The Purpose of Church Discipline: an Exposition of Matthew 18:15-20
When one looks at the word “discipline” we see the word “discipline.” To be a disciple is to submit one’s self to the discipline of the master. In the church, the Master is Jesus Christ who is mater also of heaven and earth (Matthew 28:16). The Church is called out to all nations to make disciples of Jesus Christ from all the nations of the earth. To submit to Christian baptism is the beginning of discipleship which involves learning to observe everything that Jesus commanded the Apostles to teach.
The church recognizes the need for discipline. Most churches and denominations have some sort of written discipline. Sometimes these disciplines become very legalistic and stress outward conformity to what the leaders of the church consider to be right. Hopefully, these disciplines are based upon Scripture, but many add and delete from the teachings of the Bible. But Jesus Himself teaches us what is at the heart of the matter of discipline. His is a yoke, but an easy one. Discipline is not meant to be burdensome. Jesus gives us a good example of how discipline works on the church in Matthew 18:15-20.
To properly understand this passage, we have to put it in its context. One of the questions we must ask is “Who is Jesus referring to here? The word “church” tells us the answer. Jesus’ teaching is for the church and not the world in general. This is true for most of the teaching of Jesus. The word “church” only appears here and in Matthew 16 in the famous “Upon this rock I will build my church” in all the gospels. The Greek word “ecclesia” which is translated church means “those who have been called out.” In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, it is often used of Israel. But Jesus is not referring to that here. He is not referring to Jews or even Jewish-Christians. It is not “synagogue.”
The word “synagogue” is infrequently used in Matthew. It has the meaning of assembly. It is a technical term the Jews used for their worship buildings and teaching centers outside of Jerusalem. It says on several occasions that Jesus entered “their” synagogues and taught. One should note “their” and not “his” or “our.” The use of “their” means that neither Jesus, Matthew, nor the readers of Matthew’s gospel are included. The last time Jesus entered one of their synagogues was in 13:54. After Peter’s confession of Christ, it never says that Jesus ever entered a synagogue again. He does refer to “synagogue” twice, but in neither case does it say he entered one. In one of these cases he was talking to the Pharisees using “your” synagogues. Jesus is the Yahweh of the Old Testament, so any place where one claimed to worship Yahweh would have been one of “his” synagogues. As Lord of the people, if the Pharisees were His people, He could have used “our” but does not. Jesus is clearly distancing Himself from the synagogues. This is not to say there were not true believers there. Jesus had a different picture for the gathering of His people. This is the “church.”
It is interesting to note that after Matthew 13:54, Jesus begins a tour of Gentile lands. He had preached to the Jew first. And now He was preaching to the Greeks. Many of the Jews, especially of the Pharisees had decisively rejected Jesus at this point. Now He went to call Gentiles to become part of the New Israel, the Church. It is at Caesarea Philippi in Gentile land that Peter confesses Jesus not as the Messiah, but as “Christ” which is the Greek word for “Anointed One.” He had been called the Aramaic “Cephas” earlier but is not given a Greek name. This is an important detail. He is given two keys, one to open the church for the Jews and the other for the Greeks. He is given authority to bind and loose. Jesus was not about to put this new wine in the old wineskin of Palestinian Judaism. He was going to build a church, called from both Jews and Gentiles.
The distinction should now be clear. Even though the synagogues had discipline, and some of the practices were similar to those practiced in the early church, they were two distinct organizations. Matthew brings Jesus’ desire for reconciliation to the forefront. He would rather see two brothers reconciled than have the most expensive gift laid at the altar. So, we have to see “reconciliation” as the purpose of discipline and of the Gospel itself. Jesus has just said that His mission was not to destroy, but to seek and save the lost. After this passage, He made it known that one was to forgive someone as many times as he asked even seventy times seven. So, any discipline in the church seeks restoration of the offender whenever possible. Paul used this idea when he had a person who had committed incest and was unrepentant to be disfellowshipped. He was to be turned over to Satan for the purpose that he might come to his senses, which he did and was later restored.
