Luke 17:3

Luke 17:3, in plain English

Jesus gives clear guidance: if someone sins against you, call them on it. And if they repent, forgive them. Both steps matter.

Why it's here

Real community requires both honesty and grace. Jesus asks for both — don't ignore sin, and don't withhold forgiveness.

Who's speaking

Jesus speaks practically about how to handle conflict and sin within relationships.

Where it sits in the story

It's a two-part instruction: be honest enough to confront, and gracious enough to forgive. That's how real relationships work.

The scholarly reading

Jesus pivots to restorative community practice: rebuke (epitimēson) a sinning brother, and if he repents (metanoēsē), forgive (aphes) him. The sequence — sin, rebuke, repentance, forgiveness — establishes a complete reconciliation process.

Language and setting

This instruction for interpersonal reconciliation echoes early church discipline practices also found in Matthew 18:15-17, though Luke's version is more condensed.

Voice

Jesus instructs His disciples on how to handle sin within the community, balancing truthfulness with grace.

Significance

Jesus teaches a practical ethic: when a fellow believer sins, address it directly. And when they repent, forgive them. Simple, hard, essential.

1Jesus said to His disciples, “It is inevitable that stumbling blocks will come, but woe to the one through whom they come!

2It would be better for him to have a millstone hung around his neck and to be thrown into the sea than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.

3Watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.

4Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to say, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”

5The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

Read all of Luke 17 — Ten lepers are cleansed, but only one returns to say thank you — and he's the outsider. Jesus teaches that the kingdom comes without warning.