B. The Disobedient (3:14-15)
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 teachinga 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. io For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat."
i i 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. is And as for you, brothers, never tire of doing what is right.
In the First Epistle Paul had mentioned that some people would not work but were disorderly (4:11-12; 5:14), but it is evident that his brief exhortations had not produced the desired effect. He felt strongly on the matter, as we see from the fact that in this letter he devotes so much space to this problem. Next to the section on the coming of the Lord this is the longest section in the epistle. Paul is most anxious that these friends should come to their senses. It is noteworthy that he continues to treat them as friends. For all the authority that he knew he possessed, and for all the authoritative tone of some of this section, he yet bears well in mind that these are brothers. He appeals to them as such. But he uses strong words about the idlers (v. 10); laziness is never a Christian virtue.
6 Tenderness is blended with authority in this opening exhortation. Paul addresses the church as "brothers" and refers to the erring as "every brother." But his verb is the strong one he has used in verse 4. He commands; he does not simply advise. The verb is often used for the giving of military orders, and there is a military touch also in the word translated "idle," which is used of the soldier who is out of line. Moreover, Paul speaks "in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ." This is at once a reminder of the very real authority that Paul exercised and of the seriousness of any refusal to obey. Paul was not giving some private ideas of his own when he spoke "in the name."
The substance of his command is that they "keep away" from the erring. In view of verse 15 this does not mean "abstain from all interaction," but it stands for the withholding of intimate fellowship. The verb has the idea of retreating within oneself (cf. its use of furling sails). Such a line of conduct is meant as would impress on the offenders that they had opened up a gap between themselves and the rest. They had to be made to see that complete fellowship is possible only when there is complete harmony. The workers had a responsibility to the offenders. For, as Frame says, "Idleness is an affair of the brotherhood (I, 4:9-12, 5:12-14), and the brethren as a whole are responsible for the few among them who `do nothing but fetch frisks and vagaries' (Leigh)" (on v. 11). It is an aspect of the Christian life that is but little observed today.
7 By using the emphatic pronoun "yourselves" Paul stresses that his friends had all the knowledge that was necessary on this point. He was not giving them any new teaching, but simply directing their attention to what they knew quite well already.
Almost frightening is the way in which Paul continually appeals to the force of his own example.13 Here his "ought" is a strong expression, one often translated "must." The imitation of the apostles is not optional, and Paul regards it as imperative in his converts. While we feel some diffidence today about appealing to our own example, and while we must recognize that dangers lie there, yet it remains true that no preaching of the gospel can ever be really effective unless the life of the preacher is such as to commend the message. Those who hear must feel that they are listening to one whose life shows his sincerity and the power of the message he brings (see further on 1 Thess. 1:5-6).14
Paul relates this general duty of imitation to the present circumstances by reminding his readers that he and his followers "were not idle when we were with you." This is a classical understatement in view of what we know of Paul's life among the Thessalonians. As the succeeding verses make plain, he had toiled hard among them, both at his trade and in preaching. His life had been highly disciplined. He had not allowed even the importance of preaching the gospel to prevent him from giving a good witness by earning his living. His behavior under those circumstances was the strongest rebuke to those who had no such excuse for not working but who nevertheless had given themselves to idleness.
8 "To eat bread" is evidently a Semitism for "get a living," not simply "get a meal," or even "meals" (cf. Gen. 3:19; Amos 7:12, etc.). Paul does not mean that he had never accepted a hospitable invitation, but that he had not depended on other people for his means of livelihood.15 He employs a strong adversative conjunction (rendered "on the contrary") to show that his conduct was the very opposite of what he has just disclaimed. Far from being idle and imposing on others for his living, he and his friends had worked hard, constantly, and purposefully. He had made these three points in the First Epistle (see 1 Thess. 2:9, a verse very similar to the present one). Then he had been demonstrating that he was no charlatan, but that his motives in seeking to win the Thessalonians had been of the purest. Now he appeals to those same facts in putting himself out as an example to his converts. He had shown them the way a Christian ought to support himself. Paul's toil had been laborious, the conjunction of the two words he uses being emphatic. He had not shrunk from toiling through long hours ("night and day"). He had done it with the set purpose of refraining from imposing a burden on anyone.16
9 Characteristically Paul adds to his description of his conduct a statement of his rights.17 He was an apostle, with all that that meant in terms of prestige and the right to maintenance. He knew that his Lord had ordained that preachers of the gospel might live from their preaching (1 Cor. 9:14; the whole passage, 1 Cor. 9:3ff., should be consulted as the fullest statement of Paul's views on this subject). Paul would never let it be forgotten that he possessed such prestige and such rights. But just as it is characteristic of him to assert that he had full rights, so is it for him to waive those rights whenever he judged that to do so would forward the cause of Christ. One such occasion had been when he preached in Thessalonica. Then his refusal to accept maintenance had demonstrated the purity of his motives and had given his converts an example. This latter point he proceeds to underline. He speaks of his friends and himself as being "a model" (for this word see on 1 Thess. 1:7), and says that their purpose was that the Thessalonians should imitate them. "To make ourselves" is literally "in order that we might give ourselves." This form of expression brings out something of the self-abasement implied in Paul's action. It reminds us of his other statement that "we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well" (1 Thess. 2:8). "Ourselves" is emphatic. They gave not only a message, but themselves. They did not only what was required, but more. They went the second mile. The Thessalonians are reminded that this was not a mere piece of pageantry or showmanship, but had a very definite purpose. It was an example that they should follow. If Paul, who had the right to maintenance, had foregone that right and worked with his hands to earn his living, much more should rankand-file Thessalonians not seek to be kept by the labors of other people.
