Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
Matthew 18:15-20, Two or three witnesses and the assembly
Jesus sets out how to deal with a brother who sins: privately, then with witnesses, then before the church. What they bind on earth is bound in heaven, and he is present where two or three gather in his name.
Matthew 18:15-20, in every translation this tool compares.
Jesus sets out steps for dealing with a fellow believer who wrongs you: speak to him privately first, then bring a witness or two, then take it to the whole community. If he refuses even then, he is to be treated as an outsider. The community's decisions carry heaven's backing, and Jesus promises to be present even when only a handful meet in his name. Private correction before public action was already Jewish practice, and Jesus builds on it.
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- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/synagogue\/","n":"The synagogue","s":"The local gathering place where Jews met on the Sabbath to pray and study Scripture. It was also a community center, run by people of standing.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/tax-collectors\/","n":"Tolls and tax collectors","s":"Local men who collected tolls and taxes for rulers backed by Rome, distrusted as collaborators and cheats.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/binding-and-loosing\/","n":"Keys, binding and loosing","s":"In a king's house a senior official carried the keys and decided who came in. Teachers spoke of binding and loosing for forbidding and permitting, and a court bound or loosed when it condemned or released.","r":""}
Private reproof first was standard Jewish practice, found in the Dead Sea Scrolls and among the rabbis, and shaming someone needlessly was counted a sin (Keener; the cultural backgrounds notes). Tax collectors were seen as agents of a pagan government and, like pagans, were excluded from the community's religious life (Keener). Ten men made a synagogue's quorum, but a familiar saying held that God's presence was among even two or three who studied his law (Mishnah Avot 3:2), and Jesus puts himself in that place (Keener; the cultural backgrounds notes). Keener gives two readings of the prayer of the two or three: a curse spoken at excommunication, or prayer for the offender's repentance.
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Matthew 18:15, 18:16, 18:17, 18:18 and 18:19-20
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Matthew 18:15, 18:16, 18:17, 18:18 and 18:20
- ESV Study Bible, study note on Matthew 18:18
