17If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.NIV
15-17”If a fellow believer hurts you, go and tell him—work it out between the two of you. If he listens, you’ve made a friend. If he won’t listen, take one or two others along so that the presence of witnesses will keep things honest, and try again. If he still won’t listen, tell the church. If he won’t listen to the church, you’ll have to start over from scratch, confront him with the need for repentance, and offer again God’s forgiving love. THE MESSAGE
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What’s the confusion? Obviously, the local congregation is meant. Nothing else would be fitting or practical, it seems to me.
But Jesus doesn't here mean just stand up during the assembly, and tell everyone the problem. He means take it to the Church authority, so that the erring brother can be corrected and then, if necessary, excommunicated. And if he is excommunicated, then he is not merely excommunicated from the local assembly, but from the entire institutional Church. Otherwise, he could just move to a different city and remain in full communion with the Church. The efficaciousness of church discipline in the local assembly presupposes that the Church is one universal institution. We see this also in Acts 15, at the Council of Jerusalem. All the local congregations were under the authority of the Apostles and Elders. As the Apostles died, the elders were made bishops, and continued leading this universal institution, meeting together in synods and to ordain other bishops. The idea that the Church is merely the "set of all believers" was unheard of until the 16th century. That should help us rightly interpret the passages in Scripture that speak of the Church.
-A8
Some of God’s people seem to have a dire need for Him to give them judges. A personal relationship with Him seems just too impossible. It makes us lesser than a sparrow, but then again, maybe we are, because a sparrow has less ability to offend Him.