMark 6:7-11; Mark 6:7-11; Luke 6:1-49; Luke 9:1-62) The mission of the apostles did not take place till afterwards. The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to Those who put contempt on the orders and rules of a society, and bring reproach upon it, forfeit the honours and privileges of it, and are justly laid aside till they repent and submit, and reconcile themselves to it again. This is one of the accusations against Jesus: He eats with sinners. Matthew 20. ( Matthew 18:7 ). "If he will not hear thee, yet do not give him up as in a desperate case; say not, It will be to no purpose to deal with him any further; but go on in the use of other means; even those that harden their necks must be often reproved, and those that oppose themselves instructed in meekness." And if he refuses to listen to the Church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax-collector. Ecclessia doesn't have a sense of just the people of one denomination who meet at that local church building you see in your suburb of the city. Sufficient is the punishment which has attained its end, and the offender must then be forgiven and comforted, 2 Corinthians 2:6. He has His rejection before His eyes, as well as the presumptuous unbelief of this sordid, and self-confident, would-be follower. The first of these lessons is, "Many first shall be last, and last first." While believers are not to fraternize with disfellowshiped brethren, they are not to treat them as enemies. Go, and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. To the child a state of dependence is perfectly natural. If we compare the eighth chapter, for example, with the corresponding circumstances, as far as they appear, in the gospel of Mark, we shall find the latter gives us notes of time, which leave no doubt on my mind that Mark adheres to the scale of time: the design of the Holy Ghost required it, instead of dispensing with it in his case. And what makes this still more striking, is the certainty that the kingdom, bright as it is, is by no means the thing nearest to Jesus. 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 ). Finally, we have all wound up, after the going forth of a testimony which was truly universal in its scope, by the judicial severance at the close, when it is not only the good put into vessels, but the bad dealt with by the due instruments of the power of God. Peter has really got it here: "Lord how often shall I forgive my brother the very same offense, he is doing the very same thing seven times?". Romans 16:17; 2 Thessalonians 3:14). (Matthew 19:30.) Matthew 18:18 is a trust from God himself. God had given his soul a deeper, fuller sight of Christ; for the Gentile's words prove that he had apprehended God in the man who was healing at that moment all sickness and disease in Galilee. "That ye may know it (then saith He to the sick of the palsy), Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thy house." You may unsubscribe from Bible Gateways emails at any time. The meaning of this is, cease to have religious contact with him, or to acknowledge him as a Christian brother. Read the Scripture: Matthew 18:15-18. They must have felt embarrassed and ashamed. It can mean to see Christ in the child. In what follows we have that which is necessary, to complete the picture of the other side. Receiving a little child in Jesus' name refers to complete acceptance of a child-like believer because of his innocent and unrestrained trust in the Lord. How important is the fact that the Corinthian Assembly was Formed From A Synagogue? On this the Lord proceeds to take a step farther, and makes a deeper inroad, if possible, upon Jewish prejudice. "To be witnesses of his conduct, in case the matter should afterward be brought before the church." In the time of Jesus the flocks were often communal flocks; they belonged, not to an individual, but to a village. the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses, he who is to die 6:12). The first impression is that the man must be abandoned as hopeless and irreclaimable, but that is precisely what Jesus cannot have meant. Well, Jesus is our pattern in all thingsthe same Jesus of Matthew 18. We just need to forgive, and move on. We must "go and tell him his fault BETWEEN you and him alone." Now, we are talking here about a sinning brother. At the close of this chapter 9, in His deep compassion He bids the disciples pray the Lord of the harvest to send forth labourers into His harvest. 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. Matthew has already used this saying of Jesus in a different context in Matthew 5:30. So often we accept a man who is penitent with a moral lecture and a clear indication that he must regard himself as contemptible, and the practical statement that we have no further use for him and do not propose to trust him ever again. This was a very Jewish/Semitic practice. It is clear that the unclean spirit, returning, brings idolatry back again. let him be unto thee as an heathen man, and a publican. And if he shall neglect to hear them: If the offender refuses steps one and two, the church is to implement step three. If there is found in your midst, in any of your towns, which the He now takes His place of rejection; for Him it is manifest even now by their inmost thoughts of Him when revealed. When that servant went out, he