Matthew 18:17, commentary and pictures

Christ lays out the final steps of a graduated course for personal trespass: go alone first, then take one or two others so every word is established, then tell it to the church, and if he refuses to hear the church regard him as outside its fellowship. Telling it to the church is a sorrowful last resort to be taken only after faithful private labor and labor with witnesses has failed, with time given and the matter kept to as few as possible. To be as a heathen and a publican means to be separated from fellowship and removed from its books if he persists without repentance, yet not to be despised or abandoned but to be treated tenderly, prayed for, and sought for salvation. The church acting together is the highest tribunal on earth, and heaven confirms its binding and loosing only when every specification Christ gave has been carried out fully in the true Christian spirit, while an unjust judgment has no standing in heaven. The work must be done gently, humbly, patiently, and prayerfully to reclaim and save, without gossip, evil-speaking, hasty accusation, or appeal to courts and unbelievers, so that evil is exposed and removed, wounds are healed, and the purity and unity of the church are preserved.

Steps of Reconciliation

The verse gives the final steps of a graduated process for dealing with wrongdoing between brethren: first go alone to tell the offender his fault, then take one or two others so that every word may be established by witnesses, then tell it to the church, and if he refuses to hear the church treat him as outside the Christian community, as a heathen man and a publican. When the witnesses have been refused, the matter is to be brought before the church, and when the church has been refused, the offender is no longer to be regarded as a brother in good standing or in fellowship. The injured person is to seek to save the erring brother rather than avenge himself, trusting God to guard his interests and judge righteously, and disputes between Christians are to be handled within the church, not brought before unbelievers in court. The verse belongs to Christ's lesson that His followers must be converted and humble, care for those who are vulnerable, and seek to recover those who go astray.

Telling it to the church is a sorrowful last resort, not an early or casual response, to be taken only after faithful private labor and labor with witnesses has failed, with time given and the matter kept to as few as possible. No report about a fellow worker is to be passed from one to another or listened to unless the accuser has first gone privately to the accused, and no complaint is to be heard and no name removed from the church roll before those prescribed steps have been followed. Before warning the church, earnest efforts should be made in a Christlike spirit to recover the erring person, for neglecting these directions can result in souls being lost. Following this counsel cures many wounds that would otherwise fester and break out incurably, and stops the false tongue and ends criticism and accusing through the abiding love and meekness and lowliness of Christ in the soul.

When the matter is told, the church itself must take action according to Scripture, and this responsibility belongs to the church acting together, not to a few people or a board or committee acting alone. The church must labor to reclaim the person through appeals and prayerful efforts of two or three, and if he persists in refusing to hear and repent, it is responsible for separating him from fellowship and removing his name from its books. This action makes the wrong clear and removes it so it will not spread, thereby clearing the church before God and preserving its health, purity, unity, and unstained righteousness. Remitting or restraining sins applies to the church in her organized capacity through censure, and that censure is to be removed when the one in error confesses and repents. Until these steps have been followed, others must not listen to reports of the person's faults or take up a reproach against them, and relatives or friends should not side with someone who refuses to change his course.

This process governs personal trespass between brethren; it does not govern public wrongs that threaten the welfare of the church, which are to be rebuked publicly. Its principles apply in every circumstance and under all conditions for all who claim to be disciples of the meek and lowly Jesus, and must be carefully studied and obeyed in church life, home, family, and school. The instruction is most positive in the oracles of God, a most important message not to be passed by, calling for attention as church members work with Christ to bring people to repentance. Doing the wrongs pointed out in the chapter dishonors God and mars His cause, and the instruction rules out striving for supremacy, because greatness in Christ's kingdom rests on inward spiritual excellence through true conversion, not on position, outward splendor, or authority. Obeying it in the home church and in the family requires greater spirituality and the converting power of God to come upon home workers, and those responsible for the church are to exercise responsibility with wisdom and care, not as domineering rulers.

