For the rest, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run and be glorified, even as also with you;
Paul has just prayed for the Thessalonians. Now he asks them to pray for him. What he asks first is not safety for himself but progress for the message. That raises two questions: what does it mean for God's word to run, and what does it mean for it to be glorified?
Paul is thinking of his own preaching work, yet he does not describe it in personal terms.
Having prayed for them at the end of chapter 2, Paul now requests their prayers for him. He puts it in an impersonal way, but he is clearly thinking of his own ministry, shared with Silas and Timothy. But he calls it "the word of the Lord" not "our words". We would all do well to follow Paul's example here when we report on our own service.
Paul's commission came directly from Christ, without any human chain of authority. That makes his appeal to brand-new believers all the more striking.
God formed this man and led him to break even the appearance of a chain of succession, in official position and in the revelation of the truth. Yet he earnestly asks for the prayers of the youngest believers, his own newly born children in the faith. He wants them praying for his world-wide work, surrounded by grave and frequent dangers. On one side, no one and nothing must come between the risen Christ and His servant sent on the mission of His grace. On the other, he is the most independent of men in his mission, so that no mist may hide the call of Christ or the message of His love. He is also the most dependent of all men on God's guidance and support, and so the most eager for the sustaining prayers of God's people.
Older translations read "have free course" or "run" where the ESV has "speed ahead". The picture belongs to the theme of both letters to this church.
Paul begs the young Christians at Thessalonica to pray that the Word of the Lord may have free course — that it may run. Both letters to the Thessalonians are about the coming again of the Lord Jesus. Remember that, and you will see how striking and fitting this picture is. The King is coming, and His herald runs before Him announcing the fact. The Word of the Lord is the herald.
Paul asks for two things, not one, and the second is not guaranteed by the first. A message can travel fast and still leave people untouched.
The word of the Lord might make rapid progress without any deep result in people, and without glory to Him who is its source. The apostle would have them pray that it should be glorified, just as it was among themselves.
Here is what that depth looks like in practice:
When sinners are saved by grace, are added as members to the body of Christ and walk in the Spirit, then the Word is glorified.
Paul does not ask them to imagine an outcome. He points them to themselves as the standard for what he wants prayed elsewhere.
The Thessalonians were to pray for Paul himself, not only about his personal safety but about the work entrusted to him. Acts 17 shows how much prayer for his safety was needed then, yet he gave the first place to the work. The word had had full course among the Thessalonians, and so it had been glorified in the wonderful results it produced in them. Paul asked prayer that it might be like this wherever he went. He prayed constantly for his converts but he was also not ashamed to ask for their prayers for himself. The most advanced saint or servant may well be thankful for the prayers of the youngest convert or the humblest believer.
Praying this way also does something for the ones who pray:
What could strengthen, lift, or purify the believers themselves more than this? Only being taken up with Christ Himself. And that very thing was greatly helped as their hearts joined with what is always so near His heart.
If the word running is worth an apostle's request, it is worth a place at the top of ours.
To contend for the faith, to hold forth the word of life, and to pray that the word of the Lord may prosper — this is our privilege and first responsibility. Every other claim is insignificant beside it.
- Not "our words." Paul asks prayer for the word of the Lord — a model for anyone reporting their own service.
- Runs. The word is a herald racing ahead of a coming King, announcing His arrival. Speed matters in a letter about His return.
- Glorified. Speed alone can leave people unchanged. The word is glorified when sinners are saved and believers walk in the Spirit.
- As with you. Paul points to the Thessalonians themselves as the pattern he wants prayed for elsewhere. The most gifted servant asks the youngest converts.
- Ours to pray. Praying for the word's progress lifts the heart out of self and onto what is nearest to Christ. It is our first responsibility.
and that we may be delivered from bad and evil men, for faith [is] not [the portion] of all.
In the previous verse Paul asked them to pray that the word would run freely. Now he adds a second request: that God would rescue him from men set against him — because faith is not something everyone has. (Older translations read "unreasonable and wicked men"; the ESV has "wicked and evil men".)
The request has two halves, one positive and one negative. Paul puts both into the hands of young believers.
As in the first letter, the apostle again asks for their prayers. First he asks for the positive blessing of the Word of God which they proclaimed, that it might have free course to go forward and be glorified. Then, on the negative side, he asks that they might be delivered from the oppression of unreasonable and wicked men, for all men had not faith — as indeed his earlier reference to "the son of perdition" had fully shown.
after But it is precious to think of the apostle valuing the prayers of these young saints so highly: he well knew that God delights to work by such means.
Note which concern he puts first. Note also whose prayers he asks for.
The history recorded in Acts 17 shows us how greatly prayer for his safety was needed at this point, yet he gave the first place to the work. ... He prayed constantly for his converts, but he was also not ashamed to ask for their prayers for himself. The most advanced saint or servant may well be thankful for the prayers of the youngest convert or the humblest believer.
Kelly looks first at the word itself, then at who these opposers were.
