After a public rebuke of someone by the majority, Paul said, “comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him.”
That is, encourage this person. Or else Paul warns, we will be “outwitted by Satan.”
Satan loves discouragement, loves sorrow in us. He wants us to see rebuke and repentance as “putting someone in their place.”
But if both rebuke and repentance are putting someone in their place, then the devil has won. Rebuke should be done because we will the good of another. And if someone repents, that’s courage, boldness, strength, power, overcoming. [Read more…] about Repent Boldly. It’s a Super Power.