He maintains His sovereign title to do good, to do as He will with His own. [2.] Legalism merely produces further trouble. If he has indeed done thee a considerable wrong, endeavour to make him sensible of it, but let the rebuke be private, between thee and him alone; if thou wouldest convince him, do not expose him, for that will but exasperate him, and make the reproof look like a revenge." Such is the perversity of man, that he who is not called thinks he can follow Jesus whithersoever He goes. Rather Matthew 18 presents the extenuating lengths we must go to in order to bring peace and restitution. Matthew 18 begins with the disciples' query regarding who would be the greatest in the kingdom of the heavens. (v) It is now we come to the difficult part. In Galatians 2:11 what is meant by "I opposed him to his face"? Treat Them as Unbelievers (Tax collectors and Gentiles). The unparalleled grace of the Saviour must form and fashion the saints henceforth. Proceed in this method: First, "Go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. Your life depends on it, you got to cut it out." Why Are There So Many Angry Pastors in the Church? With God, as nothing is impossible, so no one, small or great, is despised: all is seen and put in its just place; and grace, which rebukes creature pride, can afford to deal divinely with the smallest as with the greatest. If a first attempt at peacemaking has been unsuccessful, involve others in the community. Verse 15: "And if your brother sins, go and reprove him in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.". Matthew 18:1-35 is a most important chapter for Christian Ethics, because it deals with those qualities which should characterize the personal relationships of the Christian. When not working, she enjoys sipping a Starbucks latte, collecting 80s memorabilia, and spending time with her family and her crazy dog. "With greater authority." Pastors can train their leaders to take a Matthew 18 approach when a person comes to them with a problem concerning another member of their church. Let them recognize the power that banished the leprosy, and the grace withal that touched the leper. [Note: Wiersbe, 1:66. In the next discourse we may hope to have the rest of his gospel. Numerous times Paul calls out people in his letters: 1 Corinthians 5:1-13; 1 Timothy 1:20; 2 Timothy 1:15; 2 Timothy 2:17; & 2 Timothy 4:10,14. Of what phrase is this reminiscent? Publicans were people of abandoned character, and the Jews would have no contact with them. I have a better place than you, and their motivations were not always the purest. Verse 25 uses the words: adversary, officer, judge, and prison. This is both a startling grant of authority and a warning to the disciples. In this, as I believe, that He never employed the virtue that was in Him to meet sickness or infirmity as a matter of mere power, but in deep compassionate feeling He entered into the whole reality of the case. They are people who in fellowship seek the will of God, who in fellowship listen and worship together. . Note, Those should think it high time to repent and reform, who see their misconduct become a general offence and scandal. This sets forth not at all the way in which the Christian stands related to Christ; for even though we had known Him after the flesh, henceforth know we Him no more. 15. Go, and tell him his fault between thee and him alone. Jesus predicted the existence of the church, the body of Christ, in Matthew 16:18. It is human never to forget a man's past and always to remember his sins against him. 18:21-35 Then Peter came and said to him, "Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Had Peter confessed who the Son of man really is? "Suffer me first," he says, "to go and bury my father." While contextually the steps outlined in verses 1520 refer to private disputes, similarities exist in cases of congregational discipline. When we pray unselfishly, God sends his answer--but the answer is always his answer and not necessarily ours. This was a very Jewish/Semitic practice. Q&A Peters authority based on Matthew 16:18-19, Q&A The Church: Truth versus conduct, Catholic Wedding Ceremony Traditional and Modern Services. Where note, 1. Changes, to us inexplicable, occur: many first last, and last first. What Matthew 18 Says 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 sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. What does the Bible mean when it says, Do not judge. The Hebrew word for synagogue is hakneset meaning congregation, while the Aramaic word is knista. So you 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. This ministry is sustained by the freewill offerings of those believe in the message of a radical grace in a new covenant understanding. It only takes a minute to sign up. 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. Here I close tonight. Jesus said unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven ( Matthew 18:22 ). Who but God could heal? 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). 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. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 79. So take heed that you despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven [and I love this] their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven ( Matthew 18:8-10 ). Their state had long been that of a man whom the unclean spirit had left, after a former dwelling in him. Yes, there is. Observe that it is at this point the chapter begins with vindicating the sanctity of marriage. I do not pretend to say this was the only purpose served; far be it from me to think of restraining the Spirit of God within the narrow bounds of our vision. The faithful and true witness, it was His to display that power in goodness which shall be put forth fully in the world to come, the great day when the Lord will manifest Himself to every eye as Son of David, and Son of man too. This is equivalent to the Shechinah, or special presence of God in the tabernacle and temple of old, Exodus 40:34; 2 Chronicles 5:14. 18:5-7,10 "Whoever receives one such little child in my name, receives me. Matthew does assume the church will endure (Matt. If there were, so to speak, a justification of circumcision by faith, undoubtedly there was also the justification of uncircumcision through their faith. If it be so, it is surely a ground of thankfulness to God; for it turns a stumbling-block into an evidence of the perfection of Scripture. A double action follows. After this (what makes it still more unquestionable) comes the case of the demoniac. Jesus is not condoning prejudice by naming these too classes. 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. But in practicality, we live and fellowship in the Local Church. The possibilities may never be realized; they may be stifled and stunted; that which might be used for good may be deflected to the purposes of evil; or they may be unleashed in such a way that a new tide of power floods the earth. If he had left them with no guardian he would have come back to find still more of them gone; but he could leave them in the care of his fellow-shepherds, while he sought the wanderer. Power and love were come for any one to draw on. It is clear that the unclean spirit, returning, brings idolatry back again. Men little weigh what their words will sound and prove in the day of judgment. But I have not found the tax-gatherers and the Gentiles hopeless. Thus Matthew, called at the very receipt of custom, follows Jesus, and makes a feast for Him. It may be taken purely personally. 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. This was done at home; and in any cottage such a mill could be seen. This is the way differences are to be resolved and settled within the church. 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. Your Father is watching over them. And how is the rule usually observed? He caught hold of him and seized him by the throat: 'Pay what you owe,' he said. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. The angels that have been given charge over us to keep us in all of our ways. i) Simon Peter knew that he was not the foundation. He who brings Jesus and the blessing of Jesus to a child is doing a Christlike work. At 18:6 He shifts and talks about interpersonal trespassesoffenses literally: scandals. It is not possible that Jesus said this in its present form. Or thou mayest, if thou wilt, break off thy friendship and familiarity with him; though thou must by no means study revenge, yet thou mayest choose whether thou wilt have any dealings with him, at least, in such a way as may give him an opportunity of doing the like again. 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. It is in an atmosphere of Christian prayer, Christian love and Christian fellowship that personal relationships may be righted. They used it literally of the young child; but regularly a teacher's disciples were called his sons or his children. Disciples of Jesus should be willing to forgive fellow believers who sin against them, but they should also be concerned that offenders realize their sin and turn from it. It may be that what Jesus said was something like this: "When you have done all this, when you have given the sinner every chance, and when he remains stubborn and obdurate, you may think that he is no better than a renegade tax-collector, or even a godless Gentile. 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. (a) We may take it into the sphere of the Church. 15 "And if your brother sins, go and reprove him in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. In Matthew 14:1-36 facts are narrated which manifest the great change of dispensation that the Lord, in setting forth the parables we have just noticed, had been preparing them for. It is not a temporal power to be wielded with a heavy hand, personal agenda, or political intent. Jesus said, "Unless you turn." Hence it is that He has grouped together circumstances which make this plain, without raising the question of when they occurred; in fact, they range over a large space, and, otherwise viewed, are in total disorder. NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. 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. If the bonds of fellowship and friendship are strong, then an erring member will more naturally want to return to the fold. Matthew 16:17-18. We owe a very great deal to the fact that Peter had a quick tongue. Christ, having cautioned his disciples not to give offence, comes next to direct them what they must do in case of offences given them; which may be understood either of personal injuries, and then these directions are intended for the preserving of the peace of the church; or of public scandals, and then they are intended for the preserving of the purity and beauty of the church. The objective of all discipline is ultimately restoration, not exclusion. In a case of sexual immorality, Paul ordered the Corinthian church "to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus" (1 Corinthians 5:1-5). To maim my own body, to me is a very repugnant idea. Nevertheless, His ear was open to the call on behalf of Israel perishing, dying, dead. 