Charles Ellicott Commentary Luke 17:3

"Take heed to yourselves: if thy brother sin, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him." — Luke 17:3 (ASV)

Take heed to yourselves.—The position of these words is remarkable, and they have nothing corresponding to them in the parallel passage in Matthew 18:21 (see Note). It is as though our Lord saw in the disciples the tendency to sit in judgment on the sins of others, especially on such sins as He had just condemned, and checked it by the words Take heed to yourselves.

They were in danger of faults hardly less fatal to the spiritual life than selfish luxury, and one of those faults was the disposition of hard and unforgiving judgment. When they saw a conspicuous instance of worldliness or other evil, they did as we so often do—they condemned, but did not rebuke.

In practice, as He taught them by example as well as by precept, open, friendly reproof that aims at restoration is the truest path to the forgiveness with which, in the careless estimate of most people, it seems to be incompatible.