Today, I am going to talk about something no one likes to talk about: Discipline. No one likes to receive discipline or to give discipline. We don’t even like to talk about it. What’s even worse than discipline is church discipline. It is very sensitive, and demands wisdom and prayer. But it is also very necessary because God takes sin seriously.
Matthew 18 lays out the steps as good as anywhere in the Bible, how to discipline an individual within the church. If a brother sins against you, you are to go and show him his sin privately. If he refuses to acknowledge his sin, then you are to take one or two individuals with you, so by the testimony of two or three witnesses, every fact may be confirmed. If all fails, the matter is to be brought before the church. If at any point, he acknowledges his sin, “you have gained your brother.” If not, Jesus said, “Let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.” So far, so good.
But there is a problem. As humans, we realize our own limitations, so we worry over whether or not we have made the right call. To address this, Jesus says, “Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (ESV). In the 1st century Jewish world, binding and loosing were legal expressions that gave one the authority to decide whether something was forbidden or permitted. When one binds, he forbids something. When one looses, he permits something.
In my humble opinion, however, I do believe the ESV translation is unfortunate. The Greek participles translated “bind” and “loose” were clearly written in the perfect tense. Therefore, the verse is better translated (as in the NASB), “Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” How does this make sense? Is this even proper English?
The idea is not that whatever we bind or loose here on earth, God will do likewise in heaven, and decide as we have decided. Rather, God binds or looses. The matter has already been bound, or loosed, in heaven. But the problem is we do not know here on earth what was that decision. Therefore, Jesus says if two or three agree here on earth, and bind or loose on the matter, we have the confidence that whatever we bind or loose on the matter, it matches the decision already made in heaven. Jesus said in another place, “If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven” (John 20:23).
There is one more thing I wish to say. I don’t want you to think that the teaching to charge a sin to a brother on the testimony of two or three witnesses was first introduced here in Matthew. It wasn’t. As a matter of fact, it goes all the way back to the OT.
Deuteronomy 17:6
On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death; a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness.
Deuteronomy 19:15 A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established.
If two or three agree on a decision to bind or loose on a church discipline matter here on earth, God had already made that decision in heaven. The Bible says, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” Although the call to bind or loose was made solely by two or three humans, it was made with Christ right there in their midst. Therefore, there is no need to worry that a wrong call might have been made.
Church discipline will always be something I do not like to talk about. It is complicated, and often messy. It is challenging for church leaders to do it well consistently. Sometimes, church discipline reaches all the way to the removal of an individual from the church, and everyone loses. But make no mistake, the aim is never to remove, but always to restore. Church discipline is done in love toward the brother who sinned. It is done for the protection of everyone in the church. Above all, it is done in obedience to our God.