Text -- 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15 (NET)

Response to the Undisciplined

3:6 But we command you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from any brother who lives an undisciplined life and not according to the tradition they received from us. 3:7 For you know yourselves how you must imitate us, because we did not behave without discipline among you, 3:8 and we did not eat anyone’s food without paying. Instead, in toil and drudgery we worked night and day in order not to burden any of you. 3:9 It was not because we do not have that right, but to give ourselves as an example for you to imitate. 3:10 For even when we were with you, we used to give you this command: “If anyone is not willing to work, neither should he eat.” 3:11 For we hear that some among you are living an undisciplined life, not doing their own work but meddling in the work of others. 3:12 Now such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to work quietly and so provide their own food to eat. 3:13 But you, brothers and sisters, do not grow weary in doing what is right. 3:14 But if anyone does not obey our message through this letter, take note of him and do not associate closely with him, so that he may be ashamed. 3:15 Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Robertson: 2Th 3:6

Now we command you ( paraggellomen de humin ).

Paul puts into practice the confidence expressed on their obedience to his commands in 2Th 3:4.

Robertson: 2Th 3:6

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ ( en onomati tou kuriou Iēsou Christou ).

Robertson: 2Th 3:6

Name ( onoma )

here for authority of Jesus Christ with which compare through the Lord Jesus (dia tou kuriou Iēsou ) in 1Th 4:2. For a full discussion of the phrase see the monograph of W. Heitmuller, Im Namen Jesu. Paul wishes his readers to realize the responsibility on them for their obedience to his command.

Robertson: 2Th 3:6

That ye withdraw yourselves ( stellesthai humas ).

Present middle (direct) infinitive of stellō , old verb to place, arrange, make compact or shorten as sails, to move oneself from or to withdraw oneself from (with apo and the ablative). In 2Co 8:20 the middle voice (stellomenoi ) means taking care.

Robertson: 2Th 3:6

From every brother that walketh disorderly ( apo pantos adelphou ataktōs peripatountos ).

He calls him "brother"still. The adverb ataktōs is common in Plato and is here and 2Th 3:11 alone in the N.T., though the adjective ataktos , equally common in Plato we had in 1Th 5:14 which see. Military term, out of ranks.

Robertson: 2Th 3:6

And not after the tradition ( kai mē kata tēn paradosin ).

See note on 1Th 2:15 for paradosin .

Robertson: 2Th 3:6

Which they received of us ( hēn parelabosan par hēmōn ).

Westcott and Hort put this form of the verb (second aorist indicative third person plural of paralambanō , the ̇osan form instead of ̇on , with slight support from the papyri, but in the lxx and the Boeotian dialect, Robertson, Grammar , pp. 335f.) in the margin with parelabete (ye received) in the text. There are five different readings of the verb here, the others being parelabon , parelabe , elabosan .

Robertson: 2Th 3:7

How ye ought to imitate us ( pōs dei mimeisthai hēmas ).

Literally, how it is necessary to imitate us. The infinitive mimeisthai is the old verb mimeomai from mimos (actor, mimic), but in N.T. only here (and 2Th 3:9), Heb 13:7; 3Jo 1:11. It is a daring thing to say, but Paul knew that he had to set the new Christians in the midst of Jews and Gentiles a model for their imitation (Phi 3:17).

Robertson: 2Th 3:7

For we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you ( hoti ouk ētaktēsamen en humin ).

First aorist active indicative of old verb atakteō , to be out of ranks of soldiers. Specific denial on Paul’ s part in contrast to 2Th 3:6, 2Th 3:17.

Robertson: 2Th 3:8

For nought ( dōrean ).

Adverbial accusative, as a gift, gift-wise (dōrea , gift, from didōmi ). Same claim made to the Corinthians (2Co 11:7), old word, in lxx, and papyri. He lodged with Jason, but did not receive his meals gratis , for he paid for them. Apparently he received no invitations to meals. Paul had to make his financial independence clear to avoid false charges which were made in spite of all his efforts. To eat bread is merely a Hebraism for eat (2Th 3:10). See note on 1Th 2:9 for labour and travail, and night and day (nuktos kai hēmeras , genitive of time, by night and by day). See note on 1Th 2:9 for rest of the verse in precisely the same words.

Robertson: 2Th 3:9

Not because we have not the right ( ouch hoti ouk echomen exousian ).

Paul is sensitive on his right to receive adequate support (1Th 2:6; 1Co 9:4 where he uses the same word exousian in the long defence of this right , 1 Corinthians 9:1-27). So he here puts in this limitation to avoid misapprehension. He did allow churches to help him where he would not be misunderstood (2Co 11:7-11; Phi 4:15.). Paul uses ouch hoti elsewhere to avoid misunderstanding (2Co 1:24; 2Co 3:5; Phi 4:17).

Robertson: 2Th 3:9

But to make ourselves an ensample unto you ( all' hina heautous tupon dōmen humin ).

Literally, but that we might give ourselves a type to you. Purpose with hina and second aorist active subjunctive of didōmi . On tupon see note on 1Th 1:7.

Robertson: 2Th 3:10

This ( touto ).

What he proceeds to give.

Robertson: 2Th 3:10

If any will not work, neither let him eat ( hoti ei tis ou thelei ergazesthai mēde esthietō ).

Recitative hoti here not to be translated, like our modern quotation marks. Apparently a Jewish proverb based on Gen 3:19. Wetstein quotes several parallels. Moffatt gives this from Carlyle’ s Chartism : "He that will not work according to his faculty, let him perish according to his necessity."Deissmann ( Light from the Ancient East , p. 314) sees Paul borrowing a piece of workshop morality. It was needed, as is plain. This is a condition of the first class (note negative ou ) with the negative imperative in the conclusion.

Robertson: 2Th 3:11

For we hear ( akouomen gar ).

Fresh news from Thessalonica evidently. For the present tense compare 1Co 11:18. The accusative and the participle is a regular idiom for indirect discourse with this verb (Robertson, Grammar , pp. 1040-2). Three picturesque present participles, the first a general description, peripatountas ataktōs , the other two specifying with a vivid word-play, that work not at all, but are busy-bodies (mēden ergazomenous alla periergazomenous ). Literally, doing nothing but doing around. Ellicott suggests, doing no business but being busy bodies. "The first persecution at Thessalonica had been fostered by a number of fanatical loungers (Act 17:5)"(Moffatt). These theological dead-beats were too pious to work, but perfectly willing to eat at the hands of their neighbours while they piddled and frittered away the time in idleness.

Robertson: 2Th 3:12

We command and exhort ( paraggellomen kai parakaloumen ).

Paul asserts his authority as an apostle and pleads as a man and minister.

Robertson: 2Th 3:12

That with quietness they work, and eat their own bread ( hina meta hēsuchias ergazomenoi ton heautōn arton esthiōsin ).

Substance of the command and exhortation by hina and the present subjunctive esthiōsin . Literally, that working with quietness they keep on eating their own bread. The precise opposite of their conduct in 2Th 3:11.

Robertson: 2Th 3:13

But ye, brethren, be not weary in well-doing ( humeis de , adelphoi , mē enkakēsēte kalopoiountes ).

Emphatic position of humeis in contrast to these piddlers. Mē and the aorist subjunctive is a prohibition against beginning an act (Robertson, Grammar , pp. 851-4). It is a late verb and means to behave badly in, to be cowardly, to lose courage, to flag, to faint, (en , kakos ) and outside of Luk 18:1 in the N.T. is only in Paul’ s Epistles (2Th 3:13; 2Co 4:1, 2Co 4:16; Gal 6:9; Eph 3:13). It occurs in Polybius. The late verb kalopoieō , to do the fair (kalos ) or honourable thing occurs nowhere else in the N.T., but is in the lxx and a late papyrus. Paul uses to kalon poiein in 2Co 13:7; Gal 6:9; Rom 7:21 with the same idea. He has agathopoieō , to do good, in 1Ti 6:18.

Robertson: 2Th 3:14

And if any one obeyeth not our word by this epistle ( ei de tis ouch hupakouei tōi logōi hēmōn dia tēs epistolēs ).

Paul sums up the issue bluntly with this ultimatum. Condition of the first class, with negative ou , assuming it to be true.

Robertson: 2Th 3:14

Note that man ( touton sēmeiousthe ).

Late verb sēmeioō , from sēmeion , sign, mark, token. Put a tag on that man. Here only in N.T. "The verb is regularly used for the signature to a receipt or formal notice in the papyri and the ostraca of the Imperial period"(Moulton & Milligan’ s Vocabulary ). How this is to be done (by letter or in public meeting) Paul does not say.

Robertson: 2Th 3:14

That ye have no company with him ( mē sunanamignusthai autōi ).

The MSS. are divided between the present middle infinitive as above in a command like Rom 12:15; Phi 3:16 or the present middle imperative sunanamignusthe (̇ai and ̇e often being pronounced alike in the Koiné[28928]š ). The infinitive can also be explained as an indirect command. This double compound verb is late, in lxx and Plutarch, in N.T. only here and 1Co 5:9, 1Co 5:11. Autōi is in associative instrumental case.

Robertson: 2Th 3:14

To the end that he may be ashamed ( hina entrapēi ).

Purpose clause with hina . Second aorist passive subjunctive of entrepō , to turn on, middle to turn on oneself or to put to shame, passive to be made ashamed. The idea is to have one’ s thoughts turned in on oneself.

Robertson: 2Th 3:15

Not as an enemy ( mē hōs echthron ).

This is always the problem in such ostracism as discipline, however necessary it is at times. Few things in our churches are more difficult of wise execution than the discipline of erring members. The word echthros is an adjective, hateful, from echthos , hate. It can be passive, hated , as in Rom 11:28, but is usually active hostile , enemy, foe.

Vincent: 2Th 3:6

Withdraw yourselves from ( στέλλεσθαι ὑμᾶς ἀπὸ )

Στεʠλλεσθαι, Po . In the active voice, to place , arrange , equip: in the middle voice, to provide for , take care . See 2Co 8:20. Here with ἀπὸ from , to place one's self away from .

Vincent: 2Th 3:6

Disorderly ( ἀτάκτως )

This adverb, the verb ἀτακτέω , and the adjective ἄτακτος are found only in Paul, and only in the Thessalonian Epistles. See on 1Th 5:14.

Vincent: 2Th 3:7

Follow ( μιμεῖσθαι )

Better, imitate . Comp. 1Co 4:16; 1Co 11:1; Phi 3:17; 1Th 1:6.

Vincent: 2Th 3:8

Any man's bread ( ἄρτον παρά τινος )

Lit. bread from any one , or at any man's hand .

Vincent: 2Th 3:8

For nought ( δωρεὰν )

The word is a noun, meaning a gift . See Joh 4:10; Act 2:38; Rom 5:15. The accusative often adverbially as here; as a gift , gratis . Comp. Mat 10:8; Rom 3:24; Rev 21:6.

Vincent: 2Th 3:8

Labor and travail

See on 1Th 1:3.

Vincent: 2Th 3:8

Be chargeable ( ἐπιβαρῆσαι )

Po . Better, burden . By depending upon them for pecuniary support. Comp. 1 Corinthians 9:3-18, and see on 1Th 2:6.

Vincent: 2Th 3:9

Power ( ἐξουσίαν )

Better, right . See on Mar 2:10; see on Joh 1:12.

Vincent: 2Th 3:10

If any would not work, etc.

A Jewish proverb.

Vincent: 2Th 3:11

Working not at all - busybodies ( μηδὲν ἐργαζομένους - περιεργαζομένους )

One of Paul's frequent wordplays. See on reprobate mind , Rom 1:28. Not busy, but busybodies. Περιεργάζεσθαι (N.T.o .) is to bustle about a thing: here, to be officious in others' affairs . See on τὰ περίεργα curious arts , Act 19:19, and see on 1Ti 5:13.

Vincent: 2Th 3:12

With quietness - work

See on study to be quiet , 1Th 4:11.

Vincent: 2Th 3:13

Be not weary ( ἐντραπῇ )

With one exception, Luk 13:1, only in Paul. To faint or lose heart .

Vincent: 2Th 3:13

Well doing ( καλοποιοῦντες )

N.T.o . According to the Greek idiom, doing well , be not weary . Not limited to works of charity, but including Christian conduct generally, as, for instance, steadily attending to their own business, 2Th 3:12.

Vincent: 2Th 3:14

By this epistle

Connect with our word . The message we send in this letter. Not, as some, with the following words, note that man in your epistle .

Vincent: 2Th 3:14

Note ( σημειοῦσθε )

N.T.o . Lit. set a mark on . The nature of the mark is indicated in the next clause.

Vincent: 2Th 3:14

Have no company with ( μὴ συναναμίγνυσθαι )

Po . See on 1Co 5:9.

Vincent: 2Th 3:14

Be ashamed ( ἐντραπῇ )

See on Mat 21:37, and see on 1Co 4:14.

Vincent: 2Th 3:15

Admonish ( νουθετεῖτε )

See on Act 20:31, and see on Eph 6:4.

Wesley: 2Th 3:6

Particularly by not working.

Wesley: 2Th 3:6

The admonition we gave, both by word of mouth, and in our former epistle.

Wesley: 2Th 3:10

Do not maintain him in idleness.

Wesley: 2Th 3:11

To which idleness naturally disposes.

Wesley: 2Th 3:12

Letting the concerns of other people alone.

Wesley: 2Th 3:14

No intimacy, no familiarity, no needless correspondence.

Wesley: 2Th 3:15

Tell him lovingly of the reason why you shun him.

JFB: 2Th 3:6

Hereby he puts to a particular test their obedience in general to his commands, which obedience he had recognized in 2Th 3:4.

JFB: 2Th 3:6

Literally, "to furl the sails"; as we say, to steer clear of (compare 2Th 3:14). Some had given up labor as though the Lord's day was immediately coming. He had enjoined mild censure of such in 1Th 5:14, "Warn . . . the unruly"; but now that the mischief had become more confirmed, he enjoins stricter discipline, namely, withdrawal from their company (compare 1Co 5:11; 2Jo 1:10-11): not a formal sentence of excommunication, such as was subsequently passed on more heinous offenders (as in 1Co 5:5; 1Ti 1:20). He says "brother," that is, professing Christian; for in the case of unprofessing heathen, believers needed not be so strict (1Co 5:10-13).

JFB: 2Th 3:6

Paul plainly would not have sanctioned the order of Mendicant Friars, who reduce such a "disorderly" and lazy life to a system. Call it not an order, but a burden to the community (BENGEL, alluding to the Greek, 2Th 3:8, for "be chargeable," literally, "be a burden").

JFB: 2Th 3:6

The oral instruction which he had given to them when present (2Th 3:10), and subsequently committed to writing (1Th 4:11-12).

JFB: 2Th 3:6

Some oldest manuscripts read, "ye received"; others, "they received." The English Version reading has no very old authority.

JFB: 2Th 3:7

How ye ought to live so as to "imitate (so the Greek for 'follow') us" (compare Notes, see on 1Co 11:1; 1Th 1:6).

JFB: 2Th 3:8

Greek, "eat bread from any man," that is, live at anyone's expense. Contrast 2Th 3:12, "eat THEIR OWN bread."

JFB: 2Th 3:8

(Act 20:34). In both Epistles they state they maintained themselves by labor; but in this second Epistle they do so in order to offer themselves herein as an example to the idle; whereas, in the first, their object in doing so is to vindicate themselves from all imputation of mercenary motives in preaching the Gospel (1Th 2:5, 1Th 2:9) [EDMUNDS]. They preached gratuitously though they might have claimed maintenance from their converts.

JFB: 2Th 3:8

"toil and hardship" (see on 1Th 2:9).

JFB: 2Th 3:8

Scarcely allowing time for repose.

JFB: 2Th 3:8

Greek, "a burden," or "burdensome." The Philippians did not regard it as a burden to contribute to his support (Phi 4:15-16), sending to him while he was in this very Thessalonica (Act 16:15, Act 16:34, Act 16:40). Many Thessalonians, doubtless, would have felt it a privilege to contribute, but as he saw some idlers among them who would have made a pretext of his example to justify themselves, he waived his right. His reason for the same course at Corinth was to mark how different were his aims from those of the false teachers who sought their own lucre (2Co 11:9, 2Co 11:12-13). It is at the very time and place of writing these Epistles that Paul is expressly said to have wrought at tent-making with Aquila (Act 18:3); an undesigned coincidence.

JFB: 2Th 3:9

(1Co 9:4-6, &c.; Gal 6:6.)

JFB: 2Th 3:10

Translate, "For also." We not only set you the example, but gave a positive "command."

JFB: 2Th 3:10

Greek imperfect, "We were commanding"; we kept charge of you.

JFB: 2Th 3:10

Greek, "is unwilling to work." BENGEL makes this to be the argument: not that such a one is to have his food withdrawn from him by others; but he proves from the necessity of eating the necessity of working; using this pleasantry, Let him who will not work show himself an angel, that is, do without food as the angels do (but since he cannot do without food, then he ought to be not unwilling to work). It seems to me simpler to take it as a punishment of the idle. Paul often quotes good adages current among the people, stamping them with inspired approval. In the Hebrew, "Bereshith Rabba," the same saying is found; and in the book Zeror, "He who will not work before the sabbath, must not eat on the sabbath."

JFB: 2Th 3:11

In the Greek the similarity of sound marks the antithesis, "Doing none of their own business, yet overdoing in the business of others." Busy about everyone's business but their own. "Nature abhors a vacuum"; so if not doing one's own business, one is apt to meddle with his neighbor's business. Idleness is the parent of busybodies (1Ti 5:13). Contrast 1Th 4:11.

JFB: 2Th 3:12

The oldest manuscripts read, "IN the Lord Jesus." So the Greek, 1Th 4:1, implying the sphere wherein such conduct is appropriate and consistent. "We exhort you thus, as ministers IN Christ, exhorting our people IN Christ."

JFB: 2Th 3:12

Quiet industry; laying aside restless, bustling, intermeddling officiousness (2Th 3:11).

JFB: 2Th 3:12

Bread earned by themselves, not another's bread (2Th 3:8).

JFB: 2Th 3:13

The oldest manuscripts read, "Be not cowardly in"; do not be wanting in strenuousness in doing well. EDMUNDS explains it: Do not culpably neglect to do well, namely, with patient industry do your duty in your several callings. In contrast to the "disorderly, not-working busybodies" (2Th 3:11; compare Gal 6:9).

JFB: 2Th 3:14

Mark him in your own mind as one to be avoided (2Th 3:6).

JFB: 2Th 3:14

Greek, "made to turn and look into himself, and so be put to shame." Feeling himself shunned by godly brethren, he may become ashamed of his course.

JFB: 2Th 3:15

Not yet excommunicated (compare Lev 19:17). Do not shun him in contemptuous silence, but tell him why he is so avoided (Mat 18:15; 1Th 5:14).

Clarke: 2Th 3:6

That ye withdraw yourselves - Have no fellowship with those who will not submit to proper discipline; who do not keep their place; ατακτως, such as are out of their rank, and act according to their own wills and caprices; and particularly such as are idle and busybodies. These he had ordered, 1Th 4:11, 1Th 4:12, that they should study to be quiet, mind their own business, and work with their hands; but it appears that they had paid no attention to this order, and now he desires the Church to exclude such from their communion

Clarke: 2Th 3:6

And not after the tradition - This evidently refers to the orders contained in the first epistle; and that first epistle was the tradition which they had received from him. It was, therefore, no unwritten word, no uncertain saying, handed about from one to another; but a part of the revelation which God had given, and which they found in the body of his epistle. These are the only traditions which the Church of God is called to regard.

Clarke: 2Th 3:7

We behaved not ourselves disorderly - Ουκ ητακτησαμεν· We did not go out of our rank - we kept our place, and discharged all its duties.

Clarke: 2Th 3:8

Neither did we eat any man’ s bread for naught - We paid for what we bought, and worked with our hands that we might have money to buy what was necessary

Clarke: 2Th 3:8

Labour and travail night and day - We were incessantly employed, either in preaching the Gospel, visiting from house to house, or working at our calling. As it is very evident that the Church at Thessalonica was very pious, and most affectionately attached to the apostle, they must have been very poor, seeing he was obliged to work hard to gain himself the necessaries of life. Had they been able to support him he would not have worked with labor and travail night and day, that he might not be burdensome to them; and, as we may presume that they were very poor, he could not have got his support among them without adding to their burdens. To this his generous mind could not submit; it is no wonder, therefore, that he is so severe against those who would not labor, but were a burden to the poor followers of God.

Clarke: 2Th 3:9

Not because we have not power - We have the power, εξουσιαν, the right, to be maintained by those in whose behalf we labor. The laborer is worthy of his hire, is a maxim universally acknowledged and respected; and they who preach the Gospel should live by the Gospel: the apostle did not claim his privilege, but labored for his own support, that he might be an example to those whom he found otherwise disposed, and that he might spare the poor. See 1Co 9:1, etc.

Clarke: 2Th 3:10

If any would not work, neither should he eat - This is a just maxim, and universal nature inculcates it to man. If man will work, he may eat; if he do not work, he neither can eat, nor should he eat. The maxim is founded on these words of the Lord: In the sweat of thy brow thou shall eat bread. Industry is crowned with God’ s blessing; idleness is loaded with his curse. This maxim was a proverb among the Jews. Men who can work, and will rather support themselves by begging, should not get one morsel of bread. It is a sin to minister to necessities that are merely artificial.

Clarke: 2Th 3:11

For we hear that there are some - It is very likely that St. Paul kept up some sort of correspondence with the Thessalonian Church; for he had heard every thing that concerned their state, and it was from this information that he wrote his second epistle

Clarke: 2Th 3:11

Disorderly - Ατακτως· Out of their rank - not keeping their own place

Clarke: 2Th 3:11

Working not at all - Either lounging at home, or becoming religious gossips; μηδεν εργαζομενους, doing nothing

Clarke: 2Th 3:11

Busybodies - Περιεργαζομενους· Doing every thing they should not do - impertinent meddlers with other people’ s business; prying into other people’ s circumstances and domestic affairs; magnifying or minifying, mistaking or underrating, every thing; newsmongers and telltales; an abominable race, the curse of every neighborhood where they live, and a pest to religious society. There is a fine paronomasia in the above words, and evidently intended by the apostle.

Clarke: 2Th 3:12

With quietness they work - Μετα ἡσυχιας· With silence; leaving their tale-bearing and officious intermeddling. Less noise and more work

Clarke: 2Th 3:12

That - they work, and eat their own bread - Their own bread, because earned by their own honest industry. What a degrading thing to live on the bounty or mercy of another, while a man is able to acquire his own livelihood! He who can submit to this has lost the spirit of independence; and has in him a beggar’ s heart, and is capable of nothing but base and beggarly actions. Witness the great mass of the people of England, who by their dependence on the poor rates are, from being laborious, independent, and respect able, become idle, profligate, and knavish; the propagators and perpetrators of crime; a discredit to the nation, and a curse to society. The apostle’ s command is a cure for such; and the Church of God should discountenance such, and disown them.

Clarke: 2Th 3:13

Be not weary in well-doing - While ye stretch out no hand of relief to the indolent and lazy, do not forget the real poor - the genuine representatives of an impoverished Christ; and rather relieve a hundred undeserving objects, than pass by one who is a real object of charity.

Clarke: 2Th 3:14

If any man obey not - They had disobeyed his word in the first epistle, and the Church still continued to bear with them; now he tells the Church, if they still continue to disregard what is said to them, and particularly his word by this second epistle, they are to mark them as being totally incorrigible, and have no fellowship with them

Some construe the words δια της επιστολης with τουτον σημειουσθε· Give me information of that man by a letter - let me hear of his continued obstinacy, and send me his name. This was probably in order to excommunicate him, and deliver him over to Satan for the destruction of the body, that the spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. The words of the original will bear either construction, that in the text, or that given above.

Clarke: 2Th 3:15

Count him not as an enemy - Consider him still more an enemy to himself than to you; and admonish him as a brother, though you have ceased to hold religious communion with him. His soul is still of infinite value; labor to get it saved.

Calvin: 2Th 3:6

He now proceeds to the correcting of a particular fault. As there were some indolent, and at the same time curious and prattling persons, who, in order that they might scrape together a living at the expense of others, wandered about from house to house, he forbids that their indolence should be encouraged by indulgence, ⁷⁰⁰ and teaches that those live holily who procure for themselves the necessaries of life by honorable and useful labor. And in the first place, he applies the appellation of disorderly persons, not to those that are of a dissolute life, or to those whose characters are stained by flagrant crimes, but to indolent and worthless persons, who employ themselves in no honorable and useful occupation. For this truly is ἀταξία, ( disorder, ⁷⁰¹) — not considering for what purpose we were made, and regulating our life with a view to that end, while it is only when we live according to the rule prescribed to us by God that this life is duly regulated. Let this order be set aside, and there is nothing but confusion in human life. This, also, is worthy to be noticed, lest any one should take pleasure in exercising himself apart from a legitimate call from God: for God has distinguished in such a manner the life of men, in order that every one may lay himself out for the advantage of others. He, therefore, who lives to himself alone, so as to be profitable in no way to the human race, nay more, is a burden to others, giving help to no one, is on good grounds reckoned to be ἄτακτος, ( disorderly.) Hence Paul declares that such persons must be put away from the society of believers, that they may not bring dishonor upon the Church.

6.Now we command you in the name. Erasmus renders it — “ by the name,” as if it were an adjuration. While I do not altogether reject this rendering, I, at the same time, am rather of opinion that the particle in is redundant, as in very many other passages, and that in accordance with the Hebrew idiom. Thus the meaning will be, that this commandment ought to be received with reverence, not as from a mortal man, but as from Christ himself; and Chrysostom explains it in this manner. This withdrawment, ⁷⁰² however of which he speaks, relates — not to public excommunication but to private intercourse. For he simply forbids believers to have any familiar intercourse with drones of this sort, who have no honorable means of life, in which they may exercise themselves. He says, however, expressly — from every brother, because if they profess themselves to be Christians they are above all others intolerable, inasmuch as they are, in a manner, the pests and stains of religion.

Not according to the injunction — namely, that which we shall find him shortly afterwards adding — that food should not be given to the man that refuses to labor. Before coming to this, however, he states what example he has given them in his own person. For doctrine obtains much more of credit and authority, when we impose upon others no other burden than we take upon ourselves. Now he mentions that he himself was engaged in working with his hands night and day, that he might not burden any one with expense. He had, also, touched somewhat on this point in the preceding Epistle — to which my readers must have recourse ⁷⁰³ for a fuller explanation of this point.

As to his saying, that he had not eaten any one’s bread for naught, he assuredly would not have done this, though he had not labored with his hands. For that which is due in the way of right, is not a thing that is gratuitous, and the price of the labor which teachers ⁷⁰⁴ lay out in behalf of the Church, is much greater than the food which they receive from it. But Paul had here in his eye inconsiderate persons, for all have not so much equity and judgment as to consider what remuneration is due to the ministers of the word. Nay more, such is the niggardliness of some, that, though they contribute nothing of their own, they, envy them their living, as if they were idle men. ⁷⁰⁵ He, also, immediately afterwards declares that he waived his right, when he refrained from taking any remuneration, by which he intimates, that it is much less to be endured, that those, who do nothing, shall live on what belongs to others. ⁷⁰⁶ When he says, that they know how they ought to imitate, he does not simply mean that his example should be regarded by them as a law, but the meaning is, that they knew what they had seen in him that was worthy of imitation, nay more, that the very thing of which he is at present speaking, has been set before them for imitation.

