The Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven
18 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is
the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
2 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3
And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little
children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever
takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of
heaven. 5 And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.
Causing to Stumble
6 “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to
stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around
their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. 7 Woe to the world
because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but
woe to the person through whom they come! 8 If your hand or your foot causes
you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter
life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into
eternal fire. 9 And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw
it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes
and be thrown into the fire of hell.
The Parable of the Wandering Sheep
10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you
that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. [11]
[ Some manuscripts include here the words of Luke 19:10.]
12 “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them
wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for
the one that wandered off? 13 And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is
happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander
off. 14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these
little ones should perish.
Dealing With Sin in the Church
15 “If your brother or sister[The Greek word for brother or sister (adelphos) refers here to a fellow disciple, whether man or woman; also in verses 21 and 35.] sins,[Some manuscripts sins against you] go and point out their fault,
just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. 16
But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every
matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’[Deut. 19:15] 17 If
they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to
listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
18 “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be[ Or will have been] bound in
heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be[Or will have been] loosed in heaven.
19 “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about
anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For
where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I
forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven
times.[ Or seventy times seven]
23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle
accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him
ten thousand bags of gold[Greek ten thousand talents; a talent was worth about 20 years of a day laborer’s wages.] was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to
pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he
had be sold to repay the debt.
26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with
me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took
pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants
who owed him a hundred silver coins.[ Greek a hundred denarii; a denarius was the usual daily wage of a day laborer (see 20:2).] He grabbed him and began to choke him.
‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.
29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient
with me, and I will pay it back.’
30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into
prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had
happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had
happened.
32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he
said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t
you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger
his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay
back all he owed.
35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you
forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
NOTES:
18:1–35 This discourse of the fourth book of the gospel is
often called the “church order” discourse, but it lacks most of the
considerations usually connected with church order, such as various offices in
the church and the duties of each, and deals principally with the relations
that must obtain among the members of the church. Beginning with the warning
that greatness in the kingdom of heaven is measured not by rank or power but by
childlikeness (Mt 18:1–5), it deals with the care that the disciples must take
not to cause the little ones to sin or to neglect them if they stray from the
community (Mt 18:6–14), the correction of members who sin (Mt 18:15–18), the
efficacy of the prayer of the disciples because of the presence of Jesus (Mt
18:19–20), and the forgiveness that must be repeatedly extended to sinful
members who repent (Mt 18:21–35).
18:1 The initiative is taken not by Jesus as in the Marcan
parallel (Mk 9:33–34) but by the disciples. Kingdom of heaven: this may mean
the kingdom in its fullness, i.e., after the parousia and the final judgment.
But what follows about causes of sin, church discipline, and forgiveness, all
dealing with the present age, suggests that the question has to do with rank
also in the church, where the kingdom is manifested here and now, although only
partially and by anticipation; see notes on Mt 3:2; 4:17.
18:3 Become like children: the child is held up as a model
for the disciples not because of any supposed innocence of children but because
of their complete dependence on, and trust in, their parents. So must the
disciples be, in respect to God.
18:5 Cf. Mt 10:40.
18:6 One of these little ones: the thought passes from the
child of Mt 18:2–4 to the disciples, little ones because of their becoming like
children. It is difficult to know whether this is a designation of all who are
disciples or of those who are insignificant in contrast to others, e.g., the
leaders of the community. Since apart from this chapter the designation little
ones occurs in Matthew only in Mt 10:42 where it means disciples as such, that
is its more likely meaning here. Who believe in me: since discipleship is impossible
without at least some degree of faith, this further specification seems
superfluous. However, it serves to indicate that the warning against causing a
little one to sin is principally directed against whatever would lead such a
one to a weakening or loss of faith. The Greek verb skandalizein, here
translated causes…to sin, means literally “causes to stumble”; what the
stumbling is depends on the context. It is used of falling away from faith in
Mt 13:21. According to the better reading of Mk 9:42, in me is a Matthean
addition to the Marcan source. It would be better…depths of the sea: cf. Mk
9:42.
18:7 This is a Q saying; cf. Lk 17:1. The inevitability of
things that cause sin (literally, “scandals”) does not take away the
responsibility of the one through whom they come.
18:8–9 These verses are a doublet of Mt 5:29–30. In that
context they have to do with causes of sexual sin. As in the Marcan source from
which they have been drawn (Mk 9:42–48), they differ from the first warning
about scandal, which deals with causing another person to sin, for they concern
what causes oneself to sin and they do not seem to be related to another’s loss
of faith, as the first warning is. It is difficult to know how Matthew
understood the logical connection between these verses and Mt 18:6–7.
18:10–14 The first and last verses are peculiar to Matthew.
The parable itself comes from Q; see Lk 15:3–7. In Luke it serves as
justification for Jesus’ table-companionship with sinners; here, it is an
exhortation for the disciples to seek out fellow disciples who have gone
astray. Not only must no one cause a fellow disciple to sin, but those who have
strayed must be sought out and, if possible, brought back to the community. The
joy of the shepherd on finding the sheep, though not absent in Mt 18:13 is more
emphasized in Luke. By his addition of Mt 18:10, 14 Matthew has drawn out
explicitly the application of the parable to the care of the little ones.
