and to seek earnestly to be quiet and mind your own affairs, and work with your [own] hands, even as we charged you,
This command comes straight after a call to abound in brotherly love. It gives three plain instructions: live quietly, mind your own business, and work. Why does so much weight rest on things this ordinary?
The Greek word behind "aspire" is elsewhere used for driving personal ambition, which makes its object here surprising. One writer traces it across its few appearances:
The third, and so far as we can trace, the only other reference to this word is in 1 Thess. 4:11, where it is translated in the Authorised Version as "study." "Seek earnestly (the same word) to be quiet and mind your own affairs, and work with your (own) hands, even as we charged you, that you may walk reputably towards those without, and may have need of no one," (or of nothing), (New Trans.).
Ordinary ambition needs position and opportunity. This one needs neither:
What a lovely ambition, and yet within the reach of the lowest. There is no need to be kings, or among the great of this world, to follow this instruction; but how it would change the Christian world if Christians would only obey it.
Love among believers and minding your own affairs pull the same way. Meddling has a different root:
Here too the apostle wants brotherly love to abound more and more, and with it the deliberate aim to be quiet and to mind their own affairs. Brotherly love would surely promote this. It is the very opposite of that meddling spirit, which comes from assuming you are superior in knowledge or spirituality or faithfulness.
Getting involved in the world's affairs comes naturally. A believer has to pull against that:
It is natural for a man of the world to take part in its affairs, even if they are only of local interest. The Christian, remembering that he is called out of the world, will strive hard against this natural tendency. He quietly goes his own way, avoiding as far as possible the questions and controversies that occupy the world around.
Paul had a right to ask this, because his own hands showed the marks of it:
I sadly fear that most of the Lord's people today love the honour of working with their heads in a clean and respectable position, rather than soiling their hands by using them in hard work. They forget their Master worked with His own hands until He was about thirty years of age. They forget that the man who urged this ambition could hold out his hands. He could say, "You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me." Those hands were probably worn and calloused from making tents.
Work with the hands also steadies a church still fresh with excitement:
The thrill of a new faith can too easily take souls over. So can the excitement of a wonderfully successful work of God. There must be a settling, a learning to weigh things quietly and soberly. This studying is therefore a true, consistent application of the heart. Work with the hands is, of course, a good balance. It keeps souls from a one-sided, emotional Christianity.
The command is not a verdict on ordinary life. One writer, using an older translation that reads "study to be quiet," makes it a question of proportion:
It would be very wrong to conclude that rest or business success are bad things in themselves. This was the Thessalonian mistake. The apostle corrects it by telling them, (1) "to study to be quiet," and (2) "to do their own business." What he condemns is being so absorbed in either one or the other that you are hindered in the Lord's service.
The failure ran the other way too. Some treated the Lord's soon coming as a reason to stop working:
What utter disgrace for a Christian to decide that he need not work at all because Christ is coming soon, and to take his support from others who do work! Nor will it end there. They also become "busybodies." Since they pay no attention to their own business, they shamefully interfere in the business of others.
The next verse gives the aim of these commands:
An honest walk, steadily kept up, would prove the reality of their faith to "outsiders." They were to cultivate this diligently. The last part of verse 12 may be translated "and that you may have need of no one," meaning they would not depend on other people.
- Ambition — this is a real ambition; the surprise is its object. Not greatness, but quietness.
- Available — no rank is needed. This ambition is within reach of the lowest, and would change the Christian world if obeyed.
- Restraint — real love minds its own affairs. Meddling comes from assuming you are superior to others.
- Hands — Paul's calloused hands and the Master's thirty years of work back the command. Honest work keeps faith from turning into pure emotion.
- Reputation — the aim is a walk outsiders can read as honest, and a life dependent on no one for support.
that ye may walk reputably towards those without, and may have need of no one.
These closing words give the reason for everything the apostle has just asked — the quiet life, the daily work, the hands that earn their own bread. All of it points outward, to the people outside the circle of believers.
Scripture draws a line, and this verse speaks about the people on the far side of it.
There is a within and a without, as expressed in God's word, which, when using such language, refers to the limits of the assembly of God. "Walk in wisdom," we are told, "toward outsiders." (Col. 4:5.) "So that you may walk properly before outsiders." (1 Thess. 4:12.) Again, the apostle writes, "For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside." (1 Cor. 5:12-13.)
Translators differ over which English word fits here. The ESV says "walk properly"; older versions say "walk honestly."
1 Thess. 4:12 is better rendered "honourably" or "reputably" than "honestly," or "becomingly," as some suggest.
The instructions just before this verse push against a natural pull. A believer is called out of the world, yet still has to earn a living inside it.
Towards those outside the Christian circle we are to walk righteously, or reputably. With this goal in view, the Apostle says, "aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs." A man of the world naturally takes part in the world's affairs, even when they are only local matters. The Christian remembers that he is called out of the world. So he will fight hard against this natural pull. He will go quietly on his way, avoiding, as far as he can, the questions and arguments that fill the world around him. We are to work with our own hands, acting honestly in our business relations, in order to supply our daily needs.
Excitement alone makes a shaky start for a new believer.
But again, to "live quietly" and "to work with your hands" was important. The thrill of a newfound faith, the excitement of a wonderfully prosperous work of God, might too easily occupy souls. There must be a settling, a learning to quietly estimate things rightly and soberly... Work with the hands is, of course, a good balancing factor to keep souls from a one-sided type of emotional Christianity. The reality of their faith would be proven to "those outside" by an honest walk steadily maintained.
The final clause has another possible translation.
The latter part of verse 12 may be translated "and that you may have need of no one," that is, that they would not be dependent upon men.
Paying your own way has an aim beyond the believer himself.
Only let them abound in brotherly love more and more. They were to walk quietly and work with their own hands, so as to be in no man's debt. In this respect also the Lord would be glorified.
Independence from the world and honesty toward it belong together.
It is true, divinely true, that faith makes a man independent of the men of the world. It is just as true that faith will always teach him to walk honestly toward them. We are told to "walk properly before outsiders;" (1 Thess. 4:12) "for we aim at what is honourable not only in the Lord's sight but also in the sight of man;" (2 Cor. 8:21) "owe no one anything." (Rom. 13:8) These are weighty precepts.
- Outside — There is a within and a without in Scripture: inside the assembly of God, and outside it. This verse is about the people outside.
- Honourably — "Honestly" is too weak a word. The sense is walking reputably, so outsiders find nothing to fault.
- Quietly — Build that good name by minding your own affairs, staying out of the world's arguments and dealing honestly in business.
- Working — Work with your hands steadies new faith and meets daily needs. That steady walk is the proof outsiders read.
- Owing no one — The final clause aims at needing no man and being in no man's debt — and in this too, the Lord is glorified.