The apostle does ask their prayers "that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men, for all have not faith." The word here translated "unreasonable," ἄτοποι (atopoi), originally meant "out of place." From there it came to mean strange, astonishing, and in a moral sense worthless — saying and doing what was unsuitable and out of the way. ... Nor do these adversaries mean Jews only, though these were prominent and active in bitter unbelief. Faith is natural to no sinner's heart; it is ever of grace.
Their unreason and their unbelief belong together.
He needs their prayers himself. He is charged with that gospel whose power they had themselves proved, and he asks that it might run and be glorified in many like themselves. This is despite the opposition of unreasoning and evil men, in whom true reason would have led to the faith they had not.
Opposition is not a sign that the gospel has failed.
The Apostle gladly admits that the gospel was glorified in these saints. But he saw the opposition of the world, and knew that he himself was a very special target of the attacks of unreasonable and wicked men. So he asks for their prayers, that he may be delivered from such men. ... Still, a gospel glorified in this way will raise the opposition of wicked men, who find in these changed lives a condemnation of their own lives.
Kelly makes a related observation: adversaries are as certain as an open door, and the servant of God is not to measure his standing by who is on his side.
Many adversaries never fail to appear, just as surely as grace gives an open and effective door for the testimony of Christ. Never does the apostle, never did a spiritual man, boast of the numbers or the position, of the wealth or the intelligence, of his supporters: there is no surer sign of the world, nor of Satan's snare, among those who take the ground of faith.
Greek has two words for "from." The one used here points to hostile people, not to a situation.
ἀπό (apo) means aloof or away from. ... It supposes some persons or circumstances hostile to their interest, not allowed to act upon them or produce the effects of their malice, or which took them away from them. With ἀπό (apo) they are looked at as hostile beings; with ἐκ (ek) it is a state. ... In 2 Thessalonians 3:2 it is from unreasonable and wicked men. This is evident.
Darby draws the practical conclusion. Paul expected such men, and he knew where his safety lay.
He could not but expect to find men unreasonable and full of enmity, for faith was not the portion of all. It was only a case for the protecting hand of God.
- Faith asked — Paul asks two things: that the word run freely, and that God rescue him from hostile men. He put the work first, and he asked young converts to pray for him.
- Faith opposed — changed lives honour the gospel, and they also condemn the lives of wicked men, who then oppose it.
- Faith absent — the older word "unreasonable" meant "out of place," and then morally worthless. True reason would have brought such men to the faith they lack.
- Faith given — faith is natural to no sinner's heart. It is always of grace. And the opposers are not from one nation only.
- Faith protected — the danger comes from hostile people. God holds them off, so their malice cannot take effect. It is a case for His protecting hand.
But the Lord is faithful, who shall establish you and keep [you] from evil.
The Thessalonians were young believers under pressure. Paul has just asked them to pray for rescue from "wicked and evil men," adding that "not all have faith." Now he turns from what men are to what the Lord is. The weight of the verse rests on one word: faithful.
The word Paul uses comes from the same root as "faith" itself.
In both the Old Testament and the New Testament, this word comes from the same root as "faith." It means being true to oneself and to one's own nature. It also means being true to any promise given and any trust committed. In various connections it is often applied to God Himself... The Lord Jesus also is faithful. He is "a faithful high priest" and "a faithful and true witness."
Verse 2 ends with a fact about people. Verse 3 answers it with a fact about the Lord.
He could not help expecting to meet men who were unreasonable and full of hatred, for faith was not the portion of all. It was simply a case for the protecting hand of God. As for them, he counted on the faithfulness of the Lord for this very purpose.
Our safety does not rest on the strength of our trust. It rests on God, and it holds when our grip is shaky.
His faithfulness answers to the faith of His own, however feeble it may be. His face is against those who do evil, and His eyes are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry. So He would strengthen the Thessalonian saints and guard them from evil. Faith reasons this way, and it is always entitled to do so. No ground could be stronger, for it runs from God to man. Men are prone to reason from man to God, to their disappointment, shame, and sorrow. For our Lord Himself warned His own: "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." They sleep when they should pray. They may run away, or even deny Him, where they ought to stand and confess.
"Establish" is not a promise of an easier road. The pressure the Thessalonians were already under becomes the very tool in the Lord's hand.
These believers also knew that not all men have faith, for they had suffered persecution themselves. Satan's cruel efforts in this way were meant to drive the saints back into evil. But the apostle shows them that they can depend fully on the Lord. He was faithful; He would use the persecution to establish them; He would keep them from evil. A real work of God would not fail.
The two halves of the verse are linked. Establishing means grounding in the truth, and that grounding keeps evil out.
If the word of the Lord is to be glorified, we need to be established in the truth. Paul is confident that the Lord, in His faithfulness, will establish the saints. Wicked men may oppose, but the Lord is faithful to His own. Our safeguard against error, and against every form of evil, is found in being grounded in the truth. If the Lord establishes us in the truth, we shall be kept from the evil. Our care, then, should be to pursue the truth. "I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil" (Romans 16:19).
