The Fallible Study Bible

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Matthew18:15–18

A Brother Who Sins

✦ Public-domain source — quoted & attributed⚙ AI synthesis — generated, verify

Matthew 18:15–18 — A Brother Who Sins. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

15

If your brother sins against you, go and confront him privately. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de Ean sou ho adelphos hamartēsē eis se hypage elenxon auton monou metaxy sou kai autou ean akousē sou ekerdēsas sou ton adelphon

Word by word23 · parsed
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἘὰνEanIfG1437
√ ἐάν — a conditional particleConjunction
σουsouyourG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Singular
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἀδελφόςadelphosbrotherG80
√ ἀδελφός — a brother (literally or figuratively) near or remote (much like G1 (Α))NounNominative Masculine Singular
ἀδελφός: a brother, near or remote Every commentator in this brief narrows the word the same way. Barnes: the word “evidently means a fellow-professor of religion.” Poole restricts the church's jurisdiction by it, citing 1 Corinthians 5:12, “what hath the church to do to judge those that are without?” The whole procedure of vv. 15 to 18 therefore presupposes a bond already existing; it is family discipline, not a court's reach over strangers.
ἁμαρτήσῃhamartēsēsinsG264
√ ἁμαρτάνω — properly, to miss the mark (and so not share in the prize), iVerbAorist Subjunctive Active3rd Person Singular
ἁμαρτάνω: to miss the mark, to sin (aorist subjunctive) The aorist subjunctive with ἐάν frames a single concrete lapse that may or may not happen, not a settled character. Strong's gloss keeps the archer's image: the brother has missed, not become the enemy. That grammatical modesty governs everything after it: the first move assumes a man who can be shown where the arrow went.
εἰςeisagainstG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
σὲseyouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative 2nd Person Singular
ὕπαγεhypagegoG5217
√ ὑπάγω — to lead (oneself) under, iVerbPresent Imperative Active2nd Person Singular
ὑπάγω: to go, to withdraw Present imperative: be going. Pulpit presses the direction of travel: “Do not wait for him to come to you; make the first advances yourself.”
ἔλεγξονelenxon[and] confrontG1651
√ ἐλέγχω — to confute, admonishVerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Singular
ἐλέγχω: to confute, to admonish The unit's first pivot. ἐλέγχω is the courtroom and conscience verb that John 16:8 uses of the Spirit convicting the world, and Ellicott sends the reader there deliberately. So the private meeting is not a vague clearing of the air: it is an argued case, made to the offender's reason, with no audience to make him defend his face rather than hear the charge.
αὐτὸνautonhimG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
μόνουmonouprivatelyG3441
√ μόνος — remaining, iAdjectiveGenitive Masculine Singular
μόνος: alone, only Gill will not soften the secrecy: “let this be done in the most private manner; let none be present, nor any know of it, even the most intimate friend and acquaintance.” Barnes gives three reasons for the privacy, the first being that the accused “may have an opportunity of explaining his conduct,” since in nine cases out of ten a little friendly conversation would settle it.
μεταξὺmetaxy. . .G3342
√ μεταξύ — betwixt (of place or person)Preposition
σοῦsou. . .G4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Singular
καὶkai. . .G2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
αὐτοῦautou. . .G846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
ἐάνeanIfG1437
√ ἐάν — a conditional particleConjunction
ἀκούσῃakousēhe listens toG191
√ ἀκούω — to hear (in various senses)VerbAorist Subjunctive Active3rd Person Singular
ἀκούω: to hear Not merely to register sound. The same verb governs each descending step (v. 16, and compounded as παρακούω in v. 17), so the whole procedure turns on one question asked three times: will he hear? Poole defines hearing concretely as confessing the sin, sorrowing for it, and resolving against it.
σουsouyouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Singular
ἐκέρδησαςekerdēsasyou have wonG2770
√ κερδαίνω — to gain (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Indicative Active2nd Person Singular
κερδαίνω: to gain, to profit An aorist of accomplished commerce, and the clause has no other object: the gain is the brother himself. Cambridge glosses “won over to a better mind, to Christ,” and both Cambridge and Ellicott read the word with 1 Corinthians 9:19 and 1 Peter 3:1, where Paul and Peter use the same verb of gaining persons for God. Barnes adds the double sense: preserved as a Christian, and reconciled to you.
σουsouyourG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Singular
τὸνtonG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
ἀδελφόνadelphonbrother {over}G80
√ ἀδελφός — a brother (literally or figuratively) near or remote (much like G1 (Α))NounAccusative Masculine Singular
16

But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de ean mē akousē paralabe hena ē dyo eti meta sou hina pan rhēma stathē Epi stomatos dyo ē triōn martyrōn