Calvin: 2Th 3:9

9.Not because we have not. As Paul wished by his laboring to set an example, that idle persons might not like drones ⁷⁰⁷ eat the bread of others, so he was not willing that this very thing ⁷⁰⁸ should do injury to the ministers of the word, so that the Churches should defraud them of their proper livelihood. In this we may see his singular moderation and humanity, and how far removed he was from the ambition of those who abuse their powers, so as to infringe upon the rights of their brethren. There was a danger, lest the Thessalonians, having had from the beginning the preaching of the gospel from Paul’s mouth gratuitously, ⁷⁰⁹ should lay it down as a law for the future as to other ministers; the disposition of mankind being so niggardly. Paul, accordingly, anticipates this danger, and teaches that he had a right to more than he had made use of, that others may retain their liberty unimpaired. He designed by this means to inflict the greater disgrace, as I have already noticed above, on those that do nothing, for it is an argument from, the greater to the less.

Calvin: 2Th 3:10

10.He that will not labor. From its being written in Psa 128:2 —

Thou art blessed, eating of the labor of thy hands,

also in Pro 10:4,

The blessing of the Lord is upon the hands of him that laboreth,

it is certain that indolence and idleness are accursed of God. Besides, we know that man was created with this view, that he might do something. Not only does Scripture testify this to us, but nature itself taught it to the heathen. Hence it is reasonable, that those, who wish to exempt themselves from the common law, ⁷¹⁰ should also be deprived of food, the reward of labor. When, however, the Apostle commanded that such persons should not eat, he does not mean that he gave commandment to those persons, but forbade that the Thessalonians should encourage their indolence by supplying them with food.

It is also to be observed, that there are different ways of laboring. For whoever aids ⁷¹¹ the society of men by his industry, either by ruling his family, or by administering public or private affairs, or by counseling, or by teaching, ⁷¹² or in any other way, is not to be reckoned among the idle. For Paul censures those lazy drones who lived by the sweat of others, while they contribute no service in common for aiding the human race. Of this sort are our monks and priests who are largely pampered by doing nothing, excepting that they chant in the temples, for the sake of preventing weariness. This truly is, (as Plautus speaks,) ⁷¹³ to “live musically.” ⁷¹⁴

Calvin: 2Th 3:11

11.We hear that there are some among you. It is probable that this kind of drones were, as it were, the seed of idle monkhood. For, from the very beginning, there were some who, under pretext of religion, either made free with the tables of others, or craftily drew to themselves the substance of the simple. They had also, even in the time of Augustine, come to prevail so much, that he was constrained to write a book expressly against idle monks, where he complains with good reason of their pride, because, despising the admonition of the Apostle, they not only excuse themselves on the ground of infirmity, but they wish to appear holier than all others, on the ground that they are exempt from labors. He inveighs, with good reason, against this unseemliness, that, while the senators are laborious, the workman, or person in humble life, does not merely live in idleness, ⁷¹⁶ but would fain have his indolence pass for sanctity. Such are his views. ⁷¹⁷ In the mean time, however, the evil has increased to such an extent, that idle bellies occupy nearly the tenth part of the world, whose only religion is to be well stuffed, and to have exemption from all annoyance ⁷¹⁸ of labor. And this manner of life they dignify, sometimes with the name of the Order, sometimes with that of the Rule, of this or that personage. ⁷¹⁹

But what does the Spirit say, on the other hand, by the mouth of Paul? He pronounces them all to be irregular and disorderly, by whatever name of distinction they may be dignified. It is not necessary to relate here how much the idle life of monks has invariably displeased persons of sounder judgment. That is a memorable saying of an old monk, which is recorded by Socrates in the Eighth Book of the Tripartite History — that he who does not labor with his hands is like a plunderer. ⁷²⁰ I do not mention other instances, nor is it necessary. Let this statement of the Apostle suffice us, in which he declares that they are dissolute, and in a manner lawless.

Doing nothing. In the Greek participles there is, an elegant (προσωνομασία) play upon words, which I have attempted in some manner to imitate, by rendering it as meaning that they do nothing, but have enough to do in the way of curiosity. ⁷²¹ He censures, however, a fault with which idle persons are, for the most part, chargeable, that, by unseasonably bustling about, they give trouble to themselves and to others. For we see, that those who have nothing to do are much more fatigued by doing nothing, than if they were employing themselves in some very important work; they run hither and thither; wherever they go, they have the appearance of great fatigue; they gather all sorts of reports, and they put them in a confused way into circulation. You would say that they bore the weight of a kingdom upon their shoulders. Could there be a more remarkable exemplification of this than there is in the monks? For what class of men have less repose? Where does curiosity reign more extensively? Now, as this disease has a ruinous effect upon the public, Paul admonishes that it ought not to be encouraged by idleness.

Calvin: 2Th 3:12

12.Now we command such. He corrects both of the faults of which he had made mention — a blustering restlessness, and retirement from useful employment. He accordingly exhorts them, in the first place, to cultivate repose — that is, to keep themselves quietly within the limits of their calling, or, as we commonly say, “ sans faire bruit ,” ( without making a noise.) For the truth is this: those are the most peaceable of all, that exercise themselves in lawful employments; ⁷²² while those that have nothing to do give trouble both to themselves and to others. Further, he subjoins another precept — that they should labor, that is, that they should be intent upon their calling, and devote themselves to lawful and honorable employments, without which the life of man is of a wandering nature. Hence, also, there follows this third injunction — that they should eat their own bread; by which he means, that they should be satisfied with what belongs to them, that they may not be oppressive or unreasonable to others.

Drink water, says Solomon, from thine own fountains, and let the streams flow down to neighbors. (Pro 5:15.)

This is the first law of equity, that no one make use of what belongs to another, but only use what he can properly call his own. The second is, that no one swallow up, like some abyss, what belongs to him, but that he be beneficent to neighbors, and that he may relieve their indigence by his abundance. ⁷²³ In the same manner, the Apostle exhorts those who had been formerly idle to labor, not merely that they may gain for themselves a livelihood, but that they may also be helpful to the necessities of their brethren, as he also teaches elsewhere. (Eph 4:28.)

Calvin: 2Th 3:13

13.And you, brethren. Ambrose is of opinion that this is added lest the rich should, in a niggardly spirit, refuse to lend their aid to the poor, because he had exhorted them to eat every one his own bread. And, unquestionably, we see how many are unbefittingly ingenious in catching at a pretext for inhumanity. ⁷²⁴ Chrysostom explains it thus — that indolent persons, however justly they may be condemned, must nevertheless be assisted when in want. I am simply of opinion, that Paul had it in view to provide against an occasion of offense, which might arise from the indolence of a few. For it usually happens, that those that are otherwise particularly ready and on the alert for beneficence, become cool on seeing that they have thrown away their favors by misdirecting them. Hence Paul admonishes us, that, although there are many that are undeserving, ⁷²⁵ while others abuse our liberality, we must not on this account leave off helping those that need our aid. Here we have a statement worthy of being observed — that however ingratitude, moroseness, pride, arrogance, and other unseemly dispositions on the part of the poor, may have a tendency to annoy us, or to dispirit us, from a feeling of weariness, we must strive, nevertheless, never to leave off aiming at doing good.

Calvin: 2Th 3:14

14.If any one obeys not. He has already declared previously, that he commands nothing but from the Lord. Hence the man, that would not obey, would not be contumacious against a mere man, but would be rebellious against God himself; ⁷²⁷ and accordingly he teaches that such persons ought to be severely chastised. And, in the first place, he desires that they be reported to him, that he may repress them by his authority; and, secondly, he orders them to be excommunicated, that, being touched with shame, they may repent. From this we infer, that we must not spare the reputation of those who cannot be arrested otherwise than by their faults being exposed; but we must take care to make known their distempers to the physician, that he may make it his endeavor to cure them.

Keep no company. I have no doubt that he refers to excommunication; for, besides that the (ἀταξία) disorder to which he had adverted deserved a severe chastisement, contumacy is an intolerable vice. He had said before, Withdraw yourselves from them, for they live in a disorderly manner, (2Th 3:6.) And now he says, Keep no company, for they reject my admonition. He expresses, therefore, something more by this second manner of expression than by the former; for it is one thing to withdraw from intimate acquaintance with an individual, and quite another to keep altogether aloof from his society. In short, those that do not obey after being admonished, he excludes from the common society of believers. By this we are taught that we must employ the discipline of excommunication against all the obstinate ⁷²⁸ persons who will not otherwise allow themselves to be brought under subjection, and must be branded with disgrace, until, having been brought under and subdued, they learn to obey.

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, (1Ti 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.

Calvin: 2Th 3:15

15.Regard him not as an enemy. He immediately adds a softening of his rigor; for, as he elsewhere commands, we must take care that the offender be not swallowed up with sorrow, (2Co 2:7,) which would take place if severity were excessive. Hence we see that the use of discipline ought to be in such a way as to consult the welfare of those on whom the Church inflicts punishment. Now, it cannot but be that severity will fret, ⁷³⁰ when it goes beyond due bounds. Hence, if we wish to do good, gentleness and mildness are necessary, that those that are reproved may know that they are nevertheless loved. In short, excommunication does not tend to drive men from the Lord’s flock, but rather to bring them back when wandering and going astray.

We must observe, however, by what sign he would have brotherly love shewn — not by allurements or flattery, but by admonitions; for in this way it will be, that all that will not be incurable will feel that concern is felt for their welfare. In the mean time, excommunication is distinguished from anathema: for as to those that the Church marks out by the severity of its censure, Paul admonishes that they should not be utterly cast away, as if they were cut off from all hope of salvation; but endeavors must be used, that they may be brought back to a sound mind.

Defender: 2Th 3:10

From the very beginning of time, God has ordained that men should work for their food (Gen 2:15, Gen 2:16). This became even more necessary with the entrance of sin and the curse (Gen 3:17-19). We shall continue to work, serving the Lord, in the new earth (Rev 22:3). It is, altogether, inexcusable for Christians, when they are no longer children, to expect others to provide their sustenance while they stand idle, even if they offer some spiritual excuse for not working."

Defender: 2Th 3:12

"Study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands" (1Th 4:11) is an admonition given by Paul in his first epistle. Note Eph 4:28 for a similar admonition."

TSK: 2Th 3:6

in the : 1Co 5:4; 2Co 2:10; Eph 4:17; Col 3:17; 1Th 4:1; 1Ti 5:21, 1Ti 6:13, 1Ti 6:14; 2Ti 4:1

that ye : 2Th 3:14, 2Th 3:15; Mat 18:17; Rom 16:17; 1Co 5:11-13; 1Ti 6:5; 2Ti 3:5; Heb 12:15; Heb 12:16; 3Jo 1:10,3Jo 1:11

walketh : 2Th 3:7, 2Th 3:11; 1Th 4:11, 1Th 5:14

after : 2Th 3:10,2Th 3:14, 2Th 2:15

TSK: 2Th 3:7

how : 2Th 3:9; 1Co 4:16, 1Co 11:1; Phi 3:17, Phi 4:9; 1Th 1:6, 1Th 1:7; 1Ti 4:12; Tit 2:7; 1Pe 5:3

for : 2Th 3:6; 1Th 2:10

TSK: 2Th 3:8

eat : 2Th 3:12; Pro 31:27; Mat 6:11

but : Act 18:3, Act 20:34; 1Co 4:12; 2Co 11:9; 1Th 4:11

night : 1Th 2:9

TSK: 2Th 3:9

Not : Mat 10:10; 1Co 9:4-14; Gal 6:6; 1Th 2:6

to make : 2Th 3:7; Joh 13:15; 1Pe 2:21

TSK: 2Th 3:10

when : Luk 24:44; Joh 16:4; Act 20:18

that : Gen 3:19; Pro 13:4, Pro 20:4, Pro 21:25, Pro 24:30-34; 1Th 4:11

TSK: 2Th 3:11

walk : 2Th 3:6

working : 1Th 4:11; 1Ti 5:13; 1Pe 4:15

TSK: 2Th 3:12

we : 2Th 3:6

that with : Gen 49:14, Gen 49:15; Pro 17:1; Ecc 4:6; Eph 4:28; 1Th 4:11; 1Ti 2:2

eat : 2Th 3:8; Luk 11:3

TSK: 2Th 3:13

ye : Isa 40:30,Isa 40:31; Mal 1:13; Rom 2:7; 1Co 15:28; Gal 6:9, Gal 6:10; Phi 1:9; 1Th 4:1; Heb 12:3

be not weary : or, faint not, Deu 20:8; Psa 27:13; Isa 40:29; Zep 3:16 *marg. Luk 18:1; 2Co 4:1, 2Co 4:16; Heb 12:5; Rev 2:3

TSK: 2Th 3:14

obey : Deu 16:12; Pro 5:13; Zep 3:2; 2Co 2:9, 2Co 7:15, 2Co 10:6; Phi 2:12; 1Th 4:8; Phm 1:21; Heb 13:17

by this epistle, note that man : or, signify that man by an epistle, 2Th 3:6; Mat 18:17; Rom 16:17; 1Co 5:9, 1Co 5:11; Tit 3:10

that he : Num 12:14; Ezr 9:6; Psa 83:16; Jer 3:3, Jer 6:15, Jer 31:18-20; Eze 16:61-63; Eze 36:31, Eze 36:32; Luk 15:18-21

TSK: 2Th 3:15

count : Lev 19:17, Lev 19:18; 1Co 5:5; 2Co 2:6-10, 2Co 10:8, 2Co 13:10; Gal 6:1; 1Th 5:14; Jud 1:22, Jud 1:23

admonish : Psa 141:5; Pro 9:9, Pro 25:12; Mat 18:15; 1Co 4:14; Tit 3:10; Jam 5:19, Jam 5:20

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: 2Th 3:6

Now we command you, brethren - The apostle now 2Th 3:6-12 turns to an important subject - the proper method of treating those who were idle and disorderly in the church. In the previous Epistle he had adverted to this subject, but in the mild language of exhortation. When he wrote that Epistle he was aware that there were some among them who were disposed to be idle, and he had tenderly exhorted them "to be quiet, and to mind their own business, and to work with their own hands;"1Th 4:11. But it seems the exhortation, and the example of Paul himself when there 1Th 2:9, had not been effectual in inducing them to be industrious. It became, therefore, necessary to use the strong language of command, as he does here, and to require that if they would not work, the church should withdraw from them. What was the original cause of their idleness, is not known. There seems no reason, however, to doubt that it was much increased by their expectation that the Saviour would soon appear, and that the world would soon come to an end. If this was to be so, of what use would it be to labor? Why strive to accumulate property with reference to the wants of a family, or to a day of sickness, or old age? Why should a man build a house that was soon to be burnt up, or why buy a farm which he was soon to leave? The effect of the expectation of the speedy appearing of the Lord Jesus has always been to induce men to neglect their worldly affairs, and to lead idle lives. Man, naturally disposed to be idle, wants the stimulus of hope that he is laboring for the future welfare of himself, for his family, or for society, nor will he labor if he believes that the Saviour is about to appear.

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ - see the notes on 1Co 5:4. "That ye withdraw yourselves;"see the notes on 1Ti 6:5. This is the true notion of Christian discipline. It is not primarily that of cutting a man off, or denouncing him, or excommunicating him; it is that of withdrawing from him. We cease to have fellowship with him. We do not regard him any longer as a Christian brother. We separate from him. We do not seek to affect him in any other respect; we do not injure his name or standing as a man, or hold him up to reprobation; we do not follow him with denunciation or a spirit of revenge; we simply cease to recognise him as a Christian brother, when he shows that he is no longer worthy to be regarded as such. We do not deliver him over to the civil arm; we do not inflict any positive punishment on him; we leave him unmolested in all his rights as a citizen, a man, a neighbor, a husband, a father, and simply say that he is no longer one of us as a Christian. How different is this from excommunication, as it has been commonly understood! How different from the anathemas fulminated by the papacy, and the delivering of the heretic over to the civil power!

From every brother that walketh disorderly - compare the notes, 1Co 5:11-13. A "disorderly walk"denotes conduct that is in any way contrary to the rules of Christ. The proper idea of the word used here ( ἀτάκτως ataktōs ), is that of soldiers who do not keep the ranks; who are regardless of order; and then who are irregular in any way. The word would include any violation of the rules of Christ on any subject.

And not after the tradition which ye received of us - According to the doctrine which we delivered to you; see the notes on 2Th 2:15. This shows that by the word "tradition"the apostle did not mean unwritten doctrines handed down from one to another, for he evidently alludes to what he had himself taught them, and his direction is not that that should be handed down by them, but that they should obey it.

Barnes: 2Th 3:7

For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us - You know what you should do in order to imitate us.

For we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you - See the notes on 1Th 2:10.

Barnes: 2Th 3:8

Neither did we eat any man’ s bread for nought - We were not supported in idleness at the expense of others. We gave a fair equivalent for all that we received, and, in fact, labored for our own support; see the notes on 1Th 2:9.

Barnes: 2Th 3:9

Not because we have not power ... - See the notes on 1Co 9:6, 1Co 9:12, 1Co 9:14.

Barnes: 2Th 3:10

For even when we were with you, this we commanded you - It would seem from this that the evil of which the apostle here complains had begun to operate even when he was with them. There were those who were disposed to be idle, and who needed the solemn command of an apostle to induce them to labor.

That if any would not work, neither should he eat - That is, at the public expense. They should not be supported by the church. This was a maxim among the Jews (see Wetstein, in loc.), and the same sentiment may be found in Homer, Demosthenes, and Pythagoras; see Grotius, in loc. The maxim is founded in obvious justice, and is in accordance with the great law under which our Creator has placed us; Gen 3:19. That law, in the circumstances, was benevolent, and it should be our aim to carry it out in reference to ourselves and to others. The law here laid down by the apostle extends to all who are able to work for a living, and who will not do it, and binds us not to contribute to their support if they will not labor for it. It should be regarded as extending:

(1)\caps1     t\caps0 o the members of a church - who, though poor, should not be supported by their brethren, unless they are willing to work in any way they can for their own maintenance.

(2)\caps1     t\caps0 o those who beg from door to door, who should never be assisted unless they are willing to do all they can do for their own support. No one can be justified in assisting a lazy man. In no possible circumstances are we to contribute to foster indolence. A man might as properly help to maintain open vice.

Barnes: 2Th 3:11

For we hear - It is not known in what way this was made known to Paul, whether by Timothy, or by some other one. He had no doubt of its truth, and he seems to have been prepared to believe it the more readily from what he saw when he was among them.

Which walk disorderly - See the notes, 2Th 3:6.

But are busy-bodies - Compare the 1Ti 5:13 note; 1Pe 4:15 note. That is, they meddled with the affairs of others - a thing which they who have nothing of their own to busy themselves about will be very likely to do. The apostle had seen that there was a tendency to his when he was in Thessalonica, and hence he had commanded them to "do their own business;"1Th 4:11. The injunction, it seems, had availed little, for there is no class of persons who will heed good counsel so little as those who have a propensity to intermeddle with the affairs of others. One of the indispensable things to check this is, that each one should have enough to do himself; and one of the most pestiferous of all persons is he who has nothing to do but to look after the affairs of his neighbors. In times of affliction and want, we should be ready to lend our aid. At other times, we should feel that he can manage his own affairs as well as we can do it for him; or if he cannot, it is his business, not ours. The Greek word used occurs only here, and in 1Ti 5:13; compare the notes on Phi 2:4.

Barnes: 2Th 3:12

Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus ... - A more solemn command and appeal to do what he had before enjoined on all of them; 1Th 4:11; see the notes on that verse.

Barnes: 2Th 3:13

But ye, brethren, be not weary in well-doing - Margin, "faint not."The Greek means, properly, to turn out a coward; then to be faint-hearted, to despond. The idea is, that they were not to be discouraged from doing good to the truly worthy and deserving by the idleness and improper conduct of some who asked their assistance. They were, indeed, shiftless and worthless. They would not labor; they spent their time in intermeddling with the concerns of their neighbors, and they depended for their support on the charity of others. The tendency of this, as all persons feel who have ever been applied to by such persons for aid, is, to indispose us to do good to any. We almost insensibly feel that all who ask for aid are of the same character; or, not being able to discriminate, we close our hands alike against all. Against this the apostle would guard us, and he says that though there may be many such persons, and though we may find it difficult to distinguish the worthy from the unworthy, we should not become so disheartened as not to give at all. Nor should we be weary though the applications for assistance are frequent. They are indeed frequent. God designs that they should be. But the effect should not be to dishearten us, or to make us weary in well-doing, but to fill us with gratitude - for it is a privilege to be permitted to do good. It is the great distinguishing characteristic of God that he always does good. It was that which marked the character of the Redeemer, that he "went about doing good;"and whenever God gives us the opportunity and the means of doing good, it should be to us an occasion of special thanksgiving. A man ought to become "weary"of everything else sooner than of evincing benevolence; compare the notes on Gal 6:10.

Barnes: 2Th 3:14

And if any man obey not our word by this epistle - Margin, "or signify that man by an epistle."According to the marginal reading this would mean "signify, mark out, or designate that man to me by an epistle."The difference is merely whether we unite the words "by the epistle"with what goes before, or what follows. The Greek would admit of either construction (Winer, p. 93), but it seems to me that the construction in the text is the correct one, because:

(1)\caps1     t\caps0 he requirement was to proceed to discipline such a man by withdrawing from him;

(2)\caps1     i\caps0 n order to do this it was not necessary that the case should be made known to Paul, for there was no supposable difficulty in it, and the effect would be only needless delay;

(3)    Paul regarded the right of discipline as residing in the church itself, and did not require that cases should be referred to him to determine; see the notes on 1Co 5:2-4.

(4)\caps1     t\caps0 hough the Greek will admit of either construction, yet it rather favors this; see Oldhhausen, in loc. Note that man. The word here used, means to mark; to sign; to note with marks; and the idea is, set such a mark upon him that he shall be shunned; that is, withdraw all Christian fellowship from him.

And have no company with him - The Greek word here means, to mix up together; then to mingle together with; to have contact with. The idea is that they were not to mingle with him as a Christian brother, or as one of their own number. They were not to show that they regarded him as a worthy member of the church, or as having a claim to its privileges. The extent of their discipline was, that they were to withdraw from him; see the 2Th 3:6 note, and Mat 18:17 note; compare 2Jo 1:10-11.

Barnes: 2Th 3:15

Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother - This shows the true spirit in which discipline is to be administered in the Christian church. We are not to deal with a man as an adversary over whom we are to seek to gain a victory, but as an erring brother - a brother still, though he errs. There was necessity for this caution. There is great danger that when we undertake the work of discipline we shall forget that he who is the subject of it is a brother, and that we shall regard and treat him as an enemy. Such is human nature. We set ourselves in array against him. We cut him off as one who is unworthy to walk with us. We triumph over him, and consider him at once as an enemy of the church, and as having lost all claim to its sympathies. We abandon him to the tender mercies of a cold and unfeeling world, and let him take his course. Perhaps we follow him with anathemas, and hold him up as unworthy the confidence of mankind. Now all this is entirely unlike the method and aim of discipline as the New Testament requires. There all is kind, and gentle, though firm; the offender is a man and a brother still; he is to be followed with tender sympathy and prayer, and the hearts and the arms of the Christian brotherhood are to be open to receive him again when he gives any evidence of repenting.

Poole: 2Th 3:6

Here the apostle proceeds to a discourse of another kind, which is about their carriage to disorderly members in the church. And having before declared his confidence, 2Th 3:4 , that they did and would do the things he commanded them, he now tells them what he commands; and because either it is a matter of great importance, or that which’ they would be backward in, he therefore speaks with great vehemence. When he spake in the former Epistle, 1Th 5:14 , of warning the unruly, he then spake with greater mildness:

We exhort you, brethren, & c.; but now to withdraw from them is a harsher duty; or they having first warned them, if they reform not, next they are to proceed to withdraw from them. And this he now commands as that which he supposeth they might be backward to. paraggellomen the word properly signifies a command conveyed from another, so the apostle commands here

in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ Though he had authority to command as an apostle, yet it was derived to him from Christ, and therefore he usually conjoins Christ with his exhortations and commands.

That ye withdraw yourselves from every brother or avoid, as the word signifies, and is so rendered, 2Co 8:20 . The word is used also, Gal 2:12 , of Peter’ s withdrawing himself from eating with the Gentiles; and rendered drawing back, Heb 10:38 , alluding, as some think, there to a soldier that draws back from the battle; but here in the text to a mariner that steers his ship from the rocks; and so it implies the danger of not withdrawing, which may be the reason of the apostle’ s so solemn command about it. And it is not from a heathen man, but a brother, one that is of the church; and it is every brother, let him be rich or poor, high or low, &c.; as he writes to the Corinthians, 1Co 5:11 : If any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, & c.

That walketh disorderly: alluding, as some think, to soldiers who keep not their rank, not walking according to rule, or, as he expresseth it,

not after the tradition which he received of us What is to be meant by tradition, is explained in the former chapter. And he cannot be understood to speak here of rites and ceremonies relating to church worship or order, as some imagine; the apostle doth in the following verses explain himself otherwise. But what is this withdrawing? Is it excommunication, the greater or the less? In a general sense it may be so called, for it is an abstaining from commnnion; but it is not so properly, for that is called putting away a person, a purging out the old leaven, 1Co 5:7 , this is only a withdrawing from him; much less is it a delivering up to Satan, which the apostle required, 1Co 5:5 , and himself inflicted upon Hymeneus and Alexander, 1Ti 1:20 . The nature of the crime here mentioned will not bear that. It was not incest or blasphemy, as in the former instances, but only disorderly walking, which he specifies afterwards. And with respect to such the apostle required in the former Epistle warning only: Warn the unruly. And though this is something more, yet it implies not a casting a man out of the church, which is Christ’ s visible kingdom, into Satan’ s kingdom, for he is still to be admonished as a brother, as 2Th 3:15 . And excommunication is the exerting an act of church power, as 1Co 5:4 , whereof no mention is made here; or of an absolute rejection, which is elsewhere required, Tit 3:10 . It seems then to be only a withdrawing from familiar converse and society, as 1Co 5:11 : If any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, covetous, &c.; with such an one no not to eat; alluding to the custom of the Jews, who would not eat with the Gentiles; and by eating is expressed communion in Scripture, and profane writers also. And such communion is forbidden to such a brother, which the apostle allowed them to have with such sinners that were of the world, and not of the church, as 2Th 3:10 , which cannot be meant of sacred communion. And familiarity with such a brother would harden him in his sins, and reflect dishonour upon religion, and endanger their infection, more than with a pagan, or infidel: which therefore the apostle forbids them to a brother, as he did the Corinthians mentioned before, as also the Romans, Rom 16:17 . And which may be a step towards excommunication from spiritual communion, which is the greater punishment, especially if the brother be not hereby made ashamed, and reform his course, and doth not only now and then do a disorderly action, but

walketh disorderly and that after warning also. Others think it is meant of excommunication, and judge not the reason against it to be cogent.

Poole: 2Th 3:7

Whereby the apostle intimates the aggravation of their crime who did walk disorderly, and so justifies the withdrawing from them. For they would be reproved not only by his doctrine, but example: what he required of others he practised himself, and that in some cases for this end alone, that he might be an example; examples teaching more than precepts, especially in ministers. And they did not only know how the apostle and his fellow ministers walked among them, but their end therein, whereby they knew they ought to follow them, and how to follow them; being guided as well as excited by their example. And this is expressed more generally. First, negatively:

We behaved not ourselves disorderly among you which he speaks not in a way of self-commendation, but for their imitation; and he useth here the same word to express his own practice which he did in theirs, being properly a military word, as was said before. He went before them as it captain before the army, and taught them order by his own example; for in the negative the positive is included.

Poole: 2Th 3:8

Neither did we eat any man’ s bread for nought: the apostle here gives a particular positive instance of what before he speaks negatively, and in general; and brings his discourse home to the present case, and declares his orderly working in this, that he wrought for his own bread, and did not eat for nought, or live upon that which was freely given. dwrean the word is sometimes taken for that which is without effect, as Gal 2:21 , answering to the Hebrew word Chinnam, oft used, Psa 7:4 25:3 69:4 119:61 . Or, that which is without cause; and that either with respect to injury received, as Joh 15:25 , or benefit bestowed, as Rom 3:24 , when it is freely given without merit. The apostle means that he preached the gospel to them freely, as he tells the Corinthians, 2Co 11:7 . Though if he had received maintenance for his labour in the gospel among them, it was that which he well deserved, and he had not eaten their bread for nought; but he wrought with his own hands to maintain himself, as he did at Corinth, Act 18:3 .

