“If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.”
– Matthew 18: 15-16
This passage typically has one more verse attached to it when we read it, verse 17. For the sake of this particular discussion, there are a couple things I want to point out about verses 15 & 16.
Jesus makes a reference to Deuteronomy 19:15 here. The cited text is about being convicted in a court of law. It says:
One witness cannot establish any wrongdoing or sin against a person, whatever that person has done. A fact must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.
– Deuteronomy 19:15
We see here that if there is one person that actually saw a crime committed and even if that person is not at all confused about what they saw, one testimony is not enough to convict someone of a crime unless the person that committed the crime confesses. One witness isn’t sufficient evidence to convict. This implies that you need evidence to convict, not to acquit. When nothing has been “established”, acquittal is the default.
This tradition of “innocent until proven guilty” is a great tradition that is consistent with the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, the Lord of all the Earth. As far as its origins within our culture, I’d guess that the Bible was a part of the process of creating it.
Regardless of the reasoning, we that know God know that His ways are trusted whether we understand His reasoning or not. Nonetheless I will speculate a little bit as to why, in God’s Kingdom, the accused are innocent until proven guilty.
It seems likely that God defaults to accusing nobody in the absence of hard evidence because God has respect for human life. Why punish someone that might be innocent? We are His masterpieces (Eph 2:10). He loved us so much He sent Jesus, God in the flesh, to die on our behalf. He clearly treasures us and is intent on preventing any one of us from meeting a justified conviction, let alone an unjustified one, and the punishment that would come with it.
This doesn’t mean we should be casual about investigating crimes. When a loved one has been betrayed, it is quite appropriate for us to consider finding out what happened to them to be a matter of urgency. However, this idea of “someone will pay for this and if nobody confesses, everyone will pay for it” isn’t in line with what we see in these verses, although it is common in corporate America, from what I understand.
In verse 15 Jesus is advocating for people to just confess their sins openly without having to be confronted by 2 or 3 witnesses. However, in the event that people choose not to opt into living in the light (1 Jn 1:5-7), we are called to be those that choose to opt into the light in our own lives by being real about what we know and what we don’t know.
Whether someone is a Christian or not, this principle of “innocent until proven guilty” is a blessing because of how it protects people, and in particular, people that are innocent. Here in the USA, let’s continue seeking to live in accordance with this righteous way of life.