Word by word21 · parsed
δὲdeButG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἐὰνeanifG1437
√ ἐάν — a conditional particleConjunction
μὴmēG3361
√ μή — (adverb) not, (conjunction) lestAdverb
ἀκούσῃakousēhe will not listenG191
√ ἀκούω — to hear (in various senses)VerbAorist Subjunctive Active3rd Person Singular
ἀκούω: to hear (with μή, aorist subjunctive) The negated condition is the hinge of the whole paragraph. Nothing is said of the offended man being vindicated; the only failure contemplated is that the brother will not hear. Gill spells out what refusal looks like in practice: he denies the fact, or extenuates it, or defends it, or is simply obstinate and shows no sign of repentance.
παράλαβεparalabetakeG3880
√ παραλαμβάνω — to receive near, iVerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Singular
παραλαμβάνω: to receive near, to take along ⚙ Lexical observation, not supplied by the brief: this is the verb Matthew uses at 17:1 and 20:17, where Jesus takes Peter, James and John up the mountain and takes the Twelve aside on the road. It means bringing a man alongside you, not summoning him to a bench, which is why the step still belongs to the offended brother rather than to an office. Barnes gives the double purpose, that the offender might be induced to listen to them, and that they might be witnesses of his conduct before the church.
ἕναhenaoneG1520
√ εἷς — oneAdjectiveAccusative Masculine Singular
ἢēorG2228
√ ἤ — disjunctive, orConjunction
δύοdyotwoG1417
√ δύο — "two"AdjectiveAccusative Masculine Plural
ἔτιetiothersG2089
√ ἔτι — "yet," still (of time or degree)Adverb
ἔτι: yet, still Adverbial; it counts the helpers as an addition, not as a category.
μετὰmetaalongG3326
√ μετά — properly, denoting accompanimentPreposition
σοῦsou. . .G4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 2nd Person Singular
ἵναhinaso thatG2443
√ ἵνα — compare G3588 (ὁ))Conjunction
πᾶνpaneveryG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveNominative Neuter Singular
ῥῆμαrhēmamatterG4487
√ ῥῆμα — an utterance (individually, collectively or specially),NounNominative Neuter Singular
ῥῆμα: an utterance, a word or matter A moderately common noun (64 verses) that here carries the weight of a quoted statute. Paul uses the same word in the same quotation at 2 Corinthians 13:1, which is the surest sign that a fixed formula, not a loose allusion, is being handled.
σταθῇstathēmay be establishedG2476
√ ἵστημι — to stand (transitively or intransitively), used in various applications (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Subjunctive Passive3rd Person Singular
ἵστημι: to stand, to be established (aorist subjunctive passive) The passive is decisive: the matter is made to stand, by someone other than the witnesses. Neither the offended man nor the one or two establishes the case by force of feeling; the standing is granted from outside the quarrel, which is precisely why v. 18 can speak of heaven ratifying anything at all.
ἘπὶEpibyG1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
στόματοςstomatos[the] testimonyG4750
√ στόμα — the mouth (as if a gash in the face)NounGenitive Neuter Singular
στόμα: the mouth The Hebraism “upon the mouth of two or three witnesses” reproduces Deuteronomy 19:15. Geneva's gloss distinguishes the spoken word from the case that speaks for itself. The rule's original function was protective: it exists in the Law to stop one voice from destroying a man, and Jesus keeps that function while turning the setting from a court to a congregation.
δύοdyoof twoG1417
√ δύο — "two"AdjectiveGenitive Masculine Plural
ἢēorG2228
√ ἤ — disjunctive, orConjunction
τριῶνtriōnthreeG5140
√ τρεῖς — "three"AdjectiveGenitive Masculine Plural
μαρτύρωνmartyrōnwitnessesG3144
√ μάρτυς — a witness (literally (judicially) or figuratively (genitive case))NounGenitive Masculine Plural
μάρτυς: a witness Genitive plural. The word is judicial before it is devotional; the later Christian sense of martyr grows out of exactly this office of standing up and saying what one saw. Pulpit is candid that the idea is “derived from the requirement of the Jewish Law in a case of litigation,” with John 8:17 and 2 Corinthians 13:1 as the New Testament handling of the same rule.
17

If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, regard him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de ean parakousē autōn eipon tē ekklēsia de ean parakousē kai tēs ekklēsias estō hōsper soi ho ethnikos kai ho telōnēs

