follows : Every one is under an obligation, not to place obstacles before himself and others, but to aid both on the way of salvation Also : we ought to respond to the Divine will, expressed in ver. 14. Also : do not offend thy brother ; cure thy brother's offence. — a/Aaprria-/} tig <st, sin against thee) sc. by giving offence ; see 1 Cor. viii. 12. — 'jxayt, go) (cf. •~opevdt!c, having gone, in ver. 12). That will be derogatory to no one. Even Christ came to us and sought us. — tXiy^ov a-urbv, reprove him)1 Afterwards our Lord speaks of witnesses. In the present instance, the matter takes place in the presence of only two [sc. the parties themselves] ; in the latter, of more. — avrbv, him) sc. thy brother. lie is reproved and forgiven because he is a brother. — /AWOU, alone) Solitary re proof is gracious. — sxzpdqffai;, thou hast gained) Therefore thy brother had previously been lost through his sin. A gain, and a blessed one. The body of the sick man does not become the property of the physician who cured it ; the burning house does not become the property of him who extinguished the fire : that is, they are not gained. But the man whom I have gained becomes in some sort my own, as amongst the Romans a conquered people became bound, by the ties of clientship, to the general who had conquered them ; cf. Luke xix. 24, 17 ; Philem. ver. 19, and Gnomon on 1 Cor. ix. 19.
16. "Eva ?! dvo, one or tivo) so that, reckoning thyself the com plainant, there may be two or three witnesses. The evidence of the complainant is of greater weight. — '<va IT/ aro^arof, x.r.X., that in the mouth, etc.) referring to Deut. xix. 15, the latter part of which the LXX. render : l<zl ffro/jMros dvo /^aprvpuv x.ai Ixl aro- ,aaro$ rpiuv /taprvpuv ffraQrjfftrai crav pjj/xa — at the mouth of two wit nesses, or at the mouth of three icitnesses, every ivord shall be estab lished. — ffradr, vow pr^a, every word may be established) sc. both against the sinner and afterwards to the Church. This passage is one of those which prove that the principles and rules of the
1 E. V. "Tell him his fault."— (I. B.)
The margin of both Editions observes that this verb is brought into pro minence by the absence of the copula between it and Z-»ef/t, " Go, tell him his fault." This has not been noticed in the Vers. Germ. — E. B.
Rec. Text has x«i, with abc Vulg. Hilary, and Lucifer. But BD Orig. omit X.M.I — ED.