The keeping is real. But it does not work apart from the believer's own state of soul.
We do not think the promise, "The LORD will keep you from all evil," applies apart from the state of the soul. As said before, the living link between the soul and God is faith, and God works through it to bless and protect the believer. Faith can therefore take up this word of comfort and rest on it in the darkest days, when Satan's power is on display all around... All these Scriptures show us God's care over His people. They show how hateful the thought of evil is to Him, whose eyes are too pure to look at wrongdoing.
The same writer sets Paul's assurance beside the Lord's own prayer for His disciples — "I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one" — and draws the practical conclusion: "How eager we should be, then, to answer to His mind in this, all the more since both His love and His power are engaged to keep us undefiled as we walk in His ways."
- Faithful. The word means being true to one's own nature, to every promise given, to every trust committed. The verse rests on God's character, not on our performance.
- Contrast. Verse 2 says not all have faith. Verse 3 answers it: faith may fail in men, but faithfulness never fails in the Lord.
- Direction. The reasoning runs from God to man, not from man to God. So His faithfulness meets even the feeblest faith, in people who sleep when they should pray.
- Establishing. Satan meant the persecution to drive the saints back into evil. The Lord uses it to make them firm. The establishing comes through the pressure, not instead of it.
- Keeping. Grounding in the truth is the safeguard against evil. Faith takes up the promise as we walk in His ways, and both His love and His power keep us there.
But we trust in the Lord as to you, that the things which we enjoin, ye both do and will do.
Paul has just asked the Thessalonians to pray, and pointed them to a faithful Lord. Now he speaks about them. He places his confidence "in the Lord," and it covers both what they do now and what they will keep doing.
Paul does not say he is confident in the Thessalonians. His confidence rests on the Lord, and on a work of God in them that will not fail:
A real work of God would not fail, and Paul was sure it was real in the Thessalonians. His confidence about them was in the Lord. He was sure they would be diligent in following the commandments the Lord's servants had left with them, and would not forget those commandments now that the servants were no longer there.
The Lord's servants were no longer with them. Obedience had to carry on once the teachers were gone.
Such confidence grows out of praying for other believers. It holds even where there is much to correct:
Praying for God's people gives a person the power to see all the good in them... If we prayed more for them, we would have more joy in them, and more courage about them. It is always wrong to lose courage about God's people... The Lord is always there, and love cannot fail. So we can count on it with joy, comfort and courage. Even when Paul had said to the Galatians, "I am afraid of you," he soon looked to Christ and added, "I have confidence in you through the Lord." He kept them under Christ's eye for a blessing.
The word is strong: Paul commands. What he writes is not advice to weigh up. God's own will stands behind it:
But we need to see this. Whatever word God speaks to us must take the form of a commandment. It is the expression of His holy will for us, and anyone who refuses to obey it can find no mercy. So the writings of the apostles to the churches were to be acknowledged as "the commandments of the Lord" (1 Cor. 14:37).
The verse makes two claims, not one. "Doing" looks at the present. "Will do" looks ahead, and only trust in the Lord can say it:
Obedience to the instructions of Scripture should mark the Christian company. It is true that the Lord alone can establish us in the truth and keep us from evil. Still, on our side there is to be the readiness to obey... We may thank the Lord when His people do obey. But only deep confidence in the Lord will let us say that they "will do," and so keep on obeying. We need not only present obedience, but obedience that continues, come what may. It is good for us to be found among those who "both do and will do."
A command can sound like extra weight on people already under pressure. In fact obedience is where the soul finds rest, and self-will is the real danger:
But if the end is this sure, grace makes the way plain, the yoke easy, and the burden light. The obedience of Christ is the law of liberty. Where the eye is fixed on Him alone, His path is the only question. So the apostle has no doubt that the believers he writes to want to do the Lord's will as much as he wants to make it known... As children of God we find rest for our souls day by day — not in self-will, which is our danger, but in simple-hearted subjection to Him and confidence in Him.
- Ground — Paul's confidence is "in the Lord," not in the Thessalonians. It rests on a real work of God in them, which will not fail.
- Authority — what he commands is not opinion. The apostles' letters carry the commandments of the Lord, because they express His holy will.
- Doing — obedience starts now. A Christian company shows its readiness to obey what Scripture instructs.
- Will do — present obedience is not enough. The verse looks for obedience that continues, and only deep confidence in the Lord can say "will do" of anyone.
- Rest — such obedience is no weight. His yoke is easy, and the soul finds daily rest in subjection to Him rather than in self-will.
But the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patience of the Christ.
Paul has just said he is sure these believers will keep obeying. He closes with a prayer that the Lord Himself would steer their hearts in two directions: into God's love, and into Christ's patience.
The verse asks "the Lord" to do the directing. Some have argued that this means the Holy Spirit. One writer rejects that, and says what this directing does.
