What does it mean that your brother sins against you (Matthew 18:15)?

"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" (v. 15).

First of all, I must be sure that my brother has actually trespassed against me. "If thy brother shall trespass against thee"-it is not if I think he has, or some "hear-say" that he has, but a definite case of one actually wronging another. It is not a case where both parties have wronged each other, but of one alone trespassing against the other. The word for "trespass" in the original Greek has the meaning of "missing the mark, to fail, do wrong, err or sin." The English meaning of the word is that of wilfully violating the rights of another, to pass the bounds of propriety or rectitude in the injury of another, or the violation of a positive law, rule, or custom.

But at once question begins: What is the sin which we have to do with here? and are we to take it as generally taken; as simply personal trespass? For some of the most ancient MSS. and some editors omit the "against thee" of the common version; and have only "if thy brother sin," which would seem to make it wider. This can however, I think, be better settled as we go on; and we may leave it for the present undecided.

Then the Lord applies it to our practical conduct. Supposing your brother does you wrong; an evil word, perhaps, or an unkind action done against you — something that you feel deeply as a real personal trespass against you; it is a sin, of course. Nobody knows it, probably, but himself and you. What are you to do? At once this great principle is applied: When you were ruined and far from God, what met your case? Did God wait till you put away your sin? He sent His own Son to seek you, to save you. "The Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost." This is the principle for you to act upon. You belong to God; you are a child of God. Your brother has wronged you? Go you to him, and seek to set him right. It is the activity of love which the Lord Jesus presses upon His disciples. We are to seek the deliverance, in the power of divine love, of those who have wandered from God. The flesh feels and resents wrong done against itself. But grace does not shroud itself up in its own dignity, waiting for the offender to come and humble himself and own his wrong. The Son of Man came to seek the lost. I want you, He says, to be walking after the same principle, to be vessels of the same love — to be characterized by grace, going out after that which has sinned against God. This is a great difficulty, unless the soul is fresh in the love of God, and enjoying what God is for him. How does God feel about the child that has done wrong? His loving desire is to have him right. When the child is near enough to know the Father's heart he goes out to do the Father's will. A wrong may have been done against him, but he does not think about that. It is his brother who has slipped into evil, and the desire of his heart is to have the brother righted who had gone astray — not to vindicate self, but that his soul may be restored to the Lord.

"Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone" (ver. 15). It is not here the case of a sin known to a great many, but some personal trespass only known to you two. Go, then, to him, and tell him his fault between you and him alone. "If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother." Love is bent on gaining the brother. So it is to him that understands and feels with Christ. It is not the offender, but thy brother that is the thought before the heart: "Thou hast gained thy brother."*

But more than this. He now applies it to our practical conduct. Supposing your brother does you wrong, something that may be very hard to bear, perhaps; an evil word, or an unkind action done against you — something that you feel deeply as a real personal trespass against you; the man has done it deliberately, and of course it is a great sin. Nobody knows it but himself and you. What are you to do? At once this great principle is applied. When you were ruined and far from God, what met your case? Did God wait till you put away your sin? It never would have been done at all. God sent His own Son to seek you, to save you. "The Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost." That is the principle for you to act upon. It is not merely that this is the way in which God acted. You belong to God: you are a child of God. Your brother has wronged you; go you to him and seek to set him right. It is the activity of love, which the Lord Jesus now presses upon His disciples. They are to seek the deliverance, in the power of divine love, of those who have wandered from God. It is not the flesh feeling its wrong, and resenting what has been done against itself. The law would enable even a Jew to judge this.

"Go, reprove him between thee and him alone" (New Trans.). This is what the Lord said should be done as the first step on the part of the one who has been wronged. In comment upon the above, we would quote the fine words of Wm. Kelly:

"Supposing your brother does you wrong, something that may be very hard to bear, perhaps; an evil word, or an unkind action done against you-something that you feel deeply as a real personal trespass against you; the man has done it deliberately, and of course it is a great sin. Nobody knows it but himself and you. What are you to do? At once this great principle is applied, When you were ruined and far from God, what met your case? Did God wait till you put away your sin? It never would have been done at all. God sent His own Son to seek you, to save you. `The Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost.' That is the principle for you to act upon.

In verses 15 to 20 we next get the most important guidance as to the course of action to be taken when sin is manifested in another. The early part of the chapter instructs as to personal holiness Here the question is, "If thy brother trespass [against thee]." The last two words are of doubtful authority here, while their place and importance in verse 21 will be seen later. Here it is the broad aspect of a brother "sinning." What then? Love, not law, is to be set in motion, the object being the recovery of the erring one, that the name of Christ may not be dishonoured in the world.

