Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are idle, encourage the faint-hearted, support the weak, be patient toward all men.
All Commentaries on 1 Thessalonians 5:14 Go To 1 Thessalonians 5
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
Hence, as far as concerns us, who are not able to distinguish those who are predestinated from those who are not, we ought on this very account to will all humanity to be saved. Severe rebuke should be medicinally applied to all by us that they neither themselves perish nor may be the means of destroying others. It belongs to God, however, to make that rebuke useful to them whom he himself has foreknown and predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son. We do not abstain from admonishing for fear lest by rebuke a person should perish. So why do we not also rebuke for fear that one should rather perish by our withholding admonition? For there is no greater act of compassion on our part than when the blessed apostle says, “Rebuke those that are unruly; comfort the feebleminded; support the weak; be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for evil.”
