Matthew · chapter 18 of 28
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Matthew 18 is the fourth discourse of Jesus in this Gospel and concerns the life of the community of disciples. It teaches that the greatest in the kingdom is the one who humbles himself like a child, warns against causing little ones to stumble, tells the parable of the lost sheep, gives steps for correcting a brother and, with the parable of the unforgiving servant, calls us to forgive from the heart.
The earlier chapters showed the identity of Jesus and his path to the cross. In Matthew 18 Jesus teaches how the community that follows him must live. The central theme is how to treat one another: with humility, care for the weak, restoration of the one who sins and boundless forgiveness.
The disciples ask who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus puts a child in their midst and says that unless they change and become like children they will never enter the kingdom; whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest, and whoever receives one such child in his name receives him. He warns sternly against causing one of these little ones who believe in him to stumble: it would be better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck and be drowned in the sea. He commands cutting off at the root whatever causes a fall, even a hand or an eye.
Jesus says not to despise one of these little ones, whose angels always see the face of the Father. He tells the parable of the shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine sheep to look for the one that went astray and rejoices over it more: so the Father does not want any of these little ones to perish.
Then he teaches how to treat a brother who sins. First go and tell him alone; if he does not listen, take one or two others along; if he still refuses, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Jesus says that whatever they bind or loose on earth will be bound or loosed in heaven, and that where two or three are gathered in his name, he is there among them.
Peter asks how often he must forgive his brother, up to seven times? Jesus answers up to seventy-seven times, and tells the parable of the servant who owed ten thousand talents to his master. The king, moved with pity, forgives him the whole debt, but that servant finds a fellow servant who owes him a hundred denarii, chokes him and has him thrown into prison. The king, hearing of it, calls him wicked, hands him over to the jailers and concludes that so will the heavenly Father do to those who do not forgive their brother from the heart.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Jesus says that whoever does not change and become like a child will not enter the kingdom, and that the greatest is the one who humbles himself like a child. Greatness in the kingdom is measured by humility and dependence, not by position.
The shepherd leaves the ninety-nine to look for the lost sheep, and Jesus concludes that the Father does not want any of these little ones to perish. Every person matters to God, and the community must seek out the one who has wandered.
Where two or three are gathered in the name of Jesus, he is there among them. The promise is given in the context of correction and communal prayer, and it assures the presence of Jesus in small and simple gatherings.
Peter asks whether forgiving up to seven times is enough, and Jesus answers seventy-seven times. The number means that Christian forgiveness does not keep count, because it comes from having first been forgiven by God.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: He put a child in their midst and said they must become like children. — Matthew 18:1-3
Answer: To have a great millstone hung around his neck and be drowned in the depth of the sea. — Matthew 18:6
Answer: He leaves the ninety-nine and goes to search for the one that went astray. — Matthew 18:12
Answer: Go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. — Matthew 18:15
Answer: Seventy-seven times. — Matthew 18:21-22
Answer: The first owed ten thousand talents, and his fellow servant owed him a hundred denarii. — Matthew 18:24-28
This chapter is a guide for church and family life. In a small group you can think about what it means today to become like children, without pride or pretension, and how to care for those who are new or fragile in the faith without putting stumbling blocks in their way.
The parable of the unforgiving servant puts a mirror before us. We have all received from God an enormous forgiveness, far more than we could repay. Ask whom you still need to forgive and what concrete step you can take this week, knowing that forgiving does not mean pretending it did not hurt.
Matthew 18 shows the life of the community of the kingdom: humility, care, restoration and forgiveness, because its Lord is compassionate. In chapter 19 Jesus crosses into Judea and teaches about marriage, blesses children and answers a rich young man.
The text can be understood as seventy-seven times or as seventy times seven, that is, 490. Either way the sense is the same: one must not keep count. Jesus means that forgiveness has no limit, because God forgave us a greater debt.
Interpreters understand it as the community no longer treating him as part of it while he does not repent, not as despising him. Jesus himself drew near to tax collectors and Gentiles to call them, so the goal remains restoration.
A talent was a very large sum of money, equal to many years of a laborer's wages, and ten thousand talents was an impossible sum to repay. A denarius was a day's wage. The contrast teaches that what others owe us is small compared with what God has forgiven us.