18:10 Their angels in heaven…my heavenly Father: for the
Jewish belief in angels as guardians of nations and individuals, see Dn 10:13,
20–21; Tb 5:4–7; 1QH 5:20–22; as intercessors who present the prayers of human
beings to God, see Tb 13:12, 15. The high worth of the little ones is indicated
by their being represented before God by these heavenly beings.
18:11 Some manuscripts add, “For the Son of Man has come to
save what was lost”; cf. Mt 9:13. This is practically identical with Lk 19:10
and is probably a copyist’s addition from that source.
18:15–20 Passing from the duty of Christian disciples toward
those who have strayed from their number, the discourse now turns to how they
are to deal with one who sins and yet remains within the community. First there
is to be private correction (Mt 18:15); if this is unsuccessful, further
correction before two or three witnesses (Mt 18:16); if this fails, the matter
is to be brought before the assembled community (the church), and if the sinner
refuses to attend to the correction of the church, he is to be expelled (Mt
18:17). The church’s judgment will be ratified in heaven, i.e., by God (Mt
18:18). This three-step process of correction corresponds, though not exactly,
to the procedure of the Qumran community; see 1QS 5:25–6:1; 6:24–7:25; CD
9:2–8. The section ends with a saying about the favorable response of God to prayer,
even to that of a very small number, for Jesus is in the midst of any gathering
of his disciples, however small (Mt 18:19–20). Whether this prayer has anything
to do with the preceding judgment is uncertain.
18:15 Your brother: a fellow disciple; see Mt 23:8. The
bracketed words, against you, are widely attested but they are not in the
important codices Sinaiticus and Vaticanus or in some other textual witnesses.
Their omission broadens the type of sin in question. Won over: literally,
“gained.”
18:16 Cf. Dt 19:15.
18:17 The church: the second of the only two instances of
this word in the gospels; see note on Mt 16:18. Here it refers not to the
entire church of Jesus, as in Mt 16:18, but to the local congregation. Treat
him…a Gentile or a tax collector: just as the observant Jew avoided the company
of Gentiles and tax collectors, so must the congregation of Christian disciples
separate itself from the arrogantly sinful member who refuses to repent even
when convicted of his sin by the whole church. Such a one is to be set outside
the fellowship of the community. The harsh language about Gentile and tax
collector probably reflects a stage of the Matthean church when it was
principally composed of Jewish Christians. That time had long since passed, but
the principle of exclusion for such a sinner remained. Paul makes a similar
demand for excommunication in 1 Cor 5:1–13.
18:18 Except for the plural of the verbs bind and loose,
this verse is practically identical with Mt 16:19b and many scholars understand
it as granting to all the disciples what was previously given to Peter alone.
For a different view, based on the different contexts of the two verses, see
note on Mt 16:19.
18:19–20 Some take these verses as applying to prayer on the
occasion of the church’s gathering to deal with the sinner of Mt 18:17. Unless
an a fortiori argument is supposed, this seems unlikely. God’s answer to the
prayer of two or three envisages a different situation from one that involves
the entire congregation. In addition, the object of this prayer is expressed in
most general terms as anything for which they are to pray.
18:20 For where two or three…midst of them: the presence of
Jesus guarantees the efficacy of the prayer. This saying is similar to one
attributed to a rabbi executed in A.D. 135 at the time of the second Jewish
revolt: “…When two sit and there are between them the words of the Torah, the
divine presence (Shekinah) rests upon them” (Pirqê ’Abôt 3, 3).
18:21–35 The final section of the discourse deals with the
forgiveness that the disciples are to give to their fellow disciples who sin
against them. To the question of Peter how often forgiveness is to be granted
(Mt 18:21), Jesus answers that it is to be given without limit (Mt 18:22) and
illustrates this with the parable of the unmerciful servant (Mt 18:23–34),
warning that his heavenly Father will give those who do not forgive the same
treatment as that given to the unmerciful servant (Mt 18:35). Mt 18:21–22
correspond to Lk 17:4; the parable and the final warning are peculiar to
Matthew. That the parable did not originally belong to this context is
suggested by the fact that it really does not deal with repeated forgiveness,
which is the point of Peter’s question and Jesus’ reply.
18:22 Seventy-seven times: the Greek corresponds exactly to
the LXX of Gn 4:24. There is probably an allusion, by contrast, to the
limitless vengeance of Lamech in the Genesis text. In any case, what is
demanded of the disciples is limitless forgiveness.
18:24 A huge amount: literally, “ten thousand talents.” The
talent was a unit of coinage of high but varying value depending on its metal
(gold, silver, copper) and its place of origin. It is mentioned in the New
Testament only here and in Mt 25:14–30.
18:26 Pay you back in full: an empty promise, given the size
of the debt.
18:28 A much smaller amount: literally, “a hundred denarii.”
A denarius was the normal daily wage of a laborer. The difference between the
two debts is enormous and brings out the absurdity of the conduct of the
Christian who has received the great forgiveness of God and yet refuses to
forgive the relatively minor offenses done to him.
18:34 Since the debt is so great as to be unpayable, the
punishment will be endless.
18:35 The Father’s forgiveness, already given, will be
withdrawn at the final judgment for those who have not imitated his forgiveness
by their own.
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