But wrought with labour and travail and he wrought laboriously, with wearisome and toilsome labour, as the words import; and that

night and day as he had told them in the former Epistle, 1Th 2:9 ; only he speaks of it here upon a different account; there, to clear his ministry from suspicion of covetousness, and to evidence his sincere affection to them; here, to set before them an example of industry against such who lived idly, and did eat others’ bread. Had he not wrought with his hands, he had not walked disorderly; but lest any should think so, he would do it to take away all occasion of evil. For though the labour of the ministry in the exercise of the mind and study may be reckoned as the greatest, yet most people cannot judge of it, and think it such; and though he had power to forbear working, as he tells the Corinthians, 1Co 9:6 , yet he would do it rather than any good should be hindered, or any evil furthered thereby.

Poole: 2Th 3:9

The contents of this verse are already spoken to in the former, only the apostle asserts the right of maintenance due to the ministry by the name of

power It may be claimed by authority from Christ, though it should not be commanded by any laws from men. As the priests under the law had their maintenance settled upon them by the law of God; so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel, 1Co 9:14 Gal 6:6 . And though this power may be claimed, yet in some cases it is to be denied, as the apostle did, 1Co 9:12 : We have not used this power; lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ. And so he did here, to make himself an example, tupon , which signifies any mark that is cut or engraven to stamp things into its own likeness; oft used in the New Testament, and variously applied.

But to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us: it is desirable to follow good examples, but more to become a good example: and as the old verse is true, Regis ad exemplum, & c., so the old proverb, "Like priests, like people"; and to follow them is to imitate them, as 1Co 11:1 : Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. He is the first pattern, and others are to be regulated by it; and so far, and no further, to be imitated. As ministers ought to be patterns, Tit 2:7 1Pe 5:3 ; so the people ought to be followers, and their sin will be the greater if they follow not their doctrine, when it is exemplified in their practice.

Poole: 2Th 3:10

The words contain a reason, as the illative for imports; but what it refers to is uncertain; most probably a further reason of the apostle’ s working with his hands, because when with them he left this command,

that if any would not work, neither should he eat he would therefore practise himself what he commanded them, and not be thought to be as the Pharisees, binding heavy burdens upon others, and he not touch them himself. And this is another of the commandments which the apostle gave them, which he declared his confidence that they would do, 2Th 3:4 . And this command seems grounded upon the law given to Adam: In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, Gen 3:19 . For when he recommends a practice not directly grounded upon some word of God, or of Christ, or from infallible inspiration, he calls it a permission, as 1Co 7:6 ; but when otherwise, he saith: I command, yet not I, but the Lord, 1Co 7:10 ; and calls it the commandment of the Lord, 1Co 14:37 . And this in the text is not his alone, but the Lord’ s, and is elsewhere mentioned, as Eph 4:28 : Let him that stole steal no more, but work with his hands, & c.: see 1Co 7:20 . God requires it of us as men, that we may be profitable in the commonwealth, supply our own wants and of those that depend upon us, and have wherewith also to supply the wants of the poor, Eph 4:28 , to be kept from the temptations of idleness. Christianity doth not extinguish the profitable laws of nature or nations. Yet this general command admits limitations; if men have ability and opportunity to work, or if the ends of working are not otherwise supplied. For he that lives out of the reason of the law seems not bound by the law; or if the work be mental, and not manual, the law is fulfilled; and the equity of the law reacheth all men so far, as that none ought to be idle and useless in the world. And the apostle’ s argument for it in the text is cogent from nature itself; agreeably to that of Solomon, Pro 16:26 : He that laboureth laboureth for himself, for his mouth craveth it of him. Whereupon some judge these believing Thessalonians to be generally a people that lived by some handicraft trade, or some other manual labour. And the eating here intended is meant of relief from the stock and charge of the church: such should not be relieved who would not work, as it is in the text; who could, but would not, the fault being in the will.

Poole: 2Th 3:11

For we hear: the apostle gives the reason of this discourse he fell into about disorder, and commends, yea, commands, a remedy against it. He had heard of this disorderly walking, else his discourse might have been esteemed vain and needless. Reports are to obtain credit according to the quality of the person that makes them, his end therein, and probability of truth. He took notice of reports brought to him about the divisions that were at Corinth, 1Co 11:18 .

That there are some among you: and the persons that he here chargeth the report upon, are not all, but some only, and he nameth none; for as to the body of the church, he had confidence they did, and would do, the things he commanded, 2Th 3:4 . And he requires them to withdraw from the disorderly.

Which walk among you disorderly, working not at all: and the disorder he chargeth upon these some is:

1. Mhden ergazomenouv , that they worked not at all, at least not the work of their own place, as it follows.

2. But are busybodies busy, and yet idle, and not working; periergazomenouv curieusement, French Bible; as the curious arts of sorcerers are called perierga , Act 19:19 . The word signifies working about, and denotes either vain curiosity, meddling in matters that they ought not, or going round their proper work, but not falling or fixing upon it. The same the apostle speaks of younger widows, 1Ti 5:13 , who learnt to be idle, and yet were busybodies; and such are called allotrioepiskopoi , 1Pe 4:15 . And the one follows from the other; for they that are idle and neglect their own business will be apt to intermeddle in another’ s: and they that are not keepers at home, will be gadders abroad, and so not eat their own, but others’ bread, which the apostle here reproves, as dishonourable to the Christian profession; and, as a further remedy, doth with much earnestness address his speech particularly to them.

Poole: 2Th 3:12

Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ: he had before given command to the church to withdraw from them, 2Th 3:6 ; and now he lays the commandment upon themselves, and that in the name of Christ.

That with quietness they work: working is set opposite to their idleness, and quietness to their busy meddling where they ought not, whereby they might occasion strife. The apostle here, and in many other places, requires Christians to live peaceably, as 2Co 13:11 Col 3:15 1Th 5:13 Heb 12:14 .

And eat their own bread not to live as drones, upon another’ s labours; yet he forbids not dealing their bread to the hungry, nor requires this of the poor that are necessitated to live upon alms. And by eating their own bread the apostle means, maintaining themselves and families, for bread is taken in Scripture for all things that maintain the natural life: and the apostle here insinuates a blessing upon honest labour, that thereby men shall have bread of their own; and doth assert property against that community which some have pleaded for, the civil right that men have to what they honestly get and possess; but hereby condemns oppressors, pirates, robbers, cheaters, usurpers, yea, and tyrannical princes, who maintain themselves upon the spoil of others, and take their bread out of others’ mouths; and why not also such as are not quiet and contented with their own portion, but either envy others, or murmur against providence?

Poole: 2Th 3:13

But ye, brethren: the apostle now directs his speech to those of the church that were not guilty of the disorders before mentioned, to whom he speaks in mild and familiar language, as if the others deserved not to be so called.

Be not weary in well doing: and that which he speaks to them is, not to be weary of well doing. The Greek word is often used about sufferings, as 2Co 4:1 Eph 3:13 ; and then usually translated fainting, and which seems to be its most proper use, to shrink or faint as cowards in war; Mh ekkakhshte , Ne segnescite, definite, defatigamini; it signifies a receding or fainting, or tiring in our duty, because of the evil that attends it. Sometimes it is used of prayer, Luk 18:1 ; and sometimes generally of all duties of religion, which are generally called well doing, Gal 6:9 , and signifies either a slothfulness in them, or weariness of them: as those whom the prophets complain of, Amo 8:5 Mal 1:13 . The apostle useth the same word in this sense, Gal 6:9 : Let us not be weary in well doing; and in the text, those that did walk orderly, he exhorts them to hold on their course, either more peculiarly to the works of charity, which are called well doing, Phi 4:14 ; though those that worked not did not deserve them, or enjoy them, yet this should not discourage them from practising them towards others: or the word may extend more generally to all good works; we should persevere in them without fainting or weariness, notwithstanding the evils that may threaten us therein.

Poole: 2Th 3:14

Here we have further commandments given concerning the disorderly; in case of obstinacy, to proceed further against them. The apostle had given commandments about their walking in his first preaching to them, after that he repeats them in his First Epistle, and again in this Second.

And now if any man obey not our word by this epistle saith he, note that man and he would have none excepted, either through fear or favour, and nothing done by partiality, 1Ti 5:21 . What is meant by noting is disputed among expositors; more seems to be meant than marking them, Rom 16:17 . Some take it for what we call excommunication; so Aug. lib. 3, Cont. Epist. Parmen. cap. 4. Theophyl. in locum; either the casting him out of the church, which is the greater, or suspension from the Lord’ s supper, which is the lesser. As there were degrees of church censure among the Jews, so also we read practised in the gospel church, as is evident in the councils. Others think it is no more than a withdrawing from him, as was mentioned before, 2Th 3:6 ; but then the apostle saith the same thing over again, which seemeth needless. And he speaks here of some greater contumacy than before, when his word in this Second Epistle is not obeyed. We may suppose the apostle may mean not only a withdrawing from familiarity with him, but exposing his name to some public notice in the church, that both his crime and his name should be publicly noticed; as the apostle speaks of Hymeneus and Alexander, and Philetus, by name in his Epistles that were made public. shmeiousye , note him by a sign, as the word signifies, which cannot well be done by a mere withdrawing. And seeing he speaks here of one that is not only disorderly, but obstinate, some further and more signal act of discipline is to be inflicted on him. And what word the apostle refers to in this Epistle as not obeyed is not expressed, neither need we limit it, but it may be meant of all his commandments herein, to which obedience was required. And the word, as written, is the word of God, and is to be obeyed as well as that which is preached. I know there is another reading of the text: If any man obey not our word, note that man by an epistle; and so it is in our margins. But this is not probable. By an epistle? To whom? To the apostle himself? And for what? To know how to proceed towards such a one? What need that, when he here gives direction about it to them; which follows.

And have no company with him or be not mingled with him, which refers either to his crime, as the Greek word is so applied, Eph 5:11 , or to his person also, as the word is used, 1Co 5:9 . And yet some think the apostle here forbids only civil communion, not sacred, because the word in the text is generally so used, and so rendered by expositors; but sacred communion is expressed in the New Testament by another word, 1Jo 1:3 . And if meant of sacred, it is then casting him out of the church, which is a delivering him up to Satan: see Estius in loc. And that seems not to agree with what follows:

Admonish him as a brother and so not to be accounted as a heathen or a publican, Mat 18:17 . And we know admonition goes before casting out. But to be thrust out of the company of the people of God in all civil, friendly society, is a great punishment and affliction. And some think, that the noting of him was to be done by the governors of the church, and the renouncing his company, by all the people: let the reader judge.

That he may be ashamed: the end of both is here expressed. This is not added before as a reason of withdrawing, and therefore some think the apostle required that only to avoid the infection of sin by familiar society; but this further proceeding here mentioned is to make the man ashamed that is obstinate in disobedience; but we need not so limit it. And this making him ashamed is not to be out of hatred to his person, but for his good, as all church censures ought to be so intended, to bring him to that shame that may be the first step to true repentance. There is a shamefulness in sin; and when sinners repent, they see it, and are ashamed, Isa 1:29 Eze 16:61 Rom 6:21 ; and God complains of sinners when not ashamed, Jer 3:3 . Shame is a natural affection in men, and is not in the nature of beasts, neither was it in man before the fall; and though in itself it is no virtue, being the proper effect of sin, yet it is of use to restrain much open wickedness, and to keep decorum in men’ s outward actions: and God makes use of it also in leading men to true repentance. To shame men out of envy or hatred is sinful, and against the law of charity; but to do it to bring them to repentance, is better than by flattery or familiar society to harden them in sin.

Poole: 2Th 3:15

They having thus proceeded against the disorderly and disobedient, the apostle directs them about their after-carriage, which either respects their inward opinion of the mind, or outward action.

Yet count him not as an enemy they should not count him an enemy, putting a great difference between an offending brother and a professed enemy. They ought not to hate him as an enemy, nor look upon him as upon such who out of enmity to the gospel persecute Christianity, nor to have an unreconcilable mind towards him.

But admonish him as a brother and as to outward action, should admonish him as a brother. It is either private or public, ministerial or fraternal, gentle or severe, joined with commination. The Greeks express it in the degrees of it by three words, nouyesia, epitimea, epiplhxiv . The word in the text signifies a putting in mind: they were to put the offender in mind of his sin, and in mind of his duty. Though they were to have no company with him in a way of familiarity, yet to be in his company so as to admonish him; and the admonition here meant is either public, in the church, or private; or first private, then public, as our Saviour gives the rule, Mat 18:15-17 . So that his repentance is to be endeavoured not only by abstaining his company, but by admonition. And it is to be performed to him as a brother, which either respects the state of the person admonished: he is not an enemy, or pagan, or one out of the visible church, but a brother, whereby some conceive that the apostle had not before spoken of his excommunication. Or it respects the way of admonition: it is to be performed with love, tenderness, and compassion, as to a brother, not to upbraid him, but to gain him; as Mat 18:15 : If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. And for that end great prudence is to be used. The temper of the offenders, the quality of the sin, their outward condition in the world, their age, yea, the circumstances of time and place, are to be considered.

PBC: 2Th 3:6

2Th 3:6

Community Discipline

{2Th 3:6-12} Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us. For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you; Neither did we eat any man’s bread for nought; but wrought with labour and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you: Not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us. For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.

It is highly likely that this problem of laziness goes hand in hand with the theological and eschatological problem that Paul confronted in the second chapter {2Th 2:1-17} of this letter. If the Thessalonians believed that the Second Coming would occur within their lifetime, why work and plan for the future? In fact why not just fall into a laid back communal lifestyle? " Let the rich freely share their wealth with the poor; the Second Coming will occur before the next generation arrives. There is no need to prepare for the future."

Disorderly comes from a Greek word that means out of rank (as in soldiers marching), deviating from the prescribed order or rule, inordinate, or immoderate. Paul already established a " tradition" of faith and practice that he had received and passed along to them. Now he singles out one particular deviation and rebukes it, while directing the church as to how to handle it.

To withdraw from a person may in extreme cases authorize formal church discipline. However, the passage does not require this step. In fact it almost certainly intends something less severe. The dual proverbs that deal with answering the fool {Pr 26:4-5} establish that discernment is essential in our faithfulness to God. Do you answer the fool according to his folly, or do you not answer the fool according to his folly? Legalism, the idea that every moment must be controlled by a legal mandate, destroys the dynamic spirit of Christianity rather than establishing it.

Our passage challenges us with another discerning option. In Mt 18:1-35 Jesus provided explicit and detailed procedures that we should follow when confronting a brother or sister who offends us. Most Christians have so fully lost touch with the ethic that lies at the heart of this lesson that they don’t even know when they violate it! The rule of the day is to tell everyone else about your offense toward that person, but never to go to the person in the most private manner possible to resolve the conflict.

However, in this passage we are directed to withdraw from the person who walks in a disorderly manner. So what do you do? Confront or withdraw? The answer will not help the legalist. Sometimes you do one, and sometimes you do the other! In no case, however, should you follow the third and more common alternative, talking to others about this person’s faults. If there is any hope that a person will respond to the godly peer pressure of a private and loving confrontation, by all means you should follow that course. If the person demonstrates stubborn resistance to such confrontation, our study lesson directs avoidance. Instead of looking for reasons to socialize with the person, you avoid them. When words fail to correct the erring conduct, avoidance might create enough loneliness that they will reconsider their errors and reform. Gentle confrontation, I believe, is far preferred over avoidance. Avoidance endangers the person to other problems. They may be so entrenched in their error that, instead of repenting, they will simply seek out other people who will favor their sinful attitude. Several years ago I wrote a book on the sins of the tongue. At times we all fall to the temptation to chat inappropriately about things that are not our business. We defend it as being harmless, but in fact it may well spread unbecoming attitudes to others toward the person whose faults we discuss. Do you want to test this practice? When people start their " innocent" gossip about someone, watch the topic of the discussion. Are they discussing this person’s faith, his unusual strength of character in times of adversity? Or do they single out his faults and shortcomings? In a number of cases I observed an interesting reaction to my book on the tongue. Several people mentioned to me that the book confronted their habits and gave them sufficient reason to rethink their habit and to stop participating in this conduct. Others simply stopped talking to me about such matters, but they continued gossiping just as much as ever to others. They didn’t want to deal with a confrontation regarding their sinful speech, but they also didn’t want to stop the practice! Sinful speech habits will inevitably drain the vitality out of a professing believer’s witness to others in his life. People will pay lip-service to the person, but they will not take his words seriously. Why should they? He doesn’t!

It appears that Paul intends a gentle kind of distancing from people when they pursue error. Don’t put them in such isolation that loneliness will destroy their sense of belonging to the true community of worship. But make a point of avoiding their faulty conduct sufficiently that they get the message of your disapproval. Excessive avoidance becomes cliquish. Ignoring the conduct implies approval. How do you find that fine balance in between? First notice that Paul referred to these erring members as brothers. He does not discount their membership in the church community. Secondly, notice that Paul offered his personal conduct as a model for the Thessalonians. He was an apostle. He could have insisted that the Thessalonians provide all his financial needs. However, instead of imposing this demand, apparently sensing something of their inclination toward slothfulness, Paul reminds them that he worked day and night at tent making to provide for his personal needs. These erring members supposedly claimed that Paul had taught them that the Second Coming would occur right away. If this were true, why did Paul work?

The book of Acts documents that some of the early churches practiced active benevolence, even to a form of communal living as in the case of the Jerusalem church. The whole scenario of complaint that initiated what I believe to be the office of deacon in Ac 6:1-15 grew out of a complaint that some of the Greek widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food and supplies from the church. Apparently within the Thessalonian church as well, this practice was observed. In this passage Paul imposes a rather surprising condition upon the recipients of the church’s distribution. Everyone who is capable of working should work and contribute to the church’s resources, not avoid work and rely on them. If someone was capable of working and refused to do so, that person should be excluded from the church’s support.

Idleness always fuels faulty attitudes and habits. In this case Paul charges the slothful people with becoming busybodies, gossips who spent more time meddling in other people’s affairs than in working to take care of their own. Paul charges these people to repent of their present lifestyle. They must seek out productive activities rather than investing their idle time in meddlesome interest in other people’s lives. Then they must learn to work with their own hands with a quiet spirit. Rather than relying on the church for their food and shelter, they must redirect their energies away from their tongue and into their hands!

Quietness implies contentedness. Observe the people who gossip and otherwise involve themselves in the private lives of others. Almost without exception you will discover a person who is not content with themselves or with their own lives. They have not invested the time and spiritual energy necessary to come to peaceful terms with themselves. Rather than look in the mirror to assess areas of their own life that needs spiritual attention, something that is often a bit painful, they prefer to hold others up to their mirror. Jesus reminds us in the Sermon on the Mount to avoid criticizing the speck of dust in our brother’s eye when we have a log in our own eye. How often this truth appears in the life of the gossip. The person who continually gossips about certain faults in others typically is well blessed with the same faults. Paul’s model here requires that we invest in our own godliness. Rather than deplete the reputation of others, contribute to their good name. What a great investment!

346

PBC: 2Th 3:13

2Th 3:13

Avoid, Yet Admonish

{2Th 3:13-15} But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing. And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.

In these verses Paul expands the scope of the church’s community discipline. In our last chapter he directed the church to avoid those who were able to work but refused to do so. Here he applies the same strategy to those who might not obey other teachings in his letter.

At first glance it almost seems that Paul is urging contradictory strategies. Which is it? Do you keep no company with an erring believer, or do you admonish him? Paul’s model requires both!

Be not weary in well doing. Before anyone in a church can or should consider admonishing or otherwise correcting others in the culture, he must ensure that his own conduct and attitude are fixed in a godly manner. If you struggle with impatience and frustration, you should never confront another person. You will harm the situation, not resolve it. Only as we are engaged in doing well are we equipped to reach out helpfully to others. In the sermon on the mount Jesus taught the same principle with the idea of the mote and the beam in the eye. Don’t criticize your brother or sister for having a speck of dust in his/her eye when you have a log (hyperbole, exaggeration for emphasis) in your own eye.

For the Thessalonians the measure of obedience is Paul’s epistle. For us it is the whole of New Testament Scriptures. We should never confront or correct another believer over private opinions or non-Biblical traditions. If we attempt to correct someone on the basis of our private opinions or local traditions, we have no basis for " correction." Perhaps in such a case the person who challenges and contradicts the norm is more correct than we.

Inherent in the fundamental idea of measuring another believer’s conduct by Scripture, be it one letter or the whole of the New Testament, is the fact that the Holy Spirit, and His chosen human authors, consider Scripture to be both understandable and practicable. The rather common idea that the Bible is so complex that no one can really understand it at all cannot stand this simple " in the trenches of the believer’s life" model.

Have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. In some cautious manner Paul has in mind a measured response toward the erring person sufficient that the person will know that other believers do not approve of their conduct. We have in this teaching an example of godly peer pressure.

Admonish him as a brother. Paul will have nothing to do with the occasional practice of " shunning" in which the congregation so fully isolates and ignores the erring person as to make him feel excluded from the assembly. Occasionally Christians will practice this extreme attitude of shunning without ever going to the person to discuss their erring behavior with them. The errant member simply realizes that another believer has thrown a cold shoulder his way, but doesn’t know why. Such unwise and unkind conduct among believers will never correct anyone; it will merely so discourage the errant member as to drive them away! It will leave the impression, both with the erring member and with onlookers that the church culture is cliquish. You must either fit in with the clique and be one of the " beautiful people," or you will be frozen out. This spirit will destroy the safe and godly climate of any church!

Many years ago in another region of the country I was talking with a minister regarding a local schism, actually one that eventually was resolved. However, his attitude toward the problem didn’t contribute to the healing of the schism. He boastfully observed that his strategy toward erring people, or even an erring church, was simply to ignore them. He chuckled and quipped a line from Mary Had a Little Lamb, " Leave them alone, and they’ll come home..." No, Mary’s line doesn’t work for lost sheep or for believers who have lost their way! Furthermore Paul’s direction here does not allow for, much less approve of, that cliquish attitude toward an erring believer.

The word translated admonish is the Greek word noutheteo SGreek: 3560. noutheteo. It is normally translated as admonish or warn. Its primary meaning has to do with the mind. Jay Adams has written many books about the practice of nouthetic counseling, or " Biblical counseling." In addition any number of other hybrid " Christian counseling" programs exist that typically include a mixture of secular psychological strategies with some Biblical instruction. Perhaps in specific settings any of these practices might prove helpful to a person in need of help with a personal problem or attitude. At times it appears that Adams almost excludes physiological factors, considering all mental problems or emotional stress as merely sin or unbelief in the person’s spiritual life. Equally the hybrid counseling programs may actually compromise Biblical counseling teachings from Scripture by attempting to mix them with contradictory secular psychological methods and philosophies. I will not rule out either, but would advise caution with both. The most Biblical strategy of counseling, of admonishing an erring or needy believer, should occur through the normal godly interaction between believers, not from a licensed or pseudo-professional Christian counselor. Granted, either of these strategies may help individual persons with emotional and/or spiritual problems. My point is that the church culture as a whole needs to be more attuned to the needs of its members. Its members need to grow more respectful of the healthy peer pressure and counsel of others in the church community. Sadly in our day, if a believer attempts to counsel another, the " counseled" member will react with resistance and resentment, as if the counseling believer is meddling into private matters or is trying to push their private ideas onto others.

Within our own fellowship of Primitive Baptists and within most conservative Christian church fellowships, the only real " church discipline" ever practiced is exclusion. Either a person is a " member in good standing" or a non-member with no standing. This model of church discipline ignores this context and many other New Testament examples that direct the church culture to involve itself kindly and graciously in the life and conduct of others in the church community. Exclusion, or excommunication, is not an example of successful and Biblical church discipline; it is the result of failed Biblical discipline!

Occasionally those who view exclusion as the only proper step in discipline, will protest against the exhortations and other steps set forth in the New Testament that aim at a more effective and gentle correction of behavior. They will use such terms as, " Well, I don’t believe the church should be a reform school." I offer that in an effective and corrective form that is precisely what a functional New Testament church should be!

Blended into a thoughtful and gentle harmony, the church as a whole body must grow in its awareness and its knowledge of what the New Testament teaches regarding acceptable conduct and faith for each individual in the assembly. Gentle and consistent peer pressure should be applied to urge all the members of the local assembly to follow the New Testament model of Christian conduct. And when someone in the culture fails, those who observe the conduct should prayerfully, and gently approach the erring member with Biblical, not emotional, reasons for repentance and faithfulness. And the erring member should respond with a Biblical, not an emotional, response of confession and correction. The New Testament attitude of actually preferring other believers to self would instantly revolutionize the modern church (Php 2:3-4, with the challenging example of our Lord’s own conduct during the Incarnation that follows in Php 2:5-11)!

The challenge in our passage appears in the matter of carefully-gracefully-weighed balance. When someone crosses the line of acceptable Biblical conduct, other believers should either approach that person with specific and kind confrontation (as in Mt 18:1-35) or with cautiously weighed distancing that communicates disapproval. For example, on one occasion many years ago, a respected man in a neighboring church called some of the men together in the church auditorium immediately following a worship service and told them a somewhat off-color joke. From a purely human point of view, it had a touch of humor. However from the perspective of the setting, it was altogether inappropriate. Rather than laughing and responding with another joke, I immediately turned and walked away. At least in some degree I wanted to communicate to this brother that I did not approve of his conduct. Perhaps I should have first made a gentle comment that the spirit of the moment did not make his joke appropriate for the occasion. How do we practice this strategy, avoid yet admonish?

355

Haydock: 2Th 3:6

Charge, or declare; or by the Greek, we command. ---

In the name of our Lord. This may signify a separation by excommunication. (Witham) ---

That you withdraw, &c. St. John Chrysostom upon this place, St. Augustine, Theophylactus, and others understand St. Paul as speaking of a kind of excommunication. But St. John Chrysostom on ver. 13. and 14. seems to restrain its meaning to a prohibition for the guilty to speak to any body, unless they spoke to him, if their conversation tended to exhort him to repentance. Theophylactus likewise remarks that this punishment was formerly much dreaded, though now not in use.

Haydock: 2Th 3:8

Burthensome. By the Greek, he understands those who being idle, and not keeping themselves employed, lead a disorderly life. (Witham)

Haydock: 2Th 3:9

If I, to whom you are indebted for the preaching of the gospel, have yielded my claims, unwilling to receive any thing from you, and even labouring with my own hands for the necessaries of life, how are those to be borne with who do nothing, and yet will be supported at another's expense? for St. Paul had witnessed amongst them some of this idle disposition. (Estius)

Haydock: 2Th 3:10

Not work. By prying with curiosity into other men's actions. He that is idle, saith St. John Chrysostom, will be given to curiosity. (Witham) ---

The apostles, like our Lord, were fond of introducing popular saying or axioms. Another, and not unlike the former, is found in one of the Jewish rabbies, Zeror: Qui non laboraverit in Prosabbato, ne edat in Sabbato.

Haydock: 2Th 3:12

Eat their own bread, which they work for, and deserve, not that of others. (Witham)

Haydock: 2Th 3:14

Here the apostle teaches that our pastors must be obeyed, and not only secular princes; and with respect to such as will not be obedient to their spiritual governors, the apostle, (as St. Augustine affirmeth) ordains that they be corrected by admonition, by degradation, or excommunication. (Cont. Donat. post Callat. chap. iv. 20. & lib. de correp. & grat. chap. iii.)

