The second noun νουθεσία is used infrequently in classical literature. It is made up of νοῦς, “mind,” and τίθημι, “to place,” with the sense to exert influence on the mind, and hence it is used of “counsel, admonition, correction.”8 In the LXX it is used only in Wis 16:6 referring to the plagues which served as a “warning” to the wilderness generation. It is used frequently by Philo as “admonition, warning, and correction.” In the NT it is used two other times outside the present context, “instruction” (1 Cor 10:11) and “admonition, warning” (Titus 3:10). In the Ephesian context “it denotes the word of admonition that is designed to correct while not provoking or embittering.” Dewitt points out that in Epicurus the word “signifies the gentlest sort of instruction in conduct, free from rebuke or reprimand and characterized by timely suggestions rather than sharp imperatives.” This analysis appears, however, to preclude any need for constructive rebuke. Although some translations render it “instruction” (RSV, NASB, TEV, NIV, NRSV), the term “admonition” (AV, RV, ASV) better brings out the nuance of correction or warning (NEB “correction”; JB, NJB “advice”).
Ephesians, An exegetical commentary