1 Corinthians Chapter 4, Verse 14
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14: ουκ εντρεπων υμας γραφω ταυτα αλλ ως τεκνα μου αγαπητα νουθετω
14: I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons
I warn you.
14: I write not these things to confound you: but I admonish you as my
dearest children.
To shame you. It is not my design to put you to shame by showing you how little you suffer in comparison with us. This is not our design, though it may have this effect. I have no wish to make you ashamed, to appear to triumph over you, or merely to taunt you. My design is higher and nobler than this.
But as my beloved sons. As my dear children. I speak as a father to his children, and I say these things for your good. No father would desire to make his children ashamed. In his counsels, entreaties, and admonitions, he would have a higher object than that.
I warn you. I do not say these things in a harsh manner, with a severe spirit of rebuke; but in order to admonish you, to suggest counsel, to instil wisdom into the mind. I say these things not to make you blush, but with the hope that they may be the means of your reformation, and of a more holy life. No man, no minister, ought to reprove another merely to overwhelm him with shame, but the object should always be to make a brother better; and the admonition should be so administered as to have this end, not sourly or morosely, but in a kind, tender, and affectionate manner.