Haydock: 2Th 3:15

Do not regard him as an enemy. A necessary introduction for those whom Providence has placed over others, to admonish and correct them, but with charity and peace; so that we neither be, nor give them occasion to thin we are their enemies. (Witham) ---

He is your brother; compassionate his weakness; he is a sick member of the same body of which you are one of the members; the greater his infirmity, the greater should be your charity and anxiety for his cure; the greater excommunication separated the delinquent from the communion of the Church, making him in our regard as a heathen or a publican. But he is not here speaking of this kind, for he allows the faithful to speak to him for his spiritual advantage. (Calmet)

Gill: 2Th 3:6

Now we command you, brethren,.... The apostle is now come to the main thing itself he has in view in this part of the epistle, which is to encourage a regard to the discipline of God's house; and to exhort this church to excommunicate, or remove from communion, all disorderly persons; and those who are to do this he points out, and calls upon, and even commands; and these are the fraternity, the "brethren", the society of believers, all the members of the church; for to them to whom belongs the power of receiving members, to them only belongs the power of excluding offenders: the executive power lies in the hands of the elders or pastors of churches; they are the persons by whom the church receives or casts out members; but the power of judgment, or of determining who shall be received into, or who shall be removed from communion, lies in the church, and not in the pastors and elders only; whoever therefore take upon them to receive, or refuse, or cast out members of themselves, and at their own pleasure, act the part of Diotrephes, 3Jo 1:9. The authority for removing disorderly persons from communion is an apostolical command, "we command you"; who are the apostles of Christ, immediately sent by him, who had their mission and commission from him, and which were confirmed by miracles; these had a greater power and authority than the ordinary ministers of the word; they were the ambassadors of Christ, stood in his stead, represented him, and acted in his name; what they said, he spake by them; and it was all one as if he had spoke it himself: and that this might appear not to be of them, but of him, it is added,

in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; that is, by his power and authority, if they had any regard to that, or to his honour and glory:

that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly; by a brother is meant, not one in a natural or civil sense, who is so by blood, or by neighbourhood, by being of the same country, or of the same human species, since all are of one blood; but one in an ecclesiastical sense, a church member, who is called a brother, though he may not be really a child of God, one of the brethren of Christ, or born of the Spirit; yet being a fellow citizen with the saints, and of the household of God externally, he bears this character; and such an one only is cognizable by a church, who have nothing to do to judge them that are without, only them that are within: and "every brother" in this sense falls under their notice; everyone that is a member, whether male or female, for this word includes both; and as the sisters, as well as the brethren, stand in the same relation, are in the same church state, partake of the same ordinances, and enjoy the same privileges, they are obliged to regard the same rules of the Gospel, and duties of religion, and, in case of disorder, to be withdrawn from: and this also regards every brother, of whatsoever state or condition, bond or free, high or low, rich or poor; no partiality is to be used, no preference to be given to one above the other; a poor member in a disorder is not to be bore hard upon, while a rich one is winked and connived at: and it also respects the brethren, whether private members, or officers of the church; for not only the former, but also the latter, when they walk disorderly, whether in the discharge of their office, or in any other part of their conduct, are liable to the notice and censure of the church: and which is only to be done when any of them "walk disorderly"; not for every disorder they are guilty of; there is no man lives without sin; and church members have their infirmities, and will have, as long as they are in the flesh, or in the body; and they are not to be made offenders for a word, or for a single disorder, or for the common infirmities of life; nor are the just to be set aside for a thing of nought, or a small offence, and that not continued in: it is one thing to be guilty of a disorder, and another thing to walk disorderly; which denotes a way, a course, a series of disorder, and proceeding on in it, a going from evil to evil, an increasing to more ungodliness; for walking is a progressive action, and disorderly persons do not stop, but grow worse and worse; for they take pleasure in their disorders; they choose their own ways, and delight in their abominations; the paths of sin are pleasant paths to them: and they are disorderly walkers, who pertinaciously and stubbornly continue in their disorders, notwithstanding the admonitions of private persons, and of the whole church; and of this sort there are such that walk disorderly in the world, in the commission of notorious and scandalous sins, such as uncleanness, intemperance, covetousness, &c. and that walk disorderly in families; as husbands that are not affectionate to their wives, and provide not for their household; and wives that are not in subjection to their husbands; parents that provoke their children to wrath; and children that are disobedient to their parents; masters who give not that which is fit and equal to their servants; and servants that despise their masters because they are brethren, when they should serve them the more cheerfully, because faithful and beloved: and also that walk disorderly in churches, that fill not up their places, but neglect attendance with the church, on the word and ordinances; and who are contentious and quarrelsome, and will not submit to the sentiments of those who are superior to them in number and sense; and likewise such who entertain bad notions and principles, derogatory to the grace of God, the person and offices of Christ, and the operations of the Spirit; who walk, not in the truth, nor according to the standard of the word of God; and especially such are designed here, who are busy bodies, and idle persons, who work not at all, but live at the tables, and upon the substance of others, as appears from 2Th 3:11. These act contrary to the order and decorum of nations, towns, and families, and to that which God has fixed among mankind; and to the example of God, and Christ as God, who work hither to and jointly together in Providence, and in the government of the world; and to the example which Christ, as man, has set, and to the example of the apostles, and to their commands: wherefore it follows,

and not after the tradition which he received of us; meaning either the Gospel of Christ, which being, preached was received, but the walk and conversation of some was not agreeably to it; or the ordinances of the Gospel, and the precepts of religion which the apostles delivered, and were received, and yet due attendance to them was not given; See Gill on 2Th 2:15, or rather that particular injunction concerning quietness, and doing their own business, and working with their own hands, 1Th 4:11. The Vulgate Latin version reads, "which they received of us": the sense is the same; and the Ethiopic version, "and not according to the constitution we appointed them". Now what is commanded to be done to such disorderly persons, by the church, even the whole fraternity, is to "withdraw" themselves from them; by which is meant, not only to distinguish themselves from them by an orderly and regular conversation, and a strict observance of Gospel discipline, which to do is very right; nor barely to curb and restrain the affections towards such persons, lest by carrying it as heretofore, in a kind, tender, and affectionate manner, they should take encouragement from hence to continue in their disorders, as tender parents keep in their affections, and from showing them to their children, when in disorder, and under their corrections, that they might not seem to countenance them in that which is evil, though this is also very proper; nor also merely to contract or shut up the hand to such persons, and refuse to distribute to then, living such an idle life, and in such a disorderly way, though this is what ought to be done; nor does this phrase only intend a forbidding such persons their houses and their tables, not suffering them to sit at the one, nor even to come into the other, not allowing any company and conversation with them, that they may have no opportunity of indulging their laziness and tale bearing, though so to serve them is highly just and reasonable; nor does it design only a suspension, or a debarring of them from the Lord's table, which ought not to be done to any persons, while they continue in relation to the church, and members of it; but a removal of them from church communion, or an excommunication of them; which is sometimes expressed by rejecting persons, casting them out of the church, and putting them away, and here by withdrawing from them; which are all synonymous phrases, and intend exclusion from the communion of the church. And so the Ethiopic version here renders it, "that ye remove every brother", &c. From this passage we learn who they are that are to be excommunicated or removed from the communion of churches, all disorderly walkers; what the act of excommunication is, it is a withdrawing from them, a separating them from the church, and its communion; and who they are that have the power to do it, the whole fraternity or body of the church; and also the authority for it, an apostolical command, in the name of Christ.

Gill: 2Th 3:7

For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us,.... The apostle goes on to dissuade from that which denominates persons disorderly walkers, and exposes them to the censure of the church, and that partly by the example of the apostles, and partly by their command. He appeals to them, to their knowledge and judgment, it being a thing well known to them, that they ought to walk as they had the apostles for ensamples; for who should they follow but their spiritual fathers, shepherds, and guides? and especially so far as they were followers of Christ, as they were, in the case referred unto, working with their own hands:

for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you; they could appeal to them as witnesses, and God also, how holily, justly, and unblamably they walked among them; see 1Th 2:10 and particularly, that they did not live an idle and inactive life among them.

Gill: 2Th 3:8

Neither did we eat any man's bread for nought.... Or freely, at free cost, without paying for it; he signifies, that what they ate, they bought with their own money, and lived on no man, without giving him a valuable consideration for what they had; though if they had not paid in money for their food, they would not have ate it for nought, since they laboured among them in preaching the Gospel to them; and such labourers are worthy of their maintenance, Luk 10:7 though the former sense is the apostle's here:

but wrought with labour and travail night and day: not only laboriously preaching the Gospel to them, as often as they could have opportunity, but working very hard and incessantly with their hands, at the occupations and trades they had been brought up to; and that of the Apostle Paul's was a tentmaker, at which he sometimes wrought, thereby ministering to his own, and the necessities of others, Act 18:3, nor was this inconsistent with his learning and liberal education. It was usual with the Jewish doctors to learn a trade, or follow some business and calling of life; See Gill on Mar 6:3. The apostle's end in this was,

that we might not be chargeable to any of you; or burdensome to them, they being for the most part poor; and the apostles being able partly by their own hand labour, and partly by what they received from Philippi, Phi 4:16 to support themselves, chose to that they might not lie heavy upon them, and any ways hinder the spread of the Gospel among them, at its first coming to them. And so Maimonides says the ancient Jewish doctors behaved, and with a like view: wherefore, says he ^p,

"if a man is a wise man, and an honourable man, and poor, let him employ himself in some handicraft business, even though a mean one, and not distress men (or be burdensome to them); it is better to strip the skins of beasts that have been torn, than to say to the people, I am a considerable wise (or learned) man, I am a priest, take care of me, and maintain me; and so the wise men have ordered: and some of the greatest doctors have been hewers of wood, and carriers of timber, and drawers of water for the gardens, and have wrought in iron and coals, and have not required anything of the congregation; nor would they take anything of them, when they would have given to them.''

Gill: 2Th 3:9

Not because we have not power,.... To forbear working, or require a maintenance from the churches to whom we minister, since Christ has ordained, that they that preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel; see 1Co 9:4. This the apostle says to preserve their right of claim, when and where they should think fit to make use of it; and lest other ministers of the word, who could not support themselves as they did, should be hurt by such an example; and lest covetous men should make use of it to indulge their sin, and improve it against the maintenance of Gospel ministers: wherefore the apostle observes to them, that they did not do this, as conscious that they had no right to demand a supply from them,

but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us; for it seems there were many idle lazy persons among them, who either had no callings or trades, or did not attend to them; wherefore the apostles wrought with their own hands, to set an example, who could not for shame but work, when they saw persons in so high an office, and of such a character, working with labour and travail, night and day, among them.

Gill: 2Th 3:10

For even when we were with you,.... At Thessalonica in person, and first preached the Gospel to them,

we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat; the Ethiopic version reads in the singular number, "when I was with you, I commanded you"; using the above words, which were a sort of a proverb with the Jews, and is frequently used by them, דאי לא אכיל, or לעי לא נגיס, "that if a man would not work, he should not eat" ^q. And again ^r,

"he that labours on the evening of the sabbath (or on weekdays), he shall eat on the sabbath day; and he who does not labour on the evening of the sabbath, from whence shall he eat (or what right and authority has he to eat) on the sabbath day?''

Not he that could not work through weakness, bodily diseases, or old age, the necessities of such are to be distributed to, and they are to be taken care of, and provided with the necessaries of life by the officers of the church; but those that can work, and will not, ought to starve, for any assistance that should be given them by the members of the church, or the officers of it.

Gill: 2Th 3:11

For we hear that there are some,.... This is the reason of the order or command given in 2Th 3:6 for withdrawing from disorderly persons. When the apostle was with them, he observed that there were idle persons among them, and therefore gave orders then, that if they would not work, they should not eat; and in his former epistle, having intelligence that there were still such persons among them, he exhorts them to their duty, and puts the church upon admonishing them; and still information is given him, that there were some such persons yet among them; for as the apostle had the care of all the churches upon him, so he kept a correspondence with them, and by one means or another, by sending messengers to them, or by receiving letters from those he corresponded with, he learned the state of them; and his information was generally good, and what might be depended upon; see 1Co 1:11 as it was in this case relating to some persons: which walk among you disorderly; and who they were, and which also explains 2Th 3:6, are immediately observed: working not at all; at their callings, trades, and businesses in which they were brought up, but lived an idle and lazy life: and this was walking disorderly indeed, even contrary to the order of things before the fall, when man was in a state of innocence; for before sin entered into the world, Adam was put into the garden of Eden to keep and dress it; man was created an active creature, and made for work and business; and to live without, is contrary to the order of creation, as well as to the order of civil societies, and of religious ones, or churches, and even what irrational creatures do not.

But are busy bodies; though they work not at all at their own business, yet are very busy in other men's matters, and have the affairs of kingdoms, and cities, and towns, and neighbourhoods, and churches, and families, upon their hands; which they thrust themselves into, and intermeddle with, though they have no business at all with them: these wander from house to house, and curiously inquire into personal and family affairs, are tattlers, full of prate and talk, and, like the Athenians, spend all their time in telling or hearing new things; and they also speak things which they should not; they carry tales from one to another, and privately whisper things to the disadvantage of their fellow creatures and Christians, and backbite and slander them. These are the pests of nations and neighbourhoods, the plagues of churches, and the scandal of human nature; see 1Ti 5:13.

Gill: 2Th 3:12

Now them that are such,.... For this was not the case and character of them all. Did such practices generally obtain, no community, civil or religious, could subsist. And the apostle wisely distinguishes them from others, that the innocent might not be involved in the charge.

We command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ; using both authority and entreaty; taking every way to reclaim them, commanding in the name of Christ and beseeching for the sake of Christ

that with quietness they work: with their own hands, at their proper callings, and so support themselves, provide for their families, and have something to give to them that are in need; by which means they will live peaceable and quiet lives, in godliness and honesty, and not disturb the peace of neighbourhoods, churches, and families:

and eat their own bread; got by their own labour, and bought with their money, and not the bread of others, or that of idleness.

Gill: 2Th 3:13

But ye, brethren,.... The rest of the members of the church, who were diligent and industrious in their callings, minded their own business, and did not trouble themselves with other men's matters, took care of themselves, and their families, and were beneficent to others:

be not weary in well doing; which may be understood generally of all well doing, or of doing of every good work; which is well done when done according to the will of God, in faith, and from a principle of love, and in the name and strength of Christ, and with a view to the glory of God: or particularly of acts of beneficence to the poor; for though the idle and lazy should not be relieved, yet the helpless poor should not be neglected. This the apostle observes, lest covetous persons should make an handle of this, and withhold their hands from distributing to any, under a notion of their being idle and disorderly; or lest the saints should be tired, and become weary of doing acts of charity through the ingratitude, moroseness, and ill manners of poor people; see Gal 6:9.

Gill: 2Th 3:14

And if any man obey not our word,.... Of command, to work quietly, and eat his own bread, now signified "by this epistle", particularly in 2Th 3:12,

note that man; some read this clause in connection with the preceding phrase, "by this epistle", or by an epistle; and so the Ethiopic version, "show", or "signify him by an epistle"; that is, give us notice of it by an epistle, that we may take him under our cognizance, and severely chastise him, according to the power and authority given us by Christ; but that phrase rather belongs to the preceding words: and the clause here respects the notice the church should take of such a person; not in a private way, or merely by way of admonition and reproof, such as is given before rejection from communion; but by the black mark of excommunication; lay him under censure, exclude him from your communion, put a brand upon him as a scabbed sheep, and separate him from the flock; and so the Syriac version renders it, יתפרש, "let him be separated from you" and this sense is confirmed by what follows,

and have no company with him; as little as can be in common and civil conversation, lest he should take encouragement from thence to continue in his sin, and lest others should think it is connived at; and much less at the Lord's table, or in a sacred and religious conversation, or in a way of church fellowship and communion:

that he may be ashamed; that he may have his eyes turned in him, as the word signifies, and he may be brought to a sight and sense of his sin, and be filled with shame for it, and loath it, and himself on the account of it, and truly repent of it, and forsake it; and this is the end of excommunication, at least one end, and a principal end of it, to recover persons out of the snare of the devil, and return them from the error of their ways: so the Jews say ^s,

"in matters of heaven (of God or religion), if a man does not return privately, מכלימין, they "put him to shame" publicly; and publish his sin, and reproach him to his face, and despise and set him at nought until he returns to do well.''

Gill: 2Th 3:15

Yet count him not as an enemy,.... As an enemy of Christ, and the Christian religion, as the Jews and Pagans were; or as an enemy of all righteousness, as Elymas the sorcerer was; as one that has an implacable hatred to good men, and a persecutor of them, and has an utter aversion to them and their principles; nor deal with him in an hostile, fierce, furious, and passionate manner, as if you were seeking his destruction, and not his restoration. This seems to be levelled against the Jews, who allowed of hatred to incorrigible persons: they say ^t,

"an hater that is spoken of in the law, is not of the nations of the world, but of Israel; but how shall an Israelite hate an Israelite? does not the Scripture say, "thou shall not hate thy brother in thine heart?" the wise men say, when a man sees him alone, who has committed a transgression, and he admonishes him, and he does not return, lo, it is מצוה לשונאו, "a commandment to hate him" until he repents and turns from his wickedness.''

But admonish, or "reprove" him

as a brother; as one that has been called a brother, and a member of the church, and who, though criminal, has no bitterness in him against the church, or against the name of Christ, and the doctrines of Christ; and therefore should not be treated in a virulent manner, but with a brotherly affection, meekness, compassion, and tenderness; and who indeed is to be reckoned as a brother, while the censure is passing, and the sentence of excommunication is executing on him; for till it is finished he stands in such a relation: though this also may have respect, as to the manner of excommunicating persons, so to the conduct of the church to such afterwards; who are not to neglect them, and much less to treat them as enemies, in a cruel and uncompassionate manner; but should inquire, and diligently observe, what effect the ordinance of excommunication has upon them, and renew their admonitions and friendly reproofs, if possible, to recover them.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: 2Th 3:6

¹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:3.

² tn Or “unruly, out of line.” The particular violation Paul has in mind is idleness (as described in vv. 8-11), so this could be translated to reflect that.

³ tn Grk “walking in an undisciplined way” (“walking” is a common NT idiom for one’s way of life or conduct).

⁴ tc The reading “you received” (παρελάβετε, parelabete) is found predominately in Western witnesses (F G 1505 2464 pc), although the support of B and the Sahidic version strengthens the reading considerably. The reading “they received” is found in two different forms: παρελάβοσαν (parelabosan; in א* A [D*] 0278 33 pc) and παρέλαβον (parelabon; in א² D² Ψ 1739 1881 Ï). (παρέλαβον is evidently a correction of παρελάβοσαν to the more common spelling for the third person aorist form). The external evidence is divided fairly evenly, with παρελάβετε and παρελάβοσαν each having adequate support. Internal evidence leans toward “they received”: Given the second person reading, there is little reason why scribes would intentionally change it to a third person plural, and especially an archaic form at that. There is ample reason, however, for scribes to change the third person form to the second person form given that in the prior context παράδοσις (paradosis, “tradition”) is used with a relative clause (as here) with a second person verb (see 2:15). The third person form should be regarded as original.

NET Notes: 2Th 3:7

¹ tn This is the verbal form of the words occurring in vv. 6 and 11, meaning “to act out of line, in an unruly way.”

NET Notes: 2Th 3:8

¹ tn Grk “we did not eat bread freely from anyone.”

² tn Grk “but working,” as a continuation of the previous sentence. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started with the word “Instead” in the translation.

NET Notes: 2Th 3:9

¹ tn Grk “an example for you to imitate us.”

NET Notes: 2Th 3:11

¹ tn Grk “walking in an undisciplined way” (“walking” is a common NT idiom for one’s way of life or conduct).

² tn There is a play on words in the Greek: “working at nothing, but working around,” “not keeping busy but being busybodies.”

NET Notes: 2Th 3:12

¹ tn Grk “that by working quietly they may eat their own bread.”

NET Notes: 2Th 3:13

¹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:3.

NET Notes: 2Th 3:15

¹ tn That is, as a fellow believer.

Geneva Bible: 2Th 3:6

^{( 5 )} Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.

^{( 5 )} Fourthly, he says that idle and lazy persons ought not to be supported by the Church; indeed, they are not to be endured.

Geneva Bible: 2Th 3:7

^{( 6 )} For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you;

^{( 6 )} Lest he might seem to deal harshly with them, he sets forth himself as an example, who besides his travail in preaching, laboured with his hands, which he says he was not bound to do.

Geneva Bible: 2Th 3:10

For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, ^{( c )} neither should he eat.

^{( c )} What will we do then with those fat lazy monks, and sacrificing priests? A monk (says Socrates, book eight, of his Tripartite History) who does not work with hands, is like a thief.

Geneva Bible: 2Th 3:11

For we hear that there are some which walk among ^{( 7 )} you disorderly, working not at all, ^{( 8 )} but are busybodies.

^{( 7 )} How great a fault idleness is, he declares in that God created no man in vain or to no purpose, neither is there any to whom he has not allotted as it were a certain position and place. From which it follows, that the order which God has appointed is troubled by the idle, indeed broken, which is great sin and wickedness. ^{( 8 )} He reprehends a vice, which is joined with the former, upon which follows an infinite sort of mischiefs: that is, that there are none more busy in other men's matters, than they who neglect their own.

Geneva Bible: 2Th 3:12

^{( 9 )} Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.

^{( 9 )} The Lord commands and the apostles pray in the name of Christ, first, that no man be idle, and next, that every man quietly and carefully sees to do his duty in that office and calling in which the Lord has placed him.

Geneva Bible: 2Th 3:13

^{( 10 )} But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.

^{( 10 )} We must take heed that the unworthiness of some men does not cause us to be slack in well-doing.

Geneva Bible: 2Th 3:14

^{( 11 )} And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no ^{( 12 )} company with him, ^{( 13 )} that he may be ashamed.

^{( 11 )} Excommunication is a punishment for the obstinate.

^{( 12 )} We must have no familiarity or fellowship with the one who has been excommunicated.

^{( 13 )} The end of the excommunication is not the destruction, but the salvation of the sinner, that at least through shame he may be driven to repentance.

Geneva Bible: 2Th 3:15

^{( 14 )} Yet count [him] not as an enemy, but admonish [him] as a brother.

^{( 14 )} We must avoid familiarity with the one who has been excommunicated in such a way, that we diligently seek every occasion and means that may be, to bring them again into the right way.

Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: 2Th 3:1-18

1 Paul craves their prayers for himself;

3 testifies what confidence he has in them;

5 makes request to God in their behalf;

6 gives them divers precepts, especially to shun idleness, and ill company;

16 and then concludes with prayer and salutation.

MHCC: 2Th 3:6-15

Those who have received the gospel, are to live according to the gospel. Such as could work, and would not, were not to be maintained in idleness. Christianity is not to countenance slothfulness, which would consume what is meant to encourage the industrious, and to support the sick and afflicted. Industry in our callings as men, is a duty required by our calling as Christians. But some expected to be maintained in idleness, and indulged a curious and conceited temper. They meddled with the concerns of others, and did much harm. It is a great error and abuse of religion, to make it a cloak for idleness or any other sin. The servant who waits for the coming of his Lord aright, must be working as his Lord has commanded. If we are idle, the devil and a corrupt heart will soon find us somewhat to do. The mind of man is a busy thing; if it is not employed in doing good, it will be doing evil. It is an excellent, but rare union, to be active in our own business, yet quiet as to other people's. If any refused to labour with quietness, they were to note him with censure, and to separate from his company, yet they were to seek his good by loving admonitions. The Lords is with you while you are with him. Hold on your way, and hold on to the end. We must never give over, or tire in our work. It will be time enough to rest when we come to heaven.

Matthew Henry: 2Th 3:6-15

The apostle having commended their obedience for the time past, and mentioned his confidence in their obedience for the time to come, proceeds to give them commands and directions to some who were faulty, correcting some things that were amiss among them. Observe, The best society of Christians may have some faulty persons among them, and some things that ought to be reformed. Perfection is not to be found on this side heaven: but evil manners beget good laws; the disorders that Paul heard of as existing among the Thessalonians occasioned the good laws we find in these verses, which are of constant use to us, and all others whom they may concern. Observe,

I. That which was amiss among the Thessalonians, which is expressed,

1. More generally. There were some who walked disorderly, not after the tradition they received from the apostle, 2Th 3:6. Some of the brethren were guilty of this disorderly walking; they did not live regularly, nor govern themselves according to the rules of Christianity, nor agreeably to their profession of religion; not according to the precepts delivered by the apostle, which they had received, and pretended to pay a regard to. Note, It is required of those who have received the gospel, and who profess a subjection to it, that they live according to the gospel. If they do not, they are to be counted disorderly persons.

2. In particular, there were among them some idle persons and busy-bodies, 2Th 3:11. This the apostle was so credibly informed of that he had sufficient reason to give commands and directions with relation to such persons, how they ought to behave, and how the church should act towards them. (1.) There were some among them who were idle, not working at all, or doing nothing. It does not appear that they were gluttons or drunkards, but idle, and therefore disorderly people. It is not enough for any to say they do no hurt; for it is required of all persons that they do good in the places and relations in which Providence has placed them. It is probable that these persons had a notion (by misunderstanding some passages in the former epistle) concerning the near approach of the coming of Christ, which served them for a pretence to leave off the work of their callings, and live in idleness. Note, It is a great error, or abuse of religion, to make it a cloak for idleness or any other sin. If we were sure that the day of judgment were ever so near, we must, notwithstanding, do the work of the day in its day, that when our Lord comes he may find us doing. The servant who waits for the coming of his Lord aright must be working as his Lord has commanded, that all may be ready when he comes. Or, it may be, these disorderly persons pretended that the liberty wherewith Christ had made them free discharged them from the services and business of their particular callings and employments in the world: whereas they were to abide in the same calling wherein they were called of God, and therein abide with God, 1Co 7:20, 1Co 7:24. Industry in our particular callings as men is a duty required of us by our general calling as Christians. Or perhaps the general charity there was then among Christians to their poor brethren encouraged some to live in idleness, as knowing the church would maintain them: whatever was the cause, they were much to blame. (2.) There were busy-bodies among them: and it should seem, by the connection, that the same persons who were idle were busy-bodies also. This may seem to be a contradiction; but so it is, that most commonly those persons who have no business of their own to do, or who neglect it, busy themselves in other men's matters. If we are idle, the devil and a corrupt heart will soon find us something to do. The mind of man is a busy thing; if it be not employed in doing good, it will be doing evil. Note, Busy-bodies are disorderly walkers, such as are guilty of vain curiosity, and impertinent meddling with things that do not concern them, and troubling themselves and others with other men's matters. The apostle warns Timothy (1Ti 5:13) to beware of such as learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house, and are not only idle, but tatlers also, and busy-bodies, speaking things which they ought not.

II. The good laws which were occasioned by these evil manners, concerning which we may take notice,

1. Whose laws they are: they are commands of the apostles of our Lord, given in the name of their Lord and ours, that is, the commands of our Lord himself. We command you, brethren, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, 2Th 3:6. Again, We command and exhort you by our Lord Jesus Christ, 2Th 3:12. The apostle uses words of authority and entreaty: and, where disorders are to be rectified or prevented, there is need of both. The authority of Christ should awe our minds to obedience, and his grace and goodness should allure us.

2. What the good laws and rules are. The apostle gives directions to the whole church, commands to those disorderly persons, and an exhortation to those in particular who did well among them.

