Bible Study series: Matthew 18:15-20. This sequence of steps is for Christians in the community. Leaders who sin have another process they have to go through.

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In the next link to the original chapter, I comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!

Matthew 18

In this post, links are provided for further study.

Let’s begin.

Scripture: Matthew 18:15-20

¹⁵ “If your brother or sister sin against you, go and convince him, just you and him. If they listen to you, you have won your brother or sister. ¹⁶ If they do not listen to you, take with you one or two others, so that ‘out of the mouth of two or three witnesses, let every word be established.’ [Deut. 19:15] ¹⁷ If they do not listen to them, tell the church. But if they do not listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and tax collector. ¹⁸ I tell you the truth: whatever you have bound on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you have loosed on earth will have been loosed in heaven.

¹⁹ Again I [truly] tell you that if two of you have agreed on earth about every matter which they request, it will be done for them from my Father who is in heaven, ²⁰ for where two or three have gathered together in my name, I am there in the middle of them. (Matt. 18:15-20)

Comments:

The context is the fledgling Christian community and a brother or sister who persistently sins and breaks the church rules. Here are the steps a Christian community can take to restore the brother or sister, if they will listen.

See my comments on 16:18-20 and binding and loosing.

Matthew 16

I have edited this post because I have transferred much (though not all) data to this post:

What Does ‘Binding and Loosing’ Mean?

15:

“brother or sister”: it literally reads “brother,” but in this context brother stands in for both sexes. It is generic. Also, following France’s clever idea, I made the pronouns “him” into “them” and “he” into “they.” But be careful here. Usually a brother in the church should confront a brother, and a sister should confront a sister. Mixing the genders can be a bad idea in a tense situation, depending on the circumstances.

In any case, the context is personal. It’s about a brother or sister who offends you personally. Brothers to brothers and sister to sisters. Not brother to leader. It is not about critiquing a mega-ministry which builds a wall around the main leader who is spreading bad doctrine. You can point out his errors from a distance.

First Timothy 5:19-20 guides us here:

¹⁹ Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses. ²⁰ But those elders who are sinning you are to reprove before everyone, so that the others may take warning.  (1 Tim. 5:19-20, NIV)

Paul is referring to Deuteronomy 19:15, which says:

¹⁵ One witness is not enough to convict anyone accused of any crime or offense they may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. (Deut. 19:15)

So the bottom line, Matthew 18 does not apply in the case of elders or church leaders. All one needs to do is take two or three witnesses to confront the elder. It would be beneficial to take an older person with you, someone mature in the Lord. You alone do not have to confront the accused elder. And certainly not the one who is abused. If the accused leader insists on confronting the (alleged) victim, then the leader is out of order. Tell him No. You do not have to bring the victim.

Here in California, it is illegal to make the victim of abuse meet with her abuser. It is a sure thing that other states have similar laws, because it would be too traumatic for the victim, for the one-on-one meeting may open up old wounds, or the leader may intimidate his victim through mental and emotional terror.

In short, don’t allow a church leader to cry “Matthew 18!” when mature Christians need to confront his abuse and misconduct. That’s manipulative. Matthew 18 is simply about a brother confronting another brother or a sister confronting another sister in a church setting, alone at first, not about a brother or sister confronting a leader, one on one alone. This could be very intimidating for a sister, particularly when she was the one abused. This meeting probably violates state law, and it does violate state law in California.

“they”: the Greek verb is singular: “he listens” or “she listens.” I changed it to “they” because I did not want to write “he or she listens.” (Deut. 19:15, NIV)

Note that the verse says “sins,” and not “commits a crime” (e.g. sexual abuse). If someone commits the crime of sexual abuse or other physical abuses, you must report him to the civil authorities.

