1 Thessalonians 5:14

Where, then, do you show that they renewed the command to flee from city to city? In fact, it was utterly impossible that they should have laid down anything so utterly opposed to their own examples as a command to flee, while it was just from bonds, or the islands in which, for confessing, not fleeing from the Christian name, they were confined, they wrote their letters to the Churches. Paul bids us support the weak, but most certainly it is not when they flee.

But if we are to hate ungodly and lawless men, we shall go on to hate also sinners; and thus in regular process thou wilt be broken off from the most even of thy brethren, or rather from all: for there is not one, no, not one, without sin. For if it be our duty to hate the enemies of God, one must not hate the ungodly only, but also sinners: and thus we shall be worse than wild beasts, shunning all, and puffed up with pride; even as that Pharisee. But not thus did Paul command us, but how? "Admonish the disorderly, encourage the faint-hearted, support the weak, be long suffering toward all."

"And we exhort you, brethren, admonish the disorderly, encourage the faint-hearted, support the weak, be long suffering toward all."

Here he addresses those who have rule. Admonish, he says, "the disorderly," not of imperiousness, he says, nor of self-will rebuke them, but with admonition. "Encourage the fainthearted, support the weak, be longsuffering toward all." For he who is rebuked with harshness, despairing of himself, becomes more bold in contempt. On this account it is necessary by admonition to render the medicine sweet. But who are the disorderly? All those who do what is contrary to the will of God. For this order of the Church is more harmonious than the order of an army; so that the reviler is disorderly, the drunkard is disorderly, and the covetous, and all who sin; for they walk not orderly in their rank, but out of the line, wherefore also they are overthrown.

But there is also another kind of evils, not such as this indeed, but itself also a vice, little mindedness. For this is destructive equally with sloth. He who cannot bear an insult is feeble-minded. He who cannot endure trial is feeble-minded. This is he who is sown upon the rock. There is also another sort, that of weakness. "Support the weak," he says; now weakness occurs in regard to faith. But observe how he does not permit them to be despised. And elsewhere also in his Epistles he says, "Them that are weak in the faith receive ye." (Rom. xiv. 1) For in our bodies too we do not suffer the weak member to perish. "Be longsuffering toward all," he says. Even toward the disorderly? Yes, certainly. For there is no medicine equal to this, especially for the teacher, none so suitable to those who are under rule. It can quite shame and put out of countenance him that is fiercer and more shameless than all men.

Of course, even good men can be sick, suffering from that disobedience which is the penalty of a primal disobedience which, therefore, is a wound or weakness in a nature that is good in itself. It is because of this wound that the good who are growing in grace and living by faith during their pilgrimage on earth are given the counsels, "Bear one another's burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ," and elsewhere, "We exhort you, brothers, reprove the irregular, comfort the fainthearted, support the weak, be patient toward all men. See that no one renders evil for evil to any man." … It is in this way that citizens of the City of God are given medicine during their pilgrimage on earth while praying for the peace of their heavenly fatherland. And, of course, the Holy Spirit is operative internally to give healing power to the medicine which is applied externally, for, otherwise, no preaching of the truth is of any avail. Even though God makes use of one of his obedient creatures, as when he speaks in human guise to our ears—whether to the ears of the body or to the kind of ears we have in sleep—it is only by his interior grace that he moves and rules our mind.

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 feeble-minded; support the weak; be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for evil."

Let us then bravely bear the ills that befall us. It is in war that heroes are discerned; in conflicts that athletes are crowned; in the surge of the sea that the art of the helmsman is shown; in the fire that the gold is tried. And let us not, I beseech you, have concern for only ourselves, but let us rather look out for the rest, and that much more for the sick than for the whole, for it is an apostolic precept which exclaims, "Comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak." Let us, then, stretch out our hands to them that lie low, let us tend their wounds and set them at their post to fight the devil. Nothing will so vex him as to see them fighting and smiting again.

It was to the laity and to women and not only the clergy that the apostle said, "Reprove the irregular, comfort the fainthearted, support the weak." Provided that you are willing to rebuke one another in case of sin, the Enemy will be able to take you by surprise only with difficulty or not at all. If he does take you by surprise, the evil which was done is easily amended and corrected. Then is fulfilled in you what was written, "A brother who helps his brother will be exalted," and again, "he who helps a sinner to be brought back from the misguided way will save his soul from death, and will cover a multitude of sins."

Here the apostle addresses the teachers. Not with severity, he says, or with haughtiness make reproofs, but with meekness "admonish." For, having fallen into despair, a person becomes more insolent when given a harsh reproof. "The unruly" are those who act contrary to what God has ordained. God has appointed to each his own rank; the one who transgresses it is unruly. The drunkard, the reviler, the covetous person, and all who sin live in a disorderly manner. Fainthearted is he who does not endure temptation. He is precisely the one sown on the rock (Matt. 13:5). Thus, he too is in need of support. "Support the weak" — that is, support the weak in faith, as he says in another place: "Him that is weak in the faith receive" (Rom. 14:1). "Be patient with everyone" — and to the disorderly, and the fainthearted, and the weak. For this is the most fitting means for a teacher, capable of converting all, even the most coarse.

Earlier he showed them how they ought to remain subject to their bishops. Here he makes the same point from another point of view. And concerning this he does two things. He first teaches how bishops should act toward their priests, and secondly he teaches them in general how they ought to behave towards everyone (5:15). It should be understood that the concern of bishops should be directed toward two things, that is, to prevent others from sinning and to safeguard themselves in this respect.

In treating the first point, Paul does three things; because there are three ways in which persons subject to authority may fail: first, in action; secondly, in the will; thirdly, in virtue.

They fail in action when they give themselves over to the act of sinning; and then they ought to be corrected. And, although they ought to be corrected concerning every sin, they should be corrected especially with respect to the sin of idleness, and so Paul remarks: admonish the idle. "We were not idle when we were with you" (2 Thess. 3:7). "Question your neighbor before you threaten him" (Sir. 19:17).

Their will may be at fault if no great tasks are undertaken because they are despondent as a result of their adversities and their earlier sins. Consequently Paul says, encourage the fainthearted. A person is considered fainthearted if he has no courage for great things because he is afraid of failing. "Say to those who are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not!" (Is. 35:4). "Your words have upheld him who was stumbling" (Job 4:4).

They fail in virtue, whenever they sin because of weakness or are halfhearted in a good act; and these people need to be encouraged. So Paul remarks, help, that is, befriend in all charity, the weak, for their power is weak for resisting evil or for doing charitable works. "We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak" (Rom. 15:1).

A bishop ought to guard himself against a fault of any kind, and mainly against impatience, for he is bearing the full burden of the group. "I am not able to carry all this people alone, the burden is too heavy for me" (Num. 11:14). Hence he says, be patient with them all. "Good sense makes a man slow to anger" (Prov. 19:11).