tell it to the church
The term "church" (ἐκκλησία, ekklesia) in this context refers to the assembly or congregation of believers. In the early Christian context, this would have been a local gathering of believers who shared a common faith and commitment to Christ. This step underscores the role of the church as a body that seeks to restore and reconcile, rather than to punish. It reflects the communal nature of the early church, where issues were addressed collectively, emphasizing unity and mutual care.

if he refuses to listen even to the church
Here, the repetition of "refuses to listen" underscores the obstinacy of the individual. The church, as the body of Christ, represents the final earthly authority in matters of spiritual discipline. The refusal to heed the church's counsel indicates a serious breach in fellowship and a rejection of communal values and teachings. This reflects the gravity of the situation and the need for decisive action to maintain the integrity of the community.

treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector
In the Jewish context of the time, "pagan" (ἐθνικός, ethnikos) and "tax collector" (τελώνης, telones) were terms used to describe those outside the covenant community. Pagans were non-Jews who did not follow the God of Israel, and tax collectors were often viewed as traitors and sinners due to their collaboration with the Roman authorities. Jesus' instruction here is not about ostracism but about recognizing the need for repentance and restoration. It calls for a shift in how the individual is engaged, focusing on evangelism and prayer for their return to the faith. This reflects Jesus' own ministry, where He reached out to tax collectors and sinners with love and the call to repentance.

Tell it unto the church.--Here, and here only in our Lord's teaching after the promise to Peter (Matthew 16:18), we have the word Ecclesia repeated. The passage takes its place among the most conspicuous instances of the power of a word. Theories of church authority, as exercised by the priesthood, or bishops, or councils, or the personal infallibility of the Bishop of Rome, have been built upon it. The last clause has been made the groundwork of the system of church discipline which loads the heretic with anathemas, excommunicates the evil-doer, places nations under an interdict. It can scarcely be doubted that the current thoughts and language of Englishmen as to ecclesiastical discipline would have been very different, if instead of "tell it unto the church," "if he neglect to hear the church," we had had the word "congregation." And yet this, or some such word (say "assembly" or "society"), is confessedly the true meaning of the Greek, and was the rendering of all the English versions, from Tyndale onwards, till the Rhemish translators introduced "church," and were followed by the Authorised version.

So understood, the words point to the final measures for the reformation of the offender, and the vindication of the divine law of righteousness. When the two forms of private remonstrance have failed, the case is to be brought before the society at large. The appeal is to be made not to the rulers of the congregation, but to the congregation itself, and the public opinion of the Ecclesia is to be brought to bear upon the offender. Should he defy that opinion and persist in his evil doing, he practically excommunicates himself. All societies are justified in excluding from their communion one who repudiates the very conditions of membership; and his being regarded as "a heathen and a publican" is but the legitimate consequence of his own act. Even here, however, we can hardly think of our Lord as holding up the Pharisees' way of acting towards "the heathen and the publican" as a pattern for imitation. They were to be made to feel that they were no longer within the inner circle of brotherhood, but they were still men, and, as such, entitled to courtesy and all kindly offices. St. Paul's teaching as to the treatment of the incestuous adulterer in 1Corinthians 5:1-5, 2Corinthians 2:6-7, and of fornicators generally in 1Corinthians 6:1-7, may be referred to as a practical illustration of the meaning of our Lord's words.

It is obvious that the rule, as such, presupposes a small society, in the midst of a greater outside world, able to deal thus minutely with the offences of individual members. With the extension of the society, so that the church and the world became conterminous and hardly distinguishable, it was natural, perhaps, that it should follow the course of other human societies, and transfer its jurisdiction from the "congregation," or "assembly," to individual judges as its representatives. And so it was that, in the long-run, the bishops took the place of the congregation, and exercised its functions. So long as they were really in harmony with the mind of the church at large, this might work well enough, but there was the risk of their "lording it over God's heritage" (1Peter 5:3); and, in any case, there was the loss of that activity of the reason and conscience of the society which the original form of polity implied, and of which St. Paul's appeal to its judgment as against the inconsistency of the chief of the Apostles, is a very striking instance (Galatians 2:11). How far that can be revived is one of the hard questions of our own time and, perhaps, of all times. The end may have to be attained by very different means. We cannot inform the Universal or the National Church of the misdeeds of each individual member. Practically, to submit them formally to the judgments even of the smaller society of the town or village to which the offender belonged, would not be workable. Possibly, the solution of the problem may be found in remembering that in a Christian nation the Church and the State, as far as morality is concerned, tend, in spite of doctrinal divisions, to be, as was said, conterminous, and hence that we are fulfilling the spirit of our Lord's commands when, after all private remonstrances have failed to check the evil, we appeal to the public opinion of Christians in the neighbourhood, larger and smaller, which is affected by it. How this is to be done will vary with the varying circumstances of each individual case, but it is no idle paradox to say that as society is now constituted, the most effective way of "telling the church" may sometimes be to appeal to that public opinion as represented by lawful courts, or otherwise impartially expressed. . . .