Meaning of Heathen Publican

To be as a heathen man and a publican means to be regarded as outside the Christian community and fellowship, no longer as a brother in good standing or a trusted member of the church. This is the final step after the wrongdoer refuses correction by the offended person alone and then by one or two witnesses, when the matter is brought before the church and he also refuses to hear the church. It belongs to Christ's lesson that His followers must be converted and humble, care for those who are vulnerable, and seek to recover those who go astray, and it forms God's plan for settling personal wrongs and misunderstandings in church life. Church discipline must therefore follow the Bible's prescribed process, with serious action against a member requiring careful, humble consideration rather than individual judgment. Disputes between Christians are to be handled within the church, not brought before unbelievers in court, with the injured person seeking to save the erring brother rather than avenge himself, trusting God to guard his interests and judge righteously.

Recognizing that broken fellowship does not mean despising or abandoning the person, for he remains within God's mercy and is to be treated tenderly as one Christ is still seeking to save. The church is to be approached only after private correction and the appeal of one or two others have failed, and then is to act together in prayer and loving appeal, seeking the offender's restoration, with rejecting this appeal severing him from the church's fellowship. The church should pray for the erring person and use every means to restore him, kindly approaching him, praying with and for him, and pointing out the wrong with hearts softened by grace, aiming to help and save rather than to accuse or abandon. If he rejects the church's decision and sets his own will above it, he is to be treated as an offender outside its fellowship. A church decision made collectively with prayer and faith, according to God-given wisdom, is ratified in heaven, yet the church does not itself erase sin but may assure a repentant sinner of the Saviour's forgiveness and lead him from guilt and unbelief into faith and righteousness. These directions for church discipline remain valid until the end of time, and despising the church's authority is despising Christ's authority, while the church must also guard the erring person's privacy and avoid spreading the fault as criticism.

Separation aims at restoration, not at hastily separating the erring from the church and leaving them exposed to temptation. Christ's rules for the guidance of His church require giving time to the matter and working for the erring one with exactly the same diligence one would want exercised toward oneself, dealing with one another just as one would have the Lord deal with oneself. This requires a heart softened with the love of God, loving their souls, and seeking in the spirit of Christ with kindness and frankness to reform, correct, build up, and save them, rather than being too busy to save yet zealous to expel. Those who guard the spiritual interests of the church are to make every possible effort to effect reconciliation, and if the parties stubbornly persist in remaining at variance they are to be suspended until they can harmonize. Remitting sins or restraining sins applies to the church in her organized capacity through censure, and that censure is to be removed when the one in error confesses and repents. No delegated servant is given power to cast down or destroy, and no apostle can remove guilt from any soul, for this solemn work belongs only to wise men truly taught of God, possessing the inward working of the Holy Spirit with the Christ-life manifested and spiritual eyesight to discern spiritual things, lest in human judgment they censure those who should be commended and sustain men worked by a power from beneath.

Authority of the Church

Christ has placed great power in his church, making its united decision the highest tribunal on earth, so that after private labor and labor with one or two witnesses the matter is to be told to the church and its decision submitted to rather than each taking his own course. One who lays the case in the hands of the church lets the church bear the responsibility and stands clear even if the church errs, while one who will not hear the church cannot be helped and is to be regarded as outside fellowship. Individual judgment must submit to the church's authority and counsel in order to preserve union and harmony, for insisting on individual independence brings confusion, anarchy, and destruction of harmony, whereas surrender of self and obedience strengthens unity and witnesses to the world.

Heaven ratifies the church's binding and loosing only when every specification Christ gave has been carried out fully in the true Christian spirit, with the matter kept to as few as possible and with prayer, humility, and sorrow as a last resort, because then its members act with the mind of Christ and do as he would do were he on earth. When brethren meet together in harmony with his directions Jesus himself witnesses the scene while the whole universe watches with intense interest and the Spirit moves on the erring heart to convict of error. This solemn work of remitting or restraining sin through censure belongs in the church in her organized capacity only to wise men truly taught of God, possessing the inward working of the Holy Spirit, the Christ-life manifested, and spiritual eyesight to discern spiritual things, so that their actions can receive the endorsement of the great head of the church; otherwise in human judgment they will censure those who should be commended and sustain men worked by a power from beneath, and no delegated servant is given power to cast down or destroy nor can any apostle remove guilt from any soul. Censure thus imposed is to be removed when the one in error confesses and repents, and until the steps have been followed no reports of faults are to be listened to nor reproach taken up.

