Short answer: In Matthew 18:15–20 Jesus tells his disciples to go to a brother who has sinned, first alone, then with one or two witnesses, then before the assembly. The aim at every stage is gaining the brother back, and only persistent refusal to hear the assembly changes the relationship. Nothing here gives a leader private authority to remove people; it binds the community to patient, truthful pursuit. Peter's question that follows keeps the entire procedure under the rule of forgiveness.
Setting the scene for Matthew 18:15-20
Matthew 18:15–20 sits inside the fourth large block of Jesus' teaching in this Gospel, a discourse concerned with life among his disciples. Just before it, Jesus sets a child in their midst and warns against causing little ones to stumble, then tells the parable of the lost sheep. That parable ends with the Father's will that not one of these little ones perish, so the procedure that follows is framed as shepherding, not courtroom procedure. The brother who sins is someone the community is responsible to seek and recover, and the aim of every step is stated plainly: you have gained back your brother.
The shape of the passage is a sequence of escalating steps. First a private conversation between the two people involved, then the taking of one or two witnesses, then telling it to the assembly, and finally a word about binding and releasing. The witness requirement echoes the Old Testament provision that a matter be established at the mouth of two or three witnesses, and the assembly recalls Israel's covenant life, where the gathered people judged matters among themselves. In Matthew the assembly is the community of disciples gathered around Jesus, and the authority described is exercised in that gathered setting, not by one person acting alone.
The verses that follow shape how the whole unit is read. Peter immediately asks how often he must forgive a brother, and Jesus answers with a number that refuses to be counted. Then comes the parable of the unforgiving servant, which ends in severe warning for the one who was forgiven much and refused to forgive. The community that has been forgiven is the community that must forgive, and that colors the final step. The passage is not a warrant for gossip, public shaming, or a leader removing people on his own; Jesus places the process in the gathered community and aims it at restoration.
What the words of Matthew 18:15-20 actually ask
Jesus begins with a private conversation, not a public announcement. The phrase "show him his fault" is a plain call to name the wrong honestly, face to face, with no audience. Notice the direction: the offended person goes, rather than waiting to be approached or telling the story to others first. The goal is stated just as clearly, that the brother would be gained back. Everything in the instruction serves restoration. Hints, cold silence, and sideways comments to friends all fall short of what Jesus asks, and they also make the later steps unnecessary or impossible.
If the private conversation fails, Jesus adds one or two others. This echoes the Old Testament requirement that a matter be established by testimony, so the second step protects both parties from rumor. The witnesses are not a jury sent to pressure a verdict; they are there to hear and confirm what is true. Only after that does the matter go to the gathered assembly, not to a select tribunal or a leader acting alone. The phrase "let him be to you as a Gentile or a tax collector" describes a broken relational standing, not a license for contempt, since Jesus elsewhere shares tables with tax collectors. The aim remains recovery, not humiliation.
The sayings about binding and releasing, and about two or three gathered in his name, are often pulled loose from this setting. Read here, they describe a community's pronouncements matching what heaven has already decided, not a power to invent outcomes. The promise of his presence locates Christ with the gathered, not with a lone authority. That rules out gossip, public shaming, and a leader's unilateral removal of people. Where two or three gather in his name, the risen Lord is in the middle of them, and the process he just described is how that gathered body is meant to act.
Pursuing the brother, not removing him
Matthew 18:15–20 follows directly from the parable of the lost sheep, which ends with the Father's will that not one of these little ones perish (18:14). That placement matters. Jesus has just set a child in the midst of the disciples and warned them against causing little ones to stumble, so the brother who sins is not a stranger to be managed but someone the community is responsible to seek. The process Jesus describes moves outward by stages: go alone, then take one or two, then tell the assembly. Every step aims at gaining the brother back, not at building a case for removal.