Verse 5 completes the paragraph. Could anything strengthen souls in obedience more powerfully, or keep them there? Some, in old times and in ours, argue that the Holy Spirit is the one set before us here. We need not follow them. There is no good ground for leaving the way Scripture normally uses the word. "The Lord" means here, as elsewhere, Jesus the Son of God. Paul wants Him to keep them straight, and He does it by drawing and fixing their affections in the love of God and in the patience of the Christ.
Paul had already commended these believers. He still prays this, because the heart does not stay pointed the right way on its own.
Verse 5 was already true of them in good measure. Even so, its truth needs pressing on them, and on us, again and again. God's own work does this, for our hearts tend to head in any other direction, and He has to call them back and point them the right way. His love is the proper home of our souls, where we should find the purest satisfaction, comfort and encouragement.
"The love of God" can mean two things: God's love to us, or our love to Him. One commentator argues that taking it as our love drains the phrase of its force.
Some tell us confidently that, since Paul wishes their hearts to be directed into it, this love must be ours — man's love to God. God's own love, they say, is out of the question. That may seem natural, but it destroys the force of the truth. The simple meaning is also the deepest, and the only true one. The apostle would have our hearts guided into the love of God: the love in which He has His being, plans His purposes, acts, and reveals Himself. This alone secures our love to Him, which is tiny at best next to that unfailing source and infinite fulness.
Older versions render the second phrase "the patient waiting for Christ." The ESV reads "the steadfastness of Christ" — His own patience, the waiting He is doing now.
Paul rejoiced in "the patience — or enduring constancy — of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ." He prayed for them that "the Lord would direct their hearts into the love of God and the patient waiting for Christ," or, as a better reading gives it, "the patience of Christ." The thought is a moving one. He is waiting with patience for the hour of His supreme joy and for the glory of His universal throne, and we share His waiting time.
Once the heart is tuned to that, the long wait stops feeling like neglect.
He desired that the Lord Himself might direct their hearts into the enjoyment of God's love and into the patience of Christ. This is what we all want, and especially so seeing that the end of the age is upon us. If our hearts enter into Christ's patience, as He waits at God's right hand, and are tuned into sympathy with Him, we shall not chafe at what to us may seem a long delay. God's love will meanwhile be our enjoyed portion, and we shall be able to display it to others while passing through the world.
The letter was written against a rumour that the day of the Lord had already arrived. One writer notes the contrast in a single line — the men spreading that alarm had none of the patience Paul is praying for.
J. N. Darby puts it this way: "The teachers who told the Thessalonians, 'the day is present,' had not that patience." The delay itself has a purpose, and seeing it settles the soul.
The whole of the present interval is the time of Christ's patience, for He waits at the right hand of God until His enemies are made His footstool... Unless we remember what kind of moment this is, the activity and power of evil will tempt us to be impatient. But bring in the thought of Christ waiting quietly, and the fact that the longer He waits the longer the day of grace runs, and our souls will take courage and find rest in fellowship with Him.
Since the directing is the Lord's work, ask Him for it instead of working up a feeling.
Do not imagine that you can work yourself up into some religious excitement that will make you more aware of His love to you... Tell Him everything. All about your coldness and hardness of heart and lack of interest in His things, and tell Him you want to know the love of God better. Do not say it all as a formal prayer, but let it be the cry of a heart yearning after Himself.
- Directed, not self-driven. The heart drifts on its own. Turning it toward God's love is God's own work, so Paul prays instead of only instructing.
- Directed by the Lord Jesus. Kelly reads "the Lord" here as Jesus the Son of God, who draws and fixes our affections. Nothing strengthens obedience more.
- Directed into His love. The same writer takes the phrase as God's love to us, not our love to Him — the unfailing source, not our small response to it.
- Directed into His patience. Christ waits at God's right hand for the hour of His joy, and believers share His waiting time.
- Directed, so not restless. Remember that Christ is waiting quietly, and that the longer He waits the longer the day of grace runs, and impatience gives way to rest.
Now we enjoin you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw from every brother walking disorderly and not according to the instruction which he received from us.
Paul does not advise here. He commands, in the name of the Lord Jesus, that the church step back from a brother who will not work.
The phrase is not decoration. It settles who decides how the assembly acts. No church may invent its own policy and call that the Lord's authority.
And what were their fellow believers to do, if that name ruled their hearts above all? There is no greater mistake than to imagine that the assembly is left to its own spiritual instinct, while claiming the Lord's authority for it. Not so: "If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord." … The temptation to claim the right to decide for itself is very common, and the professing church everywhere has fallen into the trap.
The problem was not scandal. It was idleness, and it grew out of a wrong idea about the day of Christ. Older translations call this "walking disorderly," the phrase the writers use.
Some among them had become fanatical in their thinking. They were sure that the day of Christ had come, so they gave up their ordinary jobs. Having done this, they began to expect others to support them.
Withdrawal is a second step. It follows warnings that the man ignored.
To walk disorderly is to be "out of rank," as the word implies. The person who will not listen to the warnings given to him is now to be withdrawn from.
