If you are looking for Matthew 18 Bible study questions, this page gives you a full set for a small group, a Sunday class, or personal reflection. The chapter covers how disciples should think about greatness, how to deal with sin inside the church, and why forgiveness must be part of the life of anyone who has received God’s mercy. Each section below includes questions and a leader’s note so you can teach it without preparing a separate summary.
Matthew 18 at a Glance
The chapter opens with the disciples asking who is greatest in the kingdom, and Jesus answers by placing a child in the middle of them. From there he speaks about the seriousness of causing believers to stumble, the search for one lost sheep, and a process for restoring a brother who has sinned. It closes with a parable about a servant who was forgiven a huge debt and then refused to forgive a small one.
The flow moves from humility, to protection of the vulnerable, to restoration, to forgiveness. Each part builds on the one before it, so a group that reads the chapter in order will see how the teaching fits together.
Observation Questions
Start here to slow the group down and make sure everyone is looking at the same words. These questions ask only what the text says, with no interpretation yet. Let people answer from the passage itself before moving on.
Matthew 18:3-4
3 And said, “Most certainly I tell you, unless you turn, and become as little children, you will in no way enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. 4 Whoever therefore humbles himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.
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Reading this early sets the tone for the whole chapter. It turns the question of greatness on its head and gives the group a clear starting point for humility.
Matthew 18:14
Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
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This verse reveals the heart of the Father toward those who are easily overlooked. Reading it gives the group a reason to care about the vulnerable among them.
Matthew 18:15-17
15 “If your brother sins against you, go, show him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained back your brother. 16 But if he doesn’t listen, take one or two more with you, that at the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the assembly. If he refuses to hear the assembly also, let him be to you as a Gentile or a tax collector.
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These steps are often misunderstood, so reading them aloud helps the group hear the order and the aim of restoration. It makes the practical teaching clear before anyone applies it.
Matthew 18:20
For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the middle of them.”
(WEB)
This promise encourages groups that meet in small numbers and reminds them why their gathering matters. It is a good verse to read at the close of a session.
Matthew 18:21-22
21 Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Until seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I don’t tell you until seven times, but, until seventy times seven.
(WEB)
Reading Peter’s question and Jesus’ answer together sets up the parable that follows. It helps the group feel the force of the call to forgive without limit.
Memory Verse for Matthew 18
A Closing Prayer for the Group
Father, we come before you as people who have been forgiven far more than we could ever repay. Make us humble like the child Jesus set among his disciples, and free us from the desire to be first in our own eyes. Give us courage to go to a brother or sister when we have been hurt, and wisdom to speak with truth and love. Remind us that you are present wherever two or three gather in your name. Teach us to forgive as we have been forgiven, from our hearts, and help us see the people around us as you see them. Amen.