An unjust judgment has no standing in heaven and cannot make an innocent person guilty before God, for only decisions made justly after Christ's instructions are obeyed with wisdom and grace rather than harshness, haste, prejudice, or selfish motives can be ratified there. If the church judges wrongly God can vindicate what is right in his own time, and one who has submitted his case to the church is clear though the church err. Those who bypass these rules by spreading complaints are themselves subject to church discipline.

To disregard or despise the church's counsel, especially the judgment of those appointed to lead it, is to despise the voice of God and to despise Christ's authority, since the authority comes from God who gave it. Refusing correction by the witnesses and then refusing the church's correction means the person is no longer to be treated as a fellow believer but as an offender outside fellowship, and members should settle differences privately or through the church rather than taking one another to civil court, even suffering loss rather than exposing the church's sins before the world. Rejecting its counsel and reproof in favor of one's own judgment and setting personal will above its prayerful collective decision is departure from the faith bringing disaster and ruin to souls. These directions for church discipline, made collectively with prayer and faith according to God-given wisdom rather than resting on one person's judgment, remain valid until the end of time, and the church's authority to absolve is limited to assuring a repentant sinner of the Saviour's forgiveness and leading him from guilt and unbelief into faith and righteousness.

This authority requires thorough organization and supervision, for organization exists to bring individuals into agreement and union under appointed local and traveling elders who oversee the church to reprove, exhort, rebuke the unruly, and comfort the feebleminded, whose counsel members must heed rather than letting those without love for the truth have greater influence. Without church discipline and church government the church would go to fragments and could not hold together as a body, and no one man is licensed to set up his judgment in opposition to the judgment of the church or to urge his opinions against its opinions. Independent minds who claim to be right and specially taught, impressed, and led of God while holding different theories and peculiar views and drawing away into separate churches cannot all possibly be right, for inspiration is not Yea and Nay but Yea and Amen in Christ Jesus, and the promise that what two or three unitedly ask shall be given shows there must be union even in desire, with united prayers, effort, and purpose centered on the same point rather than thoughts of one mind liable to deception. The same accountability applies to physicians practicing among the churches, who must maintain integrity under the church's labor and supervision.

Careful and Loving Procedure

Telling it to the church means the church itself acting together must take up the matter and bear responsibility for the decision, and that decision must be made collectively with prayer and faith and with Christ as counselor rather than resting on one person's judgment. A few officers, a board, a committee, or local elders and deacons may not assume that responsibility and cut off names on their own judgment in haste or zeal. They must communicate and confer with the appointed conference president and deal with the erring at some appointed time with great wisdom and in the fear of God, with much humility and earnest, humble prayer. A church decision so made with prayer and faith, according to God-given wisdom, is ratified in heaven.

Before any action the matter must be thoroughly investigated as to what the charge is and whether there was willful transgression of God's law. That inquiry weighs such grave matters as dishonesty in deal or trade with brethren or the world, untruthfulness, deception, licentiousness, severity and overbearing and abusive conduct in family and toward neighbors, brethren, and worldlings, penuriousness, selfishness, covetousness, questioning doubts, faultfinding, talebearing, talking of brethren's faults, magnifying their wrongs, and a spirit of bitterness against them. It must also examine what course has been pursued toward the person, whether the Bible rules have been followed to the letter, and that rule must be read before the church with the question asked whether it has been obeyed toward the erring. The accused must be given presence and a chance to explain and answer for himself before just men, with sympathy, tenderness, and prayer, rather than being watched suspiciously, judged by appearances without positive ground, and charged and condemned publicly without private labor.

The whole work must be done gently, humbly, patiently, and with wisdom, grace, sorrow for the erring, and earnest prayer, seeking to reform, correct, build up, and save. It must not be done with harshness and severity, haste, prejudice, selfish motives, or a cruel, domineering, or accusing spirit that wounds and bruises souls, criticizes and judges motives, and leaves churches weak and almost Christless. Labor with the offender is to be tender, humble, meek, and loving for his soul, and complaints are to be heard only after the prior steps have been faithfully followed.

