More Legalities

I noticed another piece of the puzzle in Matthew 18:16 regarding the witnesses. Jesus uses the word stomatos which means mouth, speech or words. It is also the edge or point of a weapon (Lk.21:24). The witnesses must be willing to testify, to speak. My experience tells me this is difficult for many since human nature leads people not to want to get involved. Just like the point of a spear pierces someone, so does truth that drives home the reality of the offence. Jesus is about us knowing the truth of our sin so that we can do something about it. When we are reluctant to do that we need others to intervene lovingly to make the reality abundantly clear. We see this done on occasion for people in denial over drugs and alcohol or some other addiction. If a number of family and friends confront the person in love, but firmly, it is harder to deny it. Of course there is no guarantee. This is why the next step is to take it to the church. But what does this mean?

The person who has been confronted by two or three witnesses and his accuser may persist in ignoring the truth. The word parakousa is used in Mark 5:36 when Jesus "overheard" the crowd saying the little girl was dead. "Overheard" should be, in my opinion, translated "disregarded." Jesus refused to listen to their conclusion that the girl was actually dead. Here is a case when the witnesses were drawing a true conclusion, but because of the power of Jesus He could merely disregard their testimony knowing He was going to raise the little girl from the dead. So the next step is to "tell it to the church." If we compare this phase with I Corinthians 5 regarding the man who was sleeping with his father's wife, and see Paul's manner of telling it to the church in the assembly, we have an actual case study of what Jesus was talking about. It seems to me that the third phase is really the "sentencing hearing." The first step is arraignment (the charge being made); the second phase is the trial (witnesses being presented) and the third phase is sentencing. The charge had already been made, and the reports (witnesses) had already been heard, but the church was slow to sentence the unrepentant man. So Paul instructed them to move ahead quickly for the man's sake and for the sake of the church since a little leaven works through the entire batch of dough. If Satan here is thought of as the "jailer" then the man is handed over to the custody of the one who will bring the punishment. Read Romans 1 in this regard. Also see Matthew 18:34 about the unmerciful man who was turned over to the torturers. Does God use Satan as a jailer to bring folks to repentance? Satan may not have that end in mind, but God might use the pain of Satan's control to accomplish this.

The church's role is to treat the unrepentant person as a pagan or a tax-collector. If we look at how Jesus treated these people we get a more balanced view of what we are to do. Jesus picked a tax-collector to be one of His apostles, the man who is writing this story. Gentiles were commended for their great faith. But, unrepentant tax-collectors and unrepentant Gentiles need to be treated with love but with boundaries so that they do not harm others. So in 1 Cor.5 the church is told not to associate with the person, to mirror in reality what was happening spiritually. Table-fellowship is a sign of everything being okay. But, the person who is in unrepentant sin is not okay, and must not be treated as if they are. But, Gal.6:1ff tells us to restore gently the one trapped in a sin. There is no harsh treatment intended by Paul or Jesus. The only harsh treatment will come at the hands of Satan who will see to it the person feels the effects of his sin. So we have Jesus' instructions on dealing with sin within the body of Christ. How things would be different if we followed this teaching!