Matthew 18:15-17

Restoring Christian Relationships

18:15 “If ¹  your brother ²  sins, ³  go and show him his fault ⁴  when the two of you are alone. If he listens to you, you have regained your brother. 18:16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others with you, so that at the testimony of two or three witnesses every matter may be established. ⁵  18:17 If ⁶  he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. If ⁷  he refuses to listen to the church, treat him like ⁸  a Gentile ⁹  or a tax collector. ¹⁰ 

Matthew 18:2

18:2 He called a child, had him stand among them,

Colossians 1:2

1:2 to the saints, the faithful ¹¹  brothers and sisters ¹²  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ¹³  from God our Father! ¹⁴ 

[18:15]  ¹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated. All the “if” clauses in this paragraph are third class conditions in Greek.

[18:15]  ² tn The Greek term “brother” can mean “fellow believer” or “fellow Christian” (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 2.a) whether male or female. It can also refer to siblings, though here it is used in a broader sense to connote familial relationships within the family of God. Therefore, because of the familial connotations, “brother” has been retained in the translation here in preference to the more generic “fellow believer” (“fellow Christian” would be anachronistic in this context).

[18:15]  ³ tc ‡ The earliest and best witnesses lack “against you” after “if your brother sins.” It is quite possible that the shorter reading in these witnesses (א B, as well as 0281 ˹ 579 pc sa) occurred when scribes either intentionally changed the text (to make it more universal in application) or unintentionally changed the text (owing to the similar sound of the end of the verb ἁμαρτήσῃ [Jamarthsh] and the prepositional phrase εἰς σέ [eis se]). However, if the mss were normally copied by sight rather than by sound, especially in the early centuries of Christianity, such an unintentional change is not as likely for these mss. And since scribes normally added material rather than deleted it for intentional changes, on balance, the shorter reading appears to be original. NA²⁷ includes the words in brackets, indicating doubts as to their authenticity.

[18:15]  ⁴ tn Grk “go reprove him.”

[18:16]  ⁵ sn A quotation from Deut 19:15.

[18:17]  ⁶ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[18:17]  ⁷ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[18:17]  ⁸ tn Grk “let him be to you as.”

[18:17]  ⁹ tn Or “a pagan.”

[18:17]  ¹⁰ sn To treat him like a Gentile or a tax collector means not to associate with such a person. See the note on tax collectors in 5:46.

[1:2]  ¹¹ tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated (cf. Eph 1:1). See ExSyn 281-82.

[1:2]  ¹² tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).

[1:2]  ¹³ tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ¹⁴ tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א A C F G I [P] 075 Ï it bo), read “and the Lord Jesus Christ” at the end of this verse, no doubt to conform the wording to the typical Pauline salutation. However, excellent and early witnesses (B D K L Ψ 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 al sa) lack this phrase. Since the omission is inexplicable as arising from the longer reading (otherwise, these mss would surely have deleted the phrase in the rest of the corpus Paulinum), it is surely authentic.