In Mt 16" Jesus promises to St. Peter the keys of the Kingdom of heaven, so that whatsoever he shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever he shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. In Mt 18"''* He makes a similar pro- mise to the Church geneially, or to the Twelve as representing the ecdesia— not 'qua apostles with ecclesiastical authority, but qua disciples with the ethical power of morally disciplined men' (Bruce, Expositor's Gr. Test., in loc. ; cf. further Jn 202^'). And in the immediately preceding context (vv.'^-") He gives directions as to the way in which an otl'ending brother is to be dealt with in the Church. The injured person is first to go to liini privately and endeavour to show him his fault. If he will not listen, one or two other Chiisti.ui ImThren are to accompany the first as «ii]i - i i; in any legal sense, we must suppn - -con-
sensus in moral judgment i n : lUi the
conscience' (Bruce, op. cit., n, . . ;. 1; Iil is still obdurate, the Church is now to be appealed to : 'and if lie refuse to hear the Church {eKKXrjirla] also, let him be unto thee as the Gentile and the publican.' That e/cxXTjaia in this passage means the community of Christian believers, and not, as Hort, for example, thinks (Christian Ecdesia, p. 10), the Jewish local community, seems in every way probable. Jesus had already spoken at Ca'sarea of tlie iKkK-qala that is built on Christian faith and confession (Mt 16'*), and it was altogether natural that on this later occasion He should refer to it again in speaking of tlie relations between Christian brethren. But it would be a mistake to find in this passage any reference to a formal process of excommunication on the part of the Church. The ottender of whom Christ speaks excommunicates himself from tlie Christian com- munity by refusing to listen to its united voice, and the members of the community have no option but to regard him as an outsider so long as he maintains that attitude. That Jesus meant nothing harsh by tlie expression 'as the Gentile and the publican,' and certainly did not mean a permanent exclusion from the Christian society, may be judged from the way in which He treated a Roman centurion and a Syrophcenician woman, and from the name given Him by His enemies— ' the friend of publicans and sinners.' No doubt in an organized society a solemn and formal act such as St. Paul prescribes in 1 Co 5'- ° is a natural deduction from the words of Christ in this passage ; but it cannot be said that sucli an act is definitely enjoined by the Lord Himself. It is the attempt to find here the authoritative institution of excom- munication as a formal act of ecclesiastical disci- pline that gives a colour of justification to the contention of some critics (e.g. Holtzmann, Hnnd- Commentar ziim NT, in loc.) that what we have in this passage is not an actual saying of Jesus, but
a reflexion of the ecclesiastical practice in the Jewish-Christian circles for which the Gospel of Matthew was written.
From our Lord's teaching in this passage it seems legitimate to infer that, though excom- munication may become necessary in the interests of the Christian society, it should never be resorted to until every other means has been tried, and in particular should be preceded by private dealing ill a brotherly and loving spirit. From the two parables of the Tares and the Wheat (Mt 13--'-*'- ^"■■•S) and the Draw-net (Mt 13-"-=") we may further gather that Christ would have His people to exercise a wise patience and caution in the use even of a necessary instrument. Mt 18'^" shows that there are offences which are patent and serious, and are not to be passed over. But from the two parables referred to we learn the impossi- bility of the Donatist dream of an absolutely pure Church. Not even those who have the enligliten- ment of the Spirit are infallible judges of character. The absolute discrimination between ' the good ' and ' the bad ' (Jit 13**) must be postponed till 'the end of the age' (v.*). Only under the per- sonal rule of the Son of Man Himself shall all tilings tliat otfend (iravra ri iTKdi>5a\a) be gathered out of His Kingdom (v.-").
Literature.— Artt. on ' Excommunication ' in Hastings' DB, Encyc. Bibl., and Jeudah Encyc. ; Schiirer, BJP ii. ii. p. 59 fif. ; Weber, Jiid. Theol.", Index, s.v. 'Bann' ; Maitensen, Christian Ethics, iii. p. 330 fl. ; the Commentaries of Meyer, Alford, Westcott (Gospel of St. John), and Bruce (Expositor's Gr. Test.) on the passages referred to ; Bruce. Parabolic Teachinij
of Christ, p. 4-2 sf. J. c. Lambert. '
EXCUSE.— 'To make excuse' (TrapaiTe7a0iu), Lk 14'*, means to avert displeasure by entreaty, to crave indulgence, to seek to be freed from an obligation or duty. (Cf . the use of ' excuse ' in Dampier, Voimn'-s. ii. 1. 99: 'In the evening he sent me out nt tlir I'alare. desiring to be excused that he (.cmM imi .ntirtaiu me all night'), irapat- TetirBai is u-ud lij .luM/phus exactly as here of declining an invitatiuii (Ant. VII. viii. 2). Ix^ /»e irapTiTriiiei'Ov (vv.''*- '") may be a Latinisni for habe me excusatum, but see INleyer and Weiss contra.