‘If your brother sins against you, go and show him your fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over’ (Matthew 18:15)

Jesus presents a startling way of dealing with people who offend us. His starting point for dealing with an offending brother, is the offender's welfare. And offensive person is somehow lost. As a brother he is marred. He stands in need of retrieval or restoration to brotherliness. My response to him should not be determined alone by the fact that he has hurt me. Rather, that in so doing, he has damaged himself in his relation to me. My reason for further contact is to 'win him over;' to gain my brother back.

When Jesus suggested this policy, Peter asked him how many times to forgive an offender. He even volunteered the number seven, which went a lot further than the three times that was popularly considered reasonable. In reply, Jesus said: "seventy times seven."

By seeking a numerical limit for forgiveness, Peter showed that in personal relations, he was not motivated by the welfare of the brother. Uppermost in his mind were thoughts of his own comfort, and when he could leave off being forgiving. Most people are attracted to the idea of being able to tell, when they have gone far enough, in putting up with other people. Jesus reply reveals to us something of the forgiving spirit that God maintains toward us; without which we would all remain damaged, and lost to fellowship with God and man.