Admonishing (3560) (warning, cautioning, gently reproving, exhorting) (noutheteo from noús = mind + títhemi = place) (see also Nouthesia) literally means to place in the mind and so to warn or give notice to beforehand especially of danger or evil. The idea is to lay it on the mind or heart of the person, with the stress being on influencing not only the intellect, but also the will, emotions and disposition. The idea is to counsel about avoidance or cessation of an improper course of conduct. Noutheteo is in the present tense which indicates Paul was continually admonishing, warning, cautioning, etc English dictionaries state that to admonish is to indicate duties or obligations to; to express warning or disapproval to especially in a gentle, earnest, or solicitous manner; to give friendly earnest advice or encouragement to; to reprove firmly but not harshly; to advise to do or against doing something; warn; caution. Noutheteo describes "putting sense into someone’s head", alerting them of the serious consequences of their actions and does not mean being judgmental or critical in a superior manner but instead imparting a caring kind of warning against danger. Guzik adds... Some translate warning “counseling.” The ancient Greek verb nouthetountes means, “to impart understanding,” “to lay on the mind or the heart.” The stress is on influencing not only the intellect, but also the will and disposition. It describes a basic means of education. The work of warning - or helping to impart understanding - was a passion for Paul in ministry (Acts 20:31). It is also the job of church leaders (1Thessalonians 5:12) and of the church body in general (Colossians 3:16), providing that they are able to admonish others (Romans 15:14). Noutheteo - 8 times in 8v - Acts 20:31; 14" class="scriptRef">Ro 15:14; 1 Cor 4:14; Col 1:28; 3:16; 1 Thess 5:12, 14; 2 Thess 3:15). NAS = admonish, 5; admonishing, 2; give...instruction, 1. In KJV it is translated - admonish, 4; warn, 4. The TDNT says that noutheteo (and noun Nouthesia) "The verb (noutheteo) means “to impart understanding,” “to set right,” “to lay on the heart” “to impart understanding (a mind for something)". The stress is on influencing not merely the intellect but the will and disposition. The word thus acquires such senses as “to admonish,” “to warn,” “to remind,” and “to correct.” It describes a basic means of education. (didasko = Provide instruction in a formal or informal setting = teach) often linked with noutheteo/nouthesia, e.g... Socrates takes aside someone who has unintentionally given a false account of something in order to instruct and warn him. In the case of didasko the primary effect is on the intellect, and someone qualified exercises the influence. , Noutheteo however, describes an effect on the will and disposition, and it presupposes an opposition which has to be overcome. It seeks to correct the mind, to put right what is wrong, to improve the spiritual attitude.1 “The basic idea is that of the well-meaning earnestness with which one seeks to influence the mind and disposition by appropriate instruction, exhortation, warning and correction.”...Hence the dominant meanings “to admonish, warn, soothe, remind, correct...Aiming both to ward off and to impel, noutheteo takes place through the word... (noutheteo) is an elementary means of education which the father uses...It does not mean “to punish,” but through the word... to cause the appeal to the moral consciousness to gain a hold over men and bring them to repentance and shame, so that punishment is superfluous. In keeping with pedagogic experience, however, the word can have the secondary sense of actively affecting the mind, i.e., “to discipline”...Philo and Clement of Alexandria speak about God or Christ warning, censuring, and encouraging us in this way. The idea is not that of punishment but of a moral appeal that leads to amendment. In this sense it takes on the meaning “to discipline.” Philosophy, however, does not use it technically for its own work. The LXX makes little use of it; it means “to reprimand” in 1 Sam. 3:13, “to admonish” in Job 4:3, and “to correct” in Job 30:1; 36:12. The noun, which means “admonition” or “correction,” is common in Philo, for whom it represents divine warnings as distinct from divine punishments. The group occurs in the NT only in Paul. In Eph 6:4 the noun represents a means of Christian upbringing, i.e., the admonition or instruction which will correct but not provoke. In 1Cor 10:11 God’s OT judgments have pedagogic significance; they are written for our instruction. (Noutheteo) denotes a pastoral function. The man who by admonition and correction seeks to turn others from what is wrong and to lay the good on their hearts is (Paul), the preacher of the Gospel, the one who bears responsibility for the faith and life of the primitive churches...Paul warns and teaches (Col. 1:28) with a view to bringing believers to maturity in Christ. Admonition is a central part of the cure of souls (Acts 20:31). Criticisms are fatherly words of correction (1Cor. 4:14, 15)...Similarly a congregation admonishes or corrects whether by its pastors (1Th. 5:12) or by the reciprocal brotherly ministry of the members exercising pastoral oversight with a sense of congregational obligation (1Th. 5:14). This may be a correcting of the refractory (2Th. 3:15), but in (Titus 3:10) it represents an attempt to make the heretic aware of the falsity of his position, a pastoral attempt to reclaim rather than a disciplinary measure, though there is place for this if the corrective word is of no avail. The pastoral use remains a common one in the apostolic fathers." (modified from the "big Kittel" - Kittel, et al: Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Vol. 4, Page 1020. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans) Noutheteo has the connotation of confronting with the intent of changing one’s attitudes and actions. The ISBE says that in Scripture admonish conveys the idea... "...of warning or guidance given to persons through a reminder of certain principles by which they should be living. If such counsel is heeded it will bring prosperity, since the instruction is directed to a positive end for the edification of the hearer. Admonition is not condemnation, and when it adduces the biblical principles for Christian living it forms a valuable element in spiritual discipline." (Bromiley, G. W. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised. Wm. B. Eerdmans) Noutheteo is used 9 times in the Greek translation of the Hebrew OT, the Septuagint (LXX), 8 of those uses being in the book of Job - 1Sa 3:13; Job 4:3; 23:15; 30:1; 34:16; 36:12; 37:14; 38:18; 40:4; (for discussion of use in 1Sa 3:13 see below) . It was said of Job "Behold you have admonished many, And you have strengthened weak hands." (Job 4:3) Richards makes an important distinction writing that... "admonishing is a ministry calling for much warmth and closeness. There is no hint of a distant judgmentalism or of criticism launched from some height of supposed superiority. Paul's admonitions were stimulated by a deep love for young believers. His love was so deep that his admonitions were often accompanied by tears. Paul does not see admonition as an exclusive prerogative of leaders. The members of the body of Christ at Rome were "competent to instruct [admonish] one another" (Ro 15:14-note), and all believers are called to exercise this ministry with one another (Col 3:16-note). When we love our brothers and sisters and have a genuine concern for their well-being, we can hardly hesitate to encourage them to live godly lives and thus bring glory to the Lord." (Richards, L O: Expository Dictionary of Bible Words: Regency) Vines writes that noutheteo is used, (a) of instruction, (b) of warning. It is thus distinguished from paideuo, “to correct by discipline, to train by act,” Heb. 12:6; cf. Ep 6:4- note. “The difference between ‘admonish’ and ‘teach’ seems to be that, whereas the former has mainly in view the things that are wrong and call for warning, the latter has to do chiefly with the impartation of positive truth, cf. Col 3:16; they were to let the Word of Christ dwell richly in them, so that they might be able (1) to teach and ‘admonish’ one another, and (2) to abound in the praises of God. “Admonition differs from remonstrance, in that the former is warning based on instruction; the latter may be little more than expostulation. For example, though Eli remonstrated with his sons, 1Sa 2:24, he failed to admonish them, 1Sa 3:13, LXX. Pastors and teachers in the churches are thus themselves admonished, i.e., instructed and warned, by the Scriptures, 1Cor. 10:11, so to minister the Word of God to the saints, that, naming the Name of the Lord, they shall depart from unrighteousness, 2Ti 2:19- note.” (Vine, W E: Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. 1996. Nelson) Trench adds that the idea of noutheteo is the training by word—by the word of encouragement, when this is sufficient, but also by that of remonstrance (an earnest presentation of reasons for opposition or grievance), of reproof, of blame, where these may be required; as set over against the training by act and by discipline, which is paideía." (Trench, R. C. Synonyms of the New Testament. Hendrickson Publishers. 2000) Trench goes on to say that admonishing is a most needful element of Christina education. He says that noutheteo when the need calls for it can be earnest and even severe and is much more than a feeble remonstrance like the priest Eli gave to his worthless sons (1Sa 2:12). Scripture records that Eli was very old and he heard all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting. And he said to them, "Why do you do such things, the evil things that I hear from all these people? No, my sons; for the report is not good which I hear the LORD'S people circulating. If one man sins against another, God will mediate for him; but if a man sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?" But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for the LORD desired to put them to death." (1Sa 2:22, 23, 24, 25) The results of Eli's failure to admonish are recorded in 1Sa 3:13 "For I have told him that I am about to judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons brought a curse on themselves and he did not rebuke (Greek Septuagint translates this Hebrew word with noutheteo) them." Beet comments that noutheteo "includes all kinds of friendly discipline and training, as of a father, brother, or companion; especially reproof with a view to improvement." Cremer says that the fundamental idea of noutheteo is "the well-intentioned seriousness with which one would influence the mind and disposition of another by advice, admonition, warning, putting right, according to circumstances” Warning and admonishing is as critical for the leaders in the church as it was for Eli. Note that warning and teaching belong inseparably together, as the constant counterpart of knowledge and action. Paul in his parting words to the Ephesian elders reminded them that "from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them" and