Bible Commentaries

Spiritual Sins

Matthew 18:1

I. Spiritual Envy.—Our text relates to the first occasion. Our Lord has just taken St. Peter, St. James and St. John away from the other disciples into the Mount of Transfiguration. The other disciples had doubtless plied them with questions, but they could get no information from them as to what had happened. We can understand their thought—how on the part of the nine disciples there may have been envy at this time, envy of the other three because of the greater privilege which they enjoyed. There Matthew 20:20 the circumstances are quite different. Our Lord has just foretold His coming death, and St. James and St. John are able to look through this announcement of the coming Cross and see the Kingdom beyond, and so they came to him and asked Him that they might sit one on His right hand and the other on His left in His kingdom. The other disciples are moved with envy of these two, and so our Lord speaks to the other ten. "Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister." There is an ambition which our Lord Jesus Christ does not blame. He does not blame this ambition of St. James and St. John. It was splendid faith, which was able to believe that even though there was to be the Cross there was certain to be the Crown. It was splendid faith which, just at that moment, when He foretold His Cross, was able to keep its eye fixed upon the Throne; and there was courage which enabled them to endure everything for the sake of that Throne. And Jesus Christ tells us how it is to be obtained. God helping, it is to be obtained by resignation, by submission, by drinking of the cup, by being ready to be baptized with the death. There must be a perfect submission of your life to God. The only man who really commands the homage of other men is the man who is willing to serve.

III. Spiritual Pride.—The third occasion upon which there is this strife as to who shall be the greatest is in St. Luke 22:24. They have now entered the upper chamber, and our Lord has told them, "One of you shall betray Me". And we read in the twenty-fourth verse, "There was also a strife amongst them, which of them should be accounted the greatest". Now it is more difficult to see exactly what led to strife on this third occasion, but I think, putting all the verses together, this strife, seems to have arisen after our Lord said, "One of you shall betray Me". They seem to have looked one upon the other, doubting to whom He spoke. No doubt afterwards they began to ask, "Lord, is it I?" I do not think they asked that question first. At first they began to think it must be one of the others who was going to betray Him. I fancy then one and the other began to think, "At any rate I will never betray Him"; and I fancy that this strife as to who was the greatest may be accounted for by that attitude at that moment. Our Lord rises from supper, takes a towel and girds Himself, and then goes round and washes all their feet, and then He comes and takes His garments and sits down again. Then they had learnt the lesson, and I venture to think that this third is an occasion of spiritual pride, looking down upon others because of some fancied superiority in spiritual things. How does our Lord deal with it? He teaches them that all need cleansing—St. Peter as well as all the rest—and He will go round and wash all their feet; and then they learn the lesson. Then, instead, of looking one upon another, doubting of whom He speaks, they begin to ask, crestfallen, "Lord, is it I?" They begin to imagine there are signs of sin in themselves which could produce even such a dastardly deed as that.

References.—XVIII:1.—J. A. Bain, Questions Answered by Christ, p40. James Denney, Gospel Questions and Answers, p98. XVIII:1-3.—H. Scott Holland, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxxii1907 , p267. J. H. Thom, A Spiritual Faith, p199. J. Martineau, Hours of Thought, vol. ii. p304. XVIII:1-4.—H. Scott Holland, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlvi1894 , p161. XVIII:1-6—Stopford A. Brooke, ibid. vol. xli1892 , p393. XVIII:1-6 , 10-14.—D. Fraser, Metaphors in the Gospels, p158. XVIII:1-14.—A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture—St. Matthew XVIII-XXVIII. p1.

A Child in the Midst (christmas)

Matthew 18:2

I. At Christmas time, especially, we bethink ourselves of those words of His. Whatever other meanings this sacred festival may have, this perhaps is the most prominent thought of it. Once a year a Divine child is set in the midst of us. Incarnate God and yet a little child. One who grew up to a perfect man and to possess all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, yet never left behind, as we do, the things which make childhood attractive. One who was called by His disciples to the last, "Thy holy child Jesus".

