Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.
All Commentaries on 2 Thessalonians 3:15 Go To 2 Thessalonians 3
John Chrysostom
AD 407
What then does Paul mean when he says, “If any one refuses to obey what we say in this letter, note that man, and have nothing to do with him”? In the first place, he says this of brothers, but with a significant limitation which is stated with gentleness. Do not disconnect what is said here from what follows, where, having said, “have nothing to do with him,” he added, “do not look on him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.” Do you see how he urges us to hate the deed but love the person? For indeed it is the work of the devil to tear us apart, and he has always taken great care to destroy love, so that the means of correction will be gone, the sinner maintained in error and the way of his salvation blocked. For when the physician hates the sick man and runs from him, and the sick man turns away from the physician, when will the distempered person be restored, seeing that neither the one will call in the other’s aid, nor will the other go to him? Homilies on First Corinthians
