MATTHEW 18:8-9,15-16,17, C. H. Cayce “Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.”
It seems to us that this language clearly teaches that it is better for the church to cast an offender off, no matter how important that member may appear to us to be, rather than retain that member to the destruction of the body. And the language has direct reference to such matters as are an offense to the body. It has no reference whatever to matters of personal trespass, one member or person against another. Such crimes as drunkenness, lying, stealing, “bootlegging,” false swearing, fornication, adultery, and things of that sort, come under the teaching of the Saviour here, and there is no such thing found as instruction to labor with them in order to save or retain them in the church. The only gospel labor to bestow in such cases, the only dealing we can find in the Scriptures for such cases, is to simply cut them off. The church is no reformatory. Such offenders should be promptly excluded from the fellowship of the church. Matt. 18:15-16,17 reads: “Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.” This language has reference to personal trespasses, one member or person against another; such matters as personal differences between brethren, not public matters, such as are those things mentioned above. It seems to us that the Saviour’s instructions here are so plain and so explicit as to need no comment. We do not know how to make it plainer. But if a brother is hurt with another and he fails and refuses to follow the instruction given here, and feels that he cannot bear it, and talks to others about it, instead of going to the transgressor, he thereby becomes a transgressor himself. It seems to us that many of our churches have become careless and very slack in administering the discipline according to our Saviour’s teaching in this chapter. It is better to have a few with strict discipline and be diligent and careful in church matters, than to have a multitude who manifest but little or no care for the service of the Lord and the house of God. The Primitive Baptist, April 15, 1923.