II. All grown-up people at some time or other have longed for or dreamed of a return to childhood, and sighed as they realized the impossibility of it. Truly the lessons which we most need to learn are just those which are breathed forth from the artless lips and shouted in the innocent delights of a happy, hopeful child. And so at Christmas time, the child Jesus seats Himself in the midst and speaks to us. He bids the doctors depart, and the sages be silent, and the world's science hold its lips, and the din of politics hush itself, and the clamours of prejudice and passion be still, that we may take in His heavenly teaching of faith, and innocence, and joy.

III. There are times when we get a little weary of all the grand talk about knowledge, and genius, and brilliant statesmanship, and the march of science and invention, and the cleverness of human foresight, and the omniscience of intellect, and the victories won over material forces, and the triumphs of civilization, and the cunning of worldly men. We have a suspicion that it is not doing for us all that the boasters say, that civilization does not quite mean paradise, and that grasp of mind is not the same thing as rest of soul. And therefore we will sit down at the feet of the child Jesus, and pray together that science may learn His humility, that intellect may have His reverence, that commerce may drink from His wells of purity and justice, that riches may clothe themselves with His simplicity and be filled with His self-denying spirit, that education and enlightenment may have their cold, freezing light made warm and gentle with His love, and that the nations as they ring the bells in honour of His nativity may bethink themselves of the spirit of the Divine child whom they worship, and gather from His simple innocence lessons of sublimest wisdom.

—J. G. Greenhough, Christian Festivals and Anniversaries, p220.

The Child in the Midst (For Holy Innocents" Day)

Matthew 18:2

Today's festival reminds us of the majesty with which childhood is invested in the Gospel.

I. Characteristics of Little Children.—Fresh from the waters of baptism they are worthy to be companions to the holy angels. Theirs is the life spiritual, unsullied as yet by the life natural. Then, as intelligence begins to dawn, we notice their guilelessness and simplicity; their trustfulness and confiding faith; their truthfulness. They forgive most readily and forget right soon. They are ever hopeful. The memory of past sorrow passes from them with incredible swiftness; and straightway the mirror is as bright as ever. Is it fanciful to note the very slender hold they have on the things of earth? Their hold upon the things of earth Matthew 18:3

What is there about little children which must also be found in those of a ripe age who would be citizens of the kingdom of God?

I. Pure Affection.—In childhood, affection is spring-water. It just bubbles up most naturally, and is pure and delicious. In manhood, affection is too often tap-water. It has flowed through pipes of expediency, prudence, and calculation, and it has lost its sparkle and limpidity. "Master, who shall be greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" There you have affection which is losing its purity, affection with a selfish aim, affection yoked to personal ambition. The Lord wants us to have the pure, uncalculating love of little children. He wants us to live so much with Him that to love Him shall be our highest bliss.

II. Fine Sensitiveness—A child's spirit is like a photographer's sensitive plate, exceedingly impressionable, responding to the daintiest touch of the softest light. The joys and sorrows of the world find in children a most ready and sympathetic response. This fine sensitiveness is apt to be lost as childhood is left behind. Our impressionableness is prone to lose its delicacy. The grief and happiness of the world do not move us with the same facility as of old. Our character is inclined to harden in one of two directions—towards a gloomy pessimism or towards a glaring worldliness. The child disposition may be symbolized by the month of April. April weather easily breaks into sunshine, and quite as easily melts into rain. We pass either into the dull heavy, pessimistic gloom of November, and it is difficult to move us into smiles, or into the hard, worldly glare of June, when it is difficult to melt us into tears.

III. Open-Mindedness.—Childhood is an age of eager questionings, and not of dogmatic conclusions. It is a season of keen receptiveness, of intense love of the sweet light. Now that open-mindedness is apt to be lost with the growth of our years. Revelation is regarded as closed; the volume as ended; all light as given; so that our knowledge can now be arranged in final forms. That was certainly the condition of the people among whom Christ's earthly ministry was passed. Their minds were closed, shut up tight against the reception of any new revelation from God. There were two forces actively at work closing their minds, and they are quite as active Today, the forces of pride and prejudice. When these abound in a life, every door and window is closed, and the "Light of the World" will seek admission in vain.

