Matthew 18

Notes

Ver. 1-6. His disciples having contended which of them should be preferred to the highest places of honour and trust in the temporal kingdom, which they imagined he would quickly set up, Jesus presented a little child before them, and told them that unless their minds were graciously weaned from such carnal ambition, and rendered truly humble, after the appearance of that child, they could neither be members nor honoured officers in his gospel kingdom, nor be admitted into the glories of the heavenly state; and that whoever of them affectionately regarded any of his humble, however mean, disciples, as such, should be esteemed as honouring himself; and that whoever should dishearten such weak but humble believers, and cause them to stumble into sin, should be exposed to the most certain and fearful punishments. 7-9. Dreadful hurt shall the world sustain through the corrupt opinions and practices by which Satan and his instruments will attempt to discourage, injure, and insnare weak believers; but most dreadful shall be the punishment of that man whose sinful and mischievous behaviour perverts and draws others into evil. If therefore anything, however useful or dear to you, tend to make you injure the cause of truth, peace, and holiness, to the grieving or tempting of my people, it would be much better for you to part with it, by the most self-denying and painful mortification, than, by indulging it, to hazard your own eternal damnation. 10-14. It is infinitely criminal and dangerous to contemn or discourage weak believers, whom the angels of God, on all occasions, watch over and minister unto; whom the Son of God came to save from the depths of ruin, and takes an especial pleasure in preserving and recovering when they have gone astray; and whom the Father, with all means of grace, seeks to make eternally happy. 15-17. If any of your fellow-professors of the true religion, by any sinful conduct, grieve or tempt you to sin, deal freely with him in a secret manner, in order to render him duly sensible of and penitent for it; and if he appear so, with joy renew your affection, and conceal his transgressions from others. If he appear obstinate, take one or two prudent Christians along with you, and deal earnestly and plainly with his conscience, to render him penitent. If he still continue obstinate in his sin, lay his case before that church judicatory to which he is immediately subjected; and if, notwithstanding all they can do to convince and reclaim him, he still continue obstinate, let him be solemnly cast out of the church by excommunication; and let all her members avoid all unnecessary fellowship with him, even in civil things, that he may be ashamed, and made to consider his conduct. 18-20. And that the censures may be confirmed and ratified by me and my Father, it is necessary that they be regularly passed in my name, and carried on with much fervent prayer. 23-35. The scope of this parable is to represent that nothing is more base, criminal, and dangerous than for such as profess to believe God's remission of all their high crimes against him to resent the petty injuries done to themselves; and that, though the revengefulness of believers shall not be punished with eternal damnation,†it will expose them to fearful chastisements in this life.

Ver. 3. As little children. The characteristics of children, as distinguished from adults, are chiefly these:—1. Obeying when called. 2. Ready to stand where placed. 3. Unconscious of worldly distinctions, ambition, and cares. 4. Teachable. 5. Imitative. 6. Confiding. 7. Dependent.—And as a child is, ordinarily, to an adult, so is a converted to an unconverted man. C.

Ver. 8. The Hebrews were accustomed to represent the affections of the mind by those parts of the body that were most affected by them; see Ro. 6.13; 7.23. Hence 'the bowels' denoted compassion; 'the heart,' love; 'an evil eye,' envy (Mat. 20.15), covetousness, or other unlawful desire, 1 Jn. 2.16. Hence 'the hand' and 'the foot' were used to signify all the powers of walking and of movement. 'To cut off,' or 'pluck out,' is, therefore, to 'mortify, through the Spirit,' those several 'deeds of the body,' that we may live to God. C.

Ver. 25. There does not appear in Scripture any instance of a man sold for payment of his debts. A man, however, might sell himself, Ex. 21.2,6; Le. 25.47; and if a debtor could not pay, the creditor might appropriate his service, but could not sell him. The sale authorized (Ex. 22.2) is not of a debtor, but a thief who could not pay the legal fine. Unless, therefore, the law imply that the right which a creditor acquired over the person and services of his debtor he might transfer to another, as he might his other properties, this case must be understood not as an illustration taken from the law of Moses, but from the practice of eastern monarchs, whose will is the only law. And this last supposition is rendered probable, if not confirmed, by our Lord's reference to 'the kings of the earth,' ch. 17.25. C.

Reflections.—An eager ambition after worldly honour is very unlike the disciples and kingdom of Christ. And there is great need of a daily conversion to God from the errors of our way. What tender care Jesus takes of his saints, especially if weak and humble! His angels watch over, protect, and minister to them. At his Father's commandment he died for them, and seeks them out when they wander. He hears their prayers, and attends their societies. It is inexpressibly dangerous to grieve their hearts or to make them stumble into sin, or for them to indulge any darling corruption. But it is very base and criminal for Christians to pay so little regard to their God and their Saviour's rules for removing of scandals; and to be more careful to render an offender infamous than to bring him to repentance. Thrice happy are the churches where these rules are attended to without passion or prejudice, and with a readiness to forgive. Awful are church censures when regularly passed; and heinous is their guilt, and infinite their danger, who dare wilfully incur, or profanely despise, what is ratified in heaven. How inconceivably great and many are our offences against God! He keeps an exact account of them all, in every circumstance of them! And infinite is the mercy of a reprieve, and especially of a redemption, from their awful consequences in hell. But detestable both to God and men is a revengeful temper or conduct in a professed Christian; and such may expect great plagues and sorrow because of sin in eternity.