So Jesus now shows how reconciliation works in the church. When He says “brother” he is talking about a “Christian” brother, and not necessarily a flesh and blood brother. Jesus had said that one’s earthly family would be divided over Him. He does not promise resolution for this. We should do what we can without compromising our faith to live with everyone, but this is not the issue here. Here a Christian brother commits an offense against another Christian brother. There is pain involved and the danger of a fractured relationship which would threaten to split the church if not addressed. Jesus show us to use the minimum means necessary to reconcile the offender to the offended. The person who has been offended needs to come to the offender with the offense. No one else in the church is to be involved. Perhaps the alleged offense was a simple misunderstanding which could be worked out. There is no reason for the poison of gossip to permeate the church. But if the offense is real, then means of reconciliation can be offered and restitution made. It is only when one on one intervention fails that more people are to be involved. At first two or three are asked to judge the matter. If the offender repents, then only the two or three know. It is only when these efforts fail that the church is to be called. If the offender is guilty and repents, then restoration and reconciliation can begin. If that fails, then that person is to be disfellowshipped. Even here, we should hope for repentance and restoration. If Jesus is willing to leave the ninety and nine to find a lost sheep, then it behooves us to do likewise.
The Lectionary text for this week includes three more verses. The Lectionary is meant to be a disciplined way to teach and preach the Scripture. Here is talks about binding and loosing. Jesus had talked about binding and loosing and gave that authority in Matthew 16 only to Peter. But here, the binding and loosing uses the plural “you.” The binding and loosing given to Peter n a different context, so it does not necessarily mean that this binding and loosing are the same thing. Here it is in the context of church discipline. Is this not the authority by which the church is able to enforce discipline among its members? Are they to decide whether an offender is unrepentant, and therefore not to be loosed and vice versa? The Greek participles for binding and loosing are in the perfect passive tense and used with the future tense of the verb “is” to make what is none as a “periphrastic perfect.” What this simply means that when this situation should happen in the future, the church’s decision stands. The offender stands condemned or freed.
Now in verse 20, we have the verse “where two or three are gathered in my name, I am in the midst of them.” This has so often been quoted that Jesus is present in small gatherings, so we should not become discouraged by low church attendance. As true as the idea that we are called to be faithful and not judge success by numbers, this certainly is not what is meant here. We need only go back a few verses where it says that in times of having to judge matters in the church it might be necessary to gather two or three as a witness. It seems to me that is what is meant here. The church is the body of Christ. Where the body of Christ is, Jesus is in the midst. The two or three who are called in matters of judgment need to be godly men full of the Spirit. They have to exercise judgment as agents of Jesus Christ who gives His authority to their judgment in the matter. We see Paul using the same principle in 1 Corinthians with the man guilty of the affair. The church was to gather together with Paul’s spirit AND the power of the Lord Jesus Christ to exercise judgment on this person (1 Corinthians 5:4-5). He was to be bound and disfellowshipped, of course with the hope that he might come to his senses and repent. Then the church gathered together would have to decide whether to loose the man and restore the person.
Paul reminds us in Corinthians that disputes among members are to be settled within the membership rather than to be adjudicated in Pagan courts. The witness of the church is damaged when Pagans have to be appealed to for justice. The Church is to judge angels, so it has to be able to enforce its discipline internally. This, of course, means that great responsibility is placed upon the church to execute judgment fairly and at times mercifully. When judgment in the church becomes corrupt or Pagan standards of discipline and justice creep into the church, it becomes a stain on the entire church.
When we look at the church today, we see a lot of problems with discipline in the church. It is either lax or legalistic. It should be neither, but it is. The problem of gossip is also rampant. The offender is not confronted with his or her sin. Instead it is put on the gossip line. This is certainly contrary to the teaching of Jesus. How many church assemblies have been torn apart over fractured personal relationships? Jesus desires reconciliation in the church. But offenses, if they are offenses, cannot just be swept under the rug. They need to be dealt with in a spirit of love, and the hope of reconciliation, if possible. If we take into the consideration the seventy and seven times we are to forgive those who offend against us, it seems that the benefit of the doubt should go to the offender. This is in the very next passage, so we need to see it as part of our consideration of this one.
As times get increasingly difficult for Christians on this world, we need, all the more, to be both united and disciplined. So we must have discipline. We must have boundaries. We are not to be like the world. The spirit of the age must not rule in out churches but the “Holy” Spirit. In many places in this world, Christians are indeed under severe persecution. In other places, we are tempted to compromise our faith to avoid persecution. But we need the discipline of Christ and the power of Christ to sustain us. When we are disciplined, it reminds us we are part of God’s family. So, Christ will discipline us, either directly, or more often through the Spirit-filled church. This discipline will carry us through unto the coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