—J. H. Jowett, Meditations for Quiet Moments, p35.

Little Children

Matthew 18:3

The call to be children is Christ's supreme call. Failure to meet it was the cardinal sin of the respectable religious people of that day.

I. We must repent, and be like children. How easy and simple it is for a child to repent—how bitter for us! The truth is we are afraid—afraid to repent lest love and faith should carry us we know not where. We cover ourselves with many wrappings of position, calling, philosophy, just because we are cowards, and dare not face ourselves. Half the problems we think so dark, half the difficulties we multiply so proudly, take their origin in this. We dare not be alone. "I was afraid and hid myself, because I was naked."

And yet the natural line is that of Christ—to feel sorry like a child, humble like a small schoolboy who knows he is at the bottom. This is all we can do, when the facts stream in upon us. This, above all else, divides us from the world. We do, they do not, think repentance and humility a duty. Our enemies tell us that we are not better than they are, and often worse. Alas! we know it. It is because we are bad that we want to touch the hem of His garment, not because we are good.

II. But though it begins with humbled grief, repentance does not end there. The child who says he is sorry always adds, I"ll try and never do it again. That faith in the future, even more than the grief, is the note of the Christian. He believes, the world does not believe, that with God's help he may become better.

III. For the child's repentance, and the child's amendment we need the inexhaustible faith of childhood, its infinite and inalienable romance. That which springs up naturally in human childhood is for us the supreme gift, a grace to be sought with prayer—this faith, that is at the root of the careless gladness of children, and of the ease and buoyancy of saints like St. Francis—this faith so uplifting, so hard to win, yet so essential. For without it where are we? Whether we look at the prospects of the Church or our own life, probability, rational calculation, common sense are all ranged on the cynic's side.

People talk of the Church in danger—the Church is always in danger; the miracle is not in her weakness, but in her existence. It is only as we throw ourselves on God that we shall certainly conquer—for "of ourselves we have no power to help ourselves". Yet with that aid victory is not merely likely, but certain.

—J. Neville Figgis, The Gospel and Human Needs, p155.

Becoming As Little Children

Matthew 18:3

What did our Lord mean by bidding us become as little children? Let us recall the circumstances in which our Lord spoke about the children; and we shall at once see.

I. The most striking of His references to children comes in that very solemn warning against despising them. "Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones, for I say unto you that their angels in heaven do always behold the face of My Father in heaven." The imagery is drawn from the court of a king. Those who see the king's face are they who stand immediately in his presence and are especially in his confidence. It is the privilege of innocent children to be very sure of God, to speak to Him familiarly in prayer, to rest in the assurance of His protection.

II. A second childlike quality which if we lose we must recover before we can be of the kingdom, is sincerity. The prayer, "I thank Thee, O Father," etc, was uttered after the rejection of His Gospel by the elders of the Jews and its acceptance by the band of Apostles; and to that it must refer. And, I would ask you, is not one of the most characteristic qualities of children this habit of theirs of looking straight at things and people and judging them to the best of their power without either prejudice or fear of consequences? This is the characteristic recognized in Hans Andersen's delightful story of the Emperor's Robe, which everybody pretended to see and admire, until a child cried out that there was no robe at all to see. Plainly it was this childlike sincerity in the Apostles—what our Lord called "the single eye"—that distinguished them from the Pharisees and enabled them to receive a new revelation.

III. There is a third childlike quality to which our Lord calls attention, which also, if we have unhappily lost, we must labour to win back again—un-pretentiousness, the absence of self-importance.

How can this temper be recovered? Clearly we cannot recover the unconscious unpretentiousness of childhood. But there are two or three things we can do. (1) We can aim at taking a real and unaffected interest in others, looking for their good qualities and valuing them. (2) We can make ourselves give exact reasons for any dislikes we feel. (3) We can at anyrate apply the check at the point where the unchristian feeling passes into word or deed.

