The Shameless and the Bashful

Admonition 8. The shameless are to be admonished in one way, and the bashful in another. Nothing but harsh rebuke holds the shameless back from the vice of shamelessness, while a modest word of encouragement usually inclines the bashful to mend their ways. The shameless do not know they are at fault unless they are rebuked, and even rebuked by many; for the bashful, it is usually enough to turn them if the teacher simply reminds them, gently, of their wrongdoing. The shameless are best corrected by someone who attacks them head-on; the bashful gain more if what is blamed in them is touched only, so to speak, with a glancing blow. So the Lord openly reproaches the shameless people of the Jews, saying, “A prostitute’s forehead has come upon you; you would not blush.” But again he revives them when they are ashamed, saying, “You will forget the shame of your youth, and will not remember the disgrace of your widowhood; for your Maker will rule over you.” Paul too openly reproaches the Galatians for their shameless sinning when he says, “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?” And again, “Are you so foolish that, having begun in the Spirit, you are now being made perfect in the flesh?” But he rebukes the faults of those who are ashamed as though he felt for them, saying, “I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that now at last you have flourished again in caring for me. You did care, indeed, but you lacked the opportunity.” In this way harsh reproach might lay bare the faults of the first, while gentler words might veil the negligence of the second. [a]