Go Deep

(The Forgiver: Matthew 18)

Read Matthew 18. Note how often the word sin appears. Take note of other key words as well. What repeated themes do you see?

What do you see in Matthew 18 that suggests that sin is serious?

What do you think: If people were to gouge out an eye or cut off a hand (their own eye and hand) that had been used in the commission of a sin, would that end their problem with sin (vv. 8-9)?

What is the point of verses 12-14? What does Jesus want people to know?

Read Matthew 18:15-17. Put the instructions here into your own words. What does Jesus want to happen? Why do you think he gave this instruction?

Does verse 17 teach we should be severe with people? Why or why not?

 

What do verses 18-20 have to do with what went before? What is being bound and what is being loosed?

 

Is verse 19 a blank check? Why or why not?

 

In the context of verse 20, what is the reason the two or three coming together?

 

What do you think was the purpose of Peter’s question in verse 21?

 

If we keep forgiving people, do we just make it easier for them to keep on sinning?

 

What does Jesus’s answer in verse 22 imply? After I’ve forgiven 77 times (or 7 times 70 times), am I then free to hate and condemn?

 

Reread Jesus’s story in verses 23-34. Why did the king in Jesus’s story forgive the servant’s debt (vv. 27, 32)?

 

Did the servant receive his master’s forgiveness? Explain your answer.


What was Jesus’s primary point in telling this story? What should we do about it?

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