"Tradition" here does not mean a custom passed down through the centuries. It means teaching that the apostle handed over to them.
As to traditions, no one who has read the Greek New Testament can doubt for a moment what the word means there. It is a doctrine delivered, not something handed down… So tradition in the popular sense stands in contrast with Scripture.
That teaching is not lost to us. We hold it today.
The apostolic "traditions" (2 Thess. 2:15; 3:6) were of divine authority, and now we have them as Scripture in the written word of God.
The verse still calls the man a brother. That one word limits how far the action may go.
Withdrawing from disorderly idlers is serious. But do not confuse it with purging out the wicked person in 1 Corinthians 5, which alone is excommunication. So they were not to treat a man who shirked work as an enemy. They were to correct him as a brother.
The break is a social one. His place at the Lord's Table is not touched yet.
The saints are to hold back all social contact with such a person and show him no sign of fellowship… even though he is still allowed at the Lord's Table. There is not yet enough ground to put such a person away from the assembly as a wicked person.
The distance is meant to be felt, and felt for a reason. Coldness that does not aim at recovery misses the point.
He was not put out of fellowship. But the saints were to have no personal fellowship with him. They were to keep a distance that the offender would clearly feel. This is not about personal impatience or anger. It comes from a desire for the true recovery and blessing of the guilty person. The object of all discipline is restoration.
Commentators differ on whether this is a joint act or a personal one. Some place it among the assembly's duties, as one step on a scale of discipline:
2 Thessalonians 3:6 calls for stronger action. If a warning was not enough, they were to "withdraw" from such a disorderly brother… In each of these cases the responsibility to act rests on the brothers — on the assembly as a whole — and not on particular people with gift or authority.
Others read it as a duty that rests on each believer, whatever the assembly does.
2 Thessalonians 3, like 2 Timothy 3, does not deal with public church discipline, but with private duty. Even if no one else acted, I ought to… No direction for the Church replaces personal duty, which rests on the directions of the word of God.
- The name. Paul commands in the name of the Lord Jesus. Here the assembly obeys; it does not decide for itself.
- The rank. "Disorderly" means out of rank. At Thessalonica it was men who quit work because they thought the day of Christ had come.
- The standard. The "tradition" they broke was the apostles' teaching. We hold that same teaching today as Scripture.
- The measure. Withdrawal means holding back company. It is not putting a man away as wicked. He is still called a brother.
- The aim. The distance is meant to be felt. Discipline at this level aims to win the man back before anything heavier is needed.
For ye know yourselves how ye ought to imitate us, because we have not walked disorderly among you;
Paul has just told the Thessalonians to keep away from any brother who walks out of step. He backs that command with the way he lived among them, which raises a plain question for every Christian: what gives anyone the right to correct others?
(The ESV says "idle." Older translations say "disorderly," and the commentators quoted here use that older word.)
The word Paul uses is not first about laziness. It is about position — about keeping rank:
Someone who walks disorderly, or "out of rank," as the word implies, and who does not listen to the warnings given to him, is now to be withdrawn from.
In Thessalonica that broken rank meant men had dropped their ordinary jobs. Empty hours then bred something worse:
Leisure from work is time for mischief, and occupation with the affairs of others without a duty is itself mischief.
The idleness had a root. These believers held on to the truth of the Lord's coming, so the enemy attacked from another angle:
If the enemy could not rob these saints of the truth of the Lord's coming, it seems he tried to trick them into misusing that truth. He led some of them to give up their daily work, claiming the Lord was about to come.
Paul does not just give orders. He can call them to follow him because he was himself following someone else:
Even when he calls the saints to show their disapproval of disorder, the apostle pleads with the hearts and consciences of all. How wonderfully he can urge them to follow, knowing that he himself was following the Master! This is a far truer "imitation of Christ" than the monk's version so popular in the Christian world.
He also had a right he chose not to use, and that choice gave his example its force:
The Lord's servants had left them a very important example of orderly conduct, and the saints were to follow them in it. They did not depend on others for their support, but worked night and day with labour and hardship. What an example indeed! Preaching the Word of God took a great deal of time, yet they also worked with their hands to keep themselves. If this was true of the Lord's servants, who were in Thessalonica for such a short time, how shameful for those who lived there permanently to sponge off others for their support! It would have been perfectly right for Paul and his fellow workers to be supported by those they taught the Word, but they did not use that right, so that they might be a more effective and striking example.
His self-denial did the correcting before he spoke a word of rebuke:
He set a pattern of unselfish grace at great cost to himself... He could point to his own daily ways among them at the start of the gospel. They were the witness of a self-denial which by itself rebuked the disorderly brothers in the strongest yet most gracious way. Those men were working neither day nor night, and were not ashamed to eat the bread of anyone who would supply them for nothing.