Word by word21 · parsed
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἐὰνeanIfG1437
√ ἐάν — a conditional particleConjunction
παρακούσῃparakousēhe refuses to listenG3878
√ παρακούω — to mishear, iVerbAorist Subjunctive Active3rd Person Singular
παρακούω: to mishear, to disobey A genuinely rare verb: the Verifier finds it in only two verses of the New Testament. The other is Mark 5:36, where the same word describes Jesus overhearing and disregarding the report that the child is dead. The compound therefore carries no automatic guilt in itself; here the context supplies it, and twice in one verse the man chooses not to hear, first the witnesses, then the assembly.
αὐτῶνautōnto themG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Plural
εἰπὸνeipontell [it]G2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Singular
τῇtēto theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Singular
ἐκκλησίᾳekklēsiachurchG1577
√ ἐκκλησία — a calling out, iNounDative Feminine Singular
ἐκκλησία: an assembly, a calling out The unit's most consequential word, and the only other occurrence on Jesus' lips in the Gospels is Matthew 16:18. Ellicott observes that theories of church authority by priesthood, bishops, councils and papal infallibility have all been built on this one term, and that the English word “congregation” would have produced a different history. Cambridge (synagogue council) and Pulpit (the Christian body) disagree openly about what the disciples heard, and this synthesis records the disagreement rather than settling it.
δὲdeAndG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ἐὰνeanifG1437
√ ἐάν — a conditional particleConjunction
παρακούσῃparakousēhe refuses to listenG3878
√ παρακούω — to mishear, iVerbAorist Subjunctive Active3rd Person Singular
καὶkaievenG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
τῆςtēsto theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
ἐκκλησίαςekklēsiaschurchG1577
√ ἐκκλησία — a calling out, iNounGenitive Feminine Singular
ἔστωestōregard [him]G1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbPresent Imperative Active3rd Person Singular
εἰμί: to be (third person imperative) “Let him be to thee.” The command reshapes a relationship, it does not pronounce a verdict on a soul. Ellicott holds that such a man “practically excommunicates himself,” and Barnes guards the limit: it does not mean we cease to show kindness or help him in affliction, only that we no longer own him as a Christian brother.
ὥσπερhōsperasG5618
√ ὥσπερ — just as, iAdverb
ὥσπερ: just as A comparison, not an equation: as, not the same as.
σοιsoiyou [would]G4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounDative 2nd Person Singular
ὁhoaG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἐθνικὸςethnikospaganG1482
√ ἐθνικός — national ("ethnic"), iAdjectiveNominative Masculine Singular
ἐθνικός: national, Gentile Rare (four verses). The other three are Matthew 6:7, Matthew 5:47 and 3 John 1:7, and the first two are Jesus' own warnings not to pray or love as the ἐθνικοί do. Ellicott refuses to read the verse as an endorsement of Pharisaic contempt: they are to be made to feel they are outside the inner circle of brotherhood, “but they were still men, and, as such, entitled to courtesy and all kindly offices.”
καὶkai[or]G2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ὁhoG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
τελώνηςtelōnēsa tax collectorG5057
√ τελώνης — a tax-farmer, iNounNominative Masculine Singular
τελώνης: a tax-farmer, a publican The last word of the procedure is the word Matthew wore. Gill documents the rabbinic rule that a religious man who became a tax collector was driven from the society, and then notes the weakness of reading the phrase as an excommunication formula, since a Gentile or publican was never in the Jewish church to be cast out of it. Cambridge draws the irony tight: “What Jesus says, Matthew the publican records.”
18

Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Amēn legō hymin hosa ean dēsēte epi tēs gēs estai dedemena en ouranō kai hosa ean lysēte epi tēs gēs estai lelymena en ouranō

