6 Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.
The nature of the work of restoration is finely expressed in the word Paul uses here. It is a word elsewhere translated 'to make perfect' (cf Ephesians 4:12; 1 Peter 5:10). Yet a more accurate translation would be 'to bring something into its proper condition', and the idea it conveys is that of being brought back into the divine plan for one's life. The story of the lost coin in Luke 15 illustrates this perfectly. The coin bore the image and superscription of the king, it was minted for a particular purpose, but was no longer fulfilling it, being 'out of circulation'. It was 'restored' to circulation, and brought into its true function and destiny when the woman who searched diligently for it found it. What volume this speaks to us both of the tragedy of sin and the wonder of God's redeeming and restoring love and grace. For to be a sinner not only means to have fallen short of the glory of God and to be taken captive by Satan, it means also to have lost the sense of purpose in life and to have no sense of direction and no true anchorage, to be rootless and shiftless. This is the real despairing element in sin, and to be rescued from purposelessness and meaninglessness and frustration is one of the chief glories of the gospel. With what care and concern, therefore, and with what spiritual resources must we approach this tremendous work! Well might Paul say of such a ministry, 'Who is sufficient for these things?' (2 Corinthians 2:16). 'Ye who are spiritual'!