Recipe for Discipline in Matthew 18

“If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’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". Matthew 18:15-17.

This passage has been used to prescribe the steps taken when a Christian is found to be in sin and refuses to repent. Let’s consider that this may not be the primary application of this passage at all. Certainly the word “church” is used and the direct implication would be the Christian church but remember “ekklesia” can and is sometimes translated simply as an assembly.

I find it interesting that Jesus said the unrepentant person should be treated as a “pagan or a tax collector”. Certainly Jews were to have no company with pagans or tax collectors but that is hardly true of Christians. Christians were and are obligated to treat everyone in a loving way… even our enemies. So it doesn’t make sense to be telling Christians to treat a brother as a “Pagan or Tax collector” when Christians were supposed to be treating “Pagans and Tax collectors” with love.

So let me suggest that Matthew 18:15-17 is an instruction placed under the realm of the Mosaic Law to teach Jews how to be better Jews and the “assembly” mentioned is the assembly that assembles in the synagogue.

If Matthew 18:15-17 were to be an exact recipe for dealing with the un-repentant brother in Christ I find it interesting that the recipe is never repeated anywhere in the New Testament.

For instance what an opportunity for Paul to validate this procedure in 1 Corinthians 5 when dealing with the church member sinning in a sexual way. He could have told the congregation… go talk to him… several go talk to him then if he doesn’t repent inform the church and let him be treated as a “pagan or tax collector” but Paul doesn’t do that. He simply said… cast him out of the church and have no company with him. Similar but not the same.

So as students of the Bible what does this mean to us? Does it mean we completely disregard Matthew 18 when dealing with a brother we see in the death grip of sin? I don’t think so.

Obviously the Old Law was a tutor to bring us to Christ and in Matthew 18 we are being tutored a principle about correcting sinful behavior in fellow Christians with whom we are associated with in a congregation in future times. It is just not an exact recipe and was not intended to be an exact recipe.