Matthew 18:15-20
The church must pursue a sinning brother to gain Him, not discard Him, while acting under Christ's authority and presence.
15 “If your brother sins against you, go, show him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained back your brother.
16 But if he doesn’t listen, take one or two more with you, that at the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the assembly. If he refuses to hear the assembly also, let him be to you as a Gentile or a tax collector.
18 Most certainly I tell you, whatever things you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever things you release on earth will have been released in heaven.
19 Again, assuredly I tell you, that if two of you will agree on earth concerning anything that they will ask, it will be done for them by my Father who is in heaven.
20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the middle of them.”
The church must pursue a sinning brother to gain him, not discard him, while acting under Christ's authority and presence.
Matthew presents Jesus instructing his disciples how the kingdom community must pursue a sinning brother through private correction, corroborated witness, congregational accountability, and heaven-aligned authority.
Within Matthew's Gospel, this is one of only two explicit uses of the term church, following Matthew 16:18. Jesus speaks ahead of the post-resurrection gathered community, but the instruction is already rooted in the disciples' present formation under his authority. The appeal to two or three witnesses draws directly from Israel's legal requirement that serious matters be established by corroborated testimony.
Kingdom Humility, Care for the Little Ones, Discipline, and Forgiveness in Christ’s Community
The kingdom community Jesus builds must be marked by childlike humility, fierce protection of the vulnerable, serious pursuit of holiness and restoration, heaven-governed discipline, Christ-centered gathering, and forgiveness from the heart because the King has forgiven an unpayable debt.