Texts in Conversation
Matthew 18 and tractate Sanhedrin in the Babylonian Talmud reflect Jewish tradition and practice that prioritizes private correction in cases of wrongdoing to avoid public shaming. This emphasis on confronting the offender alone before involving the community highlights a concern for preserving the individual’s dignity.
Share:
Matthew 18:15
New Testament
13 And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. 14 In the same way, your Father in heaven is not willing that one of these little ones be lost. 15 “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault when the two of you are alone. If he listens to you, you have regained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others with you, so that at the testimony of two or three witnesses every matter may be established. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. If he refuses to listen to the church, treat him like a Gentile or a tax collector.
Date: 70-90 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Sanhedrin 107a
Babylonian Talmud
Rabbinic
David continued: Moreover, my enemies torment me to the extent that at the time when they are engaged in the public study of the halakhot of the four court-imposed death penalties they interrupt their study and say to me: David, concerning one who engages in intercourse with a married woman, his death is effected with what form of execution? And I said to them: Concerning one who engages in intercourse with a married woman before witnesses and with forewarning, his death is by strangulation, and he has a share in the World-to-Come. But one who humiliates another before the multitudes has no share in the World-to-Come. The transgression of those who humiliated David is clearly more severe than the transgression of David himself.
Date: 450-550 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Search:
Notes and References
"... Church discipline, Matthew 18:15; Luke 17:1–4; Rabbinic sources indicated that a person should never shame another publicly or he/she could be excluded from the world to come (b. Sanhedrin 107a) ..."
Levine, Amy-Jill & Brettler, Marc Zvi
The Jewish Annotated New Testament
(p. 33) Oxford University Press, 2011
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
Your Feedback:
Leave a Comment
Anonymous comments are welcome. All comments are subject to moderation.