Contemplative Bible Reading

1 Thessalonians 5:12-15 (New International Version)

12Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. 13Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. 14And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.

1 Thessalonians 5:12-15 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)

12 Now we ask you, brothers, to give recognition to those who labor among you and lead you in the Lord and admonish you, 13 and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. 14 And we exhort you, brothers: warn those who are lazy, comfort the discouraged, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15 See to it that no one repays evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good for one another and for all.

I believe verse 12 asks us to recognize, respect, and honor the Elders of a congregation. (Other words for Elder include Presbyter, Pastor, and Shepherd.) The Elders labor among us and lead us in the Lord or spiritually.

This now brings us to the concept of admonish. I turn to an on-line dictionary for help with this rarely used word.

ad·mon·ish /æd?m?n??/ Pronunciation Key – Show Spelled Pronunciation[ad-mon-ish]

–verb (used with object)

1. to caution, advise, or counsel against something.

2. to reprove or scold, esp. in a mild and good-willed manner: The teacher admonished him about excessive noise.

3. to admonish them about their obligations.

Definition 2. is often used – that of scolding or correcting a person. While Elders in a church may have to correct a person spiritually, I find that more often they act per definition 1. and warn the congregation of potential dangers. This goes with the thoughts of verse 14.

Verse 13 asks us to be at peace. Do we disagree? That is okay. Do we quarrel? That is okay to a point. Do we fight constantly? Now I think we cross the line and stop living at peace.

Do we constantly nag one another? Do we weekly find something to complain about? I think these also cross the line as they preclude peace of mind in the church. How often do I find fault? Weekly? Monthly? Yearly? Is it so often that others don’t have peace of mind?

Now to verse 14, the one that caught my attention today. There is so much in these four simple exhortations or encouragements.

(1) Warn those who are lazy. Other versions  use the words disorderly, unruly, disruptive, idle. The sense is that a person is not doing what they should be doing (working for the Lord, working to support their family). Instead their inactivity disrupts the church. Warn these people. Let them know that bad consequences could come from their actions and lack of actions.

(2) Comfort the discouraged. On any day, there are discouraged people among us.  We will have our turn. Comfort rather than criticize. What if there discouragement lapses into long-term idleness? The previous phrase gives us the answer.

(3) Help the weak.

(4) Be patient with everyone.

Now this gets hard. We are to warn the lazy, but help the weak. How do we tell the difference? How much patience should we have as we comfort and help and warn? I don’t know the answer. These somewhat opposing phrases make this a hard teaching to swallow at times.

May God grant us wisdom and love as we work through these in our daily lives.