therefore they had to "be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years (note what Paul did for 3 years! Is this an active aspect of ministry in the modern day church?) I did not cease to admonish (noutheteo) each one with tears." (Acts 20:30, 31) Note that in this passage Paul gives us a model to imitate when we admonish. In verse 31 Paul clearly demonstrates a spirit of humility ("with tears") Paul was not unsympathetic, mean-spirited, or callous with them, and neither should we be when we are called to admonish one another. Paul exhorted the Colossian saints to "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another..." (Colossians 3:16-note) When Christ's word is richly dwelling in God’s people they are wise and discerning and "enabled" to admonish one another. Paul wrote to the Roman saints letting them know that he was "convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able also to admonish one another." (Ro 15:14-note) John Eadie (A Commentary on the Greek Text of the Epistle of Paul to the Colossians) “Reminding every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom.” (cp Col 3:16-note). The two participles, as might be expected, have been variously distinguished. [Nouthesia, Eph. 6:4-note] There is no warrant in the context for translating this first term by the Latin corripientes—as in the Vulgate; as if the apostle meant to say, either that men in sin needed to be rebuked, or that false teachers were subjected by himself to severe and merited castigation. Theophylact, followed by De Wette and Olshausen, refers the first term to practice—epi tes praxeos, and the second to doctrine—epi dogmaton. According to Steiger, the one marks the early communication of Christian truth, and the latter characterizes fuller instruction. By Huther the heart is supposed to be concerned in nouthetoutes, and the intellect in didaskontes. Meyer affirms that the two words correspond to the cardinal injunction of the gospel—metanoeite (present imperative) and pisteuete (present imperative) —repent and believe (cp Mk 1:15, 6:12 Mt 3:2, 4:17, 11:20, Lk 11:32, 13:3, 4, 5, 15:7, 10, 24:47, Acts 2:38, 3:19, 11:18, 17:30, 20:21, 26:17, 18, 19, 20, 2Co 7:9, 10, et al - Ed note: Why has "repentance" virtually disappeared from the modern gospel presentation? Woe!). We are inclined to be somewhat eclectic among these opinions, and to regard the first term as the more general, and the second as the more special—the one (noutheteo) as describing the means employed to arouse the soul and stimulate it to reflection, and the other as the definite form of instruction which was communicated to the anxious and inquiring spirit. The apostle warned every man—any one, every one,—urged him as a sinner to bethink himself, to consider his danger, as the victim of a broken law—and apprehending the certainty of safety alone in Christ, to look at the adaptation of the gospel and the glory of its evidence, and to submit to its paramount claims. And he taught “every man”—gave him full instruction—left him in no dubiety (a usually hesitant uncertainty or doubt that tends to cause vacillation), but presented him with a correct and glowing sketch of redemption by the cross. In his note on the Romans 15:14 passage John MacArthur writes that noutheteo... "is a comprehensive term for counseling. In this context, it refers to coming alongside other Christians for spiritual and moral counseling. Paul is not referring to a special gift of counseling, but of the duty and responsibility that every believer has for encouraging and strengthening other believers. Tragically, many Christians today have been convinced that competent counseling can only be accomplished by a person who is trained in the principles of secular psychology—despite the fact that the various schools of psychology are, for the most part, at extreme odds with God’s Word and frequently with each other. Although they may profess that “all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness” (2Ti 3:16-note), many evangelicals—both those who give and those who receive counseling—do not rely on the full sufficiency of God’s Word.... When God’s Word rules our hearts (cf Col 3:16-note), His Holy Spirit makes us “rich in the true wisdom” and prepares us to admonish one another, to “teach and help one another along the right road.” The place for Christians to counsel and be counseled is in the church. That is not, of course, to say that it must be done in a church building, but that it be Christian counseling Christian. That principle applies to general admonitions among fellow believers, as Paul mentions in this text, as well as to counseling regarding more serious and prolonged problems confronted by a biblically oriented and spiritually gifted Christian minister." (MacArthur, J: Romans 9-16. Chicago: Moody Press or Logos) (bolding added, reference link added) Paul considered himself a spiritual father to the local churches, and it was his duty to warn his children -- "I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children" (1Corinthians 4:14) Children who are not warned can get in a lot of trouble! Using the noun form (nouthesia) Paul instructs fathers, writing... "And, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger; but bring them up in the discipline and instruction (nouthesia) of the Lord." (Ep 6:4-note) (Fathers, are you warning your children? It is critical for their well being in a amoral society which has run amuck and scoffs at the life giving Biblical principles like this one in Ephesians!) In admonishment there is a moral