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Mat_18:15. The connection with what precedes is as follows: “Despise not one of the μικροί (Mat_18:10-14); if, however, one offends against thee, then proceed thus.” The subject changes from that of doing injury to the μικροί , against which Jesus has been warning (Mat_18:10-14), to that of suffering injury, in view of which he prescribes the proper method of brotherly visitation. However, in developing this contrast, the point of view becomes so generalized that, instead of the μικροί , who were contemplated in the previous warning, we now have the Christian brother generally, ὁ ἀδελφός σου —therefore, the genus to which the μικρός as species belongs.
ἁμαρτήσῃ εἰς σέ ] The emphasis is not on εἰς σέ , but on ἁμαρτήση : but if thy brother shall have sinned against thee, which he is supposed to do not merely “scandalo dato” (Bengel), but by sinful treatment in general, by any unbrotherly wrong whatsoever. Comp. Mat_18:21. Ch. W. Müller in the Stud. u. Krit. 1857, p. 339 ff., Julius Müller, Dogmat. Abh. p. 513 ff., reject the reading εἰς σέ , Mat_18:15, though on internal grounds that are not conclusive, and which might be met by stronger counter-arguments against the use of ἁμαρτήσῃ without modification of any sort. How can it be supposed that the procedure here inculcated was intended to apply to every sin without any limitation whatever? Would we not have in that case a supervision omnium contra omnes? The reference can only be to private charges, to offences in which the one sins against the other ( εἰς σέ ), and which, as such, ought to be dealt with within the Christian church. Comp. 1Co_6:1 ff.
ὕπαγε ] do not wait, then, till he himself come to thee.
μεταξὺ σοῦ κ . αὐτοῦ μόνου ] so that except him no one else is to be present along with thee, so that the interview be strictly confined to the two of you. We must not therefore supply a μόνου after σοῦ as well. But the rebuking agency (Eph_5:11) is regarded as intervening between the two parties. The person who reproves mediates between the two parties, of which he himself forms one.
ἐάν σου ἀκούσῃ ] if he will have listened to thy admonition, will have complied with it. But Fritzsche and Olshausen connect the preceding μόνου with this clause: “Si tibi soli aures praebuerit.” This would imply an arrangement that is both harsh and foreign to New Testament usage.
ἐκέρδησας ] usually explained: as thy friend; πρῶτον γὰρ ἐζημιοῦ τοῦτον , διὰ τοῦ σκανδάλου ῥηγνύμενον ἀπὸ τῆς ἀδελφικῆς σου συναφείας , Euthymius Zigabenus. But what a truism would such a result imply! Therefore it should much rather be explained thus: thou hast gained him for the eternal blessedness of my kingdom, to which, from not being brought to a state of repentance, he would otherwise have been lost (Mat_18:17). But the subject who gains is the party that has been aggrieved by the offence of the brother, because the successful result is understood to be brought about by his affectionate endeavours after an adjustment. Comp. 1Co_9:19; 1Pe_3:1.