Update: it is a bad policy to make the abused person meet with the alleged abuser–too traumatic. Out here in California this would be illegal. The accuser (the abused) should not meet with the accused (the abuser). I don’t believe Matthew 18:15-17 covers these tense situations. Instead, the verses are about normal, run-of-the-mill conflicts between brothers and sisters that can be settled following the sequence of confrontations spelled out in those verses. Don’t let the mega ministers (and others) with extra-strong personalities and clever verbal skills back you into the “I demand Matthew 18!” manipulation.

Stop Weaponizing Matthew 18 against Victims of Clergy Abuse

16-17:

“church”: it could be translated as “assembly” or “congregation” or “community.” It is the Greek noun ekklēsia (pronounced ehk-klay-see-ah). It is related to the Greek verb ekkaleō or “to call out.” It can be used of an assembly in a non-Christian context (Acts 19:39). It is the assembly or “church” in the wilderness (Acts 7:38; cf. Heb. 2:12). In Acts and the Epistles, it refers to the gathering of the people of God. It translates the Hebrew qāhāl (meeting, assembly, gathering). The Septuagint (pronounced sep-too-ah-gent) is a third-to-second-century translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek. It often (but not always) translates qāhāl as ekklēsia.

Bible Basics about the Church

What Is the Church?

Church discipline in this context, with real world facts of misbehavior before the leaders, is not the same as legislating whatever one wants to get one’s way. Today’s prophets, who like the idea legislating because it promotes their God-like authority in front of a crowd, need to cool their jets. The NT restricts them.

New Testament Restricts Authority of Modern Prophets

18:

Let’s again cover a rare verb syntax (sentence structure) that Matthew chose. As I wrote about 16:19 the rare construction is as follows:

Please go to this article for the rest of my commentary:

What Does ‘Binding and Loosing’ Mean?

In the terms binding and loosing, Jesus is simply following the Jewish belief of permitting (loosing) and not permitting (binding). Keener expands on this idea, writing of the Jewish context both here in v. 18 and in 16:19:

In both functions—evaluating entrants and those already within the church—God’s people must evaluate on the authority of the heavenly court; the verb tenses allow the interpretation that they merely ratify the heavenly decree … Jesus’s agents were already exercising this authority in their earlier mission (10:14-15, 40) … (p. 430)

Blomberg writes:

In this context Jesus is almost certainly referring to the procedures of vv. 15–17 involving the withholding or bestowing of forgiveness and fellowship. As in 16:19, “binding” and “loosing” are more likely parallel to John 20:23 than to the rabbinic maxims on permitting or prohibiting certain behavior. Verse 18 also presupposes that the church is acting according to Jesus’ guidelines given in vv. 15–17 and is generally seeking and sensitive to God’s will. Then the church’s loosing and binding—forgiving or refusing to forgive—carries the very authority of God. (comment on 18:18)

“Thus the primary meaning here likely parallels John 20:23 in terms of retaining (= ‘binding’) or forgiving (= ‘loosing’) sins. The passive verbs used here are divine passives, which means that God is behind the community’s decisions regarding forgiveness or condemnation of its wandering sheep / member. Behind this is the further aspect of church decisions as to which types of conduct are allowed and which are forbidden” (Osborne, comment on 18:18).

See this post for more information about the verb tense:

Matthew 16

Scroll down to v. 19.

19:

“I tell you”: see v. 10 for more comments.

The purpose in v. 19 seems to be to pray for the persistently divisive or disruptive or sinning brother or sister. Redemption is in the offing. Excellent.

God Is Your Redeemer

What Is Redemption in the Bible?

“agreed”: The verb means “agree, come to an agreement, fit in with, match.” In prayer, the prayer warriors must be in harmony and agreement. Unity is the best spiritual environment.