found one of his fellow-servants, who owed him L5. Jesus could not have told his disciples to take things to the Church, for it did not exist; and the passage implies a fully developed and organized Church with a system of ecclesiastical discipline. Thank you and God bless you. The following are the words of Jesus: "Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. On being asked why, he answered. Salem Media Group. So, when more is added, He says, "All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. The third step, if necessary, is to report the situation to the "church." They measured Jesus by their own impotence. ________________________________________________. The next chapter (Matthew 18:1-35) takes up the double thought of the kingdom and the Church, showing the requisite for entrance into the kingdom, and displaying or calling forth divine grace in the most lovely manner, and that in practice. Paul tells the Thessalonians to admonish the sinner as they would a brother (2 Thessalonians 3:6-15). He was really God in man; and all these wonderful features are here presented and compressed in this most simple, but at the same time significant, action of the Saviour the fitting frontispiece to Matthew's manifestation of the Messiah to Israel. How does a Catholic use this to help another Catholic who has wondered off? And if your eye proves a stumbling-block to you, pluck it out and throw it away from you. When they get into trouble, we are apt to say, "It's their own fault; they brought it on themselves; don't waste any sympathy on fools." A great tempest. I cant express to you how much you have helped free me. Thus, whatever the peculiarity of the new blessings, the old thing could be taken up, though upon new grounds, and, of course, on the confession that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews 14. New American Standard Version Your book on healing has touched me in such a deep way. And the last verse actually seems to give the Church the power to retain and to forgive sins. Such is the perversity of man, that he who is not called thinks he can follow Jesus whithersoever He goes. There will be differences at the close. He was not taken by surprise; He knew it from the beginning Man's implacable hatred is brought about most manifestly in the ways and spirit of His rejectors. This does not mean the disciples should receive him or her warmly as Jesus received such people (Matthew 8:1-11; Matthew 9:9-13; Matthew 15:21-28). In our culture the closest equivalence would be civil or criminal offenses, not petty local church squabbles. A letter may be misread and misunderstood; it may quite unconsciously convey a tone it was never meant to convey. Besides the general regard God has to the prayers of the saints, he is particularly pleased with their union and communion in those prayers. 28:18-20), but "gates" here has a different sense. I'm curious about the phrase "tell it to the church." The fellow-servant fell down and besought him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you in full.' This is both a startling grant of authority and a warning to the disciples. 18:21-35 Then Peter came and said to him, "Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Men may be fools but God loves even the foolish man who has no one to blame but himself for his sin and his sorrow. (ii) It stresses the terror of the punishment of those who teach another to sin. But if Matthew here laid aside all question of time, it was in view of other and weightier considerations for his object. In the Jewish synagogue there was a bench of elders before whom trials of this kind were brought. [1.] Conflict resolution is never easy. Exegeses of Matthew 18 frequently overlook the fact that Jesus is not speaking to the multitude, but to the disciples (18:1), whose successors were the hierarchs and presbyters of the Church. In its biblical context, sin was treated more harshly than it is today. It appears to me, that the nature or aim of Mark's gospel demands this. 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! The scribes, at the beginning of the chapter, could not hide from the Lord their bitter rejection of His glory as man on earth entitled, as His humiliation and cross would prove, to forgive. The Lord then had been shown such as He was towards Israel, had Israel in their leprosy come to Him, as did the leper, even with a faith exceedingly short of that which was due to His real glory and His love. 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. . 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. You say," Lord, problems." This is not a make-a-wish prayer formula for three people in a circle singing praise songs and reveling in some spiritual phenomenon of the Lords presence. Rather, the peace of the community is so important to Christ that He makes this promise (my expanded translation): Wherever two are three of you are concerned about the unity of the community, where you had to make judgment in a case, and you are in agreement on it, I will stand behind your judgment. It amplifies it a little further.Now Jesus said. For instance, the Boy Scouts of America has the right as a private group to dismiss a . Let none suppose that, in giving my own convictions, I have the presumptuous thought of putting these forward as if they were the sole motives in God's mind. (i) It teaches that lesson which runs through all the New Testament--a man must forgive in order to be forgiven. We believe if we simply don't say anything to someone, we are being gracious with them. He might respond, "The church was never concerned about me before. You say, "Well, explain it to us." You do not go to court/jail for insensitivities toward another believer in the community! This is the way differences are to be resolved and settled within the church. The failure of this greatest of women-born only gives Him the just occasion to show the total change at hand, when it should not be a question of man, but of God, yea, of the kingdom of heaven, the least in which new state should be greater than John. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands." And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. Jesus words demand that there be one, authoritative institution to resolve the doctrinal or disciplinary issue. Heats and animosities, among those whose work it is to remove offences, will be the greatest offence of all. All rights reserved. Read the Scripture: Matthew 18:20 Three of the vital areas of our lives are the church, the home and the nation. We often mistake grace for silence. To the Jew it was the symbol of utter destruction. Do not stay till he comes to thee, but go to him, as the physician visits the patient, and the shepherd goes after the lost sheep." I believe Jesus is teaching us to set healthy and compassionate boundaries in our relationships and releasing us to move on from intractable situations or irreconcilable relationships (rather than obsessing with fixing what we cant repair). Some rabbis taught that to eat with a Gentile was a capital offense crime worse than murder! I cant express to you how much you have helped free me. Not only did he not go to the source, but he wrote a letter which would have been read in public, based on what he heard in a second-hand report: a clear-cut violation of Matthew 18 according to typical applications! But he refused. Also I avoided mentioning elders, because I didn't want to import an ecclesiology that might be anachronistic to the passage anyway. What can be conceived so perfectly to illustrate the great design of the gospel of Matthew? But, 2. I love Jesus; He is a man's man. What can a lawyer do if the client wants him to be acquitted of everything despite serious evidence? Them that are without God judges,1 Corinthians 5:12; 1 Corinthians 5:13. So in this case there was brought to Him a paralytic man, lying upon a bed, "and Jesus, seeing their faith, said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee." 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. This all points to the local church as the context of Jesus' detailed model for solving sin problems within the church. At its widest what Jesus was saying was, "If anyone sins against you, spare no effort to make that man admit his fault, and to get things right again between you and him." . 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. John Chrysostom makes this clear in his 4th century commentary: But if he shall neglect to hear them also, tell it to the church, that is, to the rulers of it; but if he neglect to hear the church, There are no restraining walls. 15. And He arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. Fasting, indeed, would follow when the Bridegroom was taken from them. Someone that when something really is troubling you, you have someone who can pray with you, and bear that burden with you. Does this scribe offer to follow Jesus? In meeting or worship, we must have an eye to Christ; must come together by virtue of his warrant and appointment, in token of our relation to him, professing faith in him, and in communion with all that in every place call upon him. Should Christians use mediation to settle disputes? ], PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS ( Matthew 18:1-35 ). To my mind, the depth of such grace only enhances the beauty of Jesus, and is the very last possible ground that justifies man in thinking lightly of the Saviour. Matthew 18:15-17 gives some guidelines as to the proper steps to take when a fellow brother or sister in Christ commits a sin against you: If your brother or sistersins, go and point out their fault,just between the two of you. Forgiveness is a matter of heart. The picture is of a great royal court where only the most favoured courtiers and ministers and officials have direct access to the king. After this our Lord sees great multitudes following Him, and gives commandment to go to the other side. Copyright 2019 by Zondervan. But inasmuch as he did not have any money to pay, his Lord commanded him to be sold, his wife, and his children, and all that he had, in order that a partial payment might be made. The second is, "So the last shall be first, and the first last; for many are called, but few are chosen." Judgment will have early cut them off. If they are to be confident that their actions carry Gods authority, they will not act in haste or out of personal prejudice. Note, It is a good rule, which should ordinarily be observed among Christians, not to speak of our brethren's faults to others, till we have first spoken of them to themselves, this would make less reproaching and more reproving; that is, less sin committed, and more duty done.
