“Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren;”
Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father; treat younger men as brothers — the gerontological wisdom distinguishes correction strategies by age: to presbuteroi (older men) Timothy must extend paternal honor and encouragement; to younger men, fraternal approach. Authority tempered by relational propriety.
Church Fathers on 1 Timothy 5:1
Is he now speaking of the order? I think not, but of any elderly man. What then if he should need correction? Do not rebuke him, but address him as you would a father offending. Rebuke is in its own nature offensive, particularly when it is addressed to an old man, and when it proceeds from a young man too, there is a threefold show of forwardness. By the manner and the mildness of it, therefore, he would soften it. For it is possible to reprove without offense, if one will…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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