—H. C. Beeching, Church Family Newspaper, 3April, 1908 , p302.

Matthew 18:3

You have the child's character in these four things—Humility, Faith, Charity, and Cheerfulness. That's what you have got to be converted to. "Except ye be converted, and become as little children." You hear much of conversion nowadays; but people always seem to think they have got to be made wretched by conversion, to be converted to long faces. No, friends, you have got to be converted to short ones; you have to repent into childhood, to repent into delight and delightsomeness.

—Ruskin, Crown of Wild Olive.

Wordsworth has told us the law of his own mind, the fulfilment of which has enabled him to reveal a new world of poetry: Wisdom is ofttimes nearer when we stoop, Than when we soar. That it is so likewise in religion, we are assured by those most comfortable words, Except ye become as little children, ye shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. The same truth is well expressed in the aphorism, which Charles the First, when he entered his name on the books at Oxford, in1616 , subjoined to it: Si vis omnia subjicere, subjice te rationi. Happy would it have been for him, if that which flowed thus readily from his pen had also been graven upon his heart. He would not then have had to write it on the history of his country with characters more glaring and terrible than those of ink.

—Julius Hare.

References.—XVIII:3.—M. Dods, Christ and Matthew 18:7

These is a sin which very many people think little about, the sin of making others sin. It is a real sin, a common sin, and a very dreadful sin. It was the first sin committed in the world, for it was the sin of the tempter who tempted the woman to disobey God; and it was the first fruit of the Fall of Matthew 18:8

We mark these three points. First, the case supposed, "If thy hand or thy foot cause thee to stumble". Then the sharp, prompt remedy enjoined, "cut them off and cast them from thee". Then the solemn motive by which it is enforced, "It is better for thee to enter into life maimed than, being a whole Matthew 18:9

There is and there can be (according to our Lord) for all men but one supreme end and aim—to "enter into life". To "enter into life" means (if we may attempt to define the expression) to enter into conscious and purposeful fellowship with God: first, here; and then, hereafter. This is the supreme aim; and all that interferes with it—even though it be good in itself, as it often is—must be ruthlessly sacrificed.

I. It is clear that this conception of our Lord's is opposed to two widely contrasted ideals.

1. It is opposed to asceticism, in the more common use of that word. For it is evident that while our Lord regards the possession of "two eyes" or "two feet" as good in itself, and only counsels their sacrifice for the sake of something better, asceticism regards the sacrifice as in itself desirable and praiseworthy. Our Lord would prefer that we should use and enjoy all our faculties; that the world should be full of men with keen eyes and strong arms; asceticism would regard the one-eyed or the one-armed man as superior to normal and healthy human beings; it would exult in a maimed and mutilated humanity.

2. It is equally opposed to what is sometimes called æstheticism. Æstheticism proclaims that the main object of man is to see and to feel. It declares that art is free, and must be free, from all moral considerations. It professes to worship the beautiful—the eye must see, both eyes must see, all that is to be seen, whether they "offend," "cause one to stumble," or no. Its aim—preserved at all costs—was to have two eyes and two hands—to enjoy what it would call a "full and complete life".

II. Now let us be quite sure that the religion of Christ is no enemy to art or culture. But while the religion of Christ finds full scope—in its teaching and in its practice: in architecture, in stained-glass windows, in the music of the Church—for the love of beauty to find its expression even in worship, it has never been forgetful of the awful danger which may beset, and often has beset, those who make the pleasure of the senses, even in their most refined forms, the great end of life.

This, at any rate, is what the Christian religion says. It says that a full life is a good thing, but a sound life is a better; and that to have a sound life—a healthy life—to "see salvation"—we must, if necessary, be prepared to sacrifice some of the fullness.

III. It is better "to enter into life". For notice that whatever the sacrifice required in the present, the end is to be a fuller, not an emptier existence. If the lower is to go, it is only that the higher may be preserved. "Whosoever will lose his life shall save it."

—H. R. Gamble, Christianity and Common Life, p105.

Illustration.—All parts of our nature were made by God. The best thing is that we should be able fully to exercise all our faculties; but we must be safe at the centre before we can be free at the circumference. Whatever exposes us to temptation that is too strong for us must at any cost be abandoned.

—Bishop Gore.

Matthew 18:10

What is Contempt, George Meredith asks in his Essay on Comedy, "but an excuse to be idly minded, or personally lofty, or comfortably narrow, not perfectly humane?... Anger is not much less foolish than disdain."

He who despises mankind will never get the best out of either others or himself."

—De Tocqueville.

References.—XVIII:10.—G. H. Morrison, Sunrise, p62. Morgan Dix, Sermons Doctrinal and Practical, p40. H. Varley, Spiritual Light and Life, p161. H. P. Liddon, Penny Pulpit, No467. F. E. Paget, Sermons for the Saints" Days, p89. W. Boyd Carpenter, The Burning Bush, p21. J. S. Maver, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxii1902 , p438. A. J. Forson, ibid. vol. lxxii1907 , p313. XVIII:10 , 11.—J. M. Neale, Sermons Preached in Sackville College Chapel, vol. ii. p315; see also Readings for the Aged (3Series), p227. XVIII:11.—R. Davidson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. liv1898 , p26. Horace Bushnell, Christ and His Salvation, p57. XVIII:12.—A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture—St. Matthew XVIII-XXVIII. p19. XVIII:12 , 13.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxv. No2083. XVIII:12 , 14.—Cosmo Gordon Lang, Thoughts on Some of the Parables of Jesus, p263. XVIII:13.—A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture—St. Matthew XVIII-XXVIII. p29. XVIII:14.—C. Vince, The Unchanging Saviour, p103. H. Montagu Butler, Harrow School Sermons, p230. Henry Alford, Quebec Chapel Sermons, vol. iv. p257.

Matthew 18:15

With a little more patience and a little less temper, a gentler and wiser method might be found in almost every case; and the knot that we cut by some fine heady quarrel-scene in private life, or, in public affairs, by some denunciatory act against what we are pleased to call our neighbour's vices, might yet have been unwoven by the hand of sympathy.—R. L. Stevenson, Across the Plains, p314.

Matthew 18:15

When a man is to be amended, it becomes the office of a friend to urge his faults and vices with all the energy of enlightened affection, to paint them in their most vivid colours, and to bring the moral patient to a better habit.

—Burke.

You reprove me like a friend, and nothing comes so welcome to me as to be told of my faults.

—Walpole to Mason.

Professor York Powell describes Richard Shute, the Oxford scholar, as a man "who had devotion enough for his friends to tell them when he thought they had got on the wrong path, and he would manage this with singular tact, so that a Matthew 18:20

This text has no special reference to meetings for worship, but includes these as well as all others. Christ's own definition of a Church is independence of all times and places.

I. Social Worship—its Grounds.

(1) The necessity of worship as the expression of religion. (2) The necessity of private worship from the individuality of man and the tensely individual character of the acts of religion. (3) Necessity of social worship from the equally obvious destination of man for society.

II. Social Worship—its Nature.

(1) "In My name." That Matthew 18:20

The devout meditation of the isolated Matthew 18:21-22

When thou turn"st away from ill,

Christ is this side of thy hill.

When thy heart says, "Father, pardon,"

Then the Lord is in thy garden.

When to love is all thy wit,

Christ doth at thy table sit.—

George Macdonald.

"If you are exchanging measurable maxims for immeasurable principles," wrote F. W. Robertson in a letter, "you are surely rising from the mason to the architect. "Seven times?"—no—no—no—Seventy times seven. No maxim—a heart principle. I wonder whether St. Peter wholly understood that, or got a very clear conception from it."

References.—XVIII:22.—C. S. Robinson, Simon Peter, p310. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture—St. Matthew XVIII-XXVIII. p37. XVIII:23-25.—A. Brown, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xli1892 , p68. R. Winterbotham, The Kingdom of Heaven, p111. T. Guthrie, Parables of Our Lord, p242. XVIII:25.—S. Baring-Gould, Village Preaching for a Year (2Series), vol. ii. p184. XVIII:27-34 , 35.—J. H. Jellett, The Elder Matthew 18:33

The correcting, hallowing, consoling rush of pity.

