It is a picture of what was about to take place when the Lord Jesus, quitting Israel and the earth, ascends on high, and all assumes another form not the reign upon earth, but intercession in heaven. Jesus has been describing a process for confronting another believer who is guilty of sin. What church must be told--is the great question. A kingdom divided against itself will not stand. Next, the storm follows. "For if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it will be done for them by my Father which is in heaven." The civil magistrate, say some; The Jewish sanhedrim then in being, say others; but by what follows, Matthew 18:18; Matthew 18:18, it is plain that he means a Christian church, which, though not yet formed, was now in the embryo. Your book on praise and worship woke me up to the new covenant reality. 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. (iv) The love of God is a rejoicing love. This was testing matters more closely. The term has a metaphorical use at times (Job 38:17; Isa. It can mean to see Christ in the child. Wherefore if your hand offends you, then cut it off, cast it from you: it is better for you to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet and to be cast into the everlasting fire. 17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican. Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. There will be differences at the close. ________________________________________________. God proves what He is by the revelation of Jesus. Better to go through life maimed, than into hell whole. 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. Christian kindness and Christian forgiveness do not mean that a man who is in error is to be allowed to do as he likes. Matthew 18 is a less-than-ideal necessity to maintain appropriate boundaries to assure the well-being of individuals and peace in the community when all other long-suffering and forgiving attempts have failed because of human weakness. The perfect example of all this is Jesus in Gethsemane. The man that was not called promises to go anywhere, in his own strength; but the man that was called feels the difficulty, and pleads a natural duty before following Jesus. God bless them. It is not enough that Israel be awakened from the sleep of death, and see aright. I say to them point blank, "cut it off, not tomorrow, right now, cut it off, "Oh, but I"- don't, cut it off.I said, "If I were a surgeon and you came to me, and you said, "Oh, I am having these lumps under my arm, and they are sore, and they really bother me." Observe that it is at this point the chapter begins with vindicating the sanctity of marriage. It is not a mandatory judicial protocol for every circumstance of conflict in community life. ., pp. By his common presence he is in all places, as God; but this is a promise of his special presence. Systemic abuse and corruption are to be exposed: shouted from the housetops by any one, at any time. They were the great congregation and church, in the midst of which Christ sung praise to his Father: and since the whole of this advice, and these excellent rules are given to them, and they are spoken of in the next verse, as having the power of binding and loosing, they may well be thought to be meant here; and that the design of Christ is, to [1.] In work of this kind we must travail in birth again (Galatians 4:19); and it is after many pains and throes that the child is born. What an anticipation of the walk by faith, not by sight, in which the Gentiles, when called, ought to have glorified God, when the rejection of the Messiah by His own ancient people gave occasion to the Gentile call as a distinct thing! (ii) The love of God is a patient love. Besides the general regard God has to the prayers of the saints, he is particularly pleased with their union and communion in those prayers. If we do not want to be publicly humiliated for our sin, especially if we have not been given the opportunity to repent, we should take a private approach to go to someone in love and let them know of their error. Perhaps no verse is so taken out of context and misapplied as Matthew 7:1, "Do not judge so that you will not be judged." Your website has helped me greatly over the past 2 years. "Even so shall my heavenly Father do to you, if you do not each one forgive his brother from your hearts.". But if this be so, there is here absolute certainty that our Lord, on the very Sabbath in which He cast out the unclean spirit from the man in the synagogue of Capernaum, immediately after quitting the synagogue, entered the house of Peter, and that there and then He healed Peter's wife's mother of the fever. If, however, those bonds have not been developed, the task could be much more difficult. So thoroughly is it in view of Israel that our Lord does not say one word here about the Church, or the intervening condition of Christendom. 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. But a mulos onikos ( G3684) was a grinding-stone of such a size that it needed an ass pulling it (onos ( G3688) is the Greek for an ass and mulos ( G3458) is the Greek for a millstone) to turn it round at all. Jesus revealed almost nothing about the church in the Gospels, as the absence of references to it in these books indicates. In each case the believer should go to the offender privately and point out the wrongdoing, so that the person might be spiritually helped. Such is His grace, such His wisdom. 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. If those who trusted in themselves that they were wise and righteous would not have Him, He would call even a publican on the spot to be among the most honoured of His followers, and would not disdain to be their joy when they desired His honour in the exercise of His grace. Father give to me the spirit of forgiveness. 