Matthew 18:17
Matthew 18:1717If 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.
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 and 2 John 10 as the scriptural foundation for the organisation's judicial committee process.
Jesus himself ate with tax collectors and sinners (, 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 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 explicitly says to "continue admonishing him as a brother," which is impossible if all contact is severed. The restorative intent is confirmed by , where Paul urges forgiveness and comfort for the disciplined person.