The matter is to be kept to as small a number as possible, the erring person's privacy guarded, and time given for conviction and correction. Labor must be bestowed as diligently as one would want exercised toward oneself, dealing with one another just as one would have the Lord deal with oneself, with a heart softened by love and with kindness and frankness. Prayer is to be offered with and for the erring one, and when brethren meet together in harmony with these directions Jesus Himself witnesses the scene while the whole universe watches and the Spirit moves on the erring heart to convict him. Only after every direction has been carried out in that true Christian spirit does heaven ratify the church's decision, because its members then act with the mind of Christ.

Those who apply the rule must first reform self, daily humble themselves, and learn in Christ's school to uplift the fallen and outcast instead of despising the little ones and lording it over God's heritage. Self-sufficiency, standing back on dignity, finding satisfaction in brethren's deficiencies, letting self interpose between the soul and God, strife to be first and to have supremacy, hardness, unforgivingness, unkindness, discourtesy, lack of tenderness, imagining unfounded grievances, withdrawing to labor alone, and criticizing and accusing brethren must be cleansed from the soul, and the whole chapter studied and brought into practical life. While that unsanctified, masterful, domineering element remains, the Spirit is grieved, the work is hindered, men who ought to be a blessing become a curse, and those unfit for sacred work must stop and take themselves in hand.

What the Rule Forbids

Christ's rule forbids delighting to find a spot or stain in a brother to report to others, and forbids passing reports about a fellow worker from one to another, spreading reports, gossip, evil-speaking, criticism, false accusation, and discussing a person's faults among the church while keeping him unaware. The appointed way is first to go and tell him his fault alone, then if he will not hear to take one or two more so that every word may be established by witnesses, then only if he neglects to hear them to tell it to the church, and only if he neglects to hear the church to treat him as a heathen man and a publican outside fellowship. No report is to be listened to unless the accuser has first gone privately to the accused as directed, and Bible Christians do as directed rather than magnify errors. Following this counsel cures many wounds that would otherwise fester and break out incurably, heals wounds, stops the false tongue, and ends criticism and accusing through abiding love and meekness and lowliness of Christ in the soul, while ignoring the plan and spreading reports fosters evil suspicion and speaking, harms the church, and brings condemnation on those who do it.

No accusation or complaint about a brother or sister is to be listened to, received, or acted on by ministers, men in trust, or members until the reporter has fully complied with each prior step, first private labor and then prayerful labor with two or three in tenderness, humility, meekness and love for his soul. Until those steps have been followed the ear must be closed to complaints, reproach must not be taken up against a neighbor, both sides must be heard, and only what stern facts compel is to be believed. Ministers and lay members displease God when they allow individuals to tell them the errors and faults of brethren without requiring these steps. Listening otherwise spreads reproach and gossip.

Disputes between Christians are to be settled within the church according to this instruction, not brought before unbelievers in court, published to the world, told to unbelievers or enemies of the faith, or decided by their testimony. Church matters are not to be disclosed so that the weaknesses and errors of Christ's followers are exposed, because discord can be used against the saving influence of Christ's grace and enemies cannot discern the motives and principles guiding the church's dealings. Even when wronged and injured, the believer should seek to save the erring brother rather than avenge himself, should suffer loss rather than expose the church's sins before the world, trusting God to guard his interests and judge righteously.

No one may act alone on impulse, prejudice, secret plans, or reports from unbelievers and enemies of the truth, work secretly against a brother while professing friendship, devise plans for his removal without a word to him, receive such reports and act on them, join with sinners and unbelievers to accuse a child of God, or condemn without a hearing with the reasons stated openly before the proper responsible body. No local elders or deacons may cut off names from the church on their own judgment and responsibility in haste or zeal, and no name is to be removed before the prescribed efforts have been made. The matter must be thoroughly investigated as to what the charge is, whether there was willful transgression of God's law, dishonesty, untruthfulness, deception, licentiousness, severity and abuse, selfishness and covetousness, faultfinding, talebearing and bitterness, and what course was pursued toward him, whether the Bible rules were followed to the letter and read before the church, with conferring with the conference president and dealing at an appointed time with wisdom, humility, sorrow for the erring, and earnest prayer. These are the Captain's positive orders to be obeyed to the letter like faithful soldiers, and to go contrary to them deserves severest censure, makes members subject to church discipline and censure, and requires justice, righteousness and mercy.