The word behind "imitate" means to mimic, and the man who told them to work with their hands could hold up his own hands as proof:
They forget that the one who urged this ambition — to work with your own hands — could hold out his hands and say, "these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me." "These hands" were probably worn and calloused from making tents... And in the Second Epistle, chapter 3, verses 7 and 9, we read: "You know yourselves how you ought to imitate (mimic) us... We give ourselves as an example to you, so that you would imitate (mimic) us."
The same test falls on anyone who teaches others:
It is extremely dangerous, morally, for a man to teach in public what he does not live in private — dangerous for himself, very damaging to the testimony, and harmful to the people he deals with.
- Rank — "Disorderly" means out of rank. In Thessalonica it meant dropped work, and the empty hours produced busybodies.
- Root — The disorder grew out of a true teaching misused. Some made the Lord's coming an excuse to quit their daily work.
- Backing — Paul's command carried weight because he had already obeyed it in front of them. He asked them to follow him only as he followed his Master.
- Cost — He had every right to their support, and refused it. He worked night and day, so that the example itself would rebuke the idlers.
- Imitation — The call is to copy a life, not just admire it. So what a teacher lives in private must match what he says in public.
nor have we eaten bread from any one without cost; but in toil and hardship working night and day not to be chargeable to any one of you
Paul reminds the Thessalonians how he lived among them: he paid for his food and worked night and day. Why did a preacher with a real right to support refuse it, and what did his working hands teach the church?
The words behind "toil and labor" are not gentle ones. One study of the Greek explains what the second one carries:
μόχθος (from μογέω, "to labour, be in distress") occurs three times in the New Testament. It has been judged to refer to the toil that is man's lot in this world of sin. It answers to "By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread." Paul's twice using it of his own labours seems to confirm this. He had to work night and day on top of his apostolic work. 1 Thess. 2:9; 2 Thess. 3:8.
Paul gave up the support. He did not give up the right to it:
Yet the apostle is careful to claim the worker's right. He speaks as he worked, in total self-surrender: "It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate" (verse 9). It is one thing to claim the right the Lord gives to His service. It is quite another to claim it where people might misread or misuse it. So here, as at Corinth, he lets it go — a right he carefully explains that God gave, and one worth holding on to, for the givers as well as the receivers.
Why then did he take on the extra burden? One writer gives two reasons, and adds that Paul did accept support at other times:
On the one hand, this devoted servant would not claim his rights, for fear he should be misunderstood. On the other hand, he saw the state of some of his converts. They had only just been brought out of the deepest darkness. They needed an object lesson in him, showing how to earn an honest living... At the same time, we must not forget that there were times when he did receive, and he fully recognised that to be the divine order. "I robbed other churches," he wrote to the Corinthians, "by accepting support from them in order to serve you."
Some at Thessalonica had simply stopped working. Others have done the same since, and dressed it up as holiness:
A strange group of fanatics, in the earlier and the later days of Christendom, treated giving up work as the path to perfection. They claimed to be men of prayer above others... Their boast was that they neither sowed nor reaped. But they could not escape the charge that they liked the barn, and liked it well filled. The germ of this selfishness showed itself among the Thessalonian saints. But the apostle at once discouraged it and dealt it a heavy blow. He could point to his own work with his hands.
Another writer traces the trouble to the enemy, who turned the hope of the Lord's coming into an excuse:
He had "the right," as a servant of the Lord, to receive material help (1 Cor. 9:7-14). But for their good he gave up the right. He worked in toil and hardship night and day to meet his own needs. So his life became an example for all, and a rebuke to those who would not work. Apparently, if the enemy could not rob these saints of the truth of the Lord's coming, he tried to trick them into misusing it. He led some to give up their daily work, on the plea that the Lord was coming at once.
Paul's trade was not a lower kind of life, cut off from his walk with Christ:
The outer life matches the inner. The power and grace of Christ are not only in the affections of the heart. They also flow out in love to God, through outward ways that carry God's stamp and the fragrance of Christ... This must show itself. It gives a fresh colour to the ordinary things of this life, so that they become in truth the most extraordinary.
- The right — God gave Paul a real claim to support from those he taught. Nothing here cancels it.
- The refusal — He gave it up so no one could misread him, and so new believers could watch him earn an honest living.
- The toil — His word for labour means hardship: sweat-of-the-face work, carried on top of his preaching.
- The example — His working hands answered everyone who dressed up idleness as holiness.
- The bread — He paid for his own bread, and his daily trade became the most extraordinary of ordinary things.
not that we have not the right, but that we might give ourselves as an example to you, in order to your imitating us.
Paul had just reminded the Thessalonians that he worked night and day rather than eat anyone's bread for free. Here he explains why: he had a full claim to their support, and he gave it up so his own life could be a pattern to copy.
Paul does not want his self-denial taken as a denial that workers should be supported at all.
Yet the apostle is careful to insist on the workers' right, though he speaks as he worked, in total self-surrender: "It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate" (verse 9). It is one thing to claim the right the Lord gives to His service. It is quite another to claim it where it might be misunderstood or misused. Here, as at Corinth, he gives up what he carefully explains to be a God-given right, and one that matters greatly for both the givers and the receivers.