The witness requirement in 18:16 echoes the Old Testament principle that a matter is established by two or three witnesses, and the assembly in view is the gathered community of disciples, not a distant court. Notice what 18:17 actually says: only after the brother refuses to hear the assembly does he become like a Gentile or tax collector, and even that comparison is spoken to the offended brother about his own posture, not handed to leaders as a license to expel. The binding and releasing of 18:18 are exercised in that gathered setting, under the same pursuit that began with a single private conversation.
The verses that follow keep the whole procedure under mercy. Peter asks how often he must forgive, offering seven times, and Jesus answers with seventy times seven (18:21–22). Then comes the parable of the unforgiving servant, where a man forgiven an enormous debt refuses to forgive a small one. Read together, 18:15–20 cannot be a manual for public shaming or a leader's private power to remove people. The community that has been forgiven much is sent to pursue, tell the truth, and keep the door open, because the goal is a brother gained, not a brother exiled.
Where careful readers disagree about the final step
The procedure in Matthew 18:15–17 is narrow by design. It addresses a brother who has sinned against you, and it moves only after private appeal and witnessed appeal have been refused. Readers differ over the last step: some hear removal from the fellowship, others hear a posture toward an outsider who might still be won, and some read it as a missionary stance. The text itself will not stretch into a tool for silencing criticism or removing people who ask hard questions of leaders. Gossip, public shaming and a leader's unilateral action all bypass the gathered community Jesus assumes here.
Another disagreement concerns whether these verses establish a formal church court or a general pattern for reconciliation among any believers. Notice who is promised the authority in 18:18: "Most certainly I tell you, whatever things you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever things you release on earth will have been released in heaven." The promise is given to gathered disciples, not to an individual officer acting alone. That limits every claim of authority made in this passage. Whatever binding and releasing mean in practice, they are exercised in company, under the same mercy that Peter's question in 18:21–22 will press further.
What stays central across these readings is the aim. The process is truthful, gradual and bent toward gaining a brother back, not toward winning an argument or clearing a seat. Matthew 18:14 frames the section: it is not the will of the Father that one of these little ones should perish. So the hard step is not permission for contempt. Even the outsider language is spoken to disciples who have just been told about a shepherd rejoicing over one found sheep. Mercy governs the whole, and any use of this passage that skips the private appeal or bypasses the gathered body has left the text behind.
The one who seeks the lost stands among them
Notice who is speaking. The chapter opened with a sheep that wanders and a shepherd who goes after it, and Jesus said the Father is not willing that one of these little ones perish (18:14). The instructions about a brother who sins grow straight out of that search. The pursuit in 18:15 is not a procedure for managing a problem; it is an imitation of the shepherd. Jesus speaks as the Lord who came to seek and save the lost, so the first step is a private, personal going, not a public announcement. The goal named is gaining back your brother, not winning an argument or clearing a record.
He also knows exactly how this will go for him. Jesus will be sinned against, refused by the ones closest to him, and handed over to outsiders, and he will still pray for those who wrong him. So the pattern of patient pursuit, of witnesses, of telling it to the assembly, points past itself to him. And the promise in 18:20 rests on his person, not on the group getting the process right: "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the middle of them." His presence is the gift, not the reward for a correct meeting.
That presence is why the process can aim at restoration rather than exile. Because Jesus sets this inside the gathered community, with witnesses and the assembly hearing together, it cannot be twisted into gossip, public shaming, or one leader quietly removing a person on his own. And the forgiveness he commands just after this, in answer to Peter's question about seven times, flows from the greater debt he has already forgiven us. We go to a brother gently because we have first been sought, and we forgive because we have first been forgiven.
Going to a brother: the ordinary shape of restoration
If you have been wronged, Jesus puts the first step in your own hands and keeps it small. Go to the person alone, name the wrong plainly, and aim to gain your brother rather than to win an argument (18:15). This rules out the shortcut we often take, which is to talk about the offense to everyone except the one who committed it. Notice the goal is stated before the process: the brother is to be gained. That single word sets the tone for every step that follows and makes gossip and public shaming a contradiction of the passage rather than an application of it. No step here guarantees the other person will respond.