Purpose and Wider Application

Faithful observance of the final steps clears the church before God and preserves its health, purity, unity and righteousness. When the wrongdoer refuses the witnesses the matter must be brought before the church, which bears responsibility to act and labor to reclaim him, and if he also refuses to heed the church he must be separated from fellowship and his name removed from its books. That removal is never to be done by a few officers or a committee alone, nor before the prescribed private labor has been faithfully followed, but only after full effort has failed. The evil must then be exposed and made clear and removed so it does not spread, become more public, or corrupt the whole body, keeping those living unchristian lives from remaining joined with faithful members. Such separation is a duty shared by members, for unrepentant conduct weakens the church and keeps it from blessing, and the discipline prepares God's children for reunion in the heavenly church.

Obedience to this course heals wounds, stops the false tongue, ends criticism and accusing, greatly lessens church trials, and brings unity with God and with one another through abiding love and meekness and lowliness of Christ in the soul. No report about a fellow worker is to be passed from one to another or listened to unless the accuser has first gone privately to the accused, then with one or two more that every word may be established by witnesses, then to the church. These directions are Christ's guidance for church order, intended to prevent dissension, misunderstanding, alienation, strife and bitterness, and they require receiving reproof and turning from a wrong course. The process is to be followed in kindness and love without revenge, gossip, shaming, condemning or premature publicizing, seeking to restore rather than condemn, and so it protects the erring and helps prevent needless trials.

The rule guards reputations and the sacred character of the church by keeping errors to be dealt with inside the church rather than making them public property or discussing them with students, the world and unbelievers. Earnest efforts must be made to recover the erring before warning the church, for neglecting these plain directions can result in souls being lost. Hasty judgment, condemnation and cold treatment can drive the erring into discouragement, while workers who deal contrary to the Bible rule wound and drive people away and must correct that harmful example and work to restore those driven away. Because people belong to Christ who purchased them at infinite cost and loves them, members must not act on personal impulse or prejudice, assume evil, or spread unfavorable reports, since doing so spreads evil, causes mistakes and injustice, and harms the church.

The same instruction establishes thorough organization and supervision and applies beyond personal trespass to physicians practicing among the churches, health institutions, schools and sanitariums, ministers, those who counterwork ministers, and those who introduce unsafe doctrines. Physicians in positions of influence are accountable to the church, their conduct is to be carefully investigated, and after patient labor and suitable time for effort those who refuse discipline and persist in wrongdoing as unworthy of fellowship are to be separated. In a school or sanitarium the steps are to go alone, then again with two or three others, then set aside and separate those who plainly understand the rules yet knowingly continue disregarding them, because the character and atmosphere of one stubborn person affects the whole institution and neglect leaves things in bad condition. After suitable patient labor those who knowingly persist and refuse correction are to be separated, and sympathizers who after instruction choose the wrong side may also be suspended, and Paul followed this course when licentious men refused correction and threatened purity, their later rejection and opposition not making his action personal retaliation.

The verse belongs to Christ's lesson that greatness in His spiritual kingdom is not position, outward splendor or authority but inward spiritual excellence through conversion and humility like little children. The whole chapter is most positive in the oracles of God, giving principles to act on in all cases and under all circumstances, to be hung in memory's hall, often read, pondered, obeyed, woven into experience, and taught to children and youth. It forbids striving for supremacy and self-importance, requires loving God with all heart and soul and mind and strength and neighbor as self, caring for the vulnerable, seeking those who go astray, turning from self with sympathy and love and singleness of purpose and purity of motive, and approaching the one in the wrong to save him from ruin rather than passing over sin. It exposes disaffection and requires each person to take his own soul as a garden under special stewardship, removing weeds and tares, purifying thoughts into captivity to Christ, examining and disciplining self rather than finding weeds in a neighbor's garden or criticizing and accusing others.

Following the rule settles matters before they grow into divisions that harden people in their positions, while disregarding it breeds church trials that distract ministers from work among interested souls and may cause souls to be lost. Keeping reproof hidden when the case requires the church to be informed leaves the church unaware of harmful influence, in darkness and vulnerable to deception, so those who need to know may be informed and the matter need not be kept private. Discipline must seek reformation before separation is considered, yet indifference and apathy toward one another hinder discerning what should be done.