Admonish him as a brother

And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. - 2 Thessalonians 3v14-15

Today is one of those days when I have been given more food for thought than anything else from my devotional study.

As Paul comes to the end of this short epistle he includes the note above. There is a lot to consider here. First, it seems that the condition for breaking fellowship is those who do not obey the words in this particular epistle. To be fair that may be a misreading on my part. Some scholars say that we should read it this way, ‘If anyone does not obey our word, note that person with a letter.’ That seems to make more sense, for why would a person only have to obey what is in this one letter?

What follows is clear though. Those who do not obey God and refuse to do anything about it are to be separated from. We are not talking about those who we differ from on the non-essentials, but those who refuse to deal with their sin. In that case we are to dis-fellowship so that they are fully aware of how bad their sin is.

Yet, in doing this, we are not to treat them like the enemy – we are to remind and warn them as a brother in Christ.

Obviously, Paul is not talking about the lost here – but erring brethren.

Well, I certainly have a lot to mull over on this one. How does this all play out in the everyday practice of a local assembly? At what point does someone dealing with issues and growing in Christ cross the line into disobedience?

Wow! A lot of things stirred up in my mind on this one.