If any man doesn't obey our word in this letter, note that man, that you have no company with him, to the end that he may be ashamed.
That he may be ashamed. There are, it is true, other ends to be served by excommunication — that contagion may spread no farther, that the personal wickedness of one individual may not tend to the common disgrace of the Church, and that the example of severity may induce others to fear, (1 Timothy 5:20;) but Paul touches upon this one merely — that those who have sinned may by shame be constrained to repentance. For those that please themselves in their vices become more and more obstinate: thus sin is nourished by indulgence and dissimulation. This, therefore, is the best remedy — when a feeling of shame is awakened in the mind of the offender, so that he begins to be displeased with himself. It would, indeed, be a small point gained to have individuals made ashamed; but Paul had an eye to farther progress — when the offender, confounded by a discovery of his own baseness, is led in this way to a full amendment: for shame, like sorrow, is a useful preparation for hatred of sin. Hence all that become wanton (729) must, as I have said, be restrained by this bridle, lest their audacity should be increased in consequence of impunity. 