Iii. The Third Issue: About The Disruptive-Idle (3:1-15)
III. THE THIRD ISSUE: ABOUT THE DISRUPTIVE-IDLE (3:1-15)
Historically scholarship has had considerable difficulty with the materials in 2:13-17 and 3:1-5, which for some seem to lie unconnected between the two major concerns of the letter933 (the timing of the day of the Lord [2:1-12] and the continued misbehavior of the disruptive-idle934 [3:6-15]). But here is a place in the Pauline corpus where the one who inserted the numbers into the text — whether by good instinct or luck — seems to have gotten it right, despite some expressions of protest to the contrary. As was pointed out earlier,935 the preceding thanksgiving (2:13-14), final exhortation (2:15), and prayer (2:16-17) serve nicely to bring the issue about the timing of the day of the Lord to a fitting conclusion.
Having dealt carefully and pastorally with that issue, Paul now turns to a final matter, in this case one that he had dealt with in the earlier letter (1 Thess 4:9-12), but apparently with little success — to get the disruptive-idle to choose to work for their own bread rather than be a burden to others. To get there he picks up a common feature from ancient rhetoric, starting with what appears to serve as a captatio benevolentiae (vv. 1-5), an introductory word of praise intended to gain a good hearing from them before addressing this difficult issue once more.936 Thus Paul begins by setting himself and his own needs before the believing community (vv. 1-2a). With his explanation as to why he needs such prayer (v. 2b), and by way of further affirmation and prayer (vv. 3-5), he thus moves slowly toward the final issue at hand (vv. 6-15).937
