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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadBob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - Matthew 18:15 - 18:18
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat_18:15-18
15"If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. 16But 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. 17If 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. 18Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven."
Mat_18:15-17 "go and show him his fault in private" This third class conditional sentence is followed by two imperatives.
1. Go, present active imperative
2. Reprove, aorist active imperative (only here in Matthew, but note its use in Joh_3:20; Joh_8:46; Joh_16:8; and by Paul in Eph_5:11; 1Ti_5:20)
This is practical wisdom on how to deal with sin in a congregation. It relates to a later period in church history. Notice the steps.
1. go to the offender privately (Mat_18:15)
2. take one or two witnesses and go again
3. bring the matter before the whole congregation
4. cut off fellowship
These guidelines were not addressed to leadership only, but to all believers. We are our brother's keeper (cf. Luk_17:3; Gal_6:1-2). The goal of church discipline must always be redemptive not punitive. However, the reputation of the body and the peace of the body as well as the health (spiritual and physical) of the sinning saints must be dealt with.
Mat_18:15 "If your brother sins" This paragraph deals with church discipline in light of Mat_18:1-14. This is a series of third class conditional sentences, 15 (twice), 16, 17 (twice). This refers to possible future action.
▣ "sins" There is a Greek manuscript variation here. The earliest complete Greek uncial New Testaments, à and B, do not have "against you" after "sins." It does appear in the uncial manuscripts D, L, and W, as well as the Vulgate and Armenian translations. The UBS4 text includes it in brackets and gives its inclusion a "C" rating.
▣ "you have won your brothers" This phrase parallels Jas_5:15; Jas_5:19-20.
Mat_18:16 "so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses" This is a quote from Deu_19:15. The OT required at least two witnesses to confirm a matter in court (cf. Num_35:30; Deu_17:6).
Mat_18:17 "the church" For a discussion of the origin of ekklesia see note at Mat_16:18. This seems like a reference to a later period when groups of believers must discipline their members. Several of Jesus' statements do not fit this early period of His ministry, but are prophetic of the church's future needs. Matthew, living in this later period, would be reminded (by the Spirit) of Jesus' earlier statements, which only after Pentecost did he fully understand.
The term "church" appears only in the Gospels, two times in Matthew. The term is common in Acts, which shows that Luke was conscious of a change after Pentecost.
▣ "let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector" Matthew was written to Jews. Gentiles were regarded as unclean and tax-collection was a profession despised by the Jews (cf. Mat_5:46; Mat_9:10-11; Mat_11:19). This phrase with its two descriptive examples, would have been misunderstood by Gentiles, so it is not in the other Gospels.
Mat_18:18 "Truly" See Special Topic at Mat_5:18.
▣ "I say to you" "You" is plural. Jesus was addressing the Twelve not just Peter as in Mat_16:19.
▣ "bind. . .loose" These words might alternatively be rendered "forbid" and "permit." They were both rabbinical terms for legal decisions about how the Law should be applied to a current situation. See discussion at Mat_16:19. In Joh_20:23 these terms also refer to the forgiveness of sins, as it does here!
▣ "shall have been bound in heaven. . .shall have been loosed in heaven" These periphrastic perfect passive participles were a roundabout way of saying that something already is. This passage does not assert human's initiative in spiritual matters, but God's will being fulfilled on earth by the Spirit's guidance of His people (cf. Mat_16:19-20; Joh_20:23). Church discipline should always be redemptive (cf. Gal_6:1-10), following God's dealing with believers.