2 Thessalonians 3:14, 15 And if any man obey not our word by this letter, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. The apostle returns to this subject again. I. HIS REITERATED COMMAND. "If any man obey not our word by this Epistle, note that man, and have no company with him." Let him be a marked man, like a leper in your midst, standing wholly isolated in a heathen city. This would be a social extrusion deeply felt by a "brother" who would be cut off from the cordial greetings of the Church. II. THE DESIGN OF THIS SOCIAL EXCOMMUNICATION. "That he may be ashamed." It is not "for destruction," but for edification; it is to bring the offender to a due sense of his sin, and to a resolution for its abandonment. III. THE SPIRIT IN WHICH THE COMMAND IS TO BE CARRIED OUT. "Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother." 1. It is an injunction not to regard him as your enemy, or as an enemy of Christ, as if he had denied the faith, or sunk into profligacy, or relapsed into heathenism. There must be neither hostility nor carelessness on your side, but rather "the love that suffereth long, and is kind." 2. It is an injunction to affectionate admonition. "But admonish him as a brother." How this would be consistent with the withdrawal of all intercourse it is unnecessary to speculate. There was to be a faithful dealing with him that he might be won back, and "Satan have no advantage" over him. - T.C. Parallel Verses KJV: And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. |
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