Matthew 18: 15 - 17.
"If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that every matter may be established by the testimony of the two witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector."
This passage comes during the last part of Jesus' earthly ministry. This passage is one of the most misunderstood passages in the Bible. To get the context of this passage, you need to remember that chapter 18 starts with verse one, read the beginning of the chapter, then read this passage.
Really, the idea starts in chapter 16 with the passage mentioned before this one. Chapter 18 is about reconcilliation of a member of the church flock. Ex-communication is mentioned, but only as the very last resort. The last line of this passage, verse 17, deals with this issue. Ex-communication is a very serious charge, and proceedings along this line have to be just as serious. If the fault does not come up to the seriousness of the negative conclusion, than this should not even be considered. If someone hurts your feelings, this should not be used in that case. Teaching of the Apostle Paul would be more appropriate concerning stronger and weaker brothers and becoming stumbling blocks. Hurting someone's feelings, is not an ex-communication offense. The punishment does not fit the crime. The church needs to understand the seriousness of ex-communication as well, if it is invoked, God will judge in this case, and if the church has made a mistake, God will judge correctly. To understand this better, I will continue on next blog.
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