Matthew 18: 15 20 Church Mission And Authority

Target year level: Year Ten

Scripture text

Introduction

Scripture scholars think that the Gospel of Matthew was written in the last part of the first century CEsometime after 70 CE. Matthew’s intended audience was Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians who were familiar with Jewish culture, religious belief and religious practice. Matthew’s text has many Jewish references that take for granted an audience familiar with Judaism.

For further background on the Gospel of Matthew, see the New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE), Introduction to Matthew.

Matthew 18:15-20 is situated in that section of the Gospel of Matthew focusing on the Ministry of Jesus to his disciples (Mt 14:1-20:34). Beginning with Mt 14:1, the focus shifts from the ministry of Jesus to the Jews in Galilee (Mt 4:18-13:58) to a greater emphasis on Jesus’ disciples and the mission and ministry they are to carry out in the name of Jesus. Specifically the text Mt 18:15-20 is located within Matthew Chapter 18, Discourse on the Church/Life in the Kingdom.

World behind the text

Many scholars believe Matthew’s Gospel was written at Antioch, a Greek speaking city with a number of Jewish synagogues. Antioch became the capital of the Roman province in Syria in 64 BCE and in the first century CE was the third largest city in the Roman Empire. Christianity had become well established in Antioch by 80 CE. A number of other possible locations with a similar demographic to Antioch are also suggested as possible sites for the writing of Matthew’s Gospel. Scripture scholars think that the Gospel of Matthew was written in the last part of the first century CE sometime after 70 CE. Matthew’s intended audience was Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians who were familiar with Jewish culture, religious belief and religious practice.

For further information, see the Teacher Background entry for Who Wrote the Gospels and When?

World of the text

As noted above, it is necessary to read Mt 18:15-20 in the context of the whole chapter Mt 18:1-35. Matthew is sometimes called the Book of the Church because it seems to reflect more clearly than the other Gospels matters related to leadership, organisation, authority and order within the structure and life of the Church. In Matthew 18, we can discern issues and struggles in the early Christian communities for whom Matthew was writing. Among such matters were struggles for power (vv. 1-4); scandalous behaviour that caused others to stray from the right path (vv. 5-10); the need to bring back those who are lost to the community (vv. 12-14) and above all the need for forgiveness without which no community can long endure (vv. 21-35).

Our focus text, vv. 15-20, deals with the delicate matter of reproving those whose sinful behaviour is such that they need correction. It is clear from the passage that Matthew is aware of accepted protocol for such correction and Michael Fallon refers to some connections to Jewish protocols in his commentary on Mt 18:15-20. Matthew is at pains to assert the authority of the Church as final arbiter when matters cannot be settled between individuals (vv. 18-20), a passage which is often used as a sort of proof text to underpin the authority of Church leadership and the ongoing presence of Jesus Christ in sustaining the Church throughout history.

World in front of the text

In contemporary western societies, the words ‘authority’, ‘correction’ and ‘sin’ are more likely than not to evoke a negative response. It is true that the experience of individuals and communities around these three words and their associations sometimes go a fair way to explaining that negativity. In the first centuries of the Christian Church punishment for serious sin was often harsh and public. Public sinners were outed before the community and forced to dress in sackcloth and ashes for some time before being brought back into the community. The penitential discipline of the Church today is mild by comparison! More punitive measures are usually reserved for the civil authority for those who break the law in serious ways. Nevertheless, human sinfulness causes harm to individuals and to the community. Those in leadership whether in family, church, school or wider society need to assert their legitimate authority in appropriate ways to correct sinful behaviour, rehabilitate the individual, repair the harm done to the community and arrange for appropriate reparation.