Wonderful verses about unity:

These next verses are also relevant because they deal with restoring one who is caught in sin:

Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. ² Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. (Gal. 6:1-2, NIV)

Osborne: “The earth / heaven contrast is pivotal. The ‘heavenly Father’ is in sovereign control of all earthly matters, and the only guarantee that earthly concerns will work out occurs when they are placed under God’s control. That is especially true in discipline issues, when God’s guidance must be behind the church’s decision. Finally, the ‘two agreeing’ refers back to the two or three witnesses of v. 16 (cf. v. 20). The agreement is the church verdict regarding the case of vv. 15-17” (comment on 18:19)

20:

The idea of two or three gathered together in the context of church discipline comes from this verse:

¹⁵ One witness is not enough to convict anyone accused of any crime or offense they may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. (Deut. 19:15, NIV)

But let’s see if we can expand the theology of the presence of the Lord in a small gathering. The best promise of all is that Jesus is there in the middle of the small prayer gathering. Recall 1:23: “Look! The virgin shall be pregnant and shall give birth to a son, and you shall call his name Emmanuel!” [Is. 7:14], which interpreted means ‘God with us.’” Jesus’s earthly ministry was God with people, but here in vv. 19-20 he is referring to his resurrected and ascended status. This describes his omnipresence. However, if Jesus is talking about a small kingdom community before his resurrection and ascension, then his omnipresence in that small gathering can only be accomplished by the power of the Spirit and the will of the Father. Somehow the spirit of Jesus is also in the middle of them.

But I think this wonderful verse refers to his post-ascension.

Turner says this is high Christology. Jesus is also “associated with God’s glory in John 1:14; Heb. 1:3. The language of 1 Cor. 5:4 also speaks of the presence of Jesus with a community gathered in his name for the purpose of discipline” (comment on 18:20)

Osborne: “As there seems to be a prayer promise and in a different context would have that connotation. Yet in this context it again refers mainly to the decision of a church regarding a discipline situation. The ‘two or three’ as in vv. 16, 19 are the witnesses confronting the guilty person. As they make their decision, certainly while in prayer, Jesus wants them to understand that he is with them, and the ‘heavenly Father’ is guiding their verdict” (comment on 18:20).

Let’s expand things.

There are other promises of God’s presence, wherever we go, whether in a small prayer gathering or in big ones or by ourselves, just one person. In the context of building an altar and offering sacrifices, the author of Exodus writes:

Wherever I cause my name to be honored, I will come to you and bless you. (Exod. 20:24, NIV).

Jesus is about to become the ultimate sacrifice, with his death on the cross.

The Psalmist enjoys inspired insight about God’s presence being everywhere:

Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
¹² even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you. (Ps. 139:7-12, NIV)

Matt. 28:20 is just as powerful and clear as the ones in Ps. 139, indicating high Christology:

“And remember this: I am with you every day, until the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20).

God through Christ is with you no matter where you go, and no matter with whom you pray. You can claim both of these promises for your daily life, in the happy and sad times.

These verses speak of unity and celebrate it:

I really like this verse and v. 19. Yes, they come in the context of church discipline, but they describe a prayer meeting, as seen in the word “request” or “ask” and how soon the heavenly Father will honor their request. Don’t let anyone—especially on youtube—tell you that the disciplinary context is so restrictive that it is not about a prayer gathering.

However, if you insist on restricting the context of a small gathering to discipline only, then you may do so.

Either way, it is an amazing truth that God is present in a small gathering either to discipline someone or to hear our prayers–or both. Evidently, God takes church discipline seriously.

GrowApp for Matt. 18:15-20

1. This section of Scripture is about church discipline, but vv. 19-20 is about a  sinning disciple. Are you praying for a wayward family member or church friend who needs restoration? Is a friend or family member joining you in prayerful and unified agreement?

2. Study Ps. 139:7-12, which is a great promise for private prayer meetings or any other activity. Do you believe he will be there for you?

RELATED

9. Authoritative Testimony in Matthew’s Gospel

1. Church Fathers and Matthew’s Gospel

2. Archaeology and the Synoptic Gospels

14. Similarities among John’s Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels

1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series

SOURCES AND MORE

To see the bibliography, please click on this link and scroll down to the bottom. You will also find a “Summary and Conclusion” for discipleship.

Matthew 18