Open Rebuke or Silent Love?

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"Better is open rebuke than hidden love." NIV)
"Open rebuke is better than secret love" (KJV)
"Open criticism is better than unexpressed love" (GWT)
"Better is open protest than love kept secret" (BBE) (Proverbs 27:5)

Secret or hidden love, that is, love that is NOT spoken or expressed. How many time do people fail to give needed counsel, precious advice, and rebuke in the name of "love"?

People will fail to rebuke and justify it by saying - "I did not want to hurt his/her feelings," or "I don't want to judge anyone," or some other such lame excuse. They fail to realize that we have a duty to rebuke, kindly, gently, yet firmly, those we love.

If we want our friends to become better people, to stop bad habits, for instance, then we must be openly honest, sometimes brutally honest, with them. Our remaining silent, in the name of "love," is contradictory to what love really is in relation to our friends and neighbors.

Rebuke is an example of Christian love, which is seldom appreciated, at least not in the short term. It is not easy to openly rebuke a friend or a brother. It is necessary however for the good of our friend and brother. So the next proverb following says – “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” Clarke, in his commentary, called it “a rough medicine.”

True love demands open rebuke. It is better to "speak the truth in love" than to ignore sin in our friends and neighbors.

"Open rebuke" here may well mean "constructive criticism,” as opposed to that kind that is destructive, seen in the common fault-finding, pickiness, carping and biting criticism, that we see all around us in the world. Healthy rebuke does not stem from a critical spirit that sees only the bad in others. It comes from a genuine love and concern for the well being of others.

"He that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more favour than he that flattereth with the tongue." (Proverbs 28:23)

Our true friends tell us our faults and have only our improvement in mind, our well being at heart. When such criticism is received and heeded, and improvement made, then the one rebuked will be thankful that a friend loved them enough not to keep silent.

Jesus said:

“Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him." (Luke 17:3)

If you love your brother, you will confront him when he is wrong. If you hate him you will not. This is a kind of "confrontational evangelism"?

Paul said:

"Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear." (I Tim. 5:20)

Certainly this is an example of "open rebuke," is it not?

Sinner friend, when the Lord's gospel ministers rebuke you, warn you, and call upon you to repent of sins, it is not because they seek your harm, but rather your eternal good. Do not let someone tell you otherwise.