And if your brother sins, go and reprove him in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two to tree witnesses every fact may be confirmed. 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 to you as a Gentile and a tax-gatherer. Truly I say to you, whatever you shall bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. 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. For where two or three have gathered together in my name, there I am in their midst. Then Peter came and said to Him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven." [1]
The church is not an afterthought in God's plan, but part of the mystery that God had in mind all along: Paul tells the church at Ephesus, "The manifold wisdom of God (is) now made known through the church . . . in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord."[2] The church is Christ's body, so a high view of the church is not optional for Christians. Our society is highly individualistic; as a result we Christians sometimes take the same attitude of individualism: The Christian life is just "Jesus and me." That's wrong. That's being squeezed into the world's mold. The result can only be a low view of the church.
Jesus only referred to the church twice in his ministry—in Matthew 16, where He says, "I will build my church," and in the passage above about church discipline. Thus on the authority of our Lord Himself church discipline must be seen as a central part of church life, not a minor or optional ingredient. For the Reformers as well, one of the marks of the church was discipline rightly administered.
But there is a danger—a grave danger—because the phrase "church discipline" conjures up in our minds the inquisitions of Spain, or the witch hunts of Puritan New England. Not even the term "excommunication" is appropriate any more, for the word "communication" has changed its meaning. It used to mean participation or fellowship but now it means talking together or conversation. Church discipline, as we shall see, is certainly not cutting off lines of communication. What then is church discipline? The question is a very, very hard one. In looking for the answer, only broken men need apply.
Who is responsible for church discipline? In Matthew 18, Jesus says simply "If a brother sin. . . ." I believe that you and I are responsible for church discipline, not the deacons only, and not the pastors only. Therefore I would like to give several scriptural principles for church discipline.
Are you judging? Romans 14:13 says, "Let us not judge one another any more, but rather determine this—not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way." Matthew 7:5 says that we will be judged by the same standard by which we judge, so it is important for us to take the log out of our own eye before we take the toothpick out of a brother's eye.
Have you been guilty of the same sin that you see in your brother? We tend to react most to those problems in others that we are sensitive to because they are in some measure problems for us. If that is the case then we may need to ask for forgiveness first. [3] Paul was aware of this need for self-examination, for he says to "look to yourselves, lest you too be tempted." [4] If we take this seriously, we shall have dealt with the major objection to church discipline—the objection that it is rarely done in a spirit of love and humility.
As you consider yourself, consider your attitude. Have you cried about the matter? The church in Corinth became arrogant instead of sorrowful for an immoral brother. [5] Have you born your brother's sin as a burden?
We are to "bear one another's burdens." [6] If one member of the body of Christ suffers, all the members should suffer with him. [7] Sin causes great suffering. Are you spiritual? Those who are spiritual are to restore a brother who has sinned. [8] Although Paul's description of a spiritual man is in terms of fruit such as love, joy, peace, and patience, [9] the primary reason that he called the Corinthian church carnal was its divisions. We're not to go to a brother to correct him in an attitude of "we correct them"—that other group in the church that needs correction. Paul gives the following condition for correcting a brother: "I . . . am convinced that you . . . are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able also to admonish one another." [10]
As you consider yourself, pray. When Samuel the prophet addressed Israel, he said "Far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you." [11] As you consider yourself, consider Scripture on the problem your brother face. When Paul said that we are to be filled with all knowledge, he meant for us to get the facts from the Word on the matter—the Word is profitable for reproof as well as for doctrine, correction, and instruction in righteousness. [12
I have had to go to a brother in the way that Jesus asks on several occasions. Always I went with much prayer and tears and brokenness. My body's wisdom forced me to fast, since I couldn't hold down a meal. It's not as easy thing that Jesus is asking us to do here
Put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against any one; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. And beyond all these things, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. [13]And again,
. . . the Lord's bondservant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness, correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. [14]Paul went to believers individually, with weeping. [15]
If you have considered yourself, and gone in love and with gentleness, you must go privately. I can see three possible reasons for Jesus' giving that as the first step in Matthew 18. By going privately, you avoid waiting until the issue is such a big one that it is a public matter. Secondly, you respect a principle of the "circle of offense"—only those should be in on the problem who are a part of the solution, who are initially just you and your brother. And thirdly, you must go privately because you may be wrong. If the facts are not as you saw them, how sad—and how sinful—it would be if you first told a third party.
I remember telling my friends that a Christian lied. When I eventually told him that I thought he lied, he was wise not only to set me straight, but to remind me that I had a responsibility to go to those to whom I had borne false witness to correct the error. It's pretty hard, however, to gather up again words that have been sown to the wind.
being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, malice; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful. [16]Gossip is a special danger because when we reprove a brother, sometimes we adopt the world's standards and harp on sexual sins and let slide our own gossip about the very person we would like to help, forgetting what James has to say about the tongue and the "big fire" it kindles. The second thing that you are not to do is nothing. The church's procedure may be to quietly drop folks from the rolls when they haven't been heard from in years. That's wrong. Discipline is part of discipling; it's not optional. Finally, Ronald J. Sider says in a paper on church discipline that we are to avoid "religious legalism and narrow externalism." Not matters of conscience,[17] but matters that are explicitly transgressions of the law are at issue.
