{"id":26985,"date":"2011-03-29T20:10:00","date_gmt":"2011-03-30T01:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=26985"},"modified":"2020-11-07T20:12:52","modified_gmt":"2020-11-08T02:12:52","slug":"do-the-elders-keep-secrets-from-the-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-the-elders-keep-secrets-from-the-church\/","title":{"rendered":"Do the elders keep secrets from the church?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

Question:<\/h2>\n

Do the elders keep secrets from the church? Matthew 18:15-17 seems to be full disclosure. My thoughts are to disclose the sin, but the absolute details are not necessary.<\/p>\n\t

Answer:<\/h2>\n

“Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector<\/em>” (Matthew 18:15-17).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You are reading Matthew 18:15-17 backward. The point of the passage is to minimize who knows about sins between two brethren. More people are brought in only when the problem cannot be resolved.<\/p>\n

However, there are some who think that bring a matter to the elders is bringing it to the church. If a church has elders, they would be good ones to ask in regards to coming as witnesses, but the elders are not the church. If a matter is resolved with the elders, then there is no reason anyone else needs to know about the matter. See “How detailed does a confession of sin have to be?<\/a>“<\/p>\n

In performing their duties, elders are going to become aware of many things about members of the congregation’s lives. Their job is to see that sin is dealt with and that it doesn’t spread. It is not any Christian’s duty to disclose the resolved sins of others.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question: Do the elders keep secrets from the church? Matthew 18:15-17 seems to be full disclosure. My thoughts are to disclose the sin, but the absolute details are not necessary. Answer: “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[123],"class_list":["post-26985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-elders"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":36350,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/would-it-be-a-sin-to-worship-in-a-congregation-where-the-elders-are-not-correct\/","url_meta":{"origin":26985,"position":0},"title":"Would it be a sin to worship in a congregation where the elders are not correct?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 4, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Would it be a sin to worship in a congregation where the elders are not correct (I Corinthians 5:11)? Answer: \"Not correct\" is too vague. Not correct by who's standard? If anyone is in sin, then what have you done to rescue them? To point fingers but to seek\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33091,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-do-you-do-when-the-preacher-is-in-sin-and-the-leadership-supports-him\/","url_meta":{"origin":26985,"position":1},"title":"What do you do when the preacher is in sin and the leadership supports him?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Thanks for your website, it really helps me exercise my critical thinking skills with the Scriptures. One question about withdrawal. What do you do when the offending party is the minister of the congregation? When there are only he and the deacons, and they automatically side with him on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42434,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-housekeeper-has-been-stealing-from-her-employer-should-the-matter-be-brought-to-the-elders-or-the-police\/","url_meta":{"origin":26985,"position":2},"title":"A housekeeper has been stealing from her employer. Should the matter be brought to the elders or the police?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 3, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good evening Brother Hamilton, I know that the use of the courts to settle disputes between the brethren is, at best, frowned upon during normal circumstances. However, for actual crimes, is it appropriate to press charges rather than using the eldership to confront the individual? I ask because an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6849,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-the-warnings-about-correcting-scoffers-in-proverbs-97-9-affect-our-understanding-of-matthew-1815-20\/","url_meta":{"origin":26985,"position":3},"title":"How do the warnings about correcting scoffers in Proverbs 9:7-9 affect our understanding of Matthew 18:15-20?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 11, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How do the warnings about correcting scoffers in Proverbs 9:7-9 affect our understanding of Matthew 18:15-20? Answer: \"He who corrects a scoffer gets shame for himself, and he who rebukes a wicked man only harms himself. Do not correct a scoffer, lest he hate you; rebuke a wise man,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9101,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-the-elders-and-preachers-constitute-the-church-in-decisions\/","url_meta":{"origin":26985,"position":4},"title":"Do the elders and preachers constitute the church in decisions?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 23, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have been a member of the church of Christ for some time now. My family and I moved to another congregation to help out because they were very small. My wife and I began to have difficulties in our marriage. She decided to take our problems to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38627,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-do-you-do-when-the-elders-are-not-listening-to-the-congregation\/","url_meta":{"origin":26985,"position":5},"title":"What do you do when the elders are not listening to the congregation?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I'm a member of the church of Christ. I just read the article \"Majority vs Elder Rule\". Our congregation is currently going through something that. I, myself, personally have never experienced it. We have elders who are not really being the leaders they should be, and in this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26985\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}