Word by word24 · parsed
ἈμὴνAmēnTrulyG281
√ ἀμήν — properly, firm, iHebrew Word
ἀμήν: firm, truly A Hebrew word left untranslated in the Greek, tagged as such in the interlinear. In Matthew it introduces a pronouncement Jesus makes on his own authority, and its presence here marks v. 18 as a solemn grant rather than a continuation of the procedural advice.
λέγωlegōI tellG3004
√ λέγω — properly, to "lay" forth, iVerbPresent Indicative Active1st Person Singular
ὑμῖνhyminyouG4771
√ σύ — thouPersonal / Possessive PronounDative 2nd Person Plural
σύ: thou (here dative plural) The grammatical pivot of the verse. The singular counsel of vv. 15 to 17 becomes a plural charge. JFB, Barnes, Cambridge, Poole and Pulpit all read the plural as extending to the Twelve what Matthew 16:19 gave to Peter alone, which is JFB's point against any Petrine or Roman exclusivity.
ὅσαhosawhateverG3745
√ ὅσος — as (much, great, long, etcPersonal / Relative PronounAccusative Neuter Plural
ἐὰνean. . .G1437
√ ἐάν — a conditional particleConjunction
δήσητεdēsēteyou bindG1210
√ δέω — to bind (in various applications, literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Subjunctive Active2nd Person Plural
δέω: to bind The Verifier confirms δέω and λύω shared with Matthew 16:19. Poole reports the two available senses honestly: the rabbinic usage of “declaring of propositions true or false, or judging things lawful or unlawful,” and the extension, which he attributes to Calvin and other judicious interpreters, to the actual censures of the church. Ellicott holds both at once: binding is interpreting the Law directly, and punishing only secondarily.
ἐπὶepionG1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
τῆςtēsG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
γῆςgēsearthG1093
√ γῆ — soilNounGenitive Feminine Singular
ἔσταιestaiwill beG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbFuture Indicative Middle3rd Person Singular
δεδεμέναdedemenaboundG1210
√ δέω — to bind (in various applications, literally or figuratively)VerbPerfect Participle Middle or PassiveNominative Neuter Plural
δέω: to bind (perfect participle passive) The perfect participle is the exegetical crux of the verse. Read as a true perfect, heaven is not waiting on the vote: the assembly's act declares what already stands bound above. Read as a periphrastic future passive, heaven undertakes to ratify. The Greek here permits both, and the commentators in this brief argue the theology rather than the participle, so this synthesis names the ambiguity instead of resolving it.
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
οὐρανῷouranōheavenG3772
√ οὐρανός — the skyNounDative Masculine Singular
οὐρανός: the sky, heaven Singular, and in a dative of place, paired twice in this verse with ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. It is the same opposition Jesus taught the disciples to pray, on earth as in heaven (Matthew 6:10), and the same pairing that closes Matthew's Gospel when all authority in heaven and on earth is said to be given to him. Here the promise is that a handful of people settling a village quarrel are transacting business registered in the other of those two places.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ὅσαhosawhateverG3745
√ ὅσος — as (much, great, long, etcPersonal / Relative PronounAccusative Neuter Plural
ἐὰνean. . .G1437
√ ἐάν — a conditional particleConjunction
λύσητεlysēteyou looseG3089
√ λύω — to "loosen" (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Subjunctive Active2nd Person Plural
λύω: to loosen The releasing half, and the commentators insist it is not decorative. Benson: absolution in the primitive church “meant no more than a discharge from church censure.” Pulpit points to 2 Corinthians 2:10 as the apostolic instance of loosing the man of 1 Corinthians 5. Since the entire paragraph began with the aim of gaining a brother, λύω, not δέω, is the procedure's intended end.
ἐπὶepionG1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
τῆςtēsG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleGenitive Feminine Singular
γῆςgēsearthG1093
√ γῆ — soilNounGenitive Feminine Singular
ἔσταιestaiwill beG1510
√ εἰμί — I exist (used only when emphatic)VerbFuture Indicative Middle3rd Person Singular
λελυμέναlelymenaloosedG3089
√ λύω — to "loosen" (literally or figuratively)VerbPerfect Participle Middle or PassiveNominative Neuter Plural
λύω: to loosen (perfect participle passive) The second perfect participle, exactly parallel to δεδεμένα, so any reading must take both the same way. Poole draws the pastoral consequence with unusual candour: the text is terrible to the impenitent justly cut off, comfortable to the penitent who are tempted to be swallowed up of too much sorrow, and no terror at all to a man excommunicated for standing by a truth of the gospel.
ἐνeninG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
οὐρανῷouranōheavenG3772
√ οὐρανός — the skyNounDative Masculine Singular

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The one who is wronged is the one who walks — 18:15

⚙ The paragraph opens with a grammatical scandal: the man who has been sinned against is given the imperative. ὕπαγε is a present imperative, be going, and Pulpit will not let the direction slip past: “Do not wait for him to come to you; make the first advances yourself,” and adds that this, “as being the more difficult course, is expressly enjoined on one who is learning the lesson of humility.” Gill says the same from the other side: do not wait for his coming to thee, as being the aggressor, to acknowledge his fault. What he is to do when he arrives is ἔλεγξον, and Ellicott insists the older English was too soft: “convict him of his fault, press it home on him in such a way as to reach his reason and his conscience,” comparing John 16:8. JFB reads the setting from the chapter's own quarrel over who should be the greatest, and hears Jesus saying, in effect, such things will often arise, I will direct you how to proceed. Cambridge and Poole both supply the statute underneath: Leviticus 19:17, where not to rebuke is itself to incur sin. And the reward clause is commercial. ἐκέρδησας is a profit taken; Ellicott notes that “gain” of some kind is what men usually go to law for, and Cambridge glosses the outcome as won over “to a better mind, to Christ.”

ii. A quoted statute, kept in its protective sense — 18:16

⚙ Step two is the only place in the unit where Jesus quotes, and BSB rightly prints the words inside quotation marks: “every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.” Ellicott, Barnes, Gill, Geneva and Pulpit all name the source as Deuteronomy 19:15, and Ellicott adds the larger observation that “this selection of all that was highest and most spiritual in the ethical teaching of the Law is one of the features of our Lord's method.” The Greek keeps the Hebrew idiom bodily: Ἐπὶ στόματος, upon the mouth of, which Geneva's marginal note unpacks as either the spoken word or a case that speaks for itself. Two safeguards are built into the step. Ellicott: the one or two are “not partisans, but disinterested representatives of what is likely to be the common estimate of the fault committed.” Barnes gives the double function, persuasion first and testimony second. And the verb is passive, σταθῇ: the matter is made to stand. Nobody in the quarrel does the establishing. Gill supplies pages of rabbinic parallels here, including a saying that God himself reproves privately, then among friends, then openly; those are Gill's Jewish sources, reported by him, not statements of the evangelist, and they should be weighed as background rather than as exegesis of Matthew.

