Matthew 18–Seen as a complete unit

I once again came across Matthew chapter 18. This chapter is noteworthy, famous, and well-used. It is subdivided into smaller units that are frequently the basis for sermons, essays, books, and standalone doctrinal points:

• You must become humble as children (vv.1-5)
• If any part of you causes you to sin, cut it off (vv.6-9)
• Parable of the Lost Sheep (vv.10-14)
• Instructions for church discipline (vv. 15-17)
• Efficacy of prayer (vv. 18-20)
• How many times must I forgive? (vv. 21-22)
• Parable of the Unforgiving Servant (vv. 23-35)

This time though, I noticed a few key words and themes that made me think that this entire chapter really is a single unit and we’ve done much disservice to it by taking smaller units out of it and using them in standalone ways. What words and themes did I see?

• “Kingdom of heaven” – vv. 1-4, and again in v. 23. My thought: the concluding parable might have something to do with the initial question of the disciples and Jesus’ immediate response.
• “Children” and “little ones” – vv.1-14. My thought: the intial question and Jesus’ answer extends all the way through verse 14.
• The theme of going astray tied to a fellow Christian sinning and going astray – vv. 10-20. My thought: the theme of “little ones” earlier overlaps and morphs into the entirety of Christian community and individual responsibility to one another.
• The theme of forgiveness – vv. 21-35. My thought: This theme follows directly from what to do when a Christian who has gone astray returns, when a sheep returns to the fold, when someone who has caused a “little one” to stumble repents.

As can be seen, to take any smaller section of this chapter and apply it directly to a church context brings danger of anachronism and misuse. The entirety of the chapter appears to be providing Matthew’s perspective on how members of the kingdom of heaven are to behave toward one another, particularly when tensions, frictions, and offenses arise.

While it is convenient to divide the text into sections for the purpose of commentary, apart from the second question which divides the discourse at v. 21 all other such breaks are relatively arbitrary (see especially comment on v. 6) and should not be allowed to obscure the connected flow of the discourse as a whole… To take this corporate focus of vv. 17–20 as the leitmotif of the whole discourse, thus constituting it a manual for church leaders, is to get it out of proportion. The “community” aspect of the discourse consists not primarily in that it prescribes corporate action, but that it guides the individual disciple on how to live in relation to other members of the community to which he or she is assumed to belong. (New International Commentary on the New Testament: Matthew; C. Living Together as Disciples: The Discourse on Relationships, 18:1-19:2)

Jesus' concern for the feelings and needs of others lays the groundwork for the discourse that follows on how the church is to live together as a family. (Reading Matthew, 17:24-18:35)

I plan to take a closer look at each of the sections and see what they say in relation to the whole.