February Believers Magazine

The Church of God (1)
The Promise that Defines it
In Matthew 18 the Lord Jesus teaches important
lessons about interpersonal relationships. In the
opening sections of the chapter He uses the pictures
of a child and a sheep to emphasise the vulnerability
and the value of, and the consequent seriousness
of offending, “little ones” who believe in Him. As
the chapter progresses, the focus shifts from our
responsibility not to offend others to our response
when others sin against us, a response marked by
care to preserve unity and restore fellowship, and
a willingness to forgive “up to seventy times seven”
(v.22). First the erring brother is to be approached
individually. If that does not bear fruit, the offended
brother, with one or two reliable witnesses,
remonstrates further with the offender. If he remains
obdurate, a final approach and an ultimate sanction
remain: “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” (v.17).
Likely, the disciples would have been rather puzzled
by this use of the word “church”. They knew what it
meant: that the word was a compound of two Greek
words – ek, or “out of” and kaleo, meaning “called”
or “summoned”. They knew of its use to describe
political assemblies. They would have known too
that the term was used in the Greek translation of
the Old Testament to describes the assemblies of
the Jewish nation. And they would have remembered
the Lord using the word on another occasion when
He promised, “I will build my church” (16.18). The
difficulty for the disciples was not to understand the
word, but to comprehend what sort of an ekklesia –
or assembly – the Lord had in mind.
The assembly ... is an essential part of
God’s purpose.
Their questions were answered as the Lord outlined
the characteristics of the Christian ekklesia: “For
where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them” (18.20).
Before looking at the detail of this verse, we should
February 2014
M Sweetnam, Dublin
note the setting of the Saviour’s words. In 17.22-23
and 20.17-19, the Lord Jesus foretells His sufferings
and death. The material between these two passages
is structured as chiasmus:
A. 18.8–9
B. 18.10–14
C. 18.15–17
18.18–20
C. 18.21–35
B. 19.1–9
A. 19.10–12.
Matthew 18.18-20 is central to this section. The
description of the New Testament assembly is placed
like a priceless jewel in a carefully crafted setting,
emphasising the central importance of the assembly
to the teaching of the passage. The context outlines
the new relationships and responsibilities that have
been brought into being by the death and resurrection
of the Lord Jesus. And central to this transformation
is the assembly – where these relationships will be
manifest.
The lesson is as clear as it is crucial. The assembly is
neither an afterthought nor an extra. Rather, it is an
essential part of God’s purpose for His people in the
dispensation of grace. Scripture does not envisage the
prospect of maverick believers living in isolation from
others. The “assembling of ourselves together” (Heb
10.25) is a vital part of God”s plan. And as we grasp
this fact, we do well to ask whether the assembly is
central in our lives, or merely something peripheral. If
it does not form the focal point of our lives we do not
value it as God does, nor do we understand the unique
glory imparted by the presence of Christ. We should
also notice the dispensational context of the church.
In this passage, as in Matthew 16, the Lord provides
a preview of, and a promise for, the dispensation of
grace. The conditions He describes are unique to the
present dispensation. In the dispensation of Law,
the Tabernacle and then the Temple were “the place
where [His] honour dwelleth” (Ps 26.8), the gathering
centre for God”s people. In the Millennium, too, the
“nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go
up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of
the God of Jacob” (Micah 4.2). Even during Christ”s
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THE CHURCH OF GOD (1)