iii. ἐκκλησία, and the honest disagreement about it — 18:17

⚙ Here the commentators in this brief genuinely divide, and the synthesis must not paper over it. Ellicott holds that “assembly” or “society” is “confessedly the true meaning of the Greek,” the rendering of every English version from Tyndale until the Rhemish translators brought in “church,” and that the appeal is “not to the rulers of the congregation, but to the congregation itself.” Cambridge argues from the audience: the word must have meant to those listening either the synagogue congregation or, rather, its ruling body. Pulpit takes the opposite view, that after Matthew 16:18 the Twelve “would not confound the body here signified with the Jewish synagogue,” and observes candidly that the whole procedure “would be impracticable in a large and widely extended community, and could not be applied under our present circumstances.” Gill objects that no Christian church yet existed, then answers his own objection with the Twelve. On the last clause all of them converge, and none of them turns it into a licence for contempt: Barnes, that it does not mean we cease to show kindness or aid in affliction; Ellicott, that such a man is “still” a man, “entitled to courtesy and all kindly offices”; Pulpit, that even in this extreme case charity “will seek his salvation by prayer and entreaty.” Gill also notes what the verse is not: no such excommunication formula existed among the Jews, and a Gentile or publican could not be expelled from a society he had never joined. The rare adjective ἐθνικός stands in only four New Testament verses, two of them Jesus' own warnings not to pray or love as the ἐθνικοί do.

iv. Bound and loosed: a grant, and its limits — 18:18

⚙ The ἀμήν and the shift to the plural mark v. 18 off as a grant rather than a fourth step. JFB: what had been granted a short time before to Peter only “is plainly extended to all the Twelve; so that whatever it means, it means nothing peculiar to Peter.” Cambridge renders the sense flatly: whatever you as a Church declare binding or not binding, that decision shall be ratified in heaven. Ellicott keeps the scribal sense primary, binding and loosing as declaring the Law's application, with condemning and absolving only secondary. Poole reports both senses and credits the stronger one to Calvin and other judicious interpreters. Then come the limits, and they are the most valuable thing the voices give us. Barnes: the promise “cannot be understood as extending to all Christians or ministers, for all others but the apostles may err.” Benson: in the primitive church absolution “meant no more than a discharge from church censure.” Poole, most sharply: “The church is not by this text made infallible, nor is the holy God by it engaged to defend their errors,” and if a man is cast out for standing by a gospel truth, he is not bound in heaven though he be bound on earth. Grammatically the ground of all this caution is the perfect participle: ἔσται δεδεμένα says “shall be having been bound,” a state, not a mere future act, and the Greek leaves open whether heaven ratifies earth or earth reads heaven.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ Read as a whole, this is not a disciplinary code with a pastoral preface; it is a rescue operation with a legal instrument bolted on at exactly the point where rescue can be counterfeited. Notice what the passage never provides: no penalty, no restitution, no vindication of the injured man, not one word about his rights. The only verb of outcome in the four verses is ἐκέρδησας, you gained, and its object is the brother. Every later stage exists because the first one failed, and each added person is added to be heard, not to enforce. So the trajectory is downward and reluctant: one, then two or three, then the assembly, then the door, and the door is described not as a sentence passed but as a relation the man has already chosen by hearing past three appeals (παρακούω twice in one verse, the rare verb of deliberate mishearing). The witnesses of v. 16 are quoted from the Law, and their original function there was protective, to stop a single voice destroying a man; Jesus keeps that function and moves it indoors. Which is why v. 18 reads to this machine as a promise made to a body that has already been forced through that discipline of patience, and why the perfect participles matter: heaven is not a rubber stamp for a majority, it is the court whose standing verdict a patient congregation is trying to read. Poole's warning stands over every use of the text: the church is not made infallible by it. The passage does not authorize a tribunal. It authorizes, and then obligates, a walk to a brother's door.

Not Scripture, but this machine's fallible reading: the only outcome the passage names is a brother gained, and every clause after it is the cost of still trying.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The statute Jesus quotes: two or three witnesses structural / thematic: confirmed

v. 16 is a citation, and BSB marks it with quotation marks: “every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.” The rule stands in Deuteronomy 19:15, with the same requirement at Deuteronomy 17:6 and Numbers 35:30. Ellicott, Barnes, Gill, Geneva and Pulpit all name Deuteronomy 19:15, Gill adding that the Jewish reproof customs were themselves founded on Leviticus 19:17 and this. The Greek keeps the Hebrew idiom, Ἐπὶ στόματος, upon the mouth of. Note the honest limit on the badge: the quotation is explicit in the text, but the link is Greek to Hebrew, so no shared Strong's numbers can be computed for it and the verbal tier is unavailable here by rule.

