During seminary I gained a great appreciation for Paul Benware’s Survey of the New Testament in providing high-level overviews of Scripture.
His outline of Matthew is a good example:
The Presentation of Jesus the King – 1:1-4:11
The Teachings of the King – 4:12-7:29
The Power of Jesus the King – 8:1-11:1
The Opposition to Jesus the King – 11:2-16:12
The Parables of the Kingdom – 13:1-52
The Preparation of the Disciples in View of the Rejection – 16:13-20:34
The Final Presentation of the King and the Final Rejection – 21:1-27:66
The Great Proof of Jesus the King’s Right to be King – 28:1-20
Matthew 18 provides a good example of how, when teaching Scripture, the contextual explanation and faithful interpretation should remain constant from preacher to preacher; however, the implication can vary.
As Rick Holland explains in his chapter on How to Craft a Life-Changing Sermon from MacArthur’s Handbook on Effective Biblical Leadership,
“If you explain with clarity the original contextual meaning of a biblical text, it will implicate your people in such a way that they say, ‘I see where the Lord would have me apply that principle.’”
A great example in this passage is how two faithful preachers, John MacArthur and J.C. Ryle, focus differently, yet faithfully, on the implication of Matthew 18:7.
MacArthur provides a solid overview:
“Matthew 18, which is a crucial sermon on God’s love for His people and the priority He places on their purity. It’s a portrait of the sanctifying love that should be evident among God’s people—love that builds up, that takes sin seriously, that loves and protects the body of Christ, and that, when necessary, confronts the sin in its midst.”
MacArthur highlights awareness of sin on a societal level, while Ryle emphasizes confronting sin on a personal level.
John MacArthur, Stand Firm: Living in a Post-Christian Culture
We need to avoid the world’s attempts to inhibit our growth in godliness. In verse 7, Jesus says, “Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks!” God’s children need to be aware of the stumbling blocks the world will hurl into our paths. We need to watch out for the world’s attempts to seduce us with what 1 John 2:16 describes as “the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life.” We expect the world to be a solicitor for wickedness and to do anything and everything to seduce believers away from obedience to God. As Christ says, “For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes!” (Matt. 18:7). God keeps detailed accounts, even with the world, and judgment will fall on those who seduce His children and stifle their spiritual growth.
J.C. Ryle
We put offences or stumbling blocks in the way of men’s souls, whenever we do anything to keep them back from Christ–or to turn them out of the way of salvation–or to disgust them with true religion. We may do it directly by persecuting, ridiculing, opposing, or dissuading them from decided service of Christ. We may do it indirectly by living a life inconsistent with our religious profession, and by making Christianity loathsome and distasteful by our own conduct. Whenever we do anything of the kind, it is clear, from our Lord’s words, that we commit a great sin.
There is something very fearful in the doctrine here laid down. It ought to stir up within us great searchings of heart. It is not enough that we wish to do good in this world. Are we quite sure that we are not doing harm? We may not openly persecute Christ’s servants. But are there none that we are injuring by our ways and our example? It is dreadful to think of the amount of harm that can be done by one inconsistent professor of religion. He gives a handle to the infidel. He supplies the worldly man with an excuse for remaining undecided. He checks the inquirer after salvation. He discourages the saints. He is, in short, a living sermon on behalf of the devil. The last day alone will reveal the wholesale ruin of souls, that “offences” have occasioned in the Church of Christ. One of Nathan’s charges against David was, “you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme.” (2 Sam. 12:14.) – J.C. Ryle
Like bifocal lenses, the combination of those two faithful bible applications provides clear vision of the verse.