—Pater.

"Nothing," says Charlotte Bront, of her sister Emily, "nothing moved her more than any insinuation that the faithfulness and clemency, the long-suffering and loving-kindness which are esteemed virtues in the daughters of Eve become foibles in the sons of Adam. She held that mercy and forgiveness are the Divinest attributes of the Great Being who made both man and woman, and that what clothes the Godhead in glory can disgrace no form of feeble humanity."

References.—XVIII:33.—F. E. Paget, Faculties and Difficulties for Belief and Unbelief, p201. Henry Alford, Quebec Chapel Sermons, vol. v. p184. A. MacLeod, Days of Heaven Upon Earth, p100.

The Unjust Steward

Matthew 18:35

This parable does not deal with the limits of human mercifulness, but with its ground and pattern. If we understand these, we shall not need to ask, as St. Peter asked, "How often?" for the question will answer itself.

I take the whole parable for consideration, and I think we shall find that it yields us great thoughts about our relations to God and men.

I. The King and his Debtor.—The analogy between sin and debt is imperfect, and we are not to look for correspondence between the details of the parable and the realities of men's relation to God.

The one point is the immense sum owing. The debt is stated in talents—each talent represents a large sum. So each sin against God is great.

II. The Debtor's Prayer.—Here again the imperfect analogy, for no future righteousness can wipe out past sin. "I will pay thee all." How long would it take a penniless bankrupt to amass10 ,000 talents?

III. The King's Mercy.—This is as great as his severity had been. He is moved with compassion. He goes far beyond the debtor's petition. What seems all but incredible in men and rarely found in them represents God's mercy.

IV. The Contrast between the Treatment Shown to the Forgiven Debtor and his Treatment to his Debtor.—He had just been the object of mercy which should have made his heart glow. He had come through the agonies of an experience which should have made him very tender and very ready to do as he had been done by. The hands which were wrung in agony and entreaty are now throttling his "fellow-servant". Such inconsistency excites the notice of his fellow-servants, who tell it to the Lord. The world will be quick to notice if Christians show malice and unmercifulness. Note that "wrath" comes in here for the first time. Unmercifulness in a recipient of God's mercy is a worse sin than many which are more recognized. The cancelled debt is revived. It is a solemn thought that if we cherish any feelings but those of merciful readiness to forgive, our possession of the sense of God's pardon is dimmed. No man can at the same moment feel God's mercy lapping him in its warm folds, and give way to the emotions which are naturally excited by another man's faults to us. Observe that the parable lays down the principle that the personal reception of God's mercy in Christ precedes our showing mercy to others. And, with equal clearness, that showing mercy is the proper result of having received that Divine mercy, and the condition of retaining it.

So the two lessons are: (1) Recognize your debt to God and seek forgiveness by Christ. (2) See that you imitate what you hope in, and keep the grace received by letting it shape your lives and characters.

—A. Maclaren.

Matthew 18:35

In a letter to James Boswell, Dr. Johnson observes: "I had great pleasure in hearing that you are at last on good terms with your father. Cultivate his kindness by all honest and manly means. Life is but short; no time can be afforded but for the indulgence of real sorrow or contests upon questions seriously momentous. Let us not throw away any of our days upon useless resentment, or contend who shall hold out longest in stubborn malignity. It is best not to be angry; and best, in the next place, to be quickly reconciled."

References.—XVIII:35.—G. W. Herbert, Notes of Sermons, p195. Canon Wilberforce, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlvi1894 , p280. W. R. Huntington, ibid. vol. lxxiii1908 , p141. XIX:4-6.—E. W. Langmore, The Divine Law in Relation to Marriage with a Deceased Wife's Sister, Sermons, 1818-83. XIX:5.—Canon R. E. Sanderson, Church Times, vol. xxxvi1896 , p110. D. M. Ross, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxviii1890 , p301.