Deuteronomy 19:15 · Deuteronomy 17:6 · Numbers 35:30

basis: Quotation is explicit in the text and marked as such by BSB, and the source is named by Ellicott, Barnes, Gill, Geneva and Pulpit. But the link is cross-Testament (Greek NT to Hebrew OT), so shared Strong's lexemes cannot be computed and the verbal tier is unavailable to it; tiered structural on the shared legal formula

Paul quoting the same rule: 2 Corinthians 13:1 verbal / quotation: confirmed

Paul handles the identical formula, and the Verifier finds the overlap inside Greek: ῥῆμα, μάρτυς and τρεῖς co-occur in both verses. Barnes and Pulpit both cross-reference 2 Corinthians 13:1 at Matthew 18:16, with John 8:17 beside it. Because both members are Greek, this is the one thread in the unit where a verbal tier is legitimately available; what it establishes is that Matthew and Paul are handling one fixed Deuteronomic formula, not each improvising a proverb about corroboration.

2 Corinthians 13:1

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G4487 ῥῆμα (in 64 vv), G3144 μάρτυς (in 35 vv), G5140 τρεῖς (in 62 vv). No single lexeme is rare, but the three co-occur as the same quoted formula of Deuteronomy 19:15 in two NT texts, which is an explicit shared citation; both members are NT, so no cross-Testament restriction applies

The law behind v. 15: you shall surely rebuke your neighbour structural / thematic: confirmed

The command to go to the brother is not new legislation. Cambridge: “See Leviticus 19:17, where the words 'not suffer sin upon him,' mean 'thou shalt not incur sin through him,' i.e. by letting him go on unrebuked in his sin,” and adds that the Greek word here, ἐλέγχω, is the one used for “rebuke” there. Barnes states plainly that this “was required under the law, Leviticus 19:17.” Poole makes it the whole occasion of the paragraph: Jesus adds this so that no one should think his warnings against giving offence had made void that law, since to withhold reproof “had been to have withheld charity from their souls under a pretence of charity.” Ellicott notes the further significance that the Leviticus passage ends with “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” The badge is structural because the link is cross-Testament, so no shared Strong's numbers exist for it, and because the words are not quoted here as they are in v. 16.

Leviticus 19:17 · Leviticus 19:18

basis: No shared Strong's computation is possible (Greek to Hebrew). Basis is the commentators' recorded dependence: Cambridge (identifying ἐλέγχω with the 'rebuke' of Lev 19:17), Barnes, Poole, Ellicott and Gill. Structural, not verbal, since v. 15 alludes to the statute rather than quoting it

παρακούω: the rare verb of deliberate mishearing verbal / quotation: confirmed

v. 17 twice uses παρακούω, and the Verifier finds it in only two verses of the New Testament. The other is Mark 5:36, where the same word describes Jesus overhearing and disregarding the message that Jairus' daughter is dead. The lexical point is that the compound means hearing alongside or hearing past, and the moral colour comes from the object: Jesus disregards a report of death, the unrepentant brother disregards the appeal of his church. Geneva's gloss gives the nuance exactly: “does not condescend to hear, or make as though he did not hear.” This is a lexical observation about one rare verb, not a claim that Matthew alludes to Mark.

Mark 5:36

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G3878 παρακούω (in 2 vv), the rarest lexeme in this unit and the only other NT occurrence; a genuine verbal link between two Greek texts. No quotation or dependence is claimed, only the shared rare word

ἐθνικός: four verses, and two of them warn against imitation verbal / quotation: confirmed

The adjective ἐθνικός stands in only four New Testament verses. Two are Jesus' own: do not pray as the ἐθνικοί do (Matthew 6:7), and if you love only those who love you, do not even the ἐθνικοί the same (Matthew 5:47, which also shares ἀδελφός with our verse). The fourth is 3 John 1:7, where the travelling brothers take nothing from the ἐθνικοί. Read together, the word marks a boundary of the community without licensing scorn, which is exactly the restraint Ellicott presses at v. 17 and Pulpit repeats: Christ “without endorsing the Jews' treatment of Gentiles and publicans, acknowledges the fact, and uses it as an illustration.” Barnes sends the reader to Matthew 5:47 for the publican, and Luke 18:11 supplies the Pharisee who thanks God he is not like one.