(1.) His commands and directions to the whole church regard, [1.] Their behaviour towards the disorderly persons who were among them, which is thus expressed (2Th 3:6), to withdraw themselves from such, and afterwards to mark that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed; yet not to count him as an enemy, but to admonish him as a brother. The directions of the apostle are carefully to be observed in our conduct towards disorderly persons. We must be very cautious in church-censures and church-discipline. We must, First, Note that man who is suspected or charged with not obeying the word of God, or walking contrary thereto, that is, we must have sufficient proof of his fault before we proceed further. We must, Secondly, Admonish him in a friendly manner; we must put him in mind of his sin, and of his duty; and this should be done privately (Mat 18:15); then, if he will not hear, we must, Thirdly, Withdraw from him, and not keep company with him, that is, we must avoid familiar converse and society with such, for two reasons, namely, that we may not learn his evil ways; for he who follows vain and idle persons, and keeps company with such, is in danger of becoming like them. Another reason is for the shaming, and so the reforming, of those that offend, that when idle and disorderly persons see how their loose practices are disliked by all wise and good people they may be ashamed of them, and walk more orderly. Love therefore to the persons of our offending brethren, even when we hate their vices, should be the motive of our withdrawing from them; and even those who are under the censures of the church must not be accounted as enemies (2Th 3:15); for, if they be reclaimed and reformed by these censures, they will recover their credit and comfort, and right to church-privileges as brethren. [2.] Their general conduct and behaviour ought to be according to the good example the apostle and those who were with him had given them: Yourselves know how you ought to follow us, 2Th 3:7. Those who planted religion among them had set a good example before them; and the ministers of the gospel should be ensamples to the flock. It is the duty of Christians not only to walk according to the traditions of the apostles, and the doctrines they preached, but also according to the good example they set before them, to be followers of them so far as they were followers of Christ. The particular good example the apostle mentions was their diligence, which was so different from what was found in the disorderly walkers he takes notice of: " We behaved not ourselves disorderly among you (2Th 3:7), we did not spend our time idly, in idle visits, idle talk, idle sports."They took pains in their ministry, in preaching the gospel, and in getting their own living. Neither did we eat any man's bread for nought, 2Th 3:8. Though he might justly have demanded a maintenance, because those who preach the gospel may of right expect to live by the gospel. This is a just debt that people owe to their ministers, and the apostle had power or authority to have demanded this (2Th 3:9); but he waived his right from affection to them, and for the sake of the gospel, and that he might be an example for them to follow (2Th 3:9), that they might learn how to fill up time, and always be employed in something that would turn to good account.

(2.) He commands and directs those that live idle lives to reform, and set themselves to their business. He had given commandments to this purport, as well as a good example of this, when he was among them: Even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any man would not work neither should he eat, 2Th 3:10. It was a proverbial speech among the Jews, He who does not labour does not deserve to eat. The labourer is worthy of his meat; but what is the loiterer worthy of? It is the will of God that every man should have a calling, and mind his calling, and make a business of it, and that none should live like useless drones in the world. Such persons do what in them lies to defeat the sentence, In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread. It was not the mere humour of the apostle, who was an active stirring man himself and therefore would have every body else to be so too, but it was the command of our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness we work, and eat our own bread, 2Th 3:12. Men ought some way or other to earn their own living, otherwise they do not eat their own bread. Observe, There must be work or labour, in opposition to idleness; and there must be quietness, in opposition to being busy-bodies in other men's matters. We must study to be quiet, and do our own business. This is an excellent but rare composition, to be of an active yet quiet spirit, active in our own business and yet quiet as to other people's.

(3.) He exhorts those that did well not to be weary in well-doing (2Th 3:13); as if he had said, "Go on and prosper. The Lord is with you while you are with him. See that whatever you do, that is good, you persevere therein. Hold on your way, and hold out to the end. You must never give over, nor tire in your work. It will be time enough to rest when you come to heaven, that everlasting rest which remains for the people of God. "

Barclay: 2Th 3:6-18

Here Paul is dealing, as he had to deal in the previous letter, with the situation produced by those who took the wrong attitude to the Second Coming. There were those in Thessalonica who had given up their work and had abandoned the routine claims of every day to wait about in excited idleness for Christ to come. Paul uses a vivid word to describe them. Twice he uses the adverb ataktos (813) and once the verb ataktein (812). The word means to play truant. It occurs, for instance, in the papyri, in an apprentice's contract in which the father agrees that his son must make good any days on which he plays truant. The Thessalonians in their excited idleness were truants from work.

To bring them to their senses Paul quotes his own example. All his life he was a man who worked with his hands. The Jew glorified work. "He who does not teach his son a trade," they said, "teaches him to steal." Paul was a trained Rabbi; but the Jewish law laid it down that a Rabbi must take no pay for teaching. He must have a trade and must satisfy his daily needs with the work of his hands. So we find Rabbis who were bakers, barbers, carpenters, masons and who followed all kinds of trades. The Jews believed in the dignity of honest toil; and they were sure that a scholar lost something when he became so academic and so withdrawn from life that he forgot how to work with his hands. Paul quotes a saying, "If a man refuses to work, neither let him eat." It is the refusal to work that is important. This has nothing to do with the unfortunate man who, through no fault of his own, can find no work to do. This has been called "the golden rule of work." Deissmann has the happy thought that, when Paul said this, "he was probably borrowing a bit of good old workshop morality, a maxim coined perhaps by some industrious workman as he forbade his lazy apprentice to sit down to dinner."

In this we have the example of Jesus himself. He was the carpenter of Nazareth and legend has it that he made the best ox-yokes in all Palestine and that men came from all over the country to buy them. A tree is known by its fruits and a man is known by his work. Once a man was negotiating to buy a house and bought it without even seeing it. He was asked why he took such a risk; his answer was, "I know the man who built that house and he builds his Christianity in with the bricks." The Christian should be a more conscientious workman than anyone else.

Paul disliked the busybody intensely. There may be greater sins than gossip but there is none which does more damage in the Church. A man who is doing his own work with his whole strength will have enough to do without being maliciously interested in the affairs of others.

Paul commands that those who disregard his instructions must be dealt with by the community. But they are to be dealt with not as enemies but as brothers. The discipline given by a man who contemptuously looks down upon the sinner and speaks to hurt may terrify and wound but it seldom amends. It is more likely to produce resentment than reformation. When Christian discipline is necessary it is to be given as by a brother to a brother, not in anger, still less in contempt but always in love.

At the end Paul adds his autograph to authenticate his letter. "Look," he says, "this is what my handwriting is like. Mark it, so that you will know it again." And then, with the truth expounded, with praise and rebuke lovingly intermingled, he commends the Thessalonian Church to the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Constable: 2Th 3:6-15

B. Church discipline 3:6-15

The false teaching that had entered the church had produced some inappropriate behavior in some. Paul wrote what to do about this situation to guide the Thessalonians in bringing their behavior as well as their belief back into conformity with God's will.

"As important as it is to identify the cause and nature of the problem behavior addressed in vv. 6-15, we should not ignore the fact that our passage both begins (v. 6) and ends (vv. 14-15) with exhortations, not to the idle but to the rest of the church. The admonition addressed directly to those Christians who were living improperly (v. 12) is, in fact, rather brief."⁶⁷

Constable: 2Th 3:6-10

1. General principles respecting disorderly conduct 3:6-10

3:6 Paul introduced the words that follow to help the readers realize that obedience was essential. This was a command given with the full authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. The faithful majority in the church were to separate, probably individually and socially, from the unruly to alert the offenders to the fact that their behavior was not acceptable. The desired result was that they would repent. Paul had earlier warned those who were idle (1 Thess. 5:14), but evidently they had not responded. Now firmer measures were necessary (cf. Matt. 18:15-17). The offenders constituted a minority who lived undisciplined lives contrary to the teaching and example of the missionaries.

"The tradition to which Paul refers has a twofold character, as vv. 7-12 indicate. In vv. 7-9 the apostle elaborates on his and his colleagues' example as a guide for responsible behavior for their converts. The introductory words of v. 7 reveal that his and his fellow missionaries' behavior was intended to have the normative character of a received tradition. In addition, as a matter of course, Paul issued ethical instruction to new converts in order to regulate their behavior as Christians. In v. 10 he cites the specific tradition involved with regard to work."⁶⁸

3:7-9 Evidently some in the church were not working to support themselves but were living off the charity of their brethren. In Thessalonica as elsewhere Paul and his companions sometimes supported themselves by "making tents" to give their converts an example of responsible Christian living (cf. 1 Cor. 9:3-14; 1 Tim. 5:18). They had the right to receive monetary support in payment for their spiritual ministry (Gal. 6:6), but they often gave up this right for the greater needs of their converts.

3:10 Paul reminded his readers of his well-known instruction that he frequently repeated when he was with them. If anyone refused to work, his brothers and sisters in Christ should not provide for him. The idle in this case were not unable to work but unwilling to work.

Constable: 2Th 3:11-13

2. Specific instructions concerning the idle 3:11-13

3:11 The teaching that Christ could return at any moment had led some of the believers into idleness. They had quit their jobs and were simply waiting for the Lord to return. This interpretation seems justified and is certainly consistent with life. Such deductions have led other Christians to do the same thing at various other times throughout church history. When people are not busy with their own work they may tend to meddle in the business of others. They may become busybodies rather than busy, neglecting their own business to mind other people's, minding everybody's business but their own.

3:12-13 Paul commanded the idle to settle down and to support themselves (cf. 1 Thess. 4:11). The obedient majority he counseled to endure this added affliction patiently and to continue doing right.

"With quietness,' emphatic by its forward position [in the Greek text], points to the quality of mind that is to be associated with their working. It denotes a condition of inward peace and tranquillity reflecting itself in outward calmness; it is the opposite of their fussy activity as busybodies."⁶⁹

"Exemplary conduct serves as a constant reprimand to wrongdoers and is an incentive for them to turn from their delinquency."⁷⁰

Why were these Thessalonians not working? The answer probably lies in the phrase "in quiet fashion."

"The root trouble apparently was their excitability. The thought of the nearness of the Parousia had thrown them into a flutter, and this had led to unwelcome consequences of which their idleness was the outstanding feature."⁷¹

This clause, "in quietness," ". . . is to be understood as the opposite of . . . the feverish excitement of mind stimulated by the belief that the Parousia was at hand . . ."⁷²

"It seems apparent, then, that these idle Christians believed in the imminent coming of Christ; however, they had concluded wrongly that imminent' equals soon.' Thus, instead of believing that Christ could come soon, they were convinced that He definitely would come soon, and work was therefore no longer necessary for them.

"Why did the Thessalonian Christians believe in the imminent coming of Christ? It must have been because they had been taught the imminent coming of Christ by a person whose authority they trusted. It would appear that Paul is the one who taught them the imminent coming of Christ. His negative reaction to their actions, however, implies that their wrong conduct was the result of a perversion of his teaching (cp. vv. 6, 10). Contrary to them, Paul did not equate imminent' with soon' and think, therefore, that work was unnecessary."⁷³

Constable: 2Th 3:14-15

3. Further discipline for the unrepentant 3:14-15

3:14 Failure to abandon the idle lifestyle after having received the further warnings in this epistle should result in increased ostracism (cf. Rom. 16:17; 1 Cor. 5:9, 11; Titus 3:10-11). This discipline would embarrass the offender into changing his or her ways.

". . . allowing a believer to persist in blatantly unchristian, exploitive, and disruptive behavior is not a kindness--neither to the church nor to the errant believer nor to the watching non-Christian public."⁷⁴

Paul put social pressure to good use here. It is regrettable that in our day social pressure often has very little influence on erring brethren. Rather than submit to church discipline many Christians simply change churches. Strong measures may be necessary in some cases so the offender feels the need to repent and to live in harmony with the will of God.

3:15 However, Paul warned against overreacting. The church should always treat the offender as a brother, not an enemy. We warn brothers, but we denounce and condemn enemies. The aim of all church discipline must be repentance followed by restoration.⁷⁵

"The situation is different from that envisaged at Corinth, where someone who is called a brother' (ean tis adelphos onomazomenos . . .) lives and acts in such a way as to give the lie to his Christian profession; that person is to be treated as an unbeliever, with no entitlement to the privileges of Christian fellowship (1 Cor 5:11)."⁷⁶

College: 2Th 3:1-18

2 THESSALONIANS 3

V. EXHORTATIONS (3:1-16)

As in most of his letters, Paul ends 2 Thessalonians with a series of instructions and exhortations as to how the gospel is to be lived. Here Paul focuses most of his attention on one subject, the treatment of those who refuse to work (vv. 6-13). But his concern is broader, and so are the instructions of vv. 1-5 and 14-15.

A. GENERAL EXHORTATIONS (3:1-5)

¹ Finally, brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you. ² And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not everyone has faith. ³ But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one. ⁴ We have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command. ⁵ May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance.

This section is loosely composed, focusing largely on the faithfulness of God and the readers' response to it. The theme of God's faithfulness has in fact been the focus of much of ch. 1-2, since confidence in the face of prevailing opposition and in the time of judgment depends on confidence in God's faithfulness. So here that aspect of the earlier discussion becomes a particular subject of direct exhortation. Because God is faithful, the readers should pray for Paul (vv. 1-2), and continue in their Christian lifestyle (v. 4), looking to the Lord to enable their perseverance (v. 5).

3:1 Finally, brothers, pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you.

"Finally," translating toΙ loipovn ( to loipon ), marks sometimes the last section of a letter (2 Cor 13:11; Phil 4:8) and other times a section distinct from the one before (1 Cor 4:2; Phil 3:1; 1 Thess 4:1). Those two functions are largely the same here. Paul asks for prayer as he does in Rom 15:30-32; Eph 6:10-20; Col 4:3. In each case the focus of Paul's request for prayer is the work and outcome of his ministry, and so it is here. The verb "pray" is in the present tense, stressing continuing action. "May spread rapidly" is literally "run" (trevcw , trecho- ), a vivid metaphor expressing Paul's desire for the swift spread of the gospel in light of the imminent return of the Lord. The use of this verb with a nonhuman subject is unusual, so Paul may be alluding to Ps 147:15, which pictures the word of God as running swiftly.

"Be honored" is literally "be glorified" (doxavzw , doxazo- ), perhaps in part a reminder of the glory of Christ (2:14) which will be acknowledged by those who believe the gospel and which those who believe will share. Both of these verbs are also in the Greek present tense, indicating that Paul wants the gospel, the universal message of salvation, to spread continually and be honored continually. Paul's earlier stress on the model response of the Thessalonian Christians (1:3; 2:13; 1 Thess 1:3, 5-10; 2:13) probably provides the basis for the remark "just as it was with you." Paul wants this same response from others, so that all would have the results of salvation which Paul has described at length through this letter. Alternately this last phrase may be understood as a present, "just as it also is with you," in which case Paul is giving encouragement to the church to work to spread God's word in their own region, though the earlier stress on the Thessalonians' reception of the word favors the NIV's interpretation.

3:2 And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men, for not everyone has faith.

This verse actually continues the sentence begun in v. 1, expressing another specific petition which Paul asks the readers to make. The spread of the gospel in his ministry will require his personal safety. No less than the readers (2 Thess 1:5-7), Paul is subject to the opposition that characterizes this age (2:1-13). He therefore asks for prayers for his deliverance from such opposition. "May be delivered" translates rJuvomai ( rhyomai ), which in the New Testament always is used of rescue caused by God, sometimes from sin (Rom 7:24; Col 1:13) but sometimes from the perils of life in the sinful world (Rom 15:31; 2 Cor 1:8-11; 2 Tim 3:11; 4:17; cf. 2 Tim 4:18). In effect what Paul calls for is that the final deliverance of God from persecutors (1:5-10) would be realized in a preliminary way in his preaching ministry. But Paul was, of course, very much aware that though God does deliver his people from persecution, they should still expect to suffer (1 Thess 3:3-4; see v. 3 and comments below). The prayer is similar enough to Matt 6:13 to offer the possibility that Paul is alluding to Jesus' model prayer.

Two terms describe the persecutors. They are "wicked," a[topo" ( atopos ), which suggests something which is not fitting or appropriate. Some have seen this as a substitute for a[nomo" ( anomos ), or "lawless," which is commonly linked with "evil" in the LXX, assuming Paul to refer to Jewish opponents for whom "lawless" would be inappropriate. But the idea that Paul is preoccupied with Jewish opponents stems in part from a misreading of 1 Thess 2:13-16 (see comments above) and so this conjecture must be rejected. But there may be a certain irony in the use of a[topo" . Christians would commonly be accused of advocating or practicing things not in keeping with the established social order (Acts 25:5; cf. Acts 16:20-21; 18:13; 19:26; 21:28; 24:5-6). But for Paul, who understands that the true order is established by God, those who oppose the gospel are truly out of line with what is fitting. The second term, "evil," ponhrov" ( pone-ros ) is a more common term for anything wicked or evil. Its use in v. 3 to refer to the "evil one" links the gospel's human opponents to the supreme opponent of God. Instead of merely letting the adjectives alone identify the opponents, Paul includes the noun a[nqrwpo" ( anthro-pos , "men"), here referring to human beings of either gender and perhaps distinguishing Paul's opponents as mere humans as compared to the sovereign God whom they oppose.

At the core of this evil is the rejection of the gospel. "Not everyone has faith" is a simple reminder of what Paul has assumed throughout the letter, that many reject the gospel and so oppose the purpose of God in history. This rejection of faith establishes the essential difference between Christians (1:3-4, 10-11; 2:13) and their opponents (2:11-12). This understanding of the force of this phrase is more likely than the idea that Paul here gives the reason for his ongoing mission of evangelistic preaching: not all have faith, and so Paul must continue to preach to bring them to faith. In either case, the NIV translators here have rightly understood pivsti" ( pistis , "faith") to mean the response of belief and trust rather than "the faith" as a system of belief.

3:3 But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.

Paul shifts his focus here from a request for prayer on his behalf to a reminder of the character of the Lord to whom the prayers are addressed. This in turn leads to a shift from concern for his own protection to that of the readers. In contrast to the opponents' lack of faith (pivsti" , pistis , v. 2), the Lord is always faithful (pistov" , pistos ). He can therefore be depended upon under all circumstances, including the antagonism of mere humans to his people and will. The readers can therefore depend on his deliverance, for which they pray on Paul's behalf (v. 2), as they face that antagonism. Such deliverance, however, may not take the precise form which we might expect. The word will indeed spread rapidly and Christ be glorified, but not necessarily as his opponents are prevented from persecuting his people. The deliverance which Paul seeks is first of all strengthening (cf. 2:17; 1 Thess 3:2, 13) to resist the pressure. Secondly it is protection from the Evil One who stands behind all such opposition to God and his people (2:9). To succumb to the Evil One is ultimately to turn back from the faith which has brought the Christians into harmony with God and his purpose; it is to fall prey to his deceptive activity as described in 2:3-12. Against this ultimate threat God is faithful to provide the needed protection (cf. Rom 8:31-39). By this provision he is glorified, for the message of the cross is demonstrated through his people's faithful endurance of suffering (cf. Col 1:24).

It has been widely noted that Paul here refers to the faithfulness of the Lord, probably referring to Christ, instead of God, as is his habit elsewhere (1 Cor 1:9; 10:13; 2 Cor 1:18; 1 Thess 5:24). The shift may stem from the focus on Christ's return, the final act of divine faithfulness, which underlies the entire letter.

The NIV translators have opted to translate tou' ponhrou' ( tou pone-rou ), which could be either masculine or neuter (cf. Matt 5:37; 6:13), as a masculine. If it is masculine, it refers to the Evil One, Satan. If it is neuter, then it refers to evil as an abstraction. While it is true, as Wanamaker observes, that only in Eph 6:16 among the letters attributed to Paul do we find another reference to Satan as "the Evil One," it is also true that only in Rom 12:9 does he use this term to refer to evil in the abstract. The verb "protect" probably favors a personal object, so some probability favors the NIV's rendering. Again Paul may allude to the model prayer of Matt 6:13.

3:4 We have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command.

The faithfulness of God to protect his people cannot be excluded from his people's faithful response, though even here Paul expresses a confidence "in the Lord," based on union that exists between the Lord and his people through which they receive the strength to remain faithful. Paul has confidence (cf. Rom 8:38; 2 Cor 2:3; Phil 1:6) in the Thessalonians because of what he has already observed of their growth and steadfastness in their faith as they have been enabled by the Lord (1 Thess 1:6-10; 2:13-14; 3:6-8; 2 Thess 1:3-5). The knowledge of their past faithfulness gives Paul confidence in their continued practice of the gospel both for the present as he is away from the church and for the future with all of its contingencies. Such practice consists of doing "the things we command," which includes not only the behavioral instruction, as contained in the next section of this chapter and in 1 Thess 4:1-12; 5:12-22, but also the eschatological teaching, which directly affects their hope and perseverance. Faithfulness to the "traditions," which Paul has enjoined elsewhere (1 Thess 2:13; 4:1; 2 Thess 2:15; 3:6), is the concept still expressed here.

3:5 May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance.

The request for prayer and statements of God's faithfulness and of confidence the readers' faithful response leads Paul again to express his own wish-prayer (2:16-17; 1 Thess 3:11-13), reflecting his reliance on the faithful God to supply the resources for the Thessalonians faithful practice of the gospel. The prayer is indirectly addressed to "the Lord," probably meaning Christ, though for Paul such a prayer can as easily be addressed to God the Father. In 1 Thess 3:11 Paul prayed that God would "direct" (kateuquvnw , kateuthuno- ) him to be reunited with the Thessalonian church; here he looks for their hearts (cf. 1 Chr 29:18; Prov 21:2), signifying their entire inner being, to be directed to an increasing experience of what they have already received. Again the prayer is that deliverance should take the form not of an absence of difficulty but of the resources to endure the difficulty for the Lord's glory.

Though "God's love" could conceivably refer to the person's love for God, Paul normally uses this phrase for God's love for humanity. That love is a fitting subject here, since it provides the basis for confidence in the coming judgment as well as in the persecutions of the present. "Perseverance" here translates uJpomonhv ( hypomone- , cf. 1:4; 1 Thess 1:3), which indicates particularly endurance in difficulty. As with God's love, Christ's perseverance may mean either the perseverance which he had or that which he gives. But these two may be so closely identified for Paul as to be indistinguishable in this context. This perseverance is especially Christ's because his obedience in accepting the cross (Phil 2:8) provides the archetype by which the Christian's endurance of suffering is defined (2 Cor 4:11). It is therefore both the endurance which he had and which he gives to his people. We might paraphrase this as "Christ's kind of perseverance."

B. EXHORTATIONS REGARDING

CHURCH DISCIPLINE (3:6-15)

In the section that follows Paul concentrates on certain members of the church whose behavior urgently requires correction. Most of the attention is given to those who had given up working and were living by the charity of their brothers and sisters (vv. 6-13), but Paul also discusses those who are willfully disobedient of his instructions in broader terms (vv. 14-15). For both Paul requires specific discipline. These are to be treated as outsiders, no longer a part of the community of God's people, cut off from fellowship with the church and the benefits which such fellowship entailed. This pattern of exclusion as a means of discipline had its roots in the synagogues, where unrepentant offenders were cut off from all connections to the Jewish community and, by that token, from the people of Israel as a whole. As the church believed itself to be the people of God of fulfillment, its method of discipline was much the same. So in 1 Cor 5:1-13 Paul orders that the Corinthian church expel an immoral member and others like him who refuse to repent of their sin when confronted with it (cf. Rom 16:17; 1 Tim 1:20; James 5:19-20; 1 John 5:16-17; 2 John 10-11; 3 John 10; Jude 22-23). But the purpose of such discipline was not to inflict punishment but to induce the sinner's repentance (see v. 15 below). So Jesus instructs his disciples in Matt 18:15-17, the foundation for all disciplinary practice in the New Testament, and so apparently Paul recommends that the one excluded in 1 Cor 5:1-13 be restored because of his repentance in 2 Cor 2:5-11 (cf. 1 Cor 5:5).

The difficulties of following similar disciplinary practices in the modern church are well known. Persons cut off from a church's fellowship for some repeated and notorious sin may go to another church, deflecting the impact of the discipline, or may sue the church and its leaders for defamation of character. And when many churches lack the face-to-face accountability of the house churches of the first century, the discipline may be difficult to enforce for some and may go unnoticed by others. But the alternative is even less acceptable: a fellowship in which sin is ignored and repentance is optional, essentially indistinguishable from the surrounding society. Without the thoughtful and deliberate application of such disciplinary practice as a part of the renewal of the genuine, intimate fellowship that existed among the earliest Christians, modern Christians can make little claim to have restored the life of the New Testament church.

1. Exclusion of the Willfully Idle (3:6-13)

⁶ In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching ^a you received from us. ⁷ For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, ⁸ nor did we eat anyone's food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. ⁹ We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow. ¹⁰ For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."

¹¹ We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies. ¹² Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat. ¹³ And as for you, brothers, never tire of doing what is right.

^a 6 Or tradition

Most of Paul's concern for discipline in the Thessalonian church is taken up with a single problem, those in the church who have abandoned work and are depending on the generosity of other Christians for their support. This problem was addressed more briefly in 1 Thess 4:11-12 and 5:14, while Paul had laid the foundation for those exhortations by emphasizing his own self-support in 2:9. Apparently, though, Paul's first reminder on this subject did not correct the problem, so here he addresses it at length, using some of the harshest language in the Thessalonian letters.

It has been widely assumed that some in the Thessalonian church abandoned work because of their vivid expectation of the Lord's return in the very near future. Several considerations argue against that conclusion, however. Most obvious is the fact that in neither epistle does Paul connect the instructions about work to any specific eschatological theme. That is especially obvious here, where the subject is treated at length without any reference to the discussion of 2:1-12. Secondly, as noted above the Thessalonians' problem regarding eschatology seems to have been not too vivid an expectation of the Lord's return in the near future but the belief that the return was somehow already accomplished (see discussion of 2:1-12 above). Thirdly, even if 2 Thess 2:1-12 indicates such an overly-imminent expectation, 1 Thessalonians shows no evidence of such a belief and yet reflects the same problem with idleness. More likely, then, is the hypothesis that some in the church stopped working simply because they found it possible to do so because of the generous sharing practiced among early Christians. R. Russell has noted that in a port city like Thessalonica, unemployment and underemployment among the working classes would have been common. In the context of the church, Christians of means would have shared with those in need. Some who began with genuine needs apparently took advantage of such sharing and deliberately avoided supporting themselves even when they had the opportunity.

The idlers were able to give up working because of the radical generosity practiced among early Christians. Acts asserts that Christians from the earliest days of the church were abundantly generous with each other (Acts 2:44-46; 4:34-37), though such generosity was not without its problems (5:1-11), and that Christian sharing even transcended the bounds of ethnicity as Gentile Christians shared with their Jewish Christian brothers and sisters (11:27-30). Paul's collection on behalf of the Jerusalem church reflects this practice of generosity as well (Rom 15:25-27; 1 Cor 16:1-3; 2 Cor 8-9). Though the motivation for such sharing was multifaceted, at its core was the conviction that the church constituted the people of God in the age of fulfillment, defined by Christ's own self-sacrificial love. Believers therefore had a stronger commitment to the welfare of fellow Christians than they had even to themselves (Phil 2:1-11). Furthermore, if a part of God's intention for his people was the ideal, "There shall be no poor among you" (Deut 15:4), the church had an obligation to share generously to bring that ideal closer to reality. But not all motives in the early church were pure, and so abuses, like the one Paul addresses here, did indeed arise (cf. 1 Tim 5:3-16).

Paul's response shows that he views this issue not merely as an economic problem but as a problem of Christian fellowship. Those who fail to work, he says, are placing undue burdens on others, violating the bonds of fellowship of which they take advantage. They also use their free time to interject themselves into others' affairs, causing further disruption of the fellowship. But he also reminds those who are in a position to share that the irresponsibility of some does not remove from them the obligation to help those with genuine needs. Throughout the text Paul assumes economic ideas such as the right to personal property and the need for productive work, but he instructs the church on the basis of their obligations in Christ, not economic rights or requirements (cf. Eph 4:28).

Because Paul addressed this issue in the context of Christian fellowship, modern Christians must be careful in trying to derive from this passage direct guidance for social policy in government. The Roman government had in place an elaborate program of "bread and circuses" to support laborers who were displaced by the widespread use of slaves, and a larger social system of patronage functioned in the Greco-Roman world, through which the wealthy often supported some who were idle among the laboring classes. Neither Paul nor any other New Testament writer addresses this larger political and social reality of their time. Paul's concern here is entirely for the church and its fellowship, where he sees a level of mutual commitment which demands that those with means support those without but that those who can support themselves should cause no unnecessary burdens to others.

3:6 In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us.