Paul's statement of his rights is often quoted for the opposite purpose.
There is a very marked difference between Paul's object in stating his rights and the object of many who quote his words. He states his rights only so that he may abandon them; many quote his words only so that they may insist on the rights he abandoned for the gospel's sake. There would be no grace, no moral beauty in giving up privileges you never had a right to. But when the right is clearly established, the grace that gives it up shows in full. So it was with Paul. He had a right to live by the gospel, but grace led him to live by the work of his hands. He would take nothing from the Corinthians; but that was to their shame. He did receive "once and again" from the Philippians; that was fruit abounding to their account.
Commentators give more than one reason for the choice at Thessalonica. One is the effect on those watching.
It would have been perfectly right for Paul and his fellow workers to live on the support of those they taught the Word to. But they did not use that right, so that they might be a more effective and striking example.
Another is the state of the converts themselves, who were new to the faith.
On the one hand, this devoted servant would not assert his rights, for fear he should be misunderstood. On the other hand, he saw the state of some of his converts, who had only just been rescued from the deepest darkness. They needed an object lesson in him, showing how to earn an honest living.
The word behind "imitate" means to mimic. The renderings below follow an older translation, which brings that out.
He urged these same saints to make it their ambition to live quietly and to work with their own hands. In that very same letter he wrote: "You became our imitators (mimics: mimetes), and of the Lord." And in the second letter, chapter 3, verses 7 and 9, we read: "You know yourselves how you ought to imitate (mimic) us … We … give ourselves as an example to you, in order to your imitating (mimicking) us."
The idleness in Thessalonica may have had a deeper root than laziness.
For some of them had stopped working with their hands. It may be that this was the fruit of some corrupt view of the truth that marked them out, the coming of the Lord. For it is Satan's way, if he cannot rob us of truth, to corrupt it while it is still in our hand. The Thessalonians were zealous; they had set their hearts on meeting the Lord, but this had become tied to deserting their quiet, hard-working, private walk. He does not condemn this zeal, or try to correct the evil by taking the Lord's coming out of their sight. We have seen that it is actually his great subject. But he wants them to wait for it patiently, and not in disorder. He presses this duty on them by reminding them of his example and his instructions while he was among them.
- Right. Paul did have a right to be supported, and he says so here. His self-denial is not a rule against caring for the Lord's workers.
- Released. He names the right only to lay it down. Giving up a privilege you never owned is nothing. Giving up one that is truly yours is where grace shows.
- Reason. Commentators give two. Working for his own keep made the lesson sharper, and new converts needed to see honest work done in front of them.
- Replicated. The aim of the sacrifice was a pattern to copy — imitation so close that the word used means to mimic.
- Remedy. The example met a real disorder. Some had turned the hope of the Lord's return into an excuse for idleness. Paul corrected them without dimming that hope.
For also when we were with you we enjoined you this, that if any man does not like to work, neither let him eat.
Paul is not giving a new rule here. He had already told the Thessalonians this face to face, because some had stopped working and were living off other people's labour. So how does a command this blunt fit with Christian generosity? And why did a church waiting for the Lord's return need to hear it?
The strange thing is that believers needed to hear this at all. One writer is amazed that Christians behaved this way:
Who could have thought that godly Christian men would be so thoughtless, to say no more, as to live without working? Who could have thought they would be so selfish as to expect support from those who did work, or who lived on what their work earned? Yet that is what was happening among the saints in Thessalonica, and the apostle had even warned them of it when he was there. This danger could appear anywhere and at any time. But it is most likely where saints are fresh and simple in the life of Christ: the very blessing exposes them to the peril.
The verse turns on the words not willing. It describes someone who refuses to work, not someone who cannot find work:
Suppose a lazy man who will not work, though he is able, and lives by borrowing. 2 Thessalonians 3:10 gives us direction here. It supposes a man who refuses to work when he can. There may be an excellent brother out of work and in need, and it is a privilege to help him. But God has given us Scripture to guide us in all cases.
Waiting for Christ does not excuse a disorderly life. Notice which letters press honest work hardest:
The apostle would not let disorderly ways bring reproach on this hope, or on the Lord Himself. So he points to his own example. And nowhere does he press the duty of honest work more than in the letters that most urge Christ's coming as the near and constant hope of the Christian.
Another writer puts the same point in sharper personal terms — work is not only for one's own supply:
Though I am not to be doubtful or worried about the future, I am still to labour, working with my hands at what is good so that I have something to give to others in need. Work is not simply a means of storing up provision for the future on earth, but of providing things honestly in the sight of all men, now.
Empty hours do not stay empty:
Those who do no business of their own are apt to become busybodies, as the apostle warns them in sharp words. Free time away from work is time for mischief. And meddling in other people's affairs, when you have no duty there, is itself mischief.
