Re: Matt 18:18 in context

Jonathan Robie (jwrobie@mindspring.com)
Sun, 27 Jul 1997 07:35:16 -0400

At 10:06 PM 7/25/97 -0500, Edgar M. Krentz wrote:

>(2) Matthew earlier indicates his view of the church as a CORPUS MIXTUM.
>that is the burden of the parables in Matthew 13, "the tares among the
>grain" (13:24-30) and "the great dragnet" (18:47-50). One is to allow the
>tares to grow until the harvest--and then the grain and weeds will be
>separated. Or the division of the good and the bad fish will be done at the
>eschaton (SUNTELEIA TOU AIWNOS) when the angels will separate the bad from
>the good (cf. Matt 15:31-46).

Menno Simons and Martin Luther discussed "the tares among the grain" in an
interesting exchange of letters. Luther, like Augustine, held that the field
referred to the church; Simons held that it referred to the world, or
society at large. This difference interpretation led to the state church
under Luther and the believer's church under Simons. So I find it amusing,
as a Mennonite, that I'm sending this email to a Lutheran on the same
parable, 450+ years later!

"The tares among the grain" is sandwiched between "the parable of the sower"
and "the parable of the mustard seed", which is followed by "the parable of
the leaven". These other parables talk about reaching out to others who are
not believers. Also, at the time Jesus spoke the parable, there was no church.

Jonathan

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