“Search and Rescue Team”

Dr. David Nobel

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. But if you are unsuccessful, take one or two others with you and go back again, so that everything you say may be confirmed by two or three witnesses.

Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you…

Galatians 6:1 Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.

Matthew 7:1-5 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged…"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?...You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

“If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back.”

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

Please Turn in Your Bibles

Col 3:19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. I need to hear this but the tone is harsh. Prov. 21:9 It is better to live in a corner of a roof Than in a house shared with a contentious woman.

You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered.

“…the wife must respect her husband.”

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER (which is the first commandment with a promise), SO THAT IT MAY BE WELL WITH YOU, AND THAT YOU MAY LIVE LONG ON THE EARTH.

For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Don’t ignore conflict; address it. Don’t exaggerate conflict; solve it with the least possible publicity and public scrutiny. Don’t abandon conflict; pursue it to resolution. Don’t fence yourself in by conflict; taking two or three witnesses requires that you also are open to reproof and correction. Don’t recycle conflict; once resolved, let it go and get back to your life. Barton Life Application Bible Com.

But if you are unsuccessful, take one or two others with you and go back again, so that everything you say may be confirmed by two or three witnesses.

If a private and personal meeting fails of its purpose, we should take some wise person or persons with us. In this case the taking of the witnesses is not meant to be a way of proving to a man that he has committed an offence. It is meant to help the process of reconciliation. A man often hates those whom he has injured most of all Prov. 26:28 A lying tongue hates those it hurts…”

and it may well be that nothing we can say can win him back. But to talk matters over with some wise and kindly and gracious people present is to create a new atmosphere in which there is at least a chance that we should see ourselves “as others see us.”

Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters.

The purpose of the additional witnesses is primarily: (1) to bring added loving persuasion to the straying brother so he will realize the seriousness of his sin; (2) to prepare for the possibility of the straying brother’s continued resistance (in this event, there would be third- party testimony concerning what happened in the confrontation);

and (3) to provide one or two “referees” or moderators in the continued confrontation between the original confronter and the straying brother. It is possible the witnesses might conclude that the accuser was wrong. Dr. Weber Holman New Testament Commentary

No one can measure the trouble that has plagued the church through failure to obey the simple rule that a charge against another person must be supported by the testimony of two or three others. In this respect, worldly courts often act more righteously than Christian churches or assemblies. William McDonald

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. But if you are unsuccessful, take one or two others with you and go back again, so that everything you say may be confirmed by two or three witnesses.