Matthew 6:7 · Matthew 5:47 · 3 John 1:7 · Luke 18:11

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G1482 ἐθνικός (in 4 vv, rare) with Matthew 6:7, Matthew 5:47 and 3 John 1:7; Matthew 5:47 additionally shares G80 ἀδελφός (in 317 vv). Luke 18:11 is joined on G5057 τελώνης (in 20 vv). All members are NT Greek; a shared-lexeme link, with no claim of quotation

The keys given to Peter, given to the Twelve verbal / quotation: confirmed

v. 18 repeats Matthew 16:19 almost word for word with the verbs turned plural, and the Verifier confirms the lexical identity. JFB draws the inference that what was granted to Peter alone “is plainly extended to all the Twelve.” Ellicott says the promise is extended “not only to the other Apostles, but to the whole society of which they were the representatives,” and is dependent on the same unexpressed condition. Cambridge, Barnes, Gill and Pulpit all read the two verses together. Poole records the older rabbinic sense of binding and loosing, declaring propositions true or false and things lawful or unlawful, and the extension to church censures which he credits to Calvin and other judicious interpreters.

Matthew 16:19 · Matthew 16:18

basis: Verifier pair check on Matthew 18:18 and Matthew 16:19: shared Greek lexemes G3089 λύω (in 39 vv), G1210 δέω (in 40 vv), G1093 γῆ (in 223 vv), G3772 οὐρανός (in 255 vv). Two Greek texts in the same Gospel repeating one formula; Matthew 16:18 is joined on ἐκκλησία, the only other occurrence of the word on Jesus' lips in the Gospels

The assembly as court, and the outsider put out flagged: verify source

The shape of vv. 16 to 17, escalating from private inquiry to the assembled community, and then excluding the man who will not hear it, is the shape of Israel's own judicial procedure: the hard case carried to the place God chooses in Deuteronomy 17:8 to 13, and the exclusion from the congregation of the returned exiles in Ezra 10:8. This connection is supplied by canonical observation, not by any voice in this brief and not by the Verifier, which computes nothing here; Greek to Hebrew admits no shared Strong's numbers. The nearest anything in the brief comes to it is Barnes noting that “in the Jewish synagogue there was a bench of elders before whom trials of this kind were brought,” and Cambridge identifying the ἐκκλησία with the synagogue's collegium presbyterorum. The badge is flagged accordingly: the pattern is real and easy to see, but the reader should verify the link independently rather than take it from this page.

Deuteronomy 17:8 · Deuteronomy 17:9 · Ezra 10:8

basis: No Verifier basis (cross-Testament, so no shared Strong's numbers) and no commentator in this brief cites Deuteronomy 17:8 to 13 or Ezra 10:8 at these verses. The institutional parallel of escalating assembly judgment and exclusion is offered as an observation to be checked, not as a sourced dependence

Reproof in the apostolic churches structural / thematic: confirmed

The procedure is not left theoretical in the New Testament. 1 Timothy 5:20 shares two lexemes with our unit, ἁμαρτάνω and the relatively rare ἐλέγχω, and prescribes the opposite venue: those who sin are to be rebuked before all. Poole cites exactly that verse to argue that Matthew 18:15 must therefore concern private miscarriages, since “it appeareth to be the will of God, that public and open sinners should be rebuked before all, that others may fear.” Revelation 3:19 uses ἐλέγχω of the risen Christ's own practice: as many as I love, I rebuke. Ellicott and Pulpit both point to Paul's handling of the Corinthian offender (1 Corinthians 5:1 to 5, then 2 Corinthians 2:6 to 7) as the practical illustration, with Pulpit noting that the congregation decides guilt while the apostle binds and later looses. Tiered structural rather than verbal: the shared lexemes are real but no quotation or dependence is claimed, and the Corinthian references rest on the commentators' judgment.

1 Timothy 5:20 · Revelation 3:19 · 1 Corinthians 5:1 · 2 Corinthians 2:6

basis: Verifier: 1 Timothy 5:20 shares G264 ἁμαρτάνω (in 37 vv) and G1651 ἐλέγχω (in 17 vv, relatively rare); Revelation 3:19 shares G1651 ἐλέγχω (in 17 vv). Downgraded from verbal to structural deliberately: the lexeme overlap is real but there is no quotation, and the 1 and 2 Corinthians members rest on Ellicott's and Pulpit's reading, not on computed lexemes

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The going is the Shepherd's motion ancient/widely-held

⚙ The unit's first imperative sends the wronged man out after the offender, and the same chapter has just described that motion as God's own: the shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine and goes seeking the one that strayed, and the paragraph ends by grounding that search in the Father's will that not one of these little ones perish (Matthew 18:14). The word for the outcome in v. 15 is a merchant's word, ἐκέρδησας, and Cambridge glosses the gain as won “to a better mind, to Christ,” citing 1 Corinthians 9:19 and 1 Peter 3:1 where Paul and Peter use the same verb of gaining persons. Ellicott reads it the same way, that the man wins the brother “for God” and for himself. So the disciple's walk to a brother's door is not merely a rule of order; it is the pattern of the Son of Man who came to seek and to save what was lost. This is the reading the commentators here share, and it is as old as the chapter's own arrangement.

