From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Mon Jul 28 1997 - 07:32:50 EDT
At 8:00 PM -0400 7/27/97, Lex Kuhta wrote:
>A quick note on the audience of Matt 18. I don't think the point is to
>tell us how to reform our brothers who sin but how to reform ourselves
>when WE sin. Notice that in Matt 18:1 and 18:21, the parables are
>addressed to those who would become church leaders.
>
>Thus, when two brothers knock on our door and say, Hey we'd like to talk
>with you about...., then we'd better shift gears and listen up.
>
>And the parable of unforgiving servant was told to Peter with the idea
>of instructing Peter on how to be forgiving. Thus, in the same way that
>the Lord has forgiven us church leaders, we are to forgive others.
>
>The parables are meant for US, as we are the ones who are sinning, not
>our brothers.
Two (or three) comments:
(1) While Lex Kuhta's note DOES follow in the train of the discussion of Mt
18:18, I believe that I myself, in response to Paul Dixon's original
question about the future perfects in this verse, added an inappropriate
comment on the broader interpretation of the context--inappropriate in that
it extended the discussion beyond the ordinary scope of B-Greek discussion
of problems in the Greek text. In this case, I don't know that any great
peril of theological wars has arisen from this discussion, but I did think
it worth noting (as Edgar also noted) that the discussion has extended
beyond the normal guidelines.
(2) While I agree personally with the spirit of Lex's comment, that "the
parables are meant for US, as we are the ones who are sinning,"--and agree,
moreover, sofar as to believe that we should all be warned by the chapter
as a whole to consider seriously how our own behavior affects other
believers--
I nevertheless find myself wondering how Lex arrives at the implication
that 18:15ff. does NOT concern the manner in which the church community
maintains discipline against offenders within it--or if that's what he
means to imply. I would agree that the chapter as a whole does seem to
point to the self-discipline of believers such as would obviate the need
ever to resort to excommunication--but nevertheless, 18:17 surely seems to
affirm that alternative as the last resort to be employed in a matter of
church discipline.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Summer: 1647 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(704) 675-4243
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cconrad@yancey.main.nc.us
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
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