If you have gone to your brother privately and with the right attitude, rarely will any further steps be necessary. After all, the purpose of discipline is not punishment but restoration. God's discipline of us proves that we are his children. Here are the fruits of that discipline:
He disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.Paul says that he admonished every man in order to present him complete in Christ.[20] A surgeon brings health by cutting; a vinedresser brings growth by pruning. Israel was victorious at Ai only after they dealth with the Achan's sin of stealing. Health, growth, victory are a part of God's restoring power.All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.[18]
As hard as it may be for us to believe, this kind of housekeeping will produce a good testimony for the church. You might be the only church in town with the reputation that no one gossips there everyone takes his problems with another person only to that person. For Israel in David's time, a good public testimony was at issue:
David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord."And Nathan said to David, "The Lord also has taken away your sin. You shall not die. However, because by this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born to you [and Bathsheba] will surely die."[21]
But what if he doesn't hear us? Then the matter must be brought before the church, says Jesus. Paul refers to a special case in which the offender is an elder in the church with these words:
Do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses. Those who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all, so that the rest also may be fearful of sinning.[22]The whole church does not mean just the board of deacons, or just the church board, or just a circle of friends. It means at least a congregational meeting, to avoid members hearing by the wrong method of gossip. Bill Gothard recommends that the meeting be on a day of fasting and prayer, so that the church comes to the meeting with each having examined himself. Again, the offender sees the gravity of the situation.
That's hard.
For example, a college student who attends your church may question that you are his church. After all, he's a member of a church back home. Because there is a need for us to be responsible for each other, more than for any other reason, I believe strongly in membership in the local church where you worship regularly, and under whose discipline you are willing to come. That college student should welcome associate membership.
But what if the offender doesn't hear the whole church? That's harder yet. Paul says to remove him from your midst, don't associate with him, don't even eat with him so that he may be put to shame, reject him, avoid him, turn away from him.[23] Jesus says to treat him as a Gentile and a tax-collector. For the blasphemers, Hymenaeus and Alexander, and for the immoral man in Corinth, Paul "delivered them over to Satan."[24] I take this to mean that without the fellowship of the church, they will be in Satan's hands. Stated positively, have you ever thought about he protection that God affords those who find shelter among their brothers and sisters in Christ? Certainly, the issue does not seem to be one of salvation, for they are consigned to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, but the spirit is saved.[25] Most writers take this to mean that without repentance the sinning Christian will have an early death. Compare the situation at the communion table:
He who eats and drinks eats and drinks judgment to himself, if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep [have died]. But if we judged ourselves rightly, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord in order that we may not be condemned with the world.[26]In the matter of church discipline, God stands behind the church's decision. Matthew 18 says that what the church binds on earth has already been bound in heaven. In our individualistic and personalistic approach to Scripture, we may fail to note that we have been given authority as God's church to forgive sins and retain sins.[27]
But the final note is not one of bad news but of good news. Excommunication means no fellowship, but it does not mean no communication. Paul says of one who is disciplined, "don't regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother."[28] Of a repentant brother who had been disciplined, Paul says, "forgive and comfort him, lest somehow such a one be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow."[29] Here Paul may very well be talking about he same man whose immorality occasioned Paul's writing I Corinthians 5, a man who apparently was sorrowful and willing to be forgiven and to stop sinning. Paul says, "Reaffirm your love for him."[30] In this way he echoes Jesus' reply to Peter in Matthew 18: forgive 490 times, or as the parallel passage in Luke puts it, many times every day if necessary. Peter obviously got Jesus' intent because Jesus' instruction on discipline prompted Peter's question, "How many times should I forgive?" Later, even before Peter denied Jesus, Jesus told Peter that when he was restored he should strengthen his brothers.[31]
To ask six questions of the text in summary: Who? Brothers. What? Admonish. When? Immediately. Where? Privately. How? In love and gentleness. Why? To restore.
If you think "This is good I can't wait to put it into practice," you have missed Jesus' point. With no anguish in your soul over the difficulty, over your own sin, and over the sin of your brothers it is better for you to hear instead these words:
Love is patient . . . kind . . . not arrogant . . . not self-seeking . . .does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.[32]
What are some practical applications for everyone from Matthew 18?
First, it is a tragedy for the church that we don't miss those who leave us in broken fellowship, and that broken fellowship sometimes doesn't bother the person who leaves. This assumes a loving knowledge that—it seems to me—requires small groups within the church before whom we can be accountable. Who is accountable to me and to whom am I in turn accountable?
Second, in the family, applying this principle would mean no tattling; in the church, no gossip. You have heard it said, "If you can't say something nice about someone, don't say anything at all," but Jesus implies that if you can't say something nice about your brother in faith, then you must say something—to him, to restore (or to begin) the fellowship that God intended.
1. Matthew 18:15-22 2. Ephesians 3:10-11 3. Matthew 5:23, 24 4. Galatians 6:1 5. I Corinthians 5:1, 2 6. Galatians 6:2 7. I Corinthians 12:36 8. Galatians 6:1 9. Galatians 5:22, 23 10. Romans 15:14 11. I Samuel 12:23 12. II Timothy 3:16 13. Colossians 3:12-15 14. II Timothy 2:24, 25 15. Acts 20:31 16. Romans 1:29-31 17. Romans 14 18. Hebrews 12:5-14; esp. 10, 11 19. Colossians 1:28 20. Galatians 6:1 21. II Samuel 12:13, 14 22. I Timothy 5:19-21 23. I Corinthians 5:2, II Thessalonians 3:14, Titus 3:10, 11, Romans 16:17 24. I Timothy 1:20, I Corinthians 5:6 25. I Corinthians 5:6 26. I Corinthians 11:29-32 27. Compare John 20:23 28. II Thessalonians 3:15 29. II Corinthians 2:7 30. II Corinthians 2:8 31. Luke 22:31-32 32. I Corinthians 13:4-8