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Matthew 18 · a question people ask

What does "let him be to you as a Gentile or a tax collector" (18:17) mean?

In the text

Matthew gives the steps in Jesus's words and doesn't explain the last of them. First, "go, show him his fault between you and him alone" (18:15); then "take one or two more with you" (18:16); then "tell it to the assembly" (18:17); and "If he refuses to hear the assembly also, let him be to you as a Gentile or a tax collector" (18:17). Matthew says no more about what that means, and these notes don't either. They apply none of 18:15-17 to any church's practice today or to anyone's own conflict, and name the Gentiles and the tax collectors only as the text names them, applying the words to no people today.

The verses

““If your brother sins against you, go, show him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained back your brother. But if he doesn’t listen, take one or two more with you, that at the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the assembly. If he refuses to hear the assembly also, let him be to you as a Gentile or a tax collector.”
Matthew 18:15-17 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Matthew 18

Matthew 18: As little children

In Matthew the disciples themselves bring Jesus the question of who is greatest (18:1), and he answers with a little child (18:2-4). His parable of the sheep ends on "these little ones" (18:14). And in the parable of the king, the fellow servant begs with almost the very words the first servant used: "Have patience with me, and I will repay you!" (18:29).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions