My brother has sinned. He is clearly and unarguably in the wrong. His loopholes are imaginary; his explanations, only creative.

What am I to do?

“Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted” (Galatians 6:1).

Restore — to mend as a fishing net; to return to original functionality

This isn’t talking about mere correction. And it certainly isn’t fault-finding, criticizing, and/or judging.

Wow!

To restore another puts certain requirements on me. I must be spiritual. I must be meek. I must be humble. I must be alert against my own propensity to failure.

What does being spiritual involve?

The field containing the sum of the answer is vast. I’ll plant only two seeds:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law” (Galatians 5:22,23).

“For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:8).

I easily see how I have fallen far short in both my qualification and my efforts to “restore” a brother overtaken in a fault.

I want to be spiritual — Galatians 5:22 and 23 spiritual — Galatians 6:8 spiritual.