If the private conversation is refused, Jesus does not escalate to the whole congregation at once. He sends one or two others who can witness honestly what was said and done (18:16). Only after that does the matter go to the assembled body (18:17). Leaders should hear this as a limit on their own power: the process belongs to the gathered community, and its purpose is recovery, not control. A pastor who removes a person unilaterally has skipped the very steps Jesus laid down. The goal remains the same at every stage, which is to gain a brother, not to win a case.
Where a person will not hear even the assembly, Jesus tells us to treat the relationship as broken, as with a Gentile or a tax collector (18:17), while the surrounding parable of the straying sheep keeps the door open in prayer and readiness to welcome them back. All of this is done by people who have been forgiven far more than they are owed, which is why Peter's question about seven times meets the answer of seventy times seven (18:21–22). We take these steps not as judges securing a verdict but as debtors showing mercy, and we leave the outcome with the Father.
Biblical fidelity check
Read closely, Matthew 18:15–20 has real interpretive traps. The procedure begins with a private conversation, not an announcement, and it is triggered by a brother who has sinned against you and refuses to listen. The second step, taking one or two witnesses, protects both parties from rumor. "Tell it to the assembly" means the gathered body, and "let him be to you as a Gentile or a tax collector" describes broken relational standing, not contempt, since Jesus eats with tax collectors. The promise of binding and releasing belongs to the gathered disciples, not to one officer acting alone.
Readers genuinely differ over what the final step means: removal from fellowship, treating someone as an outsider to be won, or a missionary posture. They also differ over whether these verses establish a formal church court or a general pattern for reconciliation. The text limits the procedure to a brother who has sinned and refused private and witnessed appeals, so it cannot be stretched into a tool for silencing criticism or removing people who ask hard questions of leaders. What stays central is restoration as the aim, a truthful and gradual process, and mercy governing the whole.
Following the theme of Matthew 18:15-20 through Scripture
The pursuit of a sinning brother sits inside a chapter about the shepherd who rejoices over one found sheep, so read the two together. Matthew 1: Genealogy and Birth of Jesus Consider how the wider teaching on humility shapes the way correction is given. Matthew 10: Jesus Sends the Twelve with Authority Trace how Peter's question about forgiveness answers the process just described. Matthew 12: Lord of the Sabbath and Sign of Jonah Then reflect on what it means for a whole church to speak with one voice rather than one leader acting alone. Matthew 13: Parables of the Kingdom.
Frequently asked questions
Does Matthew 18 give church leaders the right to remove people from the church?
Matthew 18:15–17 describes a member who sins against you and will not listen, and the final step is to tell it to the assembly, after which he is to be treated as a Gentile or a tax collector. That is a serious step of last resort, reached only after private and small-group appeals fail, and Jesus does not hand leaders a general power to purge people they dislike. The goal throughout is gaining back the brother, so removal is the tragic outcome of refusal, not the aim. Leaders act within this process, not above it, and forgiveness remains the surrounding call, as 18:21–22 shows.
What should I do if a leader in my church has sinned against me?
Go to that leader privately first and show him his fault alone with him, as Matthew 18:15 directs, since Jesus gives no exception for leaders. If he will not listen, bring one or two others so the matter is established by witnesses, then tell the assembly, and treat a leader who still refuses to hear as outside the fellowship. Do this prayerfully, remembering that where two or three gather in Christ's name, he is among them.
In Matthew 18:17, what does it mean to treat someone as a Gentile or a tax collector?
It means to treat the person as outside the fellowship of disciples rather than as a brother, because Jesus places Gentiles and tax collectors beyond the circle of those who belong. The step is the last resort after private conversation and witnesses have both failed, and Jesus gives no instruction here to hate or harm the person. The context of the lost sheep and the Father's will that none perish keeps the goal restoration, so this is a boundary of fellowship, not permission for contempt or revenge. The forgiving spirit that follows in 18:21–22 should shape how it is carried out.
