15th Sunday after Pentecost Matthew 18:15-20

Preaching Commentary

An Applicable Passage

There are a number of passages in God’s Word, both in the Old and New Testaments in which the original context no longer bears much resemblance to our own. In those cases, preachers must make interpretive leaps, from the original context to our own to find suitable application of the eternal principles within the text.

For example, the last time I went down to my local Safeway, Ralphs, or Whole Foods, I didn’t come across any meat with the label ("sacrificed to Apollo on July 5th"). That situation no longer exists in at least most contexts of modern Christianity. That’s not a problem with our passage today.

Matthew 18 continues to offer wisdom to the…