Calvinists are Wrong about Matthew 18

My prayer for all Calvinists is that they come into the knowledge of the truth and understand the Word rightly divided (2 Tim. 2:15), that they recognize Paul as their apostle today, and quit perverting verses in the Gospels to be all about them when they aren’t.

Make no mistake. Matthew 18 has nothing whatsoever to do with church discipline today.

Let’s consider these passages.

Mat 18:15 Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. Mat 18:16 But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.

I have a question. In vs. 15, the Lord says if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. Since when does a person who wronged you, if he simply listens to you, that you will somehow gain him as a brother? How does that work? People hear me out all the time. I don’t always gain them as brothers. How do you explain these verses?

It’s simple. Throughout this whole discourse, the Lord repeatedly says the word “shall.” He is talking about a future time.

So when in the future will these statements be true?

Pentecost.

Remember when Peter and the other disciples were filled with the Spirit at Pentecost? Remember when Ananias and Sapphira were badly misbehaving and Peter confronted them, and they died and great fear came upon all the Jews (Acts 5:1-5)?

Let’s say a brother wrongs Peter in the days of Pentecost in early Acts. Peter wants to have a private chat with that brother, except because of what happened with Ananias and Sapphira, that brother doesn’t want to be anywhere near Peter. Why? Because he absolutely does not want to suffer the same fate as Ananias and Sapphira.

So this brother avoids Peter like the plague. He will not hear thee.

BUT if that brother is willing to hear Peter, then he’s already inclined to repent and make peace with him. If he’s actually agreeable to hearing Peter, he’s already predisposed to reconcile with him, and Peter will gain him as a brother.

But many other unbelievers who wrong Peter will avoid him like the plague.

The issue here is getting the brother willing to listen to him. If he doesn’t want to hear Peter privately, then Peter needs to bring two or three witnesses and try again. If he once more refuses to engage Peter in dialogue, then the Lord says to do the following:

Mat 18:17 And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.

If he refuses to have a conversation with Peter and two witnesses, then Peter is to go tell it unto the church. Go tell the leadership in the local synagogue so the priests can try to intervene. By saying the word church, the Lord is talking about the local synagogue and the Levitical priests. This is still Israel, and they were all still under the law.

So if this brother who wronged Peter yet again refuses to listen to the priests, then pay very close attention to what the Lord says in the second half of vs. 17. He says, let him be UNTO THEE as an heathen man and a publican.

There is nothing ambiguous about what the Lord said. He is not talking about a synagogue back then (or a church today) disciplining anybody. He is not talking about a synagogue back then (or a church today) publicly shaming and excommunicating a believer.

What did the Lord say? He said, let him be UNTO THEE as an heathen man and a publican. In other words, the apostles were to personally break fellowship with that person. Let him be UNTO THEE, the singular you, unto you personally, as an heathen man and a publican.

This is about the apostle himself personally viewing that person as a heathen. This was about the apostle marking and avoiding that man who wronged him. Of course, the Jews had a legal system. They had the legal rights to take that other Jew to court for compensation or to inflict punishment upon that man. The Lord doesn’t want His apostles taking other Jews to court. They were to never go that route. They were to strictly follow this process the Lord had just laid out. Try to talk to him. If he refuses to talk to you with or without witnesses and if he refuses to talk to the priests, then you personally are to mark and avoid him. Treat him as a heathen dog.

This has nothing to do with churches today. This has nothing to do with a church publicly shaming and excommunicating a believer. This was strictly direction the Lord gave to the apostles about how they were to deal with fellow Jews who wronged them after they have been empowered with miraculous spiritual gifts at Pentecost.

Mat 18:18 Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Mat 18:19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. Mat 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

Here again Calvinists twist these passages to claim that their church has this same authority that was only given to the disciples.

Do you know what John MacArthur says about these passages in his study Bible? He will refer you back to his notes on Matt. 16:19. That’s when the Lord told Peter he was giving him the keys of the kingdom and whatsoever he binds on earth shall be bound in Heaven.

He writes, “Christ’s actions mean that any duly constituted body of believers, acting in accord with God’s Word, has the authority to declare if someone is forgiven or not. The church’s authority is not to determine these things but to declare the judgment of heaven based on the principles of the Word. When churches make such judgments on the basis of God’s Word, they can be sure heaven is in accord.”

Make no mistake. Neither the passages in Matt. 16 or 18 have anything to do with forgiveness of sins, nor making declarations based upon what the Word says. The Lord never said any of that. This is about apostolic authorities given to Peter and the apostles, who would be filled with the Spirit and making decisions on Earth that are binding in Heaven. Examples of those decisions they made on Earth that were binding in Heaven – choosing Matthias to replace Judas, the words Peter spoke to the people in Acts 2-3, how Peter handled the issue with Ananias and Sapphira, etc.

Christ was talking TO Peter about HIS apostolic authority that God had given HIM. Neither the Calvinists nor anyone else has the right to claim Peter’s apostolic authority for themselves. If you try to claim for yourself authorities God had given only to the apostles, then you are deceiving people with the same brand of heresy found in the Catholic Church.

Get a good King James Bible. Discover for yourself that Paul is your apostle.