Matthew 18:12 · Matthew 18:13 · Matthew 18:14 · Luke 19:10 · 1 Corinthians 9:19 · 1 Peter 3:1

The friend of publicans records the word publican ancient/widely-held

⚙ The procedure ends at the two words Jesus' enemies used against him: Gentile and tax collector. Cambridge puts the irony in one line: “Jesus, the friend of publicans and sinners, uses the phrase of His contemporaries. What Jesus says, Matthew the publican records.” The man holding the pen had been on the far side of that boundary, and the Lord dictating the sentence had eaten at his table and told the chief priests that publicans go into the kingdom of God before them. This governs how the last clause may be used. Ellicott refuses to let it become a licence for Pharisaic contempt, noting that such men are still men and entitled to courtesy and all kindly offices; Barnes says we do not cease to show kindness or aid in affliction; Pulpit says charity will not regard the sinner as hopelessly lost. In other words, being treated as a publican, in this Gospel, is precisely not being abandoned: it is being put back among the people Jesus went looking for.

Matthew 9:10 · Matthew 9:11 · Matthew 9:13 · Matthew 21:31 · Matthew 5:47

He who holds the keys, and the witnesses of his own trial ancient/widely-held

⚙ Two threads of the unit run back to Christ's own person. First, the authority of v. 18 is derivative: it is the same grant made at Matthew 16:19 to the man who had just confessed him, and Ellicott ties its validity to the society's being “true to its Lord, and guided by His Spirit.” The one who opens and no one shuts holds the keys before any congregation handles them, and the risen Lord's word over the apostles in John 20:23 is the nearest parallel to binding and loosing sins. Second, the two-or-three-witness rule of v. 16 is the rule Jesus applies to his own testimony in John 8:17 to 18, a passage Ellicott, Barnes and Pulpit all cite at this verse. There he appeals to the written requirement of two witnesses and names them: himself, and the Father who sent him. The same statute that protects an accused brother is the statute under which Christ submitted his own claim to examination. He asks nothing of the assembly he did not accept himself.

Matthew 16:19 · John 20:23 · John 8:17 · John 8:18 · Revelation 3:7

The third witness in the midst novel

⚙ Offered as a machine reading, and marked novel: the paragraph's arithmetic of two or three does not stop at v. 18. It is immediately followed by two of you agreeing, and by the promise that where two or three are gathered in his name he is in the midst of them. Benson hears the connection as prayer: “not only your intercession for the penitent, but all your united prayers, shall be heard.” Henry draws the pastoral conclusion, that wherever and whenever we meet in the name of Christ we should consider him as present in the midst of us. What this synthesis adds, and flags as its own conjecture rather than anything a voice in this brief asserts, is that the number is the same number twice: the two or three whose mouths establish a matter, and the two or three among whom he stands. If that is deliberate, the reason heaven can ratify anything at all is that the court below is never merely two or three.

Matthew 18:19 · Matthew 18:20 · Matthew 18:16

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

⚙ Honesty notes for this unit. (1) Text: in v. 15 the words εἰς σὲ (“against thee”) are a real variant. Pulpit reports them “omitted in the Sinaitic and Vatican Manuscripts, and by some modern editors, on the ground that it is a gloss derived from Peter's question (ver. 21),” and retained by the Vulgate and other high authorities. BSB and the Berean interlinear print them, so this synthesis works with them, while noting that without them the rule is general rather than personal. (2) Grammar left open: ἔσται δεδεμένα and ἔσται λελυμένα in v. 18 are future forms of εἰμί with perfect passive participles. Whether to press the perfect (heaven's verdict already stands and the assembly reads it) or to treat the construction as a periphrastic future passive (heaven will ratify) is a live question that the voices in this brief do not decide, and neither does this page. (3) Reference disputed: the meaning of ἐκκλησία at v. 17 is contested inside the brief itself. Cambridge takes it as the synagogue's ruling body, Pulpit as a distinctly Christian congregation, Ellicott as the whole assembly rather than its rulers, Gill as the Twelve, and Barnes allows either the whole body or its representatives. (4) Sources to weigh with care: Gill's long note at v. 16 quotes rabbinic sayings at length; those are his citations of Jewish tradition, valuable as background, not statements of the evangelist. JFB's remark about “pretended successors at Rome” and Geneva's note (6) are confessional polemic from the Reformed tradition, and Barnes restricts v. 18 to the apostles alone, a minority view here. (5) Not computable: every Old Testament link in this unit, including the explicit quotation in v. 16, is Greek to Hebrew, so the Verifier can compute no shared Strong's lexemes for it, and no such link is tiered verbal on this page. (6) The Deuteronomy 17 and Ezra 10:8 thread carries no source in this brief at all and is flagged for the reader to verify. (7) The final christ entry (the third witness in the midst) is marked novel: it is this machine's conjecture about the repeated number, not a sourced reading.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)