Ver. 156. ἁμαρτήσῃ: apart from the doubtful εἰς σὲ following, the reference appears to be to private personal offences, not to sin against the Christian name, which every brother in the community has a right to challenge, especially those closely connected with the offender. Yet perhaps we ought not too rigidly to draw a line between the two in an ideal community of Ίονε.---μεταξὺ σ. κ. a. p. : the phrase implies that some one has the right and duty of taking the initia- tive. So far it is a personal affair to begin with. The simpler and more classical expression would be µόνος µόνον.- -ἀκούσῃ, hear, in the sense of
240
δύ ε/ 4. ρ δύ , - a a cn ἡ δύο, ἵνα ἐπὶ στόματος δύο μαρτύρων ἢ τριῶν σταθῇ wav ῥῆμα. p here only 17. ἐὰν δὲ Ῥ παρακούσῃ αὐτῶν, εἰπὲ τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ: ἐὰν δὲ καὶ τῆς
(Esther iii. 3, 8).
ἐκκλησίας παρακούσῃ, ἔστω σοι ὥσπερ 6 ἐθνικὸς καὶ ὁ τελώνης.
18. ᾽Αμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ὅσα ἐὰν δήσητε ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ἔσται δεδεµένα q Ch, κκ. α, ἐν τῷ 1 οὐρανῷ: καὶ ὅσα ἐὰν λύσητε ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ἔσται λελυμένα
14. Lk.v. a 33. Acts ἐν TO} οὐρανῷ. Vo ο) αν
15.
19. πάλιν 2 λέγω ὑμῖν, ὅτι ἐὰν δύο ὑμῶν * συμφωνή- Ἴσωσιν ὃ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς περὶ παντὸς πράγματος οὗ ἐὰν αἰτήσωνται,
1 B omits τω first time and 398 second time. 2 B and many other uncials add αµην after παλιν (W.H. in brackets).
ὃσυμφωνησονσιν in SBDLA (Tisch.).
submitting to admonition.—éxépdyaas : gained as a friend, as a fellow-member of the Kingdom of God, or as a man = saved him from moral ruin? All three alternatives find support. Is it necessary or possible to decide peremptorily between them ?—Ver. 16. ἐὰν δὲ μὴ a. After a first failure try again, with added influence.—mwapddaBe . .. ἕνα ἢ δύο. This bears a juridical aspect (Schanz), but it does not really pass out of the moral sphere: ethical influence alone contemplated ; consensus in moral judg- ment carries weight with the conscience. —tva ἐπὶ ordpartos, etc. : reference to the legal provision in Deut. xix. 15 in a literary rather than in a legal spirit.— Ver. 17. ἐὰν δὲ π.ᾱ. Try first a mini- mum of social pressure and publicity, and if that fail have recourse to the maximum. —eiwé TH ἐκκλησίᾳ: speak to the ‘“‘ Church ’—the brotherhood of believers in the Christ. This to be the widest limit for. the ultimate sphere of moral influence, as ex hypothesi the judgment of this new community will count for more to its members than that of all the world Ῥεγοπά.- ἔστω σοι, etc.: this failing, the offender puts himself outside the society, and there is nothing for it but to treat him as a heathen or a pub- lican ; which does not mean with in- difference or abhorrence, but carefully avoiding fellowship with him in sin, and seeking his good only as one without. There is no reference in this passage to ecclesiastical discipline and Church cen- sures. The older interpreters, in a theologico-polemical interest, were very anxious to find in it support for their ‘developed ideas on these topics. The chief interest of historic exegesis is to divest it of an ecclesiastical aspect as much as possible, for only so can it suit the initial period, and be with any pro- bability regarded as an utterance of
Jesus. As such it may be accepted, when interpreted, as above. If, as we have tried to show, it was natural for Jesus to speak of a new community of faith at Caesarea, it was equally natural that He should return upon the idea in the Capernaum lesson on humility and kindred virtues, and refer to it as an in- strument for promoting right feeling and conduct among professed disciples. — Ver. 18. Renewed promise of power to bind and loose, this time not to Peter alone, 45 in xvi. το, but to all the Twelve, not gua apostles, with ecclesias- tical authority, but qua disciples, with the ethical power of morally disciplined men. The Twelve for the moment are for Jesus = the ecclesia : they were the nucleus of it. The binding and loosing generically = exercising judgment on conduct ; here specifically = treating sin as pardonable or the reverse—a particu- lar exercise of the function of judging. Vv. το, 20. Promise of the power and presence of God to encourage concord.— Ver. 19. πάλιν ἀἁμὴν: a second amen, introducing a new thought of parallel importance to the former, in ver. 18. ---ἐὰν δύο: two; not the measure of Christ’s expectation of agreement among His disciples, but of the moral power that lies in the sincere consent of even two minds. It outweighs the nominal agreement of thousands who have no real bond of υπίοη.--συμφωνήσωσιν : agree, about what ? not necessarily only the matters referred to in previous con- text, but anything concerning the King- dom of ἄοἀ.- περὶ παντὸς mpdyparos : concerning every or any matter, offences committed by brethren included of course.—yevyoerat: it shall be; what absolute confidence in the laws of the moral world !—apa τ. π. p.: from my Father. The Father-God of Jesus is here defined as a lover of peace and