Addressing Sin In The Church

INTRODUCTION

We sometimes hurt people. I can think of times when I’ve hurt people. And people sometimes hurt us. I can think of times when I’ve been hurt. It happens in families, in workplaces and in churches.

There was a time when Paul was planning to visit the church in Corinth. But he was worried. He wrote:

‘I fear that perhaps when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be quarrelling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder’ [2 Corinthians 12:20].

Such things happen in churches. Have you experienced them?

We’re in Jesus’ fourth ‘discourse’ in Matthew’s gospel. Jesus is talking about the church and at this point, he’s talking about what to do if we become aware of some sin.

His instructions are specific, step by step. Many companies have Standard Operating Procedures which set out what to in the case of, for example, a dispute. A company requires its employees to follow its Standard Operating Procedures and Jesus requires us to follow his instructions. We need to know what to do and what not to do if we become aware of sin at church.

We find Jesus’ instructions in Matthew 18:15-17. They consist of four steps. To make the steps easy to remember I’ve given them rhyming words. Step One is one. Step Two is true. Step Three is key. Step Four is door. Every word and phrase in these verses is important.

Let’s take a look at Jesus’ first step.

‘ONE IS ONE’

Jesus’ first step is in verse 15. I’m using the New American Standard version of the Bible on this occasion. I’ll explain why shortly.

Jesus says, ‘Now if your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have gained your brother.’

First, Jesus says, ‘If your BROTHER sins.’ The Greek word that’s translated brother means literally, ‘from the same womb’. It means brother or sister. Does ‘brother’ here mean our literal sibling? No. Jesus uses the word brother to mean a fellow believer. Jesus is giving us instruction that applies to conflicts at church, not conflicts outside the church.

In this talk I’ll sometimes say ‘he’ or ‘brother’ or ‘they’ or ‘them’ but in every case I mean brothers and sisters.

Second, Jesus says, ‘If your brother SINS against you.’ Let’s just note that Jesus’ instruction is for SIN. If my brother is singing out of tune, it isn’t sin! I might have to look for another way to deal with it. Love is patient, Paul says!

My third point is a bit tricky but really important. For much of my Christian life, I’ve used a version of the Bible called the New International Version, the NIV. It’s what we have at church. For this verse, the NIV USED to have, ‘If your brother sins AGAINST you.’ Then, some years ago, the NIV brought out a new version. Now this verse starts, ‘If your brother or sister sins.’ They’ve made the language gender-neutral. But more importantly, they’ve removed the phrase ‘against you’. The New American Standard Bible, which some people think is the most literal and accurate translation of the Bible, is the same. It says, ‘Now if your brother sins….’ Like the NIV, it doesn’t have ‘against you.’

But the vast majority of English versions do include ‘against you’.

Why’s there a difference? The English New Testament is a translation of very old copies of the New Testament which were written in Greek. The oldest copies are ‘Codex Vaticanus’ and ‘Codex Sinaiticus’. They were probably written in about 350 or 360 A.D. After that, in the fifth century A.D., we have ‘Codex Alexandrinus’.

The two oldest Greek manuscript’s DON’T have the phrase ‘against you.’ But Codex Alexandrinus and various later manuscripts have it. The Bible translators have to figure out which is most likely to be correct – and they come to different opinions.

The difference is just two tiny words. ‘Against you’ in English; ‘eis se’ in Greek. Do they really matter? Yes, they do! They make a huge difference.

As I’ve looked into this, my view is that these words were probably not part of the original. I’m taking the same view as the translators of the NIV and the New American Standard Bible.

Let me explain why I think these two tiny words SHOULDN’T be there – and then why it makes such a difference.

FIRST, look at the context! Jesus has just told the Parable of the Lost Sheep. A shepherd goes in search of a lost sheep because he doesn’t want a single sheep to perish. There’s no suggestion that the sheep has offended the shepherd! Straight after that, we come to the verses we’re looking at today. Jesus says, ‘Now if your brother sins….’ In other words, if your brother is being like that lost sheep, if he’s straying, here’s what you do. It doesn’t matter if he’s sinned AGAINST YOU or not.