“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.
Parallel translations
- KJV Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.
- BSB If your brother sins against you, go and confront him privately. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.
- NKJV “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.
- NASB “Now if your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have gained your brother.
- NLT “If another believer sins against you, go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jesus teaches that when a brother sins you should first address it privately, aiming to win him back. The goal of confronting sin is restoration, not exposure.
Overview
This begins Jesus' instruction on church discipline. The first step is a private, gracious appeal that seeks to gain the brother, not to shame him. Love that pursues a sinning believer reflects the seeking love of the shepherd just described and aims at reconciliation within the community.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Lev 19:17“‘You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him.
- Gal 6:1Brothers, even if a man is caught in some fault, you who are spiritual must restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; looking to yourself so that you also aren’t tempted.
- Luke 17:3–4Be careful. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him.
- Col 3:13bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, if any man has a complaint against any; even as Christ forgave you, so you also do.
- 2 Th 3:15Don’t count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.
- Jas 5:19–20Brothers, if any among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back,
- Prov 25:9–10Debate your case with your neighbor, and don’t betray the confidence of another;
- Rom 12:21Don’t be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
- Matt 18:35So my heavenly Father will also do to you, if you don’t each forgive your brother from your hearts for his misdeeds.”
- Ps 141:5Let the righteous strike me, it is kindness; let him reprove me, it is like oil on the head; don’t let my head refuse it; Yet my prayer is always against evil deeds.
- 1 Cor 8:12Thus, sinning against the brothers, and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.
- 1 Cor 6:6–8But brother goes to law with brother, and that before unbelievers!
- Lev 6:2–7“If anyone sins, and commits a trespass against Yahweh, and deals falsely with his neighbor in a matter of deposit, or of bargain, or of robbery, or has oppressed his neighbor,
- 1 Pet 3:1In the same way, wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; so that, even if any don’t obey the Word, they may be won by the behavior of their wives without a word;
- Prov 11:30The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. He who is wise wins souls.
- 2 Cor 7:12So although I wrote to you, I wrote not for his cause that did the wrong, nor for his cause that suffered the wrong, but that your earnest care for us might be revealed in you in the sight of God.
- 1 Cor 9:19–21For though I was free from all, I brought myself under bondage to all, that I might gain the more.
- 1 Th 4:6that no one should take advantage of and wrong a brother or sister in this matter; because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as also we forewarned you and testified.
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Christ at the center
Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'
How Matthew 18:15 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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