If your brother sins against you, go and rebuke him when you and he are alone. If he listens to you, then you will have won your brother.
In these words Jesus sets out God’s way for ordering brotherly, communal relationships, showing that the first response to sin should not be public condemnation, but a personal reproof guided by love. The condition “be alone” protects a brother’s dignity and encourages an honest conversation, and the goal is not to win an argument, but to “gain your brother,” that is, the restoration of the relationship. In this way Jesus teaches that true love must courageously bring the truth to light, but it must do so with humility and a heart that seeks peace, aiming not at division, but at reconciliation.