2 Timothy 4:2Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

On the other hand, if you reprove and threaten, even forcefully, but offer no consolation, you again spoil the whole matter. Reproof by itself is unbearable if it is not tempered with consolation.

So it is when a wound is cut, even for healing. The sufferer cannot bear the pains of incision and cutting unless many means are used to soften the pain. So it is here also.

"With all," he says, "longsuffering and teaching." The one who reproves must have longsuffering, so that the hearer may not believe without cause. The threat must be joined with consolation, so that it may be accepted.

What does the word added to longsuffering mean, "and teaching"? Reprove not with anger, hatred, malice, or hostility, as though against an enemy. All this must be set aside.

How, then? With love, with compassion, grieving more than the one reproved, inwardly pitying his condition. "With all," he says, "longsuffering and teaching," and not in some casual way.

A peaceful and calm time is considered favorable for preaching. A time of calamities is considered unfavorable. Others consider preaching in the church to be timely, and preaching outside the church untimely.

Or again, it may be understood otherwise. Do not wait for the time of a fall, but teach before anyone falls.

"Reprove." When you see that this must be done, that is, when you find someone sinning or intending to sin, do not pass it by idly.

"Rebuke." After you have reproved him and shown the sinner his error, rebuke him. That is, impose penance and punishment.

"Exhort." Rebuke with punishment is like cutting, while consolation is a pleasant plaster. Therefore apply the plaster of consolation, so that cutting alone, causing extreme pain, may not cast him into despair.

"With all longsuffering and teaching." Join this with every precautionary measure. For one must also reprove with all longsuffering, so that the one reproved may believe everything not without cause.

One must also reprove with teaching, explaining how he sinned and in what the sin consists. Thus one must rebuke with longsuffering, imposing punishments not as upon an enemy, but as admonition upon a son.

And do this in teaching, that is, teaching him the benefit of punishment itself. Consolation most of all needs longsuffering and teaching. The longsuffering must not be casual, but "all" longsuffering, shown on every occasion, in deeds, words, and outward bearing.

For bodies sick with an overflow of bile find bitter food or drink like sweetness, while sweet dishes are like bitterness. So too, where the spirit is wounded, it grows sick from the sensual heat of flattery, and is again moderated by the bitterness of correction.

The Greek phrase ἐν ράβδῳ means with a staff, switch, rod, or cane.

Therefore reproof is likened to cutting, rebuke to the complexity of medicines, and exhortation to medicines that soften. Since it happens that some do not accept the healing offered, it was necessary to set forth proper instruction about them also.

Finally, entreaty is applied either to those who are altogether incorrigible, and then it must be accompanied by longsuffering, or to the obedient, and then it becomes teaching.

There are, of course, other forms of edification. But the Apostle has already indicated them by pointing to the necessity of constant instruction.

It is as if he teaches: whatever you gather in Scripture, like a wise bee, carry it into the souls of the flock. “To what, precisely, does the Apostle adjure him? What is this? ‘Preach the word.’ Do not hide, or bury in the ground, the gift that is in you. O let us who are lazy in preaching fear this!” (Blessed Theophylact).

“Be urgent in season and out of season.” “Be urgent” means: always stand on this, that you preach. “Preach constantly, speak tirelessly. Do not speak once and let that be enough, but always speak and teach” (Blessed Theophylact).

“What does ‘in season and out of season’ mean? Do not appoint a fixed time. Let every time be the time for you to do this, and not only in time of peace, calm, or when staying in church. Even if you are in danger, even in prison, even in bonds, even if you are preparing to go to death, reprove at that time too and do not cease to instruct. Reproof is in season when it can have success, or when a convenient occasion presents itself” (Saint Chrysostom).

“The holy Apostle commands Timothy not simply to preach in any manner whatever, but to count every time suitable for this. He himself did this, teaching in prison, on a ship, and at a set table. What happened in Philippi, in Troas, and at sea bears witness to this” (Blessed Theodoret).

“‘In season and out of season’ was said by the Apostle in the same sense as in ordinary speech. Some think so, and they consider a peaceful and calm time as in season for preaching, while a time of distress is out of season, when there is no time for preaching. Others again consider preaching in church in season, and outside church out of season.

“Or still otherwise: do not wait for the time of falling, but teach before someone falls” (Blessed Theophylact). Do not wait for a time. As soon as you see that preaching is needed and can bring benefit, preach, whatever circumstances you are in.

“Reprove.” “When you see that this must be done, that is, when you find someone sinning or intending to sin, do not let the occasion pass in vain.” Reproof applies both to the one who is turning into other-mindedness and to the one who violates the commandments. Reproof aims to reveal wrong-mindedness to one and wrong conduct to the other. It aims to bring both to awareness of guilt and awaken in them the desire for correction. It requires a firm heart, so as not to be ashamed before anyone’s face.

“Rebuke.” “After you reprove and prove to the erring person his error, rebuke him” (Blessed Theophylact). Επιτιμησον means: compel him to correct himself also by the severity of pastoral authority. It also means: place a penance on him, use the Church’s corrective punishments, applying them like plasters to wounds. By this one is required to bring him to the decision to correct himself and place him on the path of correction.

“Exhort,” παρακαλεσον, means both entreat and persuade, and comfort. Both are needed by the one being corrected, so that he may willingly and gladly take up the work of self-correction. Here encouragement with success is fitting, and with the ease of attaining it, and still more with the brightness of the state of one who lives rightly.

“Rebuke and punishment are like cutting, and consolation is like a pleasant plaster. Therefore apply the plaster of consolation, so that the cutting alone, producing extreme pain, may not cast one into despair” (Blessed Theophylact). “Like physicians, after pointing out the abscess and making the incision, he now applies the plaster” (Saint Chrysostom). “When a disease is hidden, physicians first make an incision and use harsh medicines, and afterward apply softening powders” (Blessed Theodoret).

To what has been said, “reprove, rebuke, exhort,” Saint Chrysostom adds this application: “If anything from all this is omitted, the rest becomes useless. If you rebuke without reproof, you will appear brazen, and no one will listen. But if you first reprove, then the hearer will accept the rebuke. Without this he will remain shameless.

“On the other hand, if you reprove and rebuke, even with power, but do not offer consolation, you will again spoil the whole matter. For reproof by itself is unbearable if it is not mixed with consolation. When a wound is cut, even if the cutting is saving, the sufferer cannot bear the pains of cutting and incision unless many means are used to soften the pain. So it is here.”

“With all long-suffering and teaching.” Since the matter concerns the correction of infirmities, and they do not at once yield to remedies, the healing pastor needs patience above all, and not a little, but long patience. Since the whole healing occurs through the free change of thoughts, feelings, and dispositions, and this can be attained chiefly through a change in convictions, the pastor must chiefly direct his care and effort toward this.

Therefore let him join teaching to long-suffering, or let him teach patiently, without becoming annoyed at lack of success, but with meekness and love. Saint Chrysostom says: “The one who instructs must have long-suffering while teaching, so that the hearer may believe not without reason.

“What does the word added to long-suffering mean, ‘and teaching’? Reprove not with anger, not with hatred, not with malice, not with enmity, as if against an enemy. All this must be left aside. But how? With love, with compassion, grieving more than the one reproved, and inwardly pitying his condition.”