The seriousness with which Paul addresses this problem is evident from the very beginning. "Command" translates paraggevllw (parangellô ), indicating the strong obligation which comes with these instructions. The same word was used in 1 Thess 4:11 (rendered "told" in the NIV), where Paul indicated that he had this command previously, apparently during his stay in Thessalonica. Underlining the obligation even more is the phrase "in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ," pointing to the final source of authority for the command. As in 1 Cor 1:10 and 5:4, it is used as a part of an instruction regarding life in the church, in the latter case also dealing specifically with a matter of church discipline (cf. Col 3:17; 2 Thess 1:12).

"Is idle" here represents the verb peripatevw ( peripateo- , literally "walk") and indicating a general manner of life, modified by the adverb a[taktw" (ataktôs ), a cognate of the word found in 1 Thess 5:14 (see comments above). As in that case, the broadest sense of this adverb is "disorderly," though it is often used, as this context indicates, to refer to willful and rebellious irresponsibility. The NIV's translation is clearly correct in rendering the term as it does, but the English-speaking reader should understand that Paul speaks not generally of all idleness but specifically of the idleness which a person chooses in deliberate rebellion against the obligations of the Christian fellowship. Paul clearly does not criticize those who have no ability or opportunity to support themselves; in such cases he urges the Christians to continue to share (v. 13). Rather, he has in mind those who take advantage of others' generosity when they could do otherwise (cf. 1 Tim 5:2-8).

This idleness would be self-condemning in light of what Paul is about to discuss. However, because regular instruction on Christian conduct apparently included injunctions on the obligation to work, Paul appeals to that instruction. The "teaching" here is the Greek paravdosi" ( paradosis ), literally "tradition" (so the NIV footnote) which had been delivered both orally (v. 10; 2:15; cf. 1 Thess 2:13; 4:1) and by means of Paul's example (vv. 7-9) when he was present with them. "Received" (paralambavnw , paralambanô ) is also a technical term of oral teaching. These traditions have authority not simply because they are traditional but because they come from an authoritative source, Paul the apostle, and are grounded in the message of Christ, the final authority.

Having already received this teaching, and having been reminded of it again in 1 Thess 4:11-12; 5:14, the willfully idle will now stand under a stricter form of discipline. Paul orders, as he does for others whose sin is blatant and unrepented, that the church withdraw from such people. While a part of the reason for such a withdrawal is to avoid the disrepute which would come on the church (1 Thess 4:12), to relieve Christians of means from any obligation to share with those who refuse to work, and to protect the church from further corruption, the primary motivation is to correct the sinful behavior that has not yielded to less severe measures. Exclusion from the fellowship signifies not just lost contact with Christian friends or even the loss of financial support; it indicates an exclusion, which will become eternal if no repentance is forthcoming, from the very people of God and a consequent return to the domain of the Evil One (cf. 1 Tim 1:20; Matt 18:18-20).

3:7 For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example.

The idea that "tradition" in the world of Paul could include personal example is well attested. Later rabbinic teaching, probably reflecting the practices under which Paul was instructed, often involved the students' observation of the example of the teacher ( m. Sukk. 3.9; b. Ber. 241, 27b). Paul has previously indicated that the Thessalonian Christians eagerly imitated his lifestyle in submission to Jesus (1 Thess 1:6; 2:14; see comments above; cf. 1 Cor 4:16; 11:1; Eph 5:1). Here he indicates that they should do so consistently.

We were not idle when we were with you, 3:8 nor did we eat anyone's food without paying for it. On the contrary we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you.

Paul had carefully reminded the Thessalonians of his self-support when he was with them (1 Thess 2:6b-9; see comments above). His motive for supporting himself, as he expressed it in 1 Thess 2:9, was "not to be a burden to anyone" so that nothing would stand in the way of the gospel. Here Paul's example serves to illustrate that same motive. For Paul self-support was not a matter of rugged individualism or personal pride but a means of ensuring that the gospel was heard and that genuine Christian fellowship was not hindered. As he indicated in the earlier letter, Paul had worked "night and day," probably spending days in the workshop and preaching and teaching at night. Also as in 1 Thess 2:9 (cf. 2 Cor 11:27), Paul describes this work as "laboring" (kovpo" , kopos ), implying work to the point of weariness, and "toiling" (movcqo" , mochthos ), indicating an exceptional exertion of energy. This Paul did instead of being "idle" as are the offenders addressed here, or even accepting food (a[rto" , artos , literally "bread," the staple food of Paul's time) from anyone literally "as a gift." The expression "eat bread" probably reflects a Semitic idiom for receiving sustenance (cf. Gen 3:19) and so refers to all of Paul's necessities.

3:9 We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow.

The "right" which Paul asserts here is ejxousiva ( exousia ), probably referring to the authority which he could exercise as an apostle to receive support for his work (cf. 1 Cor 9:4-18; Matt 10:9-10; Luke 10:7-8), or more broadly, the authority regularly granted in Paul's time to religious teachers by their disciples which obligated the disciples to support their teacher. Paul reminds the Thessalonians of his unexercised authority in this area not because some in the church were challenging Paul's authority but because the fact of his authority is necessary to bring to bear the force of his example. Paul's argument is from the greater to the lesser.

The Thessalonian Christians had an obligation to support Paul because of his labor in preaching and teaching on their behalf. Yet Paul willingly yielded that benefit for the sake of the gospel. In effect he "moonlighted" to ensure that he created no financial burden for his converts and no impression that he was motivated by greed (1 Thess 2:4-5, 9-10). This is the greater case. The lesser case is that of the idle in the Thessalonian church. The obligation of the church to support the idle is in fact nonexistent, as Paul will argue. The church has an obligation to subsidize only those who cannot support themselves, as Paul will remind them (vv. 10, 13), so these idlers have no claim on others' generosity. Moreover, they are called on merely to fulfill their ordinary social responsibility of labor and self-support, not to double their labors as did Paul. Even if the idle are hardened to other appeals, this example of Paul should serve to bring shame on any continued, unwarranted dependance on others' generosity. If they are to respond properly, the Pauline "model" must be followed continually: the infinitive "to follow" is in the Greek present tense, indicating continuing action.

3:10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."

This command should have been familiar to the idlers from the beginning, as it constituted a memorable part of Paul's oral instruction. "Rule" paraphrases the Greek verb paraggevllw ( parangello- ), repeated from v. 6 and indicating again the giving of a command. The content of the command is deliberately terse and parallel, probably to make it easier for the Christian converts to remember. "Will" here does not indicate the future tense but translates qevlw ( thelo- ), indicating a willingness to do the action mentioned. So Paul's original oral instruction specifically censured the refusal to work, not the inability to work. The sanction placed on such people is that they "shall not eat," a phrase translating an imperative verb which might be translated "must not eat." Clearly the church could not stop the idle from obtaining bread from other sources, so the point is that the church should not subsidize those in their fellowship who refuse to support themselves when they have the means and opportunity. All the verbs in this command are in the present tense and emphasize continuing action, so the instruction might be translated, "If anyone continually does not want to keep working, he must not keep eating."

3:11 We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies.

Presumably Paul has received the report about the Thessalonians' continuing idleness from the associate who delivered the first letter to the church, perhaps Timothy. The idleness is again expressed as it was in v. 6, with the Greek verb meaning "to walk" and signifying a manner of life combined with an adverb indicating willful idleness. The second sentence of this verse renders well Paul's play on words (cf. Rom 12:3; 1 Cor 7:31; 2 Cor 1:13; 3:2; 6:10; Phil 3:2-3). Literally these people do not work (ejrgavzomai , ergazomai ) but meddle in others' affairs (periergavzomai , periergazomai ). Elsewhere Paul connects the idleness of those supported by the church with the temptation to intrude into others' business (1 Tim 5:13). Such activity compounds the offense to the Christian fellowship.

3:12 Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat.

The command here is given solemnly, similar to v. 6: "in the Lord Jesus" suggests either by his authority or, if Paul is using his "in Christ" formula, to refer to the basis of this command in the common fellowship that Christians share through their relationship with Christ (cf. 1 Thess 4:1 and comments above; Rom 9:1; Eph 4:17). In either case "Lord" underlines Christ's divine authority. "Command" is used again as in vv. 6 and 10, coupled with "urge," parakalevw ( parakaleo- , cf. 1 Thess 2:3, 12; 3:2, 7; 4:1, 10, 18; 5:11, 14; 2 Thess 2:16-17), lending additional force to the instruction. The NIV's rendering of the command itself is a dynamic equivalent of Paul's words. He uses hJsuciva ( he-suchia ), roughly corresponding to "settle down" but literally meaning "quietness" (cf. 1 Thess 4:11 and comments above; 1 Tim 2:2), to indicate the manner in which these idlers should support themselves. Here this quietness clearly contrasts with the activity of busybodies just described, not, as some have argued, with too much excitement about Christ's imminent return. With such quiet labor these people will be able to pay for what they eat as did Paul (cf. vv. 8, 10), removing undue burdens from their brothers and sisters.

3:13 And as for you, brothers, never tire of doing what is right.

This command could be a general reminder to continue doing good. But in this context it appears to deal in some way with the problem of the indolent (the parallel in Gal 6:9 presents a similar ambiguity). Paul may be urging the responsible members of the church to continue their present self-support. But he may also be underlining the ongoing need for Christians to share of their substance with genuinely needy brothers and sisters. The temptation would be to stop sharing altogether because some had abused their generosity. Paul warns against taking such an attitude. So here, with an emphatic pronoun, uJmei'" ( humeis , "as for you"), he shifts the focus from those who have been willfully idle to the rest of the church. Though Paul habitually addresses the Thessalonian Christians as "brothers," the term here may serve to remind them again of the relationship out of which their obligation to share arises. "Tire" here translates ejgkakevw (enkakeô ), indicating discouragement, despair or lost motivation, the very attitudes that could arise from others' taking advantage of one's generosity, as had been the case. "Doing what is right" translates a Greek present participle; the good which the responsible Christian does for his brothers and sisters is a continuing duty.

2. Exclusion of the Disobedient (3:14-15)

¹⁴ If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of him. Do not associate with him, in order that he may feel ashamed. ¹⁵ Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.

This section closes with a repetition of the command to discipline by exclusion from the Christian fellowship those who disobey (cf. v. 6). Undoubtedly this has particular reference to the idle of vv. 6-12. However, it appears that Paul has deliberately stated this instruction as a general command so that the church will understand that others who might deliberately disobey the apostle's instruction should be similarly excluded. If the church has been troubled by ideas such as the ones which Paul addresses in 2:1-12, those responsible may ultimately require similar exclusion (cf. 2 Tim 2:17-18).

3:14 If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of him. Do not associate with him, in order that he may feel ashamed.

The disobedience which Paul refers to here is clearly not the occasional episode of sin into which Christians fall but the repeated, blatant, unrepented sin of the kind described above. This point is made clear by Paul's use of the present tense for the verb "obey"; the statement could be translated, "If anyone continually does not obey . . . ." Such people are to be noted by the church. The verb used here, shmeiovw (sçmeioô ) is normally used for the marking down of records; Paul could use it here to refer to written records or charges to be kept by the church in cases of discipline. However, the word is also used figuratively to mean giving attention to something for the purpose of remembering it in the future, and that is sufficient to explain its use here.

Such people are to be excluded from fellowship, as in v. 6, again visibly demonstrating the threat of exclusion from the commonwealth of God's people. Paul's verb here is the same one found in the similar context of 1 Cor 5:9, 11: sunanameivgnumi ( sunanameignumi ), literally meaning "to mix up together," but often used of the association of persons. The implication is a complete cutting off of any social contact with such a person.

The object of this discipline is indicated at the end of the verse: to produce shame in the offender. Those who refuse to heed lesser warnings may be impressed with their guilt through the cutting off of contact and even see the potential eternal consequences.

3:15 Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.

The implication that the purpose of discipline is redemptive is made explicit here. The shame of v. 14 is intended less as a punishment against the sinner and more as a stimulus to repentance. Exclusion from fellowship does not imply hostility between the church and the offender. It should not lead to insults, gossip, or violence of any kind. The offender is to be regarded as a brother or sister; final judgment ultimately belongs to God alone. So the purpose of the exclusion is correction: "warn" translates nouqetevw ( noutheteo- ), which indicates correction of behavior or belief, as in 1 Thess 5:12, 14 (see comments above). Paul probably refers to the corrective power of the exclusion itself, preceded as it would have been by repeated verbal exhortations. Scrupulously maintaining this outlook will protect the church from vindictiveness and judgmentalism.

VI. CONCLUSION (3:16-18)

¹⁶ Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.

¹⁷ I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand, which is the distinguishing mark in all my letters. This is how I write.

¹⁸ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

Paul's concluding remarks are brief but pointed. Here he includes a wish-prayer for the readers (v. 16; cf. 1 Thess 5:23-24), an authentication of the epistle as genuinely Paul's (v. 17; cf. 2:2), and a final prayer for blessing (v. 18; cf. 1 Thess 5:28).

3:16 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.

This prayer is similar to the one in 1 Thess 5:23-24, though here "Lord" probably refers to Christ rather than God the Father as in the earlier passage, perhaps because of the central focus on Christ's work in destroying evil in 2:8 (cf. Eph 2:14; Col 1:20). The association of God with peace is also found in concluding statements or prayers in Rom 15:33; 16:20; 2 Cor 13:11; Phil 4:9; peace is more broadly Paul's concluding wish in Eph 6:23. As in the salutations and earlier concluding prayer, peace signifies the whole of the Christian's harmonious relationship with God which in turn creates harmony among fellow Christians who share that relationship. Paul explicitly stresses that this peace is comprehensive, to be experienced through all times, in every way, and among all of the Christians to whom the Lord's presence is promised. It will come to the Thessalonians despite - and even in the midst of - the persecutions which they now experience (1:5-6) and will be fully realized when Christ returns as savior and judge (1:6-10; 2:8).

3:17 I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand, which is the distinguishing mark in all my letters. This is how I write.

This seemingly innocuous remark is the subject of some controversy. Some who argue that 2 Thessalonians is a post-Pauline pseudepigraph insist that this remark is out of place in an authentic letter, especially since Paul's signature is lacking in the other canonical letters. It is therefore seen either as the pseudepigrapher's too-eager attempt to make the letter appear to be authentic or an attempt by a later writer to discredit 1 Thessalonians, which lacked the signature. However, it must be questioned whether someone attempting to make a post-Pauline letter appear authentic would risk such a statement, since the pseudepigrapher would presumably know Paul's authentic letters well enough to realize that Paul did not habitually sign his letters exactly in this way. This statement, therefore, is still powerful evidence in favor of the authenticity of this letter, despite the fact that we no longer have access to Paul's actual signature.

But if Paul did not sign all his letters as he did here, in what sense did he intend this statement? It should be observed, first of all, some other letters do include handwritten greetings from Paul. The nearest parallels are 1 Cor 16:21 and Col 4:18, but handwritten greetings are also explicit in Gal 6:11 and Phlm 19. Furthermore, it may well be that Paul wrote a portion of the ending of his letters, perhaps the final wish for blessing, in his own hand (cf. 1 Thess 5:27-28 and comments above). Surviving papyrus letters from this period often show a change of handwriting at the end. At any rate, Paul's statement here is clearly a generalization rather than an absolute.

Apparently in light of the false messages which the Thessalonian church had received in Paul's name (2:2), Paul found it necessarily to explicitly authenticate this letter. His handwriting would have been easily distinguishable from the hand of the amanuensis who wrote out the rest of the letter, since professional scribes could be expected to have neater (and smaller, cf. Gal 6:11) handwriting than others. Though some have insisted that this statement is less a matter of authenticating the letter than of asserting Paul's authority, it is difficult to see no authenticating purpose in light of 2:2.

3:18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

With the exception of "all," which Paul may have inserted here to include even the idle Christians of 3:6-12, this greeting is identical to the one in 1 Thess 5:28 (cf. 2 Cor 13:13; Gal 6:18; Eph 6:24; Phil 4:23; Col 4:18; 1 Tim 6:21b; 2 Tim 4:22; Titus 3:15; Phlm 25). Paul again takes the usual formal element of a closing greeting and uses it for his distinct purposes. For the apostle of grace, a wish for God's grace was always a fitting note on which to end an epistle.

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV

McGarvey: 2Th 3:6

Now we command you [because confident, as we have just said, that you will obey], brethren [not the officers, but the whole church], in the name of [by the authority of] our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from [abstain from your habitual fellowship with] every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition [Christian rules of life] which they received of us . [Paul does not specify any particular disorder, but the next verse shows that he had a special reference to parasitical idleness.]

McGarvey: 2Th 3:7

For yourselves know how ye ought to imitate us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you ;

McGarvey: 2Th 3:8

neither did we eat bread for nought [gratis, without compensation] at any man's hand, but in labor and travail, working night and day, that we might not burden any of you [1Th 2:9]:

McGarvey: 2Th 3:9

not because we have not the right [to demand support while preaching -- Luk 10:7 ; 1Co 9:1-18], but to make ourselves an ensample unto you, that ye should imitate us . [Many of the Thessalonian converts were from the laboring classes. Now, laborers in that day were brought into competition with slave-labor, and hence were disposed to look upon all manual work as degrading. This false view of life was the main influence which produced that vast multitude of parasites that then swarmed in every large city of the empire. To correct this mistaken pride, and to restore labor to its just dignity, Paul had made tents and supported himself by his hands while at Thessalonica. For these and other reasons he had also waived his right to support and had sustained himself while at Corinth (Act 18:3 ; 2Co 11:9) and at Ephesus (Act 20:34). But notwithstanding his example and instruction, and despite his written rebuke (1Th 4:11-12), idleness appears to have increased rather than diminished; so the apostle here devotes some space to it.]

McGarvey: 2Th 3:10

For even when we were with you [and so even before we wrote you our first epistle], this we commanded you, If any will not work, neither let him eat . [This precept is founded on Gen 3:19 . It forbids the Christian to exercise that false charity which genders beggary and becomes the parent of manifold crime.]

McGarvey: 2Th 3:11

For we hear [probably by the returning messenger who carried his first epistle] of some that walk among you disorderly, that work not at all, but are busybodies . [A paranomasia, or play on words; "work" and "busybodies" being cognate; so it may be translated, "who have no business, and yet are busy with everybody's business" -- such as lead a lounging, gadding, gossiping, meddlesome life.]

McGarvey: 2Th 3:12

Now them that are such we command and exhort [mixing entreaty with authority] in the Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own [this word is emphatic] bread .

McGarvey: 2Th 3:13

But ye [who stand in contrast to the disorderly], brethren, be not weary [lose not heart] in well-doing . [A general exhortation as to all well-doing. As applied to the parasites, it might mean that disgust at them should not discourage true charity. The great body of commentators, including the ablest, attribute this idleness to the erroneous notion that the Lord was about to come; but there is no hint of this in the text; and we find the idleness existing when Paul wrote them his first Epistle, though there was then no such exciting expectation. Moreover, such expectations as to the Lord's coming have often been repeated in history, and have not been found to be very productive of idleness, and certainly not in that "busybody" form which is here rebuked. On the whole, it is best to suppose that the Christian spirit of love opened the hearts of the wealthy to liberal charities, and the parasitical tendency, always strong, took advantage of it.]

McGarvey: 2Th 3:14

And if any man obeyeth not our word by this epistle, note that man, that ye have no company [fellowship] with him, to the end that he may be ashamed . [By noting your moral indignation, and seeing his conduct repudiated by the church.]

McGarvey: 2Th 3:15

And yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother . [They were not to give him the complete estrangement of Mat 18:17 . The purpose of discipline is to save (1Co 5:5). It is medicine for curing, not poison for killing; it is not to gratify the hatred of the judge, but to admonish the offender who is judged (Gal 6:1). Yet the safety of the church sometimes demands complete excommunication.]

Commentary -- Other

Evidence: 2Th 3:14

Archaeological discoveries confirm the Bible’s account of historical events. See Mat 26:54 footnote.

Introduction / Outline

Robertson: 2 Thessalonians (Book Introduction)

Second Thessalonians

From Corinth a.d. 50 Or 51

By Way of Introduction

It is plain that First Thessalonians did not settle all the difficulties in Thessalonica. With some there was precisely the opposite result. There was some opposition to Paul’s authority and even defiance. So Paul repeats his " command" for discipline (2Th_3:6) as he had done when with them (2Th_3:10). He makes this Epistle a test of obedience (2Th_3:14) and finds it necessary to warn the Thessalonians against the zeal of some deceivers who even invent epistles in Paul’s name to carry their point in the church (2Th_2:1.), an early instance of pseudepigraphic " Pauline" epistles, but not for a " pious" purpose. Paul’s keen resentment against the practise should make us slow to accept the pseudepigraphic theory about other Pauline Epistles. He calls attention to his own signature at the close of each genuine letter. As a rule he dictated the epistle, but signed it with his own hand (2Th_3:17). Paul writes to calm excitement (Ellicott) and to make it plain that he had not said that the Second Coming was to be right away.

This Epistle is a bit sharper in tone than the First and also briefer. It has been suggested that there were two churches in Thessalonica, a Gentile Church to which First Thessalonians was sent, and a Jewish Church to which Second Thessalonians was addressed. There is no real evidence for such a gratuitous hypothesis. It assumes a difficulty about his sending a second letter to the same church that does not exist. The bearer of the first letter brought back news that made a second necessary. It was probably sent within the same year as the first.

JFB: 2 Thessalonians (Book Introduction)

Its GENUINENESS is attested by POLYCARP [Epistle to the Philippians, 11], who alludes to 2Th 3:15. JUSTIN MARTYR [Dialogue with Trypho, p. 193.32], alludes to 2Th 2:3. IRENÆUS [Against Heresies, 7.2] quotes 2Th 2:8. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA [Miscellanies, 1.5, p. 554; The Instructor, 1.17], quotes 2Th 3:2, as Paul's words. TERTULLIAN [On the Resurrection of the Flesh, 24] quotes 2Th 2:1-2, as part of Paul's Epistle.

DESIGN.--The accounts from Thessalonica, after the sending of the first Epistle, represented the faith and love of the Christians there as on the increase; and their constancy amidst persecutions unshaken. One error of doctrine, however, resulting in practical evil, had sprung up among them. The apostle's description of Christ's sudden second coming (1Th 4:13, &c., and 1Th 5:2), and the possibility of its being at any time, led them to believe it was actually at hand. Some professed to know by "the Spirit" (2Th 2:2) that it was so; and others alleged that Paul had said so when with them. A letter, too, purporting to be from the apostle to that effect, seems to have been circulated among them. (That 2Th 2:2 refers to such a spurious letter, rather than to Paul's first Epistle, appears likely from the statement, 2Th 3:17, as to his autograph salutation being the mark whereby his genuine letters might be known). Hence some neglected their daily business and threw themselves on the charity of others, as if their sole duty was to wait for the coming of the Lord. This error, therefore, needed rectifying, and forms a leading topic of the second Epistle. He in it tells them (2Th. 2:1-17), that before the Lord shall come, there must first be a great apostasy, and the Man of Sin must be revealed; and that the Lord's sudden coming is no ground for neglecting daily business; that to do so would only bring scandal on the Church, and was contrary to his own practice among them (2Th 3:7-9), and that the faithful must withdraw themselves from such disorderly professors (2Th 3:6, 2Th 3:10-15). Thus, there are three divisions of the Epistle: (1) 2Th 1:1-12. Commendations of the Thessalonians' faith, love, and patience, amidst persecutions. (2) 2Th. 2:1-17. The error as to the immediate coming of Christ corrected, and the previous rise and downfall of the Man of Sin foretold. (3) 2Th. 3:1-16. Exhortations to orderly conduct in their whole walk, with prayers for them to the God of peace, followed by his autograph salutation and benediction.

DATE OF WRITING.--AS the Epistle is written in the joint names of Timothy and Silas, as well as his own, and as these were with him while at Corinth, and not with him for a long time subsequently to his having left that city (compare Act 18:18, with Act 19:22; indeed, as to Silas, it is doubtful whether he was ever subsequently with Paul), it follows, the place of writing must have been Corinth, and the date, during the one "year and six months" of his stay there, Act 18:11 (namely, beginning with the autumn of A.D. 52, and ending with the spring of A.D. 54), say about six months after his first Epistle, early in A.D. 53.

STYLE.--The style is not different from that of most of Paul's other writings, except in the prophetic portion of it (2Th 2:1-12), which is distinguished from them in subject matter. As is usual in his more solemn passages (for instance, in the denunciatory and prophetic portions of his Epistles, for example, compare Col 2:8, Col 2:16, with 2Th 2:3; 1Co 15:24-28, with 2Th 2:8-9; Rom 1:18, with 2Th 2:8, 2Th 2:10), his diction here is more lofty, abrupt, and elliptical. As the former Epistle dwells mostly on the second Advent in its aspect of glory to the sleeping and the living saints (1Th. 4:1-5:28), so this Epistle dwells mostly on it in its aspect of everlasting destruction to the wicked and him who shall be the final consummation of wickedness, the Man of Sin. So far was Paul from laboring under an erroneous impression as to Christ's speedy coming, when he wrote his first Epistle (which rationalists impute to him), that he had distinctly told them, when he was with them, the same truths as to the apostasy being about first to arise, which he now insists upon in this second Epistle (2Th 2:5). Several points of coincidence occur between the two Epistles, confirming the genuineness of the latter. Thus, compare 2Th 3:2, with 1Th 2:15-16; again, 2Th 2:9, the Man of Sin "coming after the working of Satan," with 1Th 2:18; 1Th 3:5, where Satan's incipient work as the hinderer of the Gospel, and the tempter, appears; again, mild warning is enjoined, 1Th 5:14; but, in this second Epistle, when the evil had grown worse, stricter discipline (2Th 3:6, 2Th 3:14): "withdraw from" the "company" of such.

Paul probably visited Thessalonica on his way to Asia subsequently (Act 20:4), and took with him thence Aristarchus and Secundus: the former became his "companion in travel" and shared with him his perils at Ephesus, also those of his shipwreck, and was his "fellow prisoner" at Rome (Act 27:2; Col 4:10; Phm 1:24). According to tradition he became bishop of Apamea.