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 if they are truly honest with themselves, they know there is no other recourse than joining the Catholic Church. Then the pitiable condition of the disciples at the foot of the hill, where Satan reigned in fallen ruined man, is tested by the fact, that notwithstanding all the glory of Jesus, Son of God and Son of man, the disciples rendered it evident that they knew not how to bring His grace into action for others; yet was it precisely their place and proper function here below. Thereon the Lord also has His word to say, first reminding Peter of his new name suitably to what follows. & Moses Kotsensis Mitzvot Tora, pr. "For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. The reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me,Psalms 69:9. That revelation came through His apostles after His ascension. Alas for the world because of stumbling-blocks! In general, to all the requests of the faithful praying seed of Jacob; they shall not seek God's face in vain. The warning in this passage applies specifically to one who causes the loss of a human soul. If I didn't bother to take the biopsies and determine whether or not you had cancer of the lymph nodes, but I just said, "Oh, probably you've got cancer in your lymph nodes. All of 18:15-20 pertains to the Apostles and their successors and not anyone whosoever claims to be a Christian, including His teaching regarding what they should bind on earth should be bound in heaven (18:18), as well as that when two or three of them are gathered in His name, he would be in their midst (18:20). If you want me to explain it away, I can't. Had she not such confusion of thought that, if the Lord had heeded her words, it must have been destruction to her? Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? It is a just prefiguration of what will be in the close of the age the mass of the unbelieving Jews, now impure, but then also given up to the devil, and so to evident perdition. Telling the elders, the deacons, or the preacher, or anyone else, of the evil detected in another is wrong (until after the first admonition); and even after the first admonition, the greatest number to be acquainted with it is two others (see Matthew 18:16). Required fields are marked *. Now most of our prayer is done in private, but there are times when agreement in prayer is extremely valuable. Paul tells the Thessalonians to admonish the sinner as they would a brother (2 Thessalonians 3:6-15). It is giving up claims to power and status and knowing one's total dependence on God that counts as greatness in the kingdom of heaven. This should not be done until all these steps are taken. 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?". He can only be treated as one outside the church, not hated, but not held in close fellowship." And Jesus will probably say, "Look, here is a guy that's really getting a lesson. Required fields are marked *. . "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.". But when the Lord was here, no matter what the unbelief of others, it was only an opportunity for the grace of Jesus to shine out. 7-9); and, the care of heaven toward both the saved and lost . On Christ And The Child ( Matthew 18:5-7; Matthew 18:10). France argued that since the sphere of life in view is interpersonal relationships, the guilty party should only suffer isolation from the initiator of action, not the whole community of believers. At its best, the pasture is sparse. "I will build my church" (singular). Go to the offender first! In the evening multitudes are brought, taking advantage of the power that had so shown itself, publicly in the synagogue, and privately in the house of Peter; and the Lord accomplished the words ofIsaiah 53:4; Isaiah 53:4: "Himself," it is said, "took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses," an oracle we might do well to consider in the limit of its application here. Let us apply it to the quarrels that happen, upon any account, among Christians. 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. 16: But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. There is something about their innocence and simplicity that is absolutely glorious. Grace forms the hearts of those that understand it, according to the great manifestation of what God is, and what man is, too, given us in the person of Christ. 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, 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. 17 "And 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 . Be careful, offenses are going to come. He desires for the members of his body to be in unity with one another. The fact is, in judging others we judge ourselves. All rights reserved. In its biblical context, sin was treated more harshly than it is today. It can poison the whole mind and life, until we can think of nothing else but our sense of personal injury. 