Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.
Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee. The "Gospel" is indeed to be "preached unto every creature" (Mark 16:15), and ministers are to "reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering." (2 Timothy 4:2); and "they that sin" are to be "rebuked before all, that others may fear" (1 Timothy 5:20). So the Lord Jesus. Stephen, and Paul reproved the perverse Jews. But after the hearers of the message have hardened themselves continually against it, and resisted the Holy Spirit, then further admonition would be lost labour, and would only bring increased scorn upon the admonisher. Compare Paul's course in respect to the obdurate and blaspheming Jews (Acts 13:45-46). 'Medicine is not to be given where the case is desperate' (Hippocrates). If there were any possibility of our gaining over the scorner, it would be our duty to brave the risk of his hatred; but if we are only likely to stir up his badness, and bring injury to ourselves, and exasperation of our tempers, without benefit to him, we should abstain from reproving him.
Rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee - (Psalms 141:5) The world thinks him a fool who takes reproof meekly. But he is wise who values the bitter medicine that removes his spiritual sickness. Hereby "the foolish" (Proverbs 9:6) becomes "wise" and "just."