John Chrysostom, on Prov 18:17

“The just is first accuser of himself: his friend cometh, and shall search him.”

“When you commit sin, do not wait for another man to accuse you but, before you are accused and indicted, you yourself had best condemn what you have done. Then, if someone accuses you later on, it is no longer a matter of your doing the right thing in confessing but of your correcting the accusation which he makes. And so it is that someone else has said, "The just man begins his speech by accusing himself." So it is not a question of accusing but of being the first to accuse yourself and not waiting for others to accuse you.Peter certainly sinned gravely in denying Christ. But he was quick to remind himself of his sin and, before anyone accused him, he told of his error and wept bitterly. He so effectively washed away his sin of denial that he became the chief of the apostles, and the whole world was entrusted to him.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.