"But if thy brother sin against thee, go reprove him between thee and him alone. If he hear thee, thou hast gained a brother" (verse 15). The question is how sin in a brother is to be treated. What kind of a sin is meant, whether a sin against a person or sin in a wider sense of the word, we shall not attempt to discuss. He is a brother who has sinned and the first thing to be done is that the one who knows about it is to go to him personally and reprove him, that is, show him his fault. The object of his reprover is not perhaps to defend himself, if a personal matter, a false accusation, is the sin, but it is to restore and gain the brother. But to go to the brother who has sinned needs great caution, earnest prayer, meekness and self judgment. If the reproving is attempted in a wrong spirit it will work untold harm. The Holy Spirit has given us in Galatians the description of the brother who should go and reprove him who has sinned and the manner in which he is to do it. "Brethren, if even a man be taken in some fault, ye who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of meekness, considering thyself lest thou also be tempted" (Gal. 6:1). Alas! how little this is done. Instead of going at once to the brother who sinned, after earnest prayer and with the love and grace of God in the heart, the sin of the brother is often spread about and by this un-Christlike behavior magnified. Bitter feelings are stirred up, resulting in greater evils, slanders, backbiting, lying and other sins. If at last some one makes an attempt to see the brother, he finds the case perhaps beyond hope. How simply our gracious Lord has pointed out the way for us, what the first step is to be if the brother has sinned. It is to be treated as a personal matter and the sinning brother should not needlessly be exposed. Such grace manifested is able to gain the brother.

But in case he does not hear, what is to be the second step? "But if he do not hear thee, take with thee one or two besides, that every matter may stand upon the word of two witnesses or three" (verse 16). Of course the two, which are to be taken along in this second step to restore a brother, must have the same spiritual characteristics as the brother who came to him first. It is to bring still greater love to bear upon him, but at the same time to show the brother that unconfessed sin, sin not put away, cannot be tolerated in a brother. Should he stubbornly refuse to see his fault, his case would appear hopeless and the last step to be done would hardly reach him, for from the very outset he has been hardening his heart against love and grace, the love of Christ, which sought to restore him.

Verse 15 calls upon us to have genuine consideration for our brethren too, as well as for little children. The case in point will seriously test the reality of our own faith and love. This is a case of a specific sin of serious character, not a small thing that should be forgotten, nor one in which there can be any question of doubt, but a fact of sin that is clearly established, so that the offender cannot dispute the fact. How good if this matter may be kept entirely from the knowledge of others! True faith and love would lead one to go alone to the offender in genuine concern for his true blessing. Certainly he should go in the spirit of Gal.6:1: "in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted." "if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother." The brother has accepted the gentle reproof and has been restored in his soul. Precious result indeed! James 5:19, 20 adds to this that such good work will "hide a multitude of sins." For it will nip in the bud what otherwise might be spread so widely as to badly affect many others.

If, however, the offender high-handedly refuses to listen, then the matter must be communicated to one or two more, so that two or three going together will emphasize the seriousness of the sin that has not been judged. This should so impress the offender that he ought at least now to consider that his sin must be faced. When it is said, "that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established," this does not mean there is any question of establishing the person's guilt, for this has already been established, but rather it is to be clearly established what response the offender makes to this genuine effort to restore him. If this bears good fruit, then at least only two or three have been aware of the matter beside the offender. If honestly judged, it is to be dismissed and forgotten.

If the man still refuses to listen, the matter is to be told to the gathered assembly, -- not gossiped about from one saint to another, but told solemnly with all humility, so that the assembly will delegate some to speak again to the guilty person, on behalf of the assembly. The necessity of this is a most serious matter, for if he refuses to listen to the assembly, this is arrogance that calls for decided action. The individual now is to regard him "as a heathen man and a publican," that is, as though not even a believer.

But if this, then; be the divine principle in dealing with it, it is plain that whether it is sin against myself or against another can make no difference. This does not come into consideration; and the reading which would leave it out seems practically right. If it is grace that is moving me for a brother's deliverance, it can make no difference against whom the sin is. Nay, if it is in my brother, it is against me necessarily, if not directly: it injures me, aggrieves me, as one of the family. It will in any case work the same misery: it is equally against God my Father, against Christ my Lord, and against the soul of him who has committed it while again grace requires not to find a legal title to proceed, as in my own matters, but in the needs to which it ministers finds its sufficient justification. In any case, the principle applies, wherever and so far as the circumstances permit the application there is supposed, as we see, a condition of things in which love finds its call and opportunity, and which cannot, perhaps, and need not, be further defined.

The next step to be taken; if the first be ineffectual, is to "take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established." These witnesses are not to establish the truth of the charge: for of this the one who has sinned is already "convicted," but to bring the influence of the truth to bear upon him the more by their confirmation. They are a jury of appeal to make him realize the gravity rather than the truth of his sin; ― a midway step between the private reasoning and the full publicity of the assembly. Love would yet spare the person, while it cannot spare the sin and therefore the present procedure.

a) 'If a brother sin against you, rebuke him.' If we do this in the right attitude, we don't do it because we have been done wrong, but because the brother who sinned is not in the right relationship to his Lord. What beautiful results does the Bible mention in similar passages, when the effort was successful

-'if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother' (Matt. 18:15).