What does Proverbs 27:5 mean?

The modern world often presumes that true friends only speak words of affirmation; that to love someone means to endorse everything about them. Or, at least, to never correct them or challenge them in any way. Scripture refutes this. If a friend genuinely loves a person, he will not refuse to correct him. Genuine love, paired with humility, compels a person to correct his friend when necessary. A "love" which stays hidden because it lacks the courage to call out sin or danger is weak. The point is not that every expression of disagreement is loving (Proverbs 15:1, 4, 28). Rather, Solomon (Proverbs 25:1) is saying that it's more loving to offer constructive criticism than to hide that love with inappropriate silence.

The following proverb (Proverbs 27:6) reinforces this idea. Enemies may pile on compliments and affirmations. Real love is sometimes experienced as "wounds" from an ally who speaks truth in love (Ephesians 4:15).

Loving correction can bring someone back on the right track, keeping them from danger or disaster. The apostle Paul writes: "Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted" (Galatians 6:1). Of course, the rebuke should be offered in love. Paul writes that we are to be "speaking the truth in love" (Ephesians 4:15). It is not characteristic of love to withhold correction; it may be characteristic of cowardice. Paul exhorted Timothy to "be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching" (2 Timothy 4:2).