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. Jesus responds by emphasizing the importance of childlike humility, and the importance to Him of those who demonstrate that humility of faith. I just finished reading it last night. Consequently I assume that Jesus intended the disciples involved in such situations to make these determinations on the basis of all the facts in each particular case. Because Matthew's object is the display of the change of dispensation through, or consequent on, the rejection of Jesus by the Jews. In life it is all a question of what a man is aiming at; if he is aiming at the fulfilment of personal ambition, the acquisition of personal power, the enjoyment of personal prestige, the exaltation of self, he is aiming at precisely the opposite of the Kingdom of Heaven; for to be a citizen of the Kingdom means the complete forgetting of self, the obliteration of self, the spending of self in a life which aims at service and not at power. Copyright 2019, Dr. Stephen R. Crosby, www.stevecrosby.org. She now understands her emotional upheavals and helped her to see herself as normal.. We are dependent, therefore, for determining this case, on the fact that Mark does habitually adhere to the chain of events. So the simplest form of the church is just two or three people getting together to worship the Lord, to pray together. In truth, this was Emmanuel, God with us. It was so challenging, thought provoking and inspiring. Every believer has the presence of Christ with him; but the promise here refers to the meetings where two or three are gathered in his name, not only for discipline, but for religious worship, or any act of Christian communion. Only the person who has the humility of the child is a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven. 1. Here there may be a difference. Little faith leaves us as fearful for ourselves as dim witnesses of His glory whom the most unruly elements obey. He is there wherever faithful hearts meet, however few they may be, for he gives all of himself to each individual person. What is more, it speaks of tax-collectors and Gentiles as irreclaimable outsiders. The forgiveness is from the heart. The first impression is that the man must be abandoned as hopeless and irreclaimable, but that is precisely what Jesus cannot have meant. The disciples asked who was the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. Treating the sinner as a tax-gatherer or Gentile would be difficult for only leadership to carry out as the rest of the church (without being briefed on the circumstance) may wonder why he/she is being treated that way. At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father." It is the fine thing for you to enter into life maimed or lame, rather than to be cast into everlasting fire with two hands or two feet. Even if the disciplining process is not successful, additional opportunities should still be sought to bring the erring member back to Christ. In his defilement he came to Jesus and sought to be cleansed, before the delivery of the sermon on the mount. It does not say, that " then there came a leper," or " immediately there came a leper." The sheep has no one but itself to blame for the danger it had got itself into. From this it was deduced that God's forgiveness extends to three offences and that he visits the sinner with punishment at the fourth. Thanks to your prophetic seminar I am now free to be an authentic blessing to others, instead of always feeling like there is something wrong with me, because I can never seem to fit in., The residents in our recovery facility love your articles, so thank you your writings become part of their discipleship and recovery, This is an unfortunate and illegitimate understanding and application. What could be said of her intelligence then? tell it unto the church: By "church" (ekklesia), Jesus means the "assembly" or "congregation" of baptized saints. 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. He is not here sought as by the leper, the centurion, the friends of the palsied man; He Himself calls Matthew, a publican just the one to write the gospel of the despised Jesus of Nazareth. One of the great points in this parable is the contrast between the two debts. This is the more to be noticed, inasmuch as the gospel of Matthew has been in general adopted as the standard of time, save by those who have rather inclined to Luke as supplying the desideratum. The sin that Matthew addresses can be any sin. While this may sound correct, given this is appropriate in a secular work environment, churches need to adopt a Matthew 18 conflict resolution strategy when it comes to reconciling with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven. Then he instructed his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ. They are hereby directed to gather together in Christ's name. The meaning of this is, cease to have religious contact with him, or to acknowledge him as a Christian brother. Heats and animosities, among those whose work it is to remove offences, will be the greatest offence of all. 690-94.] 15If your brother or sister[a] sins,[b] go and point out their fault,(A) just between the two of you. I have never read such a well balanced treatment on the subject of the apostolic and authority.