JFB: 2 Thessalonians (Outline)

• ADDRESS AND SALUTATION: INTRODUCTION: THANKSGIVING FOR THEIR GROWTH IN FAITH AND LOVE, AND FOR THEIR PATIENCE IN PERSECUTIONS, WHICH ARE A TOKEN FOR GOOD EVERLASTING TO THEM, AND FOR PERDITION TO THEIR ADVERSARIES AT CHRIST'S COMING: PRAYER FOR THEIR PERFECTION. (2Th 1:1-12)
• CORRECTION OF THEIR ERROR AS TO CHRIST'S IMMEDIATE COMING. THE APOSTASY THAT MUST PRECEDE IT. EXHORTATION TO STEADFASTNESS, INTRODUCED WITH THANKSGIVING FOR THEIR ELECTION BY GOD. (2Th. 2:1-17)
• HE ASKS THEIR PRAYERS: HIS CONFIDENCE IN THEM: PRAYER FOR THEM: CHARGES AGAINST DISORDERLY IDLE CONDUCT; HIS OWN EXAMPLE: CONCLUDING PRAYER AND SALUTATION. (2Th. 3:1-18)

TSK: 2 Thessalonians (Book Introduction)

The First Epistle to the Thessalonians, it is generally agreed, was the earliest written of all St. Paul’s epistles, whence we see the reason and propriety of his anxiety that it should be read in all the Christian churches of Macedonia. - " I charge you by the Lord, that this Epistle be read unto all the holy brethren" (1Th 5:27). " The existence of this clause," observes Dr. Paley, " is an evidence of its authenticity; because, to produce a letter, purporting to have been publicly read in the church at Thessalonica, when no such letter had been read or heard of in that church, would be to produce an imposture destructive of itself. Either the Epistle was publicly read in the church of Thessalonica, during St. Paul’s lifetime, or it was not. If it was, no publication could be more authentic, no species of notoriety more unquestionable, no method of preserving the integrity of the copy more secure. If it was not, the clause would remain a standing condemnation of the forgery, and one would suppose, an invincible impediment to its success." Its genuineness, however, has never been disputed; and it has been universally received in the Christian church, as the inspired production of St. Paul, from the earliest period to the present day. The circumstance of this injunction being given, in the first epistle which the Apostle wrote, also implies a strong and avowed claim to the character of an inspired writer; as in fact it placed his writings on the same ground with those of Moses and the ancient prophets. The second Epistle, besides those marks of genuineness and authority which it possesses in common with the others, bears the highest evidence of its divine inspiration, in the representation which it contains of the papal power, under the characters of " the Man of sin," and the " Mystery of iniquity." The true Christian worship is the worship of the one only God, through the one only Mediator, the man Christ Jesus; and from this worship the church of Rome has most notoriously departed, by substituting other mediators, invocating and adoring saints and angels, worshipping images, adoring the host, etc. It follows, therefore, that " the Man of sin" is the Pope; not only on account of the disgraceful lives of many of them, but by means of their scandalous doctrines and principles; dispensing with the most necessary duties, selling pardons and indulgences for the most abominable crimes, and perverting the worship of God to the grossest superstition and idolatry. It was evidently the chief design of the Apostle, in writing to the Thessalonians, to confirm them in the faith, to animate them to a courageous profession of the Gospel, and to the practice of all the duties of Christianity; but to suppose, with Dr. Macknight, that he intended to prove the divine authority of Christianity by a chain of regular arguments, in which he answered the several objections which the heathen philosophers are supposed to have advanced, seems quite foreign to the nature of the epistles, and to be grounded on a mistaken notion, that the philosophers designed at so early a period to enter on a regular disputation with the Christians, when in fact they derided them as enthusiasts, and branded their doctrines as " foolishness." In pursuance of his grand object, " it is remarkable," says Dr. Doddridge, " with how much address he improves all the influence which his zeal and fidelity in their service must naturally give him, to inculcate upon them the precepts of the gospel, and persuade them to act agreeably to their sacred character. This was the grand point he always kept in view, and to which every thing else was made subservient. Nothing appears, in any part of his writings, like a design to establish his own reputation, or to make use of his ascendancy over his Christian friends to answer any secular purposes of his own. On the contrary, in this and in his other epistles, he discovers a most generous, disinterested regard for their welfare, expressly disclaiming any authority over their consciences, and appealing to them, that he had chose to maintain himself by the labour of this own hands, rather than prove burdensome to the churches, or give the least colour of suspicion, that, under zeal for the gospel, and concern for their improvement, he was carrying on any private sinister view. The discovery of so excellent a temper must be allowed to carry with it a strong presumptive argument in favour of the doctrines he taught....And, indeed, whoever reads St. Paul’s epistles with attention, and enters into the spirit with which they were written, will discern such intrinsic characters of their genuineness, and the divine authority of the doctrines they contain, as will, perhaps, produce in him a stronger conviction than all the external evidence with which they are attended." These remarks are exceedingly well grounded and highly important; and to no other Epistles can they apply with greater force than the present most excellent productions of the inspired Apostle. The last two chapters of the first epistle, in particular, as Dr. A. Clarke justly observes, " are certainly among the most important, and the most sublime in the New Testament. The general judgment, the resurrection of the body, and the states of the quick and the dead, the unrighteous and the just, are described, concisely indeed, but they are exhibited in the most striking and affecting points of view."

TSK: 2 Thessalonians 3 (Chapter Introduction)

Overview

2Th 3:1, Paul craves their prayers for himself; 2Th 3:3, testifies what confidence he has in them; 2Th 3:5, makes request to God in their behalf; 2Th 3:6, gives them divers precepts, especially to shun idleness, and ill company; 2Th 3:16, and then concludes with prayer and salutation.

Poole: 2 Thessalonians 3 (Chapter Introduction)

THESSALONIANS CHAPTER 3

MHCC: 2 Thessalonians (Book Introduction)

The second epistle to the Thessalonians was written soon after the first. The apostle was told that, from some expressions in his first letter, many expected the second coming of Christ was at hand, and that the day of judgment would arrive in their time. Some of these neglected their worldly duties. St. Paul wrote again to correct their error, which hindered the spread of the gospel. He had written agreeably to the words of the prophets of the Old Testament; and he tells them there were many counsels of the Most High yet to be fulfilled, before that day of the Lord should come, though, because it is sure, he had spoken of it as near. The subject led to a remarkable foretelling, of some of the future events which were to take place in the after-ages of the Christian church, and which show the prophetic spirit the apostle possessed.

MHCC: 2 Thessalonians 3 (Chapter Introduction)

(2Th 3:1-5) The apostle expresses confidence in the Thessalonians, and prays for them.

(2Th 3:6-15) He charges them to withdraw from disorderly walkers, particularly from the lazy and busybodies.

(2Th 3:16-18) And concludes with a prayer for them, and a greeting.

Matthew Henry: 2 Thessalonians (Book Introduction)

An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The Second Epistle of St. Paul to the Thessalonians

This Second Epistle was written soon after the former, and seems to have been designed to prevent a mistake, which might arise from some passages in the former epistle, concerning the second coming of Christ, as if it were near at hand. The apostle in this epistle is careful to prevent any wrong use which some among them might make of those expressions of his that were agreeable to the dialect of the prophets of the Old Testament, and informs them that there were many intermediate counsels yet to be fulfilled before that day of the Lord should come, though, because it is sure, he had spoken of it as near. There are other things that he writes about for their consolation under sufferings, and exhortation and direction in duty.

Matthew Henry: 2 Thessalonians 3 (Chapter Introduction)

In the close of the foregoing chapter, the apostle had prayed earnestly for the Thessalonians, and now he desires their prayers, encouraging them to trust in God, to which he subjoins another petition for them (2Th 3:1-5). He then proceeds to give them commands and directions for correcting some things he was informed were amiss among them (2Th 3:6-15) and concludes with benedictions and prayers (2Th 3:16-18).

Barclay: 2 Thessalonians (Book Introduction)

A GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE LETTERS OF PAUL

The Letters Of Paul

There is no more interesting body of documents in the New Testament than the letters of Paul. That is because of all forms of literature a letter is most personal. Demetrius, one of the old Greek literary critics, once wrote, "Every one reveals his own soul in his letters. In every other form of composition it is possible to discern the writercharacter, but in none so clearly as the epistolary." (Demetrius, On Style, 227). It is just because he left us so many letters that we feel we know Paul so well. In them he opened his mind and heart to the folk he loved so much; and in them, to this day, we can see that great mind grappling with the problems of the early church, and feel that great heart throbbing with love for men, even when they were misguided and mistaken.

The Difficulty Of Letters

At the same time, there is often nothing so difficult to understand as a letter. Demetrius (On Style, 223) quotes a saying of Artemon, who edited the letters of Aristotle. Artemon said that a letter ought to be written in the same manner as a dialogue, because it was one of the two sides of a dialogue. In other words, to read a letter is like listening to one side of a telephone conversation. So when we read the letters of Paul we are often in a difficulty. We do not possess the letter which he was answering; we do not fully know the circumstances with which he was dealing; it is only from the letter itself that we can deduce the situation which prompted it. Before we can hope to understand fully any letter Paul wrote, we must try to reconstruct the situation which produced it.

The Ancient Letters

It is a great pity that Paulletters were ever called epistles. They are in the most literal sense letters. One of the great lights shed on the interpretation of the New Testament has been the discovery and the publication of the papyri. In the ancient world, papyrus was the substance on which most documents were written. It was composed of strips of the pith of a certain bulrush that grew on the banks of the Nile. These strips were laid one on top of the other to form a substance very like brown paper. The sands of the Egyptian desert were ideal for preservation, for papyrus, although very brittle, will last forever so long as moisture does not get at it. As a result, from the Egyptian rubbish heaps, archaeologists have rescued hundreds of documents, marriage contracts, legal agreements, government forms, and, most interesting of all, private letters. When we read these private letters we find that there was a pattern to which nearly all conformed; and we find that Paulletters reproduce exactly that pattern. Here is one of these ancient letters. It is from a soldier, called Apion, to his father Epimachus. He is writing from Misenum to tell his father that he has arrived safely after a stormy passage.

"Apion sends heartiest greetings to his father and lord Epimachus.

I pray above all that you are well and fit; and that things are

going well with you and my sister and her daughter and my brother.

I thank my Lord Serapis [his god] that he kept me safe when I was

in peril on the sea. As soon as I got to Misenum I got my journey

money from Caesar--three gold pieces. And things are going fine

with me. So I beg you, my dear father, send me a line, first to let

me know how you are, and then about my brothers, and thirdly, that

I may kiss your hand, because you brought me up well, and because

of that I hope, God willing, soon to be promoted. Give Capito my

heartiest greetings, and my brothers and Serenilla and my friends.

I sent you a little picture of myself painted by Euctemon. My

military name is Antonius Maximus. I pray for your good health.

Serenus sends good wishes, Agathos Daimonboy, and Turbo,

Galloniuson." (G. Milligan, Selections from the Greek Papyri,

36.)

Little did Apion think that we would be reading his letter to his father 1800 years after he had written it. It shows how little human nature changes. The lad is hoping for promotion quickly. Who would Serenilla be but the girl he left behind him? He sends the ancient equivalent of a photograph to the folk at home. Now that letter falls into certain sections. (i) There is a greeting. (ii) There is a prayer for the health of the recipients. (iii) There is a thanksgiving to the gods. (iv) There are the special contents. (v) Finally, there are the special salutations and the personal greetings. Practically every one of Paulletters shows exactly the same sections, as we now demonstrate.

(i) The Greeting: Rom_1:1 ; 1Co_1:1 ; 2Co_1:1 ; Gal_1:1 ; Eph_1:1 ; Phi_1:1 ; Col_1:1-2 ; 1Th_1:1 ; 2Th_1:1 .

(ii) The Prayer: in every case Paul prays for the grace of God on the people to whom he writes: Rom_1:7 ; 1Co_1:3 ; 2Co_1:2 ; Gal_1:3 ; Eph_1:2 ; Phi_1:3 ; Col_1:2 ; 1Th_1:1 ; 2Th_1:2 .

(iii) The Thanksgiving: Rom_1:8 ; 1Co_1:4 ; 2Co_1:3 ; Eph_1:3 ; Phi_1:3 ; 1Th_1:3 ; 2Th_1:3 .

(iv) The Special Contents: the main body of the letters.

(v) Special Salutations and Personal Greetings: Rom 16 ; 1Co_16:19 ; 2Co_13:13 ; Phi_4:21-22 ; Col_4:12-15 ; 1Th_5:26 .

When Paul wrote letters, he wrote them on the pattern which everyone used. Deissmann says of them, "They differ from the messages of the homely papyrus leaves of Egypt, not as letters but only as the letters of Paul." When we read Paulletters we are not reading things which were meant to be academic exercises and theological treatises, but human documents written by a friend to his friends.

The Immediate Situation

With a very few exceptions, all Paulletters were written to meet an immediate situation and not treatises which he sat down to write in the peace and silence of his study. There was some threatening situation in Corinth, or Galatia, or Philippi, or Thessalonica, and he wrote a letter to meet it. He was not in the least thinking of us when he wrote, but solely of the people to whom he was writing. Deissmann writes, "Paul had no thought of adding a few fresh compositions to the already extant Jewish epistles; still less of enriching the sacred literature of his nation.... He had no presentiment of the place his words would occupy in universal history; not so much that they would be in existence in the next generation, far less that one day people would look at them as Holy Scripture." We must always remember that a thing need not be transient because it was written to meet an immediate situation. All the great love songs of the world were written for one person, but they live on for the whole of mankind. It is just because Paulletters were written to meet a threatening danger or a clamant need that they still throb with life. And it is because human need and the human situation do not change that God speaks to us through them today.

The Spoken Word

One other thing we must note about these letters. Paul did what most people did in his day. He did not normally pen his own letters but dictated them to a secretary, and then added Ws own authenticating signature. (We actually know the name of one of the people who did the writing for him. In Rom_16:22 Tertius, the secretary, slips in his own greeting before the letter draws to an end). In 1Co_16:21 Paul says, "This is my own signature, my autograph, so that you can be sure this letter comes from me." (compare Col_4:18 ; 2Th_3:17 .)

This explains a great deal. Sometimes Paul is hard to understand, because his sentences begin and never finish; his grammar breaks down and the construction becomes involved. We must not think of him sitting quietly at a desk, carefully polishing each sentence as he writes. We must think of him striding up and down some little room, pouring out a torrent of words, while his secretary races to get them down. When Paul composed his letters, he had in his mindeye a vision of the folk to whom he was writing, and he was pouring out his heart to them in words that fell over each other in his eagerness to help.

INTRODUCTION TO THE LETTERS TO THE THESSALONIANS

Paul Comes To Macedonia

For anyone who can read between the lines the story of Paulcoming to Macedonia is one of the most dramatic in the book of Acts. Luke, with supreme economy of words, tells it in Act_16:6-10 . Short as that narrative is, it gives the impression of a chain of circumstances inescapably culminating in one supreme event. Paul had passed through Phrygia and Galatia and ahead of him lay the Hellespont. To the left lay the teeming province of Asia, to the right stretched the great province of Bithynia; but the Spirit would allow him to enter neither. There was something driving him relentlessly on to the Aegean Sea. So he came to Alexandrian Troas, still uncertain where he ought to go; and then there came to him a vision in the night of a man who cried, "Come over into Macedonia and help us." Paul set sail, and for the first time the gospel came to Europe.

One World

At that moment Paul must have seen much more than a continent for Christ. It was in Macedonia that he landed; and Macedonia was the kingdom of Alexander the Great, who had conquered the world and wept because there were no more worlds left to conquer. But Alexander was much more than a military conqueror. He was almost the first universalist. He was more a missionary than a soldier; and he dreamed of one world dominated and enlightened by the culture of Greece. Even so great a thinker as Aristotle had said that it was a plain duty to treat Greeks as free men and orientals as slaves; but Alexander declared that he had been sent by God "to unite, to pacify and to reconcile the whole world." Deliberately he had said that it was his aim "to marry the East to the West." He had dreamed of an Empire in which there was neither Greek nor Jew, barbarian or Scythian, bond or free (Col_3:11 ). It is hard to see how Alexander could have failed to be in Paulthoughts. Paul left from Alexandrian Troas which was called after Alexander; he came to Macedonia which was Alexanderoriginal kingdom; he worked at Philippi which was called after Philip, Alexanderfather; he went on to Thessalonica which was called after Alexanderhalf-sister. The whole territory was saturated with memories of Alexander; and Paul must surely have thought, not of a country nor of a continent, but of a world for Christ.

Paul Comes To Thessalonica

This sense of the wide-stretching arms of Christianity must have been accentuated when Paul came to Thessalonica. It was a great city. Its original name was Thermal, which means The Hot Springs, and it gave its name to the Thermaic Gulf on which it stood. Six hundred years ago Herodotus had described it as a great city. It has always been a famous harbour. It was there that Xerxes the Persian had his naval base when he invaded Europe; and even in Roman times it was one of the worldgreat dockyards. In 315 B.C. Cassander had rebuilt the city and renamed it Thessalonica, the name of his wife, who was a daughter of Philip of Macedon and a half-sister of Alexander the Great. It was a free city; that is to say it had never suffered the indignity of having Roman troops quartered within it. It had its own popular assembly and its own magistrates. Its population rose to 200,000 and for a time it was a question whether it or Constantinople would be recognized as the capital of the world. Even today, under the name Salonika, it has 70,000 inhabitants.

But the supreme importance of Thessalonica lay in this--it straddled the Via Egnatia, the Egnatian Road, which stretched from Dyrrachium on the Adriatic to Constantinople on the Bosphorus and thence away to Asia Minor and the East. Its main street was part of the very road which linked Rome with the East. East and West converged on Thessalonica; it was said to be "in the lap of the Roman Empire." Trade poured into her from East and West, so that it was said, "So long as nature does not change, Thessalonica will remain wealthy and prosperous."

It is impossible to overstress the importance of the arrival of Christianity in Thessalonica. If Christianity was settled there, it was bound to spread East along the Egnatian Road until all Asia was conquered and West until it stormed even the city of Rome. The coming of Christianity to Thessalonica was crucial in the making of it into a world religion.

PaulStay At Thessalonica

The story of Paulstay at Thessalonica is in Act_17:1-10 . Now, for Paul, what happened at Thessalonica was of supreme importance. He preached in the synagogue for three Sabbaths (Act_17:2 ) which means that his stay there could not have been much more than three weeks in length. He had such tremendous success that the Jews were enraged and raised so much trouble that Paul had to be smuggled out, in peril of his life, to Beroea. The same thing happened in Beroea (Act_17:10-12 ) and Paul had to leave Timothy and Silas behind and make his escape to Athens. What exercised his mind was this. He had been in Thessalonica only three weeks. Was it possible to make such an impression on a place in three weeksime that Christianity was planted so deeply that it could never again be uprooted? If so, it was by no means an idle dream that the Roman Empire might yet be won for Christ. Or was it necessary to settle down and work for months, even years, before an impression could be made? In that event, no man could even dimly foresee when Christianity would penetrate all over the world. Thessalonica was a test case; and Paul was torn with anxiety to know how it would turn out.

News From Thessalonica

So anxious was Paul that, when Timothy joined him at Athens, he sent him back to Thessalonica to get the information without which he could not rest (1Th_3:1-2 , 1Th_3:5 ; 1Th_2:17 ). What news did Timothy bring back? There was good news. The affection of the Thessalonians for Paul was as strong as ever; and they were standing fast in the faith (1Th_2:14 ; 1Th_3:4-6 ; 1Th_4:9-10 ). They were indeed "his glory and Ws joy" (1Th_2:20 ). But there was worrying news.

(i) The preaching of the Second Coming had produced an unhealthy situation in which people had stopped working and had abandoned all ordinary pursuits to await the Second Coming with a kind of hysterical expectancy. So Paul tells them to be quiet and to get on with their work (1Th_4:11 ).

(ii) They were worried about what was to happen to those who died before the Second Coming arrived. Paul explains that those who fall asleep in Jesus will miss none of the glory (1Th_4:13-18 ).

(iii) There was a tendency to despise all lawful authority; the argumentative Greek was always in danger of producing a democracy run mad (1Th_5:12-14 ).

(iv) There was the ever-present danger that they would relapse into immorality. It was hard to unlearn the point of view of generations and to escape the contagion of the heathen world (1Th_4:3-8 ).

(v) There was at least a section who slandered Paul. They hinted that he preached the gospel for what he could get out of it (1Th_2:5 , 1Th_2:9 ); and that he was something of a dictator (1Th_2:6-7 , 1Th_2:11 ).

(vi) There was a certain amount of division in the Church (1Th_4:9 ; 1Th_5:13 ).

These were the problems with which Paul had to deal; and they show that human nature has not changed so very much.

Why Two Letters?

We must ask why there are two letters. They art, very much alike and they must have been written within weeks, perhaps days of each other. The second letter was written mainly to clear up a misconception about the Second Coming. The first letter insists that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, and urges watchfulness (1Th_5:2 ; 1Th_5:6 ). But this produced the unhealthy situation where men did nothing but watch and wait; and in the second letter Paul explains what signs must come first before the Second Coming should come (2Th_2:3-12 ). The Thessalonians had got their ideas about the Second Coming out of proportion. As so often happens to a preacher, Paulpreaching had been misunderstood, and certain phrases had been taken out of context and over-emphasized; and the second letter seeks to put things back in their proper balance and to correct the thoughts of the excited Thessalonians regarding the Second Coming. Of course, Paul takes occasion in the second letter to repeat and to stress much of the good advice and rebuke he had given in the first, but its main aim is to tell them certain things which will calm their hysteria and make them wait, not in excited idleness, but in patient and diligent attendance to the daywork. In these two letters we see Paul solving the day to day problems which arose in the expanding Church.

FURTHER READINGS

Thessalonians

J. E. Frame, Thessalonians (ICC; G)

G. Milligan, St. PaulEpistles to the Thessalonians (MmC; G)

W. Neil, The Epistles of Paul to the Thessalonians (MC; E)

Abbreviations

CGT: Cambridge Greek Testament

ICC: International Critical Commentary

MC: Moffatt Commentary

MmC: Macmillan Commentary

TC: Tyndale Commentary

E: English Text

G: Greek Text

Barclay: 2 Thessalonians 3 (Chapter Introduction)

A Final Word (2Th_3:1-5)

Discipline In Brotherly Love (2Th_3:6-18)

Constable: 2 Thessalonians (Book Introduction)

Introduction

Historical background

This epistle contains evidence that Paul had recently heard news about current conditions in the Thessalonian church. Probably most of this information came to him from the person who had carried 1 Thessalonians to its recipients and had returned to Paul at Corinth. Perhaps other people who had news of the church had informed Paul, Silas, and Timothy also. Some of the news was good. The majority of the Thessalonians were continuing to grow and to remain faithful to Christ in spite of persecution. Unfortunately some of the news was bad. False teaching concerning the day of the Lord had entered the church and was causing confusion and leading some of the Christians to quit their jobs in expectation of the Lord's return.

In view of these reports Paul evidently felt constrained to write this epistle. He commended his children in the faith for their growth and faithfulness, corrected the doctrinal error about the day of the Lord, and warned the idle to get back to work.

Almost all conservative scholars believe that Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians from Corinth. The basis for this conclusion is that Paul, Silas, and Timothy were present together in Corinth (Acts 18:5). The New Testament does not refer to them being together from then on, though they may have been. Paul evidently wrote 1 Thessalonians from Corinth. The topics he treated in the second epistle seem to grow out of situations he alluded to in the first epistle. They reflect a very similar situation in the Thessalonian church. Corinth, therefore, seems the logical site of composition of 2 Thessalonians.

For these reasons it appears that Paul composed 2 Thessalonians quite soon after 1 Thessalonians, perhaps within 12 months.¹ This would place the date of composition in the early 50's A.D., perhaps 51 A.D., and would make this the third of Paul's canonical writings assuming Galatians was his first.

"The external evidence for the Pauline authorship of 2 Thessalonians is stronger than for 1 Thessalonians."²

Purpose

Three purposes are evident from the contents of the epistle. Paul wrote to encourage the Thessalonian believers to continue to persevere in the face of continuing persecution (1:3-10). He also wanted to clarify events preceding the day of the Lord to dispel false teaching (2:1-12). Finally, he instructed the church how to deal with lazy Christians in their midst (3:6-15).

Message³

We could contrast 1 and 2 Thessalonians by saying that Paul wrote the first epistle primarily to comfort the Thessalonians whereas he wrote the second epistle primarily to correct them.

Paul had said some things in his first epistle from which his readers drew a false conclusion. He had said that Christ would return and His return could be very soon (1 Thess. 4:15-18). He also said the day of the Lord would come as a thief in the night, unexpectedly (1 Thess. 5:2).

In view of what Paul had taught the Thessalonians about the day of the Lord when he was with them (2 Thess. 2:5), they wondered if that day had already begun. They wondered if they were in the Tribulation and if the second coming of Christ was imminent. Teaching from several other sources that confirmed their suspicions (2 Thess. 2:2) intensified their questions about Paul's statements regarding future events that he had written in 1 Thessalonians.

The apostle wrote 2 Thessalonians to correct these erroneous ideas. The return of Christ of which Paul had written was not His second coming but the Rapture. While the day of the Lord would arrive unexpectedly it would be unexpected only by unbelievers. Several predicted events would precede its commencement.

The central message of this epistle is the truth about the day of the Lord.

Paul made an important distinction in this epistle about future events.

In 1 Thessalonians he taught that the Lord's return could take place very soon and that the day of the Lord would come as a thief in the night. Consequently he urged his readers to wait expectantly for the Lord (1 Thess. 4:16-17; 5:2).

In 2 Thessalonians he wrote that the day of the Lord cannot begin immediately. Therefore his readers should continue their work (2 Thess. 2). These statements may seem contradictory, but they are not.

Paul distinguished these two truths in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2. The distinction is between "our gathering together to Him" (v. 1) and "the day of the Lord" (v. 2). He wrote verses 1-12 to show the difference between the first event and the second period.

Paul also gave definite new revelation about the day of the Lord.

He said that presently the mystery of lawlessness is at work (2:7). Paul did not say the mystery of "sin" or "evil" but "lawlessness." He did so because lawlessness (rebellion against divine law) is the root trouble with human life individually, socially, nationally, and in every other sphere. The "mystery" of lawlessness is the new revelation he expounded here concerning the course of lawlessness in the world and history, in space and time.

Second, he revealed that in the future God will remove what is presently restraining lawlessness (2:7). The restrainer probably refers to the Holy Spirit who indwells the church. Lawlessness produces corruption, but the church is the salt of the earth, and salt prevents the spread of corruption. Lawlessness also produces darkness, but the church is the light of the world, and light dispels darkness. Lawlessness is presently working, but what keeps it from running wild is the Holy Spirit's ministry through Christian men and women.

Third, Paul announced that in the future there will also be a crisis: the man of lawlessness will be revealed (2:8). When will God withdraw the Spirit from the world? He will do so when He withdraws the church from the world. When will He withdraw the church from the world? He will do so at "our gathering together to Him" (v. 1, i.e., the Rapture). After that, the human leader of lawlessness will appear. He will be entirely godless, but he will be such a remarkable character that he will convince most people that he is divine. This is the Antichrist.

Finally, Paul taught that after this crisis Jesus Christ will return to the earth to set up His kingdom (2:8). He will come when the man of lawlessness is the prominent character on the stage of history. However when Christ comes, He will destroy this Antichrist and curtail lawlessness (cf. Ps. 2).

In view of this revelation Paul called on his readers to do two things.

First, he called on them to be courageous. He did not want them to be mentally upset (2:2) but comforted and established (2:17). A clear understanding of the course of future events and the time of the Lord's return is essential for the mental and spiritual encouragement and stability of Christians. We need this to be courageous in the face of all the lawlessness we encounter in the world. Give this to the people you serve in ministry.

Second, Paul called his readers to responsible conduct. He instructed them to go on with life, to wait but also to work. Christians must behave responsibly by providing for our own needs. The hope of Christ's imminent return at the Rapture is no excuse for irresponsibility. Paul was not just urging activity (witnessing, praying, etc.) but specifically earning a living.

The gravest danger we face in our world today is not socialism or communism or fascism but lawlessness specifically refusal to submit to God's laws. The person who lives this way is anti-Christ.

We need to recognize this danger for what it is and to combat it by being salt and light in the world. However, we should also remember that Christ will eventually be victorious. This will keep us from becoming frantic and losing our stability.

Each of us also needs to make sure lawlessness does not characterize our personal lives. We must be submissive to divine rule if we would be consistent and confident Christians.

Outline⁴

I. Salutation 1:1-2

II. Commendation for past progress 1:3-12

A. Thanksgiving for growth 1:3-4

B. Encouragement to persevere 1:5-10

C. Prayer for success 1:11-12

III. Correction of present error 2:1-12

A. The beginning of the day of the Lord 2:1-5

B. The mystery of lawlessness 2:6-12

IV. Thanksgiving and prayer 2:13-17

A. Thanksgiving for calling 2:13-15

B. Prayer for strength 2:16-17

V. Exhortations for future growth 3:1-15

A. Reciprocal prayer 3:1-5

1. Prayer for the missionaries 3:1-2

2. Prayer for the Thessalonians 3:3-5

B. Church discipline 3:6-15

1. General principles respecting disorderly conduct 3:6-10

2. Specific instructions concerning the idle 3:11-13

3. Further discipline for the unrepentant 3:14-15

VI. Conclusion 3:16-18

Constable: 2 Thessalonians

2 Thessalonians

Bibliography

Barclay, William. The Letters to the Philippians, Colossians and Thessalonians. Daily Study Bible series. 2nd ed. and reprint ed. Edinburgh: Saint Andrew Press, 1963.