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. Gentile as he was, he was for that very, reason the less narrowed in his thoughts of the Saviour by the prevalent notions of Israel, yea, or even by Old Testament hopes, precious as they are. If the person is still not repentant, bring it before your elder board. They measured Jesus by their own impotence. 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. Indeed he grew, for that baby became William the Conqueror of England. Only tradition will not do this work, nor will human thoughts or feelings. Copyright 2019 by Zondervan. Jesus isn't like some today who say, "Well, the crowd's too small. It was more than the total budget of the ordinary province. Jesus says that, if two upon earth agree upon any matter for which they are praying, they will receive it from God. And if he shall neglect to hear them The one or two, in conjunction with the offended person that shall hear the ease, and admonish and reprove; if he takes no notice of what they say to him, but remains stiff and impenitent, tell it unto the church: which some understand, of the (Mybr) , or "multitude", before whom it was lawful to reprove, after such private methods had been taken: others, the political magistrates, or sanhedrim; who took cognizance of cases between one person and other, either by themselves, or messengers; and gave admonitions and reproofs, as to parents, when they did not provide for their families F24, and to wives that were perverse, and provoked their husbands F25 others, of the presbyters and governors of the Christian church; others, of the church itself, and so the Ethiopic version renders it, "the house of Christians"; to which it is objected, that as yet a Christian church was not formed: but what were the twelve apostles of the Lamb? Christ, designing to erect a church for himself in the world, here took care for the preservation, 1. 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). In Galatians 2:11 what is meant by "I opposed him to his face"? (2) In Matt 18, the sin in question is, by the authority of the church, excommunicablein at least two senses. But as humans sometimes do, a person may make an inappropriate comment or commit an action that may cause another Christian to become offended. Therefore it was not a mere simple fact that He banished sickness or infirmity, but He carried them in His spirit before God. While contextually the steps outlined in verses 1520 refer to private disputes, similarities exist in cases of congregational discipline. Especially is this situation true in the case of a new convert. Failure to do so robs the church not only of mature believers but also robs us of the opportunity to be used by God. So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very grieved, and they came and told their lord all that he did. In Matthew 18:17, Jesus uses the word church in reference to the local church. 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. Petty interpersonal offenses and hurt feelings are not included. In general, to all the requests of the faithful praying seed of Jacob; they shall not seek God's face in vain. Whoever humbles himself as this little child, he is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.". 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. Perhaps no verse is so taken out of context and misapplied as Matthew 7:1, "Do not judge so that you will not be judged." When we think of punishment, we can only say, "Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?" Note, Those should think it high time to repent and reform, who see their misconduct become a general offence and scandal. neg. To the child a state of dependence is perfectly natural. Therefore a child also means a beginner in the faith, one who has just begun to believe, one who is not yet mature and established in the faith, one who has just begun on the right way and who may very easily be deflected from it. But he refused. God is like that; God cannot be happy until the last wanderer is gathered in. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receives me ( Matthew 18:5 ). Should Christians use mediation to settle disputes? If he doesn't pay attention to them, tell the church. There never can be strength in the soul till forgiveness is known. The universal Church is composed of all believers in the Lord Jesus. Go to the offender first! And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. He simply believed people talking about other people, and acted on it! It was not a local church, but itinerant. Your email address will not be published. We must "go and tell him his fault BETWEEN you and him alone." Now, we are talking here about a sinning brother. Had there been a single thing good in Israel, their choicest guides would have stood that test. There are no restraining walls. 15If your brother or sister[a] sins,[b] go and point out their fault,(A) just between the two of you. "I will build my church." The church belongs to Jesus. He means it to be shocking. It was His meat to do the will of God. "And, behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth." The Lord shows that such unbelief justly and necessarily excludes itself, but not others, from blessing. (SeeMatthew 9:32-33; Matthew 9:32-33.) No sooner had Jesus taught his men his own prayer, than he went on to expand and explain one petition in it: "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses" ( Matthew 6:14-15). Verse 4 seems quite adverse to the idea that great multitudes were witnesses of the cure; for why "tell no man," if so many knew it already? 2. "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."