Anonymous Asks (324)

“Why should we restore a brother caught in a transgression in a ‘spirit of gentleness’?”

A gentle spirit is appropriate to restoration. Paul gives us one reason right in these first few verses of Galatians 6: Because you or I could so easily make the same error. “Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted,” the apostle writes. He adds, “For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.”

“That would never have happened to me” is dangerous thinking, and it makes you useless at the job of helping a fallen brother learn to stand again.

The Lord Jesus repeatedly warned his disciples of the dangers of trying to straighten out an erring brother when susceptible to the same temptation, yet simultaneously oblivious to it. “How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye?” To those who were confident suffering was God singling out the sinner for public contempt, he cautioned, “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” That’s not what his audience was expecting to hear, I can assure you, and it’s a reminder that there are many ways to go astray when occupied with the sins of others, even with the best of intentions.

Paul spoke elsewhere about the necessity for active restoration of the sinner. He doesn’t use the word “gentle”, but it’s evident that’s the spirit he was encouraging in Corinth: “You should rather turn to forgive and comfort [the transgressor], or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him.” It is not normal or desirable for a believer to be out of fellowship with his brothers and sisters in Christ. Being “caught in a transgression” is a humiliating experience. Even if the sinner has not been put out of the church, as described in 1 Corinthians 5, guilt produces a natural alienation that may take some effort from others to overcome. Of course, Paul is assuming repentance has already taken place, and that the next step is to encourage the resumption of normal relations between believers.

So then, there are two good reasons in scripture for gentle restoration: (1) the danger of pride or temptation on the part of those who assume an attitude of superiority, and (2) the danger of despair on the part of the sinner.

But probably the most practical reason for gentleness in restoring a brother who has fallen into error is that nothing else works. Have you ever learned anything profitable from the guy who never stops reminding you, “I told you so! THAT’ll teach you”?

No, I haven’t either.