10 Not only18 did the apostles set an example: they embodied their teaching in a pithy precept that Paul now reproduces.19 The origin of this precept is a matter for speculation, and the most diverse sources have been claimed. Findlay derives it from Jewish sources, others claim a Greek provenance, while Deissmann sees in it "a bit of good old workshop morality, a maxim applied no doubt hundreds of times by industrious workmen as they forbade a lazy apprentice to sit down to dinner."20 The plain fact is that this is the oldest passage we have that contains it. Parallels have been adduced from various sources, but they lack the idea of labor as a moral duty that is the very root of the matter (they are of the "He who doesn't work doesn't eat" variety). It may have been Paul who originated the saying: it was certainly he who made it part of the Christian view of labor. The preachers kept drumming in their precept.21 The saying emphasizes the will22-"If anyone won't work, refuses to work...." The concluding clause is not a statement of fact, "he shall not eat," but an imperative, "let him not eat." Paul is giving the clearest expression to the thought that the Christian cannot be a drone. It is obligatory for him to be a worker.23
The importance of this to Paul is evident in many ways. There is the force of his own example, to which he has appealed in the previous verses. There is also the use of the same authoritative verb "commanded" (NN, "gave you this rule") that we have already noticed (vv. 4, 6). Here it is in the imperfect tense, which indicates continuous action. Paul had repeatedly used this injunction in his teaching.
11 Paul comes out into the open. He has not been speaking simply in general terms, laying down precepts against some possible future need. He has in mind a definite situation. He writes to correct known errors. How he knows he does not say. The verb "we hear" is ordinarily used of hearing by the ear, and thus might well point to information received by word of mouth. But the word may be used in a wider sense, and Frame cites examples of its use for information received by letter. The present tense might indicate repeated information, "we keep on hearing." Or it could just as well be equivalent to "we have heard."24 He does not say who the offenders are. But though his language is purposely indefinite, the impression the Greek leaves is that he knows quite well their identity; he just prefers not to say who they were. He speaks of these people as being "among you," and it may be significant that he does not say "of you." Their conduct had removed them from their full status in the church and set up something of a barrier between them and their fellows.
The offenders are characterized as "idle" (the same word as in v. 6 and the same root as in 1 Thess. 5:14, where see note). It indicates that they were loafing and not doing any work for their living. This Paul brings out further with his "They are not busy; they are busybodies."25 This embodies a play on words that we miss in our usual translations (Moffatt's is perhaps the best attempt to reproduce it in English, "busybodies instead of busy"; cf. REB, "minding everybody's business but their own"). These people were not simply idle, they were meddling in the affairs of others. We may conjecture that they were trying to do one or both of two incompatible things, namely, to get their living from others, and to persuade those others to share their point of view about the second advent and so get them to stop working too.
12 Paul now interjects an exhortation directed at the offenders, though he employs a very oblique way of referring to them ("such people"). He does not say "you loafers," or even "those loafers." He uses instead an expression that means "people of this kind," "people who answer to this description." This is part of the tactfulness that we see displayed throughout this whole section. Paul leaves us in no doubt but that he reprobated their conduct, though his tone is brotherly throughout the discussion. He is anxious to secure not condemnation but reconciliation. He wants the offenders to be won back into the fellowship of the church, and all his exhortations have this in mind. So here he addresses them in this very roundabout way. He uses the authoritative verb of commanding (see vv. 4, 6, and 10), but softens it with the addition of "urge," making a combination unique in the Pauline writings. Whereas he had earlier commanded them in the name of Christ (v. 6), now he exhorts them "in" Christ. This gives a note of authority, it is true, but they as well as Paul were in Christ. The expression has a brotherly ring, and at the same time it has the effect of drawing attention to the obligations consequent on the fact that they were in Christ.
Paul urges them to work "with quietness"26 (NIV paraphrases with "settle down"). 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. So Paul directs them to that calmness of disposition which ought to characterize those whose trust is in Christ. They are to earn their living. Paul inserts an emphatic "their own" before bread (for the force of "eat bread" see on v. 8). These people had existed on the bounty of others. They are urged to exist on the fruits of their own labors.
13 Paul turns back to the majority of church members with an emphatic "as for you" (i.e., whatever the recalcitrant may do, you do this) and an affectionate address, "brothers." The exhortation is couched in general terms. It is broad enough to cover the whole of life, but probably has particular reference to the obligation to do everything possible to bring back the erring members.27 Such a task is never easy, hence the exhortation not to "tire" in doing right (cf. Gal. 6:9).28 Some commentators have felt that the majority had not been exactly tactful toward the minority, and their impatience had only widened the breach. This may well be so, though we have no means of verifying it. If this is the case, Paul's words are more than ever in point. Calvin draws a wide moral, "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." Paul's word for doing good is found here only in the New Testament, though the two components that together make up the word are found as separate words several times. In accordance with the basic difference of meaning between the two words for "good" (see on 1 Thess. 5:21), the word used here will mean rather doing the thing that is right in itself, the thing that is noble, than conferring benefits (which would be the compound used in Luke 6:9).