Baxter, J. Sidlow. Explore the Book. 6 vols. London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1965.

Best, Ernest. A Commentary on the First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians. Harper's New Testament Commentaries series. New York: Harper and Row, 1972.

Bicknell, E. J. The First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians. Westminster Commentaries series. London: Methuen, 1932.

Bruce, F. F. 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Word Biblical Commentary series. Waco: Word Books, 1982.

Chafer, Lewis Sperry. Systematic Theology. 8 vols. Findlay, Oh.: Dunham Publishing Co., 1948.

Constable, Thomas L. "Analysis of Bible Books--New Testament." Paper submitted for course 686 Analysis of Bible Books--New Testament. Dallas Theological Seminary, January 1968.

_____. "2 Thessalonians." In Bible Knowledge Commentary: New Testament, pp. 713-25. Edited by John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck. Wheaton: Scripture Press Publications, Victor Books, 1983.

Darby, John Nelson. Synopsis of the Books of the Bible. 5 vols. Revised ed. New York: Loizeaux Brothers Publishers, 1942.

Denney, James. The Epistles to the Thessalonians. The Expositors' Bible series. New York: Hodder and Stoughton, n.d.

Dictionary of the Apostolic Church, Edited by James Hastings. 1915 ed. S.v. "Thessalonians, Epistles to the," by F. S. Marsh.

Dictionary of the Bible, Edited by James Hastings. 1910 ed. S.v. "Thessalonians, Second Epistle to the," by W. Lock.

Donfield, Karl P. "The Cults of Thessalonica and the Thessalonian Correspondence." New Testament Studies 31:3 (July 1985):336-56.

Edgar, Thomas R. "An Exegesis of Rapture Passages." In Issues in Dispensationalism, pp. 203-23. Edited by Weslay R. Willis and John R. Master. Chicago: Moody Press, 1994.

English, E. Schuyler. Re-Thinking the Rapture. Travelers Rest, S.C.: Southern Bible, 1954.

Epp, Theodore H. "The Restrainer Removed." Good News Broadcaster, March 1975, pp. 20-22.

Fickett, Harold L. Keep On Keeping On! Bible Commentary for Laymen series. Glendale: Gospel Light Publications, Regal Books, 1977.

Frame, James Everett. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistles of St. Paul to the Thessalonians. International Critical Commentary series. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1912.

Gaebelein, Arno C. The Annotated Bible. 4 vols. Reprint ed. Chicago: Moody Press, and New York: Loizeaux Brothers, Inc., 1970.

A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. By C. G. Wilke. Revised by C. L. Wilibald Grimm. Translated, revised and enlarged by Joseph Henry Thayer, 1889.

Gundry, Robert H. The Church and the Tribulation. Contemporary Evangelical Perspectives series. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, Academic Books, 1973.

Guthrie, Donald. New Testament Introduction. 3 vols. 2nd ed. London: Tyndale Press, 1966.

Hendriksen, William. New Testament Commentary: Exposition of I and II Thessalonians. Reprint ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1974.

Hiebert, D. Edmond. The Thessalonian Epistles. Chicago: Moody Press, 1971.

Hodges, Zane C. Grace in Eclipse. Dallas: Redencion Viva, 1981.

Hubbard, David A. "The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians." In Wycliffe Bible Commentary, pp. 1361-66. Edited by Charles F. Pfeiffer and Everett F. Harrison. Chicago: Moody Press, 1962.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Edited by James Orr. 1957 ed. S.v. "Thessalonians, The Second Epistle of Paul to the," by M. N. Tod.

Ironside, Harry A. Addresses on the First and Second Epistles to Thessalonians. New York: Loizeaux Brothers, 1959.

Kitchens, Ted G. "Perimeters of Corrective Church Discipline." Bibliotheca Sacra 148:590 (April-June 1991):201-13.

Ladd, George E. The Blessed Hope. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1956.

Laney, J. Carl. "The Biblical Practice of Church Discipline." Bibliotheca Sacra 143:572 (October-December 1986):353-64.

Lange, John Peter, ed. Commentary on the Holy Scriptures. 12 vols. Reprint ed. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1960. Vol. 11: Galatians-Hebrews, by Otto Schmoller, Karl Braune, C. A. Auberlen, C. J. Riggenbach, J. J. Van Oosterzee, and Carl Bernhard Moll. Translated by C. C. Starburk, M. B. Riddle, Horatio B. Hackett, John Lillie, E. A. Washburn, E. Harwood, George E. Day, and A. C. Kendrick.

Lenski, Richard C. H. The Interpretation of St. Paul's Epistles to the Colossians, to the Thessalonians, to Timothy, to Titus and to Philemon. Reprint ed. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1964.

Lewis, Gordon R. "Biblical Evidence for Pretribulationism." Bibliotheca Sacra 125:499 (July-September 1968):216-26.

Lightfoot, J. B. Notes on the Epistles of St. Paul. Reprint ed. Winona Lake, In.: Alpha Publications, n.d.

Lowery, David K. "A Theology of Paul's Missionary Epistles." In A Biblical Theology of the New Testament, pp. 243-97. Edited by Roy B. Zuck. Chicago: Moody Press, 1994.

Manson, Thomas W. "St. Paul in Greece: The Letters to the Thessalonians." Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 35 (1952-53):428-47.

_____. Studies in the Gospels and Epistles. Manchester: University of Manchester, 1962.

Marshall, I. Howard. 1 and 2 Thessalonians. New Century Bible Commentary series. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., and London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott Pub. Ltd., 1983.

Martin, D. Michael. 1, 2 Thessalonians. The New American Commentary series. N.c.: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995.

McCall, Thomas S. "How Soon the Tribulation Temple?" Bibliotheca Sacra 128:512 (October-December 1971):341-51.

_____. "Problems in Rebuilding the Tribulation Temple." Bibliotheca Sacra 129:513 (January-March 1972):75-80.

McLean, John A. "Another Look at Rosenthal's Pre-Wrath Rapture.'" Bibliotheca Sacra 148:592 (October-December 1991):387-98.

McNeile, A. H. An Introduction to the Study of the New Testament. 2nd ed. revised by C. S. C. Williams. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1965.

Milligan, George. St. Paul's Epistles to the Thessalonians. Evangelical Masterworks series. Reprint ed. Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell, Co., n.d.

Morgan, G. Campbell. Living Messages of the Books of the Bible. 2 vols. New York: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1912.

Morris, Leon. The Epistles of Paul to the Thessalonians. Tyndale New Testament Commentary series. London: Tyndale Press, 1966.

_____. The First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians. New International Commentary on the New Testament series. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1959.

_____. The Gospel According to John: Revised Edition. New International Commentary on the New Testament series. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1995.

Peterson, Robert A. "Does the Bible Teach Annihilationism?" Bibliotheca Sacra 156:621 (January-March 1999):13-27.

Powell, Charles E. "The Identity of the Restrainer' in 2 Thessalonians 2:6-7." Bibliotheca Sacra 154:615 (July-September 1997):320-32.

Poythress, Vern S. "2 Thessalonians 1 Supports Amillennialism." Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 37:4 (December 1994):529-38.

Reese, Alexander. The Approaching Advent of Christ. London: Marshall, Morgan and Scott, 1937; reprint ed., Grand Rapids: Grand Rapids International Publications, 1975.

Rice, John R. The Coming Kingdom of Christ. Wheaton, Il.: Sword of the Lord Publishers, 1945.

Robertson, Archibald Thomas. Word Pictures in the New Testament. 6 vols. Nashville: Broadman Press, 1931.

Rosenthal, Marvin. The Pre-Wrath Rapture of the Church. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990.

Ryrie, Charles Caldwell. First and Second Thessalonians. Moody Colportage Library series. Chicago: Moody Press, 1959.

Showers, Renald E. Maranatha Our Lord, Come: A Definitive Study of the Rapture of the Church. Bellmawr, Pa.: Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, 1995.

Stanton, Gerald B. Kept from the Hour. Fourth ed. Miami Springs, Fl.: Schoettle Publishing Co., 1991.

Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. S.v. "olethpos," by J. Schneider, 5 (1967):168-69.

Thiessen, Henry Clarence. Introduction to the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1962.

Thomas, Robert L. "1 Thessalonians." In Ephesians--Philemon. Vol. 11 of Expositor's Bible Commentary. 12 vols. Edited by Frank E. Gaebelein and J. D. Douglas. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1978.

Thornton, Larry R. "Salvation in the Tribulation in Light of God's Working unto Delusion'." Calvary Baptist Theological Journal 3:2 (Fall 1987):26-49.

Walvoord, John F. The Blessed Hope and the Tribulation. Contemporary Evangelical Perspectives series. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1976.

_____. The Holy Spirit. 3rd ed. Findlay, Oh.: Dunham Publishing Co., 1958.

_____. The Millennial Kingdom. Revised ed. Findlay, Oh.: Dunham Publishing Co., 1963

_____. The Thessalonian Epistles. Study Guide series. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1979.

_____. "Will Israel Build a Temple in Jerusalem?" Bibliotheca Sacra 125:498 (April-June 1968):99-106.

Wanamaker, Charles A. The Epistles to the Thessalonians. New International Greek Testament Commentary series. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., and Exeter, Eng.: Paternoster Press, 1990.

Wiersbe, Warren W. Be Ready. BE Books series. Wheaton: Scripture Press Publications, Victor Books, 1980.

Wuest, Kenneth S. Prophetic Light in the Present Darkness. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1955.

Copyright 2003 by Thomas L. Constable

Haydock: 2 Thessalonians (Book Introduction)

THE SECOND

EPISTLE OF ST. PAUL, THE APOSTLE,

TO THE THESSALONIANS.

INTRODUCTION.

In this epistle St. Paul admonishes the Thessalonians to be constant in the faith of Christ, and not to be terrified by the insinuations of false teachers, telling them that the day of judgment was near at hand, as there must come many signs and wonders before it. He bids them to hold firm the traditions received from him, whether by word or by epistle; and shews them how they may be certain of his letters by the manner he writes. This epistle was written soon after the former, and also from Corinth, about A.D. 52. (Challoner; Witham) --- From the context we learn that the present is a continuation of the former epistle. He not only rectifies wrong impressions caused by his former letter, but finding that those indolent characters whom he had reprimanded were no ways corrected, he determines to reprimand them still more severely in this letter, which he tells us he writes because he has it not in his power to visit, as he could wish, the Thessalonians.

====================

Gill: 2 Thessalonians (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO 2 THESSALONIANS

This second epistle was written, not from Athens, as the subscription testifies, nor from Rome, as Athanasius ^a supposes; but from Corinth, from whence was sent the former, and where the apostle and Timothy, and Silvanus met; and which was sent about half a year after the other. The design of which is to comfort and support the Thessalonians under the afflictions and persecutions they endured for the sake of the Gospel; and to rectify a mistake they had gone into, and which might be occasioned by what the apostle had said in his former epistle, concerning the second coming of Christ, as though it was just at hand; which might lead them to neglect their worldly business, and duties of civil life, and give the enemies of the Gospel an advantage against the whole of it as false, should not this prove true; as also to exhort this church to take notice of disorderly persons such as were idle, and busy bodies, and withdraw from them, and remove them from their communion, as being not only burdensome to them, but a reproach to their profession.

Gill: 2 Thessalonians 3 (Chapter Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO 2 THESSALONIANS 3

In this chapter the apostle requests of the Thessalonians, that they would pray for him, and other Gospel ministers; and he puts up prayers for them, gives them rules about dealing with disorderly persons, and concludes the epistle with his usual salutation. The request to pray for ministers is in 2Th 3:1 the petitions to be made for them are, that their ministry might be succeeded, and their persons preserved and delivered from evil minded men, destitute of faith in Christ, 2Th 3:1 and, for the consolation of the saints, observes the faithfulness of God engaged in their behalf to establish them in the faith they had, and to preserve them from everything and person that is evil, 2Th 3:3 and expresses his confidence in them with respect to their walk and conversation, 2Th 3:4 and then prays for them that their hearts might be directed into the love of God, and patience of Christ, 2Th 3:5. And next follows an order to withdraw from every disorderly walker, particularly idle and slothful persons, 2Th 3:6 and from such a lazy idle life the apostle dissuades by his own example, who behaved not disorderly, nor ate the bread of others, but wrought with his own hands, though he had a right to a maintenance without it, but did this to set an example to them, 2Th 3:7. He puts them in mind of a precept of his when among them, that such who would not work should not eat, 2Th 3:10 and the order he now gave, and the precept he reminds them of, were not without reason; seeing there were disorderly idle persons, and busy bodies, among them, whom the apostle exhorts and beseeches, in the name of Christ, to be industrious, and eat their own bread, as the fruit of their labours, 2Th 3:11 and as for the other members of the church, he exhorts them to diligence and constancy in well doing, and to mark those that were incorrigible, and have no conversation with them, yet dealing with them not as enemies, but admonishing them as brethren, 2Th 3:13. And closes all with prayers, that the Lord would give them peace, and grant his presence to them, and with his usual salutation, written with his own hand, as a token of this being a genuine epistle of his, and by which every epistle of his might be known, 2Th 3:16.

College: 2 Thessalonians (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION

The pressures of persecution, apparent in 1 Thessalonians, have intensified in this letter. In its three brief chapters the reader perceives the vital importance for suffering believers of confident hope in the Lord's return. Likewise intensified is the problem of idleness. In the face of abuses of Christian generosity, 2 Thessalonians gives a sharp reminder of the individual Christian's duty to live as a responsible member of the community, hard-working and self-supporting.

Much of what was said about the circumstances and organization of 1 Thessalonians can also be affirmed of the second letter (see introduction to 1 Thessalonians above). But unlike 1 Thessalonians, this letter presents two major critical problems. Brief attention will be given to these below.

AUTHORSHIP

Unlike 1 Thessalonians, the second letter has widely been taken as a pseudepigraph, composed after Paul's death by one of his followers who used 1 Thessalonians as a model. Several lines of evidence have been cited to support the hypothesis that 2 Thessalonians is not an authentic letter of Paul.

One of these concerns the letter's eschatology. While 1 Thessalonians emphasized that the Lord's return was imminent, that is, that it could occur at any time (5:1-11), 2 Thessalonians appears to propose a series of preliminary signs which must occur before the Lord can return (2:1-12). If this is indeed the case, then, it is argued, that the tension between the two letters is such that Paul could not have written both. More particularly, it is often argued that the less imminent expectation of 2 Thessalonians reflects a later period in the life of the church, when the vivid expectation that the Lord would return within the lifetime of the first generation of Christians had been disappointed. If so, then it is clearly a production of the generation after the apostle Paul.

Secondly, it is argued that the tone of 2 Thessalonians is considerably colder and more formal than 1 Thessalonians. As an example, "we ought to thank" in 2 Thess 1:3; 2:13 is regarded as less warm than "we thank" in 1 Thess 1:2. Likewise, the repeated use of "command" in 2 Thess 3:6, 12 is said to reflect a less intimate relationship between the writer and the readers. Such a shift in tone is thought to be unlikely if Paul had written both letters, especially if 1 Thessalonians was written first, but is entirely to be expected if the second letter was a pseudepigraph.

Thirdly, the background of the readers appears to be different. 1 Thess 1:9 appears to indicate a predominantly Gentile audience, but in 2 Thessalonians references to the final judgment (1:6-10) and the man of lawlessness (2:1-12) appear to assume knowledge that could be expected only of Jews. It is consequently argued that the second letter was not written for the same church, indicating that the addressee and so also the author named in the salutation are fictions.

Combined with these concerns is the literary style of 2 Thessalonians. In some respects it closely resembles 1 Thessalonians, following a similar outline (including a double thanksgiving: 1 Thess 1:2-10; 2:13-16; 2Thess 2 Thess 1:3-12; 2:13-17) and discussing similar themes (eschatology, idleness). However, it has been argued that the sentence structure of 2 Thessalonians is significantly different from the undisputed letters of Paul. In particular, 2 Thess 2:3-12 is a more complex sentence than is found elsewhere in Paul's letters, constructions with the genitive are more frequent, and subordinating conjunctions are more numerous. Likewise it is argued that a number of terms and concepts from Paul's authentic letters are used in a different sense in 2 Thessalonians. The combination of similarity and dissimilarity is said to point to a post-Pauline imitator, who at some points incorporated elements of Paul's style and substance from 1 Thessalonians and at others reflected followed his own course.

The force of these arguments is considerable, and a large number of contemporary scholars have been persuaded by them to reject Pauline authorship of this letter. However, the idea that 2 Thessalonians is pseudepigraphical is itself problematic. It is first of all difficult to understand why someone would write 2 Thessalonians and ascribe it to Paul, since presumably it contained nothing so controversial as to demand the apostle's authority for its acceptance. Furthermore, if written by a later imitator, that person knew only 1 Thessalonians, since the major parallels are only with that letter. Such a situation would be surprising for a second-generation disciple of Paul. The reference to the temple in 2:4 gives no indication that the Jerusalem temple has been destroyed by the Romans, again surprising if the letter were written near the end of the first century when the fall of Jerusalem was well known. Furthermore, 3:6-15 give every appearance of having been written to a specific congregation in response to a particular problem. It would be most unusual for a letter to be written to specific church in the name of Paul after his death and not be detected as a pseudepigraph. And if all in the church recognized the fiction and accepted it as such, we must explain how the later church forgot the origins of the letter, since all external evidence affirms that Paul is the author (Marcion, c. A.D. 150, and the Muratorian Canon, c. A.D. 180, both ascribe it to Paul). These considerations make the hypothesis of pseudepigraphy less than likely.

In fact, each argument for pseudepigraphy can be explained on the hypothesis that Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians himself. The eschatological tension in fact has less to do with a lessening of expectancy than is often allowed. Exegesis of 2:1-12 in the comments below will indicate that what Paul discusses here is probably not a series of preliminary signs but the present reality that evil and the Evil One appear to dominate and that such dominance is itself proof that the Lord has not yet returned. In this case, there is absolutely no tension between the eschatology of the first and second letters. However, even if this interpretation should be wrong, it is not impossible that Paul would express a different perspective on the Lord's coming in 2 Thessalonians and not view it as contradictory, just as he does in 1 Cor 15:1-58, which stresses the general resurrection, and 2 Cor 5:1-10, which stresses individual immortality.

Likewise, the change in tone between the two letters can be explained by the change in circumstances. In 1 Thessalonians part of Paul's concern was to reassure the readers of his affection for them despite his absence. That need having been met, the second letter - preoccupied with the persecution of the church, the problem about the Lord's return and the idleness of some members - reflects less of the personal warmth emphasized in the first. Furthermore, if Paul used a different amanuensis for each letter, or if Silas and Timothy had different roles in the composition of each letter, the tone and style could easily have changed.

The change from a Gentile to a Jewish background is more apparent than real. As noted in the introduction to 1 Thessalonians, that letter includes a number of phrases which assume knowledge of the Old Testament and Judaism. The Jewish orientation of the second letter is more explicit but hardly necessitates a different audience. This observation also obviates the need for other hypotheses, such as that Paul sent the two letters to two different factions of the church, one Gentile and the other Jewish, or that he sent the first letter to the church at large and the second to the leaders of the church.

The stylistic differences between 2 Thessalonians and the other letters of Paul are real, but they can be exaggerated. The complexity of sentences and concentration of subordinating conjunctions are in fact not two matters but one, since complex sentences require subordinating conjunctions. The sentence of 1:3-12 is exceptional, but it is approximated in Ephesians and Colossians. The authorship of those letters is also disputed, but to base an argument for one letter's inauthenticity on its similarity with another questioned letter is to build a supposition on another supposition. It would be fairer to admit that in a short letter like 2 Thessalonians, a few unusual expressions may create a false impression of stylistic variance. Furthermore, it is admitted by all that Paul's style changed with each letter. Only in Romans, for example, do we find the rhetorical question, "What shall we say then?" (3:5; 4:1; 6:1; 7:7; 8:31; 9:14, 30), and no one disputes the authenticity of Romans on that basis. Alleged differences in the use of key terms and presentation of concepts have likewise been exaggerated. Paul's usage elsewhere is often more flexible than some critics will allow. And 2 Thessalonians contains some Paulinisms which would have been difficult for an imitator to compose. The combination of similarities and differences between the two Thessalonians letters and between the second and the rest of the Pauline corpus is at least as consistent with the hypothesis that Paul wrote both under changing circumstances as it is with the hypothesis of a pseudepigrapher.

Thus, though the controversy over the authorship of this letter is likely to continue among scholars, the arguments against Paul's authorship are not sufficient to overturn the testimony of the letter itself and of the early church. By nature of the case, evidence to prove the authenticity of an ancient document always falls short of absolute proof. But those who have accepted 2 Thessalonians as a genuine letter of Paul can do so with integrity, knowing that the balance of evidence favors their conclusion.

ORDER AND CIRCUMSTANCES OF WRITING

The traditional assumption has always been that 2 Thessalonians was written not long after 1 Thessalonians, while Paul was still in Corinth. Paul had apparently received a report, perhaps from Timothy after the delivery of the first letter, of ongoing problems in the Thessalonian church. The persecution had not abated, misunderstandings about the Lord's return continued, and the willfully idle had not repented. Therefore, Paul composed a second letter to address the developing situation, probably only months after writing the first.

There have been several scholars who have questioned the traditional order, however, postulating that 2 Thessalonians was in fact written first. The traditional order of Paul's letters, these have argued, is based not on chronology but length, longer letters of Paul being placed before shorter ones in the canon. Therefore, internal considerations alone, the evidence of the letters themselves, must determine the order of writing.

The most recent and important advocate of the priority of 2 Thessalonians is Charles Wanamaker. His argument, which in the main follows a line marked out by others, may be summarized as follows. First, the persecution of 2 Thess 1:4-7 appears to be a matter of the past in 1 Thess 2:14. Secondly, the idlers of 2 Thess 3:6-15 appear to be a new problem, while 1 Thess 4:10-12 and 5:14 address it as something well known and already under control. Thirdly, the signature of 2 Thess 3:17 appears to be more fitting in Paul's first letter to the church. Fourth, the eschatological teaching of 1 Thess 4:13-5:11, especially in light of the remark in 5:1 that the readers had no need of such instruction because they had received it before, is more coherently explained if it is an elaboration on 2 Thess 2:1-12, especially if some implications of that passage had been misunderstood. On the other hand, if the church had already received 1 Thess 4:13-5:11, it is difficult to see how they would have concluded that the day of the Lord had already come (2 Thess 2:2), since the dead had not yet been raised and united with the living in the Lord's presence (1 Thess 4:17). Therefore, Wanamaker argues with earlier advocates of the hypothesis that 2 Thessalonians was written by Paul after he received a vague report about problems in the Thessalonian church and was delivered by Timothy in the visit described in 1 Thess 3:1-10.

While Wanamaker has succeeded in showing how little evidence there actually is for the priority of 1 Thessalonians, the case for the priority of 2 Thessalonians is far from proved. External evidence must be weighed also: Marcion apparently referred to 1 Thessalonians as the first letter despite the fact that he did not arrange his canon by length. As far as internal matters are concerned, if 2 Thessalonians was the first letter, it is surprising that Paul makes no reference to it in 1 Thessalonians as a part of his passionate discussion of his prior work with the Thessalonian church (2:1-12) and his attempts to return to them since his departure (2:17-20). Wanamaker suggests that the mention of Timothy's visit may be a tacit reference to it, since Timothy can be assumed to have carried some letter from Paul on this visit. Still, one might expect a more specific mention of so substantial a letter as 2 Thessalonians had it been written first. On the other hand, the references to letters in 2 Thess 2:2, 15; 3:17 are at least consistent with the idea that 1 Thessalonians had already been received, though they do not demand it.

If 1 Thessalonians is prior, as the slight balance of probability suggests, we can assume that the persecution of the church, which may have abated after Paul's departure, has heated up again, or at least that the church is in greater turmoil because of it. Likewise, we must assume that the church's misunderstanding of the Lord's return in 2:2 occurred despite the logical force of 1 Thess 4:13-18. Also, the idle who were warned briefly in 1 Thess 4:11-12 and 5:14 did not heed that warning. Such developments will surprise those who assume that human behavior is always reasonable and orderly, but those who have experienced the give and take of pastoral leadership will recognize that churches and Christians, like stocks, seldom move in a straight line. Against such a background Paul dictated his second letter, seeking to correct the church's course and reinforce its growth.

THEOLOGICAL VALUE

2 Thessalonians focuses primarily on three issues: persecution, the Lord's return, and the problem of idleness. Each has remarkable relevance for today's church.

Persecution is perhaps less a part of the experience of Christians in North America than in other parts of the world. Nevertheless, for many Christians it remains a real threat. More broadly, all believers experience the hostility of unbelievers at various points, and all can be subject to the hurt of their ridicule, even if they are relatively safe from physical violence. 2 Thessalonians provides the important reminder that God notices such suffering and promises to bring vindication for his people. The suffering of the church will one day end.

Likewise, the pervasive dominance of evil, obvious to every modern observer, will one day end as well. Whatever the precise nature of the "man of lawlessness" (2:3), Paul certainly focuses attention on his present activity (2:9-12). Christians who wonder whether their faith is true when they see the opponents of Christianity with the upper hand have their answer in this letter. Evil will continue to run rampant in this age, but when Christ returns, he will utterly destroy every manifestation of it and the One who stands behind it. The goodness and faithfulness of God can be trusted to answer every aspect of injustice in this age.

Unemployment, underemployment and wide gaps in income are no less a social reality now than they were for Paul's readers. And so the need for Christian charity continues as it did in the first century. But the dangers inherent in such sharing are still real as well. Paul's reminders about the need for personal responsibility and self-support (3:6-12), coupled with the reminder to continue in good works of generosity (3:13) are messages to be heeded as today's church considers its role in addressing the pressing issues of poverty and the failures of the secular welfare state.

The observation that problems had intensified since Paul wrote his first letter contains a pertinent message in itself. Even in Paul's ministry, the life of the church was characterized by trouble as much as progress. Yet through such trouble the work and will of God are accomplished. Christians frustrated by the one-step-forward-two-steps-back trajectory of the church can take heart that in similar circumstances the great apostle still found much for which to give thanks and boast (1:3-4; 2:13-14). God's will, which will be fully realized only when Christ returns, is even now being worked out in the life of the church, even when outwardly it appears defeated.

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV

College: 2 Thessalonians (Outline)

OUTLINE

I. GREETING - 1:1-2

II. OPENING THANKSGIVING, ENCOURAGEMENT AND PRAYER - 1:3-12

A. Thanksgiving for the Thessalonians' Growth and Endurance in Persecution- 1:3-4

B. Encouragement in Light of God's Judgment - 1:5-10

C. The Content of Paul's Prayer - 1:11-12

III. INSTRUCTION ON THE LORD'S RETURN - 2:1-12

A. The Day of the Lord Not Yet Present - 2:1-2

B. The Apostasy and the Man of Lawlessness - 2:3-12

1. The Apostasy and the Revelation of the Man of Lawlessness - 2:3

2. A Description of the Man of Lawlessness - 2:4

3. Reminder of Oral Instruction on the Subject - 2:5

4. The One Who Restrains/Prevails - 2:6-10

5. God's Consequent Actions - 2:11-12

IV. RENEWED THANKSGIVING, ENCOURAGEMENT AND PRAYER - 2:13-17

A. Thanksgiving for the Salvation of the Thessalonians- 2:13-14

B. Encouragement to Remain Faithful to the Traditions Delivered by Paul - 2:15

C. Prayer for the Lord's Encouragement and Strength - 2:16-17

V. EXHORTATIONS - 3:1-16

A. General Exhortations - 3:1-5

B. Exhortations Regarding Church Discipline - 3:6-15

1. Exclusion of the Willfully Idle - 3:6-13

2. Exclusion of the Disobedient - 3:14-15

VI. CONCLUSION - 3:16-18

-College Press New Testament Commentary: with the NIV