emphasis, in teaching a doctrinal emphasis. The Wycliffe Bible commentary says that "The ‘doctor of souls’ has a warning and teaching ministry, not self-centered but patient-centered." Guzik has a practical comment on admonishing noting that "The work of warning - or helping to impart understanding - was a passion for Paul in ministry (Acts 20:31). It is also the job of church leaders (1Thes 5:12-note) and of the church body in general (Col 3:16-note), providing that they are able to admonish others (Ro 15:14-note)." Below are the final three occurrences of noutheteo in the NT: "But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction (not merely to academic data imparted impersonally but instruction for purpose of correcting and changing people = teaching with an element of warning, designed to direct the sheep to holy living)...14 And we urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with all men." (1Th 5:12-note,1Th 5:14-note) "And yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother." (2Thessalonians 3:15) F B Meyer - WATCHING FOR SOULS (Col. 1:27, 28, cp Acts 20:31) THE MINISTRY of warning should be a recognized part of the work of the Church and of each individual member. The foghorn warns the ship from the deadly rocks; the red light warns the train of imminent danger; in the days of the plague people were warned from infected areas: how much more should we, who know the wrath of God which abides on those who refuse Christ, raise our voice in warning. We should do it deliberately, earnestly, patiently, and in reliance upon the Spirit of God to make our words, however much they may be resented, the means of arresting the wicked from the error of his ways, and those who are taking their first steps in forbidden paths from pursuing them (Ezek. 33:7, 8, 9). How wonderful it is that God does not commission angels to carry His warnings and appeals; instead of this, the work that angels might love to do is entrusted to men. It is at our peril that we neglect our opportunities in this direction. If the signalman is placed at a point where many lines of rail cross or diverge, and he sleeps at his post, or neglects his duty, he may be tried for manslaughter; and if we know of people in the immediate circle of our influence who are in danger of ruining their physical, moral, and spiritual well-being, we are bound to raise a warning voice. If we saw, upon the upper reaches of a river, a boat full of people hastening towards the rapids unheeding the danger, surely we might be guilty of being an accessory in their destruction, if we failed to do something to warn them of their peril. Accompanying our words of warning, there should be the clear reiteration of the Love of God. He does not desire the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live. It is not enough to try and prevent men from taking the wrong path, we must urge and allure them to take the pleasant ways of righteousness and peace. All are included in the love of God. Even sin cannot turn away His love, which is like that described in the parable of the Prodigal Son, or 1Cor 13:4, 5, 6, 7-note PRAYER - O God, we have left undone many things that we ought to have done. Hands have been reached out for help which we have not given; hearts have turned to us for sympathy which we have not blessed. Forgive us, we pray Thee, and at whatever cost may we follow Christ in His redemptive purpose. AMEN. (Our Daily Walk) EVERY MAN: panta anthropon: Thrice repeated, in order to emphasize the universality of the Gospel and surely a thrust at the exclusiveness of those (Gnostics) who advocated a system of truth designed from the intellectual few. Christianity, however, knows no hopeless classes. Paul states and repeats emphatically "EVERY MAN," and declares that thus wisdom is used for the benefit of all. The goal of the Christian ministry is not simply salvation, although that is extremely important, but ultimately the presentation of the believer before the Father as mature in Christ. A conception of evangelism which does not envisage this is not in the Pauline tradition. The same may be said for the teaching ministry. All in all this is “a very daunting task”, impossible apart from divine enablement which Paul brings out in the next verse. Regarding "every man" Eadie adds that "The apostle warned every man—any one, every one,—urged him as a sinner to bethink himself, to consider his danger, as the victim of a broken law—and apprehending the certainty of safety alone in Christ, to look at the adaptation of the gospel and the glory of its evidence, and to submit to its paramount claims. And he taught “every man”—gave him full instruction—left him in no dubiety, but presented him with a correct and glowing sketch of redemption by the cross. And this is done in all wisdom" AND TEACHING EVERY MAN WITH ALL WISDOM: kai didaskontes (PAPMPN) panta anthroponen pase sophia: (Literally "in all wisdom") "instructing everyone in all wisdom (comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God)." (Amplified) "We...instruct every man. We initiate every man in all the mysteries of wisdom" (Lightfoot) "and we teach everyone we can, all that we know about him" (Phillips) It is not enough to warn people; we must also teach them the positive truths of the Word of God. How far would we get in our travels if the highway signs told us where the roads were not going? Not very far! It is good to win a man to Christ, and then to warn him about the dangers ahead; but it is also important to teach that convert the basic truths of the Christian life.