Discipline - Focus on Forgiveness, Matthew 18:15-20
At this point the question comes up: what do you do when somebody sins against you? This is one of those chapters that a lot of people think shouldn't really be in the Bible. This is one of those chapters that talk about church discipline that a lot of people really wish weren't in the Bible. How do we know that? We know it because a lot of churches just ignore this. On the other hand, sadly, we have a lot of churches that want to spend too much time on this section. And so we see that there is a pattern, an application that often is related to the two polar trends of our sin nature. We have one trend towards licentiousness and antinomianism (lawlessness), and then we have another trend towards legalism, a trend toward self-righteousness and really wanting to get involved in everybody else's business.
We often hear from those who are on the latter end of that of the equation, and even some who understand the grace application of this passage, that if we just had more church discipline we would have probably better churches and better congregations who would focus on the Lord. There is some truth in that because the Bible does teach that there is this thing called church discipline. A church that doesn't hold to or practice church discipline is pretty much like a parent that is very permissive and never disciplines their children, and before very long what you have is a congregation of a lot of spoiled spiritual brats that are doing whatever they think they ought to do, and like the period of the judges everyone is doing what is right in their own eyes.
Unfortunately there are theologians and pastors on the other end of that who by the way they write and the way they talk about this are almost asking everybody in the church to start spying on everybody else to make sure that we are not allowing anyone to be licentious or even sin in our church. Often that goes along with people who don't understand a free grace gospel. Often it is found among some of the pastors and theologians who are also pretty much proponents of a lordship gospel. And that fits, because if you hold to what is called the lordship gospel, if you are not producing the right kind of fruit which is defined as a certain kind of morality then maybe you weren't really saved to begin with. So there is this misunderstanding of the grace of the gospel.
As we look at this passage we need to understand one or two things. One is that there are two basic key passages that we look at when we talk about church discipline. There are some other individual verses here and there but when we look at this topic we have one situation here in Matthew eighteen and we have another situation in 1 Corinthians five, and they are not identical. How they are handled are similar in some respects because they both end up excluding or ostracising or shunning the person who has been guilty of some egregious sin and refuses to do anything about it. It is really clear from the 1 Corinthians five passages, but there are some other passages that are somewhat similar.
We need to talk about this because they are talking about two different situations and are handled differently. As a pastor with almost thirty years of experienced I have looked at this and say that you don't handle all of these kinds of situations identically. What a lot of people do is say that here the passages is set up in Matthew eighteen, but that passage in Matthew seems to be restricted to a particular situation. That is not what they did in 1 Corinthians five. That is not what Paul did with Peter in Galatians chapter one. So this isn't setting a paradigm for every kind of situation. But it does set a standard that the church should be involved at times and some circumstances with what is known as church discipline.
Let's look at the context here. The question that is being asked at the beginning of the chapter is, who is going to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? We have to interpret everything in this chapter in light of the fact that Jesus is talking to His disciples who are believers. He is not talking to unbelievers about how to become justified, how to have eternal life or how to spend eternity in heaven. He is talking to His disciples about what is required to be a good disciple.
Jesus talks about causing “one of these little ones to sin”. It is not just simply sin, SKANDALIZO tends to be an extreme form of sin, causing this young humble-like-a-child believer to radically stumble and have a major blow out in his spiritual life, maybe even causing him to be completely derailed spiritually. In a lot of passages this is talking about going into false doctrine.
When we look at the way this is used in the passages related to doubtful things in Corinth what we are really looking at there is the problem of eating meat that has been sacrificed to an idol and that this may eventually cause the weaker brother to go into idolatry. That is major apostasy. So the idea here at this point is someone who is influencing a young disciple who wants to grow and mature and excel in discipleship to go into apostasy.
Then we have the example of person who owns a hundred sheep who goes off into the hills where the sheep is in a position of danger. The shepherd is going to leave the care of his ninety-nine to someone else and is going to go out and do whatever it takes to bring that one sheep back. We saw that in that parable that the shepherd or owner is equivalent to God the Father or the Lord Jesus Christ. The straying sheep is the young childlike disciple who has been caused to stumble or sin or led astray by false teaching. If he should find it—sometimes they exercise their own volition and don't want to be restored—he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray.
The focus here is on restoration, not going out and penalising, punishing, ridiculing, judging, condemning the sheep that went off into the hills. And the focus of the rest of this chapter is on restoration, not judging the person who has been led astray into sin or into false doctrine.
Matthew 18:15 NASB “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.”
