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Translation
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What the Fathers say
Eastern Fathers
John Chrysostom
"For to this end also did I write to you, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye are obedient in all things." I not only in cutting off but also in reuniting. Seest thou how here again he brings the danger to their doors. For as when he sinned, he alarmed their minds, except they should cut him off, saying, "A little leaven leaventh the whole lump," and several other things; so here too again he confronts them with the fear of disobedience, as good as saying, "As then ye had to consult not for him, but for yourselves too, so …
Theophylact of Ohrid
He frightens them so that, fearing condemnation for disobedience, they would more willingly show leniency to the man. "I wrote for this reason," he says, "to test by experience" your virtue of obedience — whether you will show me the same obedience now, when he ought to be comforted, as you showed then, when I punished him. …
Western Saints
Thomas Aquinas
Secondly, he urges them with a command, saying, for this is why I wrote, namely, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything. He says, in everything, namely, whether they are pleasing or displeasing to you. For he had first commanded them to excommunicate him, and they obeyed the Apostle's command. But now he commands them to be sparing; hence he says, whether you are obedient in everything.
Translation