The Greek word corresponding to “reprove” is the word e·lengʹkho.

At Matthew 18:15 that word appears when Jesus says that “if your brother commits a sin, go lay bare his fault [Greek, e·lengʹkho; Kingdom Interlinear, “reprove”] between you and him alone.” (Compare Leviticus 19:17.)

ABLE BOTH TO EXHORT AND TO REPROVE

The scripture says: “An overseer must be . . . holding firmly to the faithful word as respects his art of teaching, that he may be able both to exhort by the teaching that is healthful and to reprove those who contradict.” (Titus 1:7-9)

And in closing counsel to this congregation in Laodicea, Asia Minor, he said: “All those for whom I have affection I reprove and discipline.

God used another apostle, namely, Paul, to reprove Peter.

At such times, elders appropriately use the Bible to teach, remind, exhort and even reprove fellow believers.

To reprove is “to call attention to the remissness of usu[ally] with a kindly intent to correct or assist,” or “to express disapproval of” a person for his words or actions. (Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary)

“The One correcting the nations, can he not reprove, even the One teaching men knowledge?

Rather than allowing any seeds of “hate” to develop, you should “reprove” him.

In thus taking to heart Bible counsel and applying it, we reprove ourselves.

 6. What might be some unwholesome trends that could develop in a congregation, and what should the elders consider?

⁶ There are times, of course, when elders need to reprove individuals or, in a general sense, the congregation collectively respecting certain attitudes or actions.

 1. According to 1 Timothy 5:20, those who persist in sinning are to be reproved before whom, and why?

WHAT, then, of Paul’s instructions to Timothy to reprove “before all onlookers [literally, in Greek, “in the sight of all”]” those who persist in sinning?

15, 16. Is the naming of a person essential for reproving him “before all onlookers,” and how does 1 Corinthians 14:23-25 demonstrate this?

¹⁵ Is an actual naming of the person at fault required in order to reprove him “before all onlookers”?

“Reprove before all onlookers persons who practice sin, that the rest also may have fear.”​—1 Tim. 5:20.

1, 2. What instructions did Paul give Timothy while Timothy was in Ephesus, and what questions does this raise?

WHEN counseling his fellow worker Timothy as to how he should deal with problems in Ephesus, where some were stirring up fruitless discussions and contradictory teachings, the apostle Paul included these words: “Reprove before all onlookers persons who practice sin, that the rest also may have fear.”​—1 Tim. 5:20; 1:3-7; 6:3-5.

The Bible urges: “Reprove, reprimand, exhort, with all long-suffering and art of teaching.” (2 Tim. 4:1, 2)

“REPROVE BEFORE ALL ONLOOKERS”

As a requirement for Christian elders the apostle Paul said that each should be “holding firmly to the faithful word as respects his art of teaching, that he may be able both to exhort by the teaching that is healthful and to reprove those who contradict.” (Titus 1:9)

Yes, at times elders may have to reprove certain ones in the congregation that they serve.

“An overseer,” it is written, “must be free from accusation as God’s steward, not self-willed [no, but guided by the divine will], not prone to wrath, not a drunken brawler, not a smiter, not greedy of dishonest gain, but a lover of strangers, a lover of goodness, sound in mind, righteous, having loving-kindness, self-controlled, holding firmly to the faithful word as respects his art of teaching, that he may be able both to exhort by the teaching that is healthful and to reprove those who contradict.”—Titus 1:7-9.

 9. (a) How should rebuke and correction be given to rebellious ones? (b) If opposition arises within or outside the congregation, is not one justified in losing his temper and becoming hotly enraged?

⁹ As already quoted from the Scriptures, an overseer must hold firmly to the faithful Word of God, and he must be able to exhort by the teaching that is healthful, and “to reprove those who contradict.”