The “if” here in Greek is a third class condition. Greek expresses the “if” clause three or four different ways actually, and it is important to pay attention. This means maybe this will happen, maybe it won't. “Brother” refers to another believer, male or female. So we could translate this, “If another Christian sins”, and then we have the phrase “against you” [NKJV]. That phrase is missing from some MSS and therefore does not appear in some translations. Interestingly, it is not only in the Majority Text but it is in many of the MSS that are valued by the Critical Text. There are some translations that don't have it and unfortunately there are some pastors/Bible teachers who use a translation that excludes it, and for them it simply reads, “If your brother sins”.
Notice the difference. If the text says, “If your brother sins, go and tell him his fault”. If we apply that we are going to look at each other and if we see anyone else sin we are going to have to go talk to them about it. The word that is used here for sin is the broad word HAMARTANO, which means to miss the mark, to sin. It is a broader word than SKANDALON, which means creating a major stumbling block. We have two options here exegetically. One is that even though HAMARTANO is a broader word it should be understood in terms of the narrower concept that has already been understood.
I lean in that direction because this kind of situation is not the kind that you would want to raise with what we might call minor sins such as what we might think of as sins we commit every single day, but that this is something a little more egregious that is causing offence. The fact that it says “against you” fits that context, because creating a stumbling block is when you are sinning against someone; you are causing a major problem for that person in their spiritual life.
When we talk about taking offence today we have to be very careful because we have a younger generation that takes offence at just about anything. If you believe anything dogmatically, assertively, exactly, profoundly that it is true then you are going to offend about half of the next generation. They believe anybody who believes anything is true, that they are by definition of saying one thing is true and everything else is not they are excluding everyone else and that is offensive, it is so judgmental. And that hurts their feelings. We are seeing a whole generation of these epistemologically spoiled brats who go to college and don't want anybody to teach them, because if they teach them that anything actually happened, that anything is actually true, then they get offended. They don't know how to handle that, especially if they don't agree with it.
This is talking about a situation where someone believes that another person is doing, has said something, or is leading them in a direction that would cause them to be derailed spiritually.
You go to them and talk to them in private. This isn't something that should be made public, it is a private situation. It is always important to value someone's privacy. If this is something that shocks you and you feel you just can't keep quiet about it, the Bible says you go to that person alone; you have to respect their privacy. You have to make sure you ascertain all the facts. Maybe you are wrong. You talk to them. If they say, yes you are right, I did that; I was wrong and I'm going to make it right. Great! Forgive them; move on, it is over with. Keep it private.
What happens when things go to a stage where some things become public it becomes much more difficult for somebody to change. Maybe they want to but now you have added other factors, factors of embarrassment, factors that may affect their job, their marriage, their relationship with their kids, you have just complicated the whole situation.
The word for “tell him his fault” is the Greek word ELENCHO, which is translated reprove or rebuke. If we look at the words rebuke or reprove in English it is, I think, too harsh of a word to translate the Greek word with. If you look those words up in an English dictionary it says they mean to reprimand or criticize sharply. That is not what we are talking about here. The Greek word has a broader range and at the beginning it means just to bring something to light, to expose something, to bring someone to a position of recognizing the error of his or her ways. That fits other passages that talk about doing this in kindness, gentleness and grace. You are not looking for a confrontation, a head-butting contest; the goal is restoration and recovery, not to prove you are right, that you are more righteous than the other person, that they are a spiritual loser. The idea here of rebuke is the more gentle sense of ELENCHO is to bring someone to the point of recognizing their error and moving forward.
Another term often heard when people talk about this is, “they repented”. Notice that the word repent is never used in this passage. Repent describes a change of mind, so it would be an appropriate word, but it is interesting that it is not used here.
The background for this is probably an Old Testament passage in Leviticus 19:17, 18 NASB “You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD”. What is the point of “I am the LORD”? God is the boss! He has the right to tell us what we should do and what we should not do. The command here (under the Mosaic Law) is that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. In the church age it is, we are to love one another as Christ loved us.
But there are exceptions to this. I n Galatians chapter two Paul confronted Peter over a matter of false doctrine. When Peter went up to Antioch--all of a sudden Peter who had taken the gospel to the Gentiles and eaten non-Kosher food, get a case of hypocrisy and wouldn't eat with the Gentiles, would only eat Kosher food and hangs out with the Jewish crowd—Paul confronts him. This is not a personal situation.
Galatians 2:11 NASB “But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.” His hypocrisy had created a huge problem in the church. [12] For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he {began} to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision.” He is operating on fear and not on grace. [13] “The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. [14] But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, “If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how {is it that} you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?” Paul stands up in front of everybody and says they are wrong. It is a public confrontation. The reason he does it publicly is because it had infected everybody, so it is a public problem.
That is another issue, and that is what we see in 1 Corinthians chapter five, the other passage on church discipline. When it is in public in most of these cases it has already become a public issue. Nobody is learning anything they didn't already know. It has to be dealt with publicly because it is public knowledge and if you just turn a blind eye to it there are going to be more problems down the road.
