Matthew 18:15 teaches that when a fellow believer sins against you, you should go to them privately and point out the offense, with the goal of winning them back rather than winning an argument. If they listen and admit their fault, the relationship is restored. Jesus spoke these words to his disciples as part of his teaching on community life in the Gospel of Matthew, in a passage about how the church should care for one another.
“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.
Matthew 18:15 (WEB)
What Matthew 18:15 Means
The verse begins with a plain assumption: “If your brother sins against you.” Jesus does not treat this as a rare event. People in close fellowship will wrong one another, and the question is what to do next. The instruction is to “go,” which means taking the initiative. You are not told to wait for the offender to notice, to vent to others, or to nurse a grudge in silence. The step is yours to take.
The phrase “show him his fault between you and him alone” sets the setting and the tone. The conversation is meant to be private and direct, not public or sneaky. The aim is to show the person what they did, not to shame them before others. The final promise, “you have gained back your brother,” describes the hope of the whole exchange: a restored relationship. The verse does not promise that every such conversation will succeed, since the next verses deal with people who refuse to listen. It does describe the outcome Jesus wants and the path toward it.
The Context of Matthew 18:15
The Gospel of Matthew was written for a community of Jewish-background believers, most likely in the latter half of the first century, and it is traditionally attributed to the apostle Matthew. Chapter 18 is often called the “discourse on the church,” because Jesus turns in this chapter to the life of his followers together. The disciples ask who is greatest in the kingdom, and Jesus answers by pointing to a child and warning against causing little ones to stumble.
The verses just before, about the shepherd who leaves ninety-nine sheep to search for one that has wandered, reveal the heart behind verse 15. God cares intensely about the one who is lost, and it is not his will that any of these little ones perish. Verse 15 therefore reads less like a rulebook for disputes and more like a shepherd’s errand. The verses that follow, about bringing witnesses and then the wider assembly, show that private reconciliation is the first step in a patient process, not the only one.
Key Phrases in Matthew 18:15
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)
In these verses, Peter asks how many times he must forgive a brother who sins against him, and Jesus answers that forgiveness should have no fixed limit. Read alongside verse 15, this passage shows that confronting an offense and forgiving it belong together as parts of one loving response.
Ephesians 4:2-3
2 With all lowliness and humility, with patience, bearing with one another in love; 3 being eager to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
(WEB)
Paul urges believers to bear with one another in love and to keep the unity of the Spirit. This passage describes the spirit in which a private conversation about wrongdoing should take place, marked by humility, gentleness, and patience.
A Short Prayer From Matthew 18:15
Lord, you know the hurts I carry and the people who have wronged me. Give me the courage to speak honestly and the humility to listen when I am the one who needs to hear. Keep my words gentle and my motives clean, so that I seek my brother’s good and not my own vindication. If reconciliation comes, let it be a true gift from you, and if it does not, keep my heart free from bitterness. Shepherd us both back toward each other in your love. Amen.
