---
title: Matthew 18:17
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/matthew-18-17/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/matthew-18-17.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Matthew 18:17
testament: NT
section: Gospels
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Matthew 18:17

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, regard him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

## JW Usage

JWs cite "let him be to you as a man of the nations and a tax collector" to justify shunning disfellowshipped members — treating them as complete social outcasts. The Watchtower equates "treating as a tax collector" with total avoidance and refusal to greet, extending the instruction beyond the congregation to family relationships. The verse is paired with 1 Corinthians 5:11 and 2 John 10 as the scriptural foundation for the organisation's judicial committee process.

## Protestant Usage

Jesus himself ate with tax collectors and sinners (Matthew 9:10–13, 11:19). If his instruction was to treat the person "as a tax collector," and Jesus' own practice was to seek out tax collectors for meals and conversation, the passage actually argues for continued engagement, not permanent social exclusion. The Matthew 18:15–17 process is also graduated and personal — private confrontation, then witnesses, then telling it to the congregation — not an institutional judicial committee operating in secret. Paul's parallel instruction in 2 Thessalonians 3:14–15 explicitly says to "continue admonishing him as a brother," which is impossible if all contact is severed. The restorative intent is confirmed by 2 Corinthians 2:6–8, where Paul urges forgiveness and comfort for the disciplined person.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Shunning — The 1947 Reversal](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/shunning-1947.md) — Awake! 1947 vs Watchtower 1952 [Authority]
- [Admonish Him as a Brother — The Verse That Undoes Shunning](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/shunning-admonish-as-brother.md) — 2 Thessalonians 3:14–15 / 2 Corinthians 2:6–8 / Matthew 18:17 [Practice]
- [No Biblical Warrant for Family Shunning](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/shunning-family-no-biblical-warrant.md) — 1 Timothy 5:8 / Luke 15:4–7 / Matthew 9:10–13 [Practice]
- [The Millstone Warning — Jesus on Harming Children](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/matthew-18-6-millstone-warning.md) — Matthew 18:6 — better a millstone than to cause a little one to stumble [Authority]
- [9 Million Publishers — What the Number Does and Does Not Prove](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/jw-8-million-membership.md) — Growth is evidence only if growth is the criterion [Epistemology]
- [2024 'Removed' Rebrand — Not Reform](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/2024-removed-rebrand-not-reform.md) — 2 Timothy 3:5 — A form of godliness, denying its power [Authority]