Matthew 18:15

And if thy brother sin against thee, go, show him his fault between thee and him alone: if he hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.

The exclusive reference of the words of this verse to PRIVATE offenses only, and the rejection of their application to so-called PUBLIC offenses is without doubt an error, ably supported, widely received, and skillfully advocated by some of the great minds in the church of all ages, but still an error. It is God, not men, that should be obeyed. Macknight wrote, "Such are the rules which our Lord would have us observe in matters of private offense."[6] McGarvey stated that "This rule of procedure is given only for cases of personal offense, where one individual has sinned against another."[7] Many other examples of the prevailing view could be cited; but "upon what authority" is such a bold limitation grounded? It is significant that the view, when stated, is not supported by the Scriptures; and in some cases where Scriptures are cited, they simply do not apply. Thus, Macknight quoted 1 Timothy 5:20, "Them that sin, rebuke before all, that others may fear." But where is the authority in that for omitting the first and second admonitions? That the first and second admonitions do actually apply to "public" sins as well as private ones, appears from Paul's words to Titus, "A factious man, after a first and second admonition, refuse" (Titus 3:10). A factious man is a leader or promoter of a faction, an offense which, by its very nature, has to be PUBLIC! Yet Paul's instructions to Titus prove that our Lord's method, including the first and second admonitions, was honored even in cases like that.

Another passage sometimes cited as a release of our Lord's instruction here is that of Paul's public rebuke of Elymas (Acts 13:9,10); and yet it simply cannot be that the conduct of that inspired, Spirit-moved apostle is license for some preacher to sound off in public about the sins of any person of his acquaintance or in his congregation. Even Paul's withstanding Peter to his face, and the stern words publicly addressed to Peter on that occasion (Galatians 2:11), come under the category of Spirit-inspired utterances, essentially unique, and not intended as a repeal of the Lord's method outlined in the passage under consideration here.

Let it be remembered that Paul acted under the direct guidance of the Holy Spirit, under the immediate authority and commission of God himself, that he sustained absolutely no danger of being mistaken, and that he was not in either case dealing with an ordinary brother. Peter was a fellow apostle; Elymas was a notorious child of the devil, enjoying the status of a prime minister.

The view advocated here does not in any sense exclude the necessity of ULTIMATELY exposing wrong-doers before the whole church publicly, but we believe it is our duty to affirm that this can be done Scripturally, only after the first and second admonitions. In some 35 years of the ministry, countless cases have been observed by this writer in which the FIRST effort to correct some alleged sin or error has been an ugly blast from a pulpit or in some religious paper, always justified, of course, on the basis that the alleged wrong-doing was a "public" matter, and therefore requiring no private confrontation with the "wrong-doer"! A careful study of Matthew 5:23,24; Matthew 18:15-17 and Galatians 6:1 will prove that there are no exceptions to Christ's injunction requiring spiritual persons to go to the offender first alone. That some people do not obey this injunction cannot remove it. It is the solemn conviction of this expositor that many of the divisions and sorrows that have come upon the church of our generation would have been prevented by a due regard to our Lord's words in this and related verses. When Christ's plan is tried, the usual result is gaining the offending brother; but when Christ's plan is thwarted, when public condemnations have been sounded abroad, it is then often too late to redeem the offending brother. His pride, feelings, and reputation, already compromised, make it exceedingly more difficult to effect an humble admission of his wrong and a penitent return to the truth.

[6] James Macknight, A Harmony of the Four Gospels (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1950), Vol. II, p. 177.

[7] J. W. McGarvey, New Testament Commentary (Delight, Arkansas: Gospel Light Publishing Company, 1875), Vol. I, p. 159.