Galatians 6:1 NASB “Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; {each one} looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted.” In other words, don't do this if you are angry, upset with the person, if you have some sort of revenge motivation and you want to get back at him. You have to do it from a position of gentleness; here this means humility. You are doing it out of love for their best interests, not for your best interest.
Matthew 18:16 NASB “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.” Going to them privately may take a year or two of discussion, working through some things with that person; it is not a one-shot deal. If he doesn't hear—hearing in the Bible means responding positively to what you have heard—then you go back with one or two more. (Deuteronomy 19:15) It is not just your word against their word.
Matthew 18:17 NASB “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.” Some people have tried to get around this and say this should also be limited. I have found that in this kind of situation there is no need to tell it to the church because this person has already hit the road.
The next couple of verses are an interesting section.
Matthew 18:18 NASB “Truly 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.”
That is confusing because that isn't really an accurate translation. It is awkward to translate it literally into English. The second verb in both clauses is a future perfect, meaning you will already have been bound. We usually don't talk like that in English. In rabbinic literature binding and loosing meant to prohibit or to permit. “Whatever you bind on earth” means whatever you prohibit. This is talking about when you reach a judgment in terms of this kind of a discipline whatever you prohibit shall already have been prohibited in heaven. That means what you doing on the earth is a reflection of God's standard that has already been established before in the Scripture. You are just applying the standard of Scripture. Whatever you permit or allow on the earth will have already have been allowed by heaven.
Matthew 18:19 NASB “Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven.”
This is applied by all kinds of people for prayer. It has nothing to do with prayer. Not once have we talked about prayer in this chapter. Who are the two or three? If two who were witnesses with regard to this person agree that this is what needs to be done, then you bring that to the church, and it will be done. God is going to honor that.
Matthew 18:20 NASB “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”
They are gathered together in Christ's name to bring judgment upon somebody in the congregation. So don't use this, as we have to get two people together to pray. People actually believe that our prayer will have more power if two or three of us come together; if there is only one of us Jesus isn't there. Jesus is omnipresent! Christ is in every believer. Christ in you, Paul says, is the hope of glory.
1 Corinthians chapter five deals with a really strange situation because in our culture this doesn't necessarily carry the same kind of connotation that it did in their culture.
1 Corinthians 5:1 NASB “It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father’s wife.” This is the Greek word PORNEIA from which we get our English word pornography. So Paul is talking about some kind of sexual immorality. They consider this to be so bad that even in Corinth it was abhorrent. It was forbidden in Roman law. Even the Corinthian unbelievers were shocked down to the souls of their feet by someone marrying a stepmother. The Old Testament prohibited it as well.
Deuteronomy 27:20 NASB “Cursed is he who lies with his father’s wife, because he has uncovered his father’s skirt.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’” Cf. Leviticus 18:18; 20:11.
What does Paul do? He says you have to kick him out of the congregation. 1 Corinthians 5:5 {I have decided} to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” Over in Matthew 18 Jesus said they are to be treated like a Gentile tax collector. Being treated like a Gentile was being treated like an unbeliever. So what Jesus was saying was, treat them like an unbeliever. That doesn't mean to be mean to them. The issue is spiritual; they are acting like an unbeliever so you need to treat them like an unbeliever. Maybe they weren't saved to begin with and really do need to hear the gospel, but the assumption of the passage is he is a believer. He is called “a brother” which means he is a believer. You need to treat them differently. They are definitely shunned and outside, they are not allowed back into fellowship in church.
“That his spirit may be saved”--this guy is a believer. God is going to discipline him in order to bring him back. By the time Paul writes 2 Corinthians the guy has confessed his sin and has changed. The congregation hasn't quite forgiven him and Paul has to reprimand them again and tell them to treat him with grace and welcome him back.
1 Timothy 1:18-20 NASB “This command I entrust to you, Timothy, {my} son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme.”
The picture is that if they are outside the church, apart from fellowship and hearing the Word of God because they have chosen to be disobedient and to live in sin, then this is an environment where God can lower the boom in terms of divine discipline.
So there does reach a point where people are asked to leave the
congregation. In 1 Corinthians 5:6ff Paul uses the imagery of leaven. 1
Corinthians 5:6 NASB “Your boasting is not good. Do you not
know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump {of dough?}”? If you allow a
little bit of sin it is going to mess up a whole lot.
[7] Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are {in fact} unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.” You can't get away from the fact that this is removing that sinful influence from the congregation. [8] “Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
This reminds us of what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:33 NASB “Do not be deceived: 'Bad company corrupts good morals'.”