Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.
15 Regard him not as an enemy. He immediately adds a softening of his rigor; for, as he elsewhere commands, we must take care that the offender be not swallowed up with sorrow, (2 Corinthians 2:7,) which would take place if severity were excessive.
The apostle having commended their obedience for the time past, and mentioned his confidence in their obedience for the time to come, proceeds to give them commands and directions to some who were faulty, correcting some things that were amiss among them. Observe, The best society of Christians may have some faulty persons among them, and some things that ought to be reformed.
Commenting on 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15
Yet count him not as an enemy,.... As an enemy of Christ, and the Christian religion, as the Jews and Pagans were; or as an enemy of all righteousness, as Elymas the sorcerer was; as one that has an implacable hatred to good men, and a persecutor of them, and has an utter aversion to them and their principles; nor deal with him in an...