One writer calls honest work a mercy — it guards a person from worse things:
For children not yet converted, and for adults in the same state, work is a merciful help. It guards them against the dangers of idleness and against giving way to lust and passion. Even for the faithful it is good, just as refusing to work when a person has no means is bad. So the apostle states it in short, sharp words: if anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. Given in the right way, this remedy would usually heal, and it would never fail.
The rule limits who we should support. It does not close the giver's hand:
The Lord makes the most just and tender appeals for the poor, and He also guards the rich. He condemns the lazy in the strongest terms. Such is the fullness and wisdom of Scripture. This is what we command you: "If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat." Giving to those in need, as far as we are able, is one of our most sacred Christian privileges. But to support the idle would break the word of God.
Notice how ordinary the subject of this command is:
Christianity has a striking mark. Nothing is too great or high for the saint, and nothing is too little or low for God. He concerns Himself even with a duty as simple and small as a man working day by day and not living off his brothers.
- Refusal, not need. The verse targets a man who will not work though he can; a believer out of work and in need is someone it is a privilege to help.
- Hope, not excuse. The letters that press Christ's near return hardest also press honest work hardest. Disorderly ways dishonour the coming Lord.
- Idle, then interfering. Time freed from work does not stay empty. Those who do no business become busybodies, and free time turns into mischief.
- Rule as remedy. The command works like medicine. Work guards against idleness and its appetites. Holding back bread aims to heal a man, not to crush him.
- Give freely, fund no idleness. Scripture tells us to give freely to real need. It also forbids funding the idle. And God cares about something as small as a man earning his own bread.
For we hear that [there are] some walking among you disorderly, not working at all, but busybodies.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
Now such we enjoin and exhort in [the] Lord Jesus Christ, that working quietly they eat their own bread.
Paul has just named the problem in the church at Thessalonica. Some believers had stopped working. They lived off others and meddled in everyone else's affairs. Now he turns from talking about them to talking to them. His remedy is short: quiet work and bread you have earned yourself.
The trouble did not start in laziness but in a wrong idea about the Lord's return that had been pressed on the church.
Verse 6 of this third chapter and the verses that follow make it clear. The mistaken ideas about the coming of the Lord, urged on the Thessalonians, had already borne evil fruit. It is always the way that bad company corrupts good habits. Some among them had become fanatical in their thinking. They were under the impression that the day of Christ was upon them, and they gave up their ordinary jobs. Having done this, they began to expect support from others.
Commentators differ on which idea did the damage. One writer traces it not to love for the Lord's appearing, but to fear that the day of judgment had already begun.
In my judgment it was not too much enthusiasm about the Lord's coming that made any of them neglect their daily duty. It may rather have been alarm about the day of the Lord, as if it had already begun. That fear made some unwilling to do honest work, and set them gossiping about their fears. The disorderly are not described as wicked people, but are still spoken of as brothers.
The Greek word behind "quietly" is not silence. It describes the person who leaves other people's business alone.
The word hesuchia expresses the general idea of "quietness," not "silence" as in the older translation. See also 2 Thessalonians 3:12, where it stands in contrast to interfering in other people's matters.
The command reaches past the symptom to its cause. And it comes with pleading, not only with authority.
But here too faith works by love; the truth builds up instead of destroying or scattering. Discipline has its measure, since the end is restoration. The meddling, and its cause, idleness, must both go. The name of the Lord was incompatible with both; but the apostle pleads as well as commands. So even what nature itself might teach is bound up with our Lord and Saviour. It is a question of God's kingdom, not of mere morality, as if we were only men, and grace and truth did not exist in Christ.
Paul does not simply say "please." He speaks under a name that carries weight.
Where it is "the Lord Jesus Christ," we have authority — as for instance, 2 Thessalonians 3:12, "Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work and eat their own bread."
Scripture is full of calls to give generously to those in real need. What it refuses is the idle person who lives on what others earned.
Eating other people's bread in idleness was no part of Christian teaching, which commanded the opposite. The Word is full of calls to be generous and brotherly toward those in real need (Galatians 6:6; Ephesians 4:28; 1 John 3:17; 3 John 8). But eating the bread of others in idleness the Word plainly forbids. Those who had been doing the opposite were now to aim at eating their own bread. They could learn from the apostle, who worked night and day at his trade so as not to burden the saints.
Paul never cures the problem by taking their hope away. He leaves the expectation in place and adds the workbench to it.
This very posture of waiting for the Son from heaven had produced a certain evil. The Thessalonian saints were neglecting their present handiwork. The apostle does not try to change their posture at all. He urges them to hold it together with diligence and watchfulness, so that while their eye was gazing, their hand might be working (2 Thessalonians 3).
The verse aims at the idle, but the surrounding instruction touches the generous too. Misplaced kindness keeps the disorder alive.
The folly of their hearers keeps foolish talkers going. Bread eaten without cost must find someone ready to pay the cost. Here indeed a false generosity might do harm to many more than those who indulged in it. How little we think of the various ways in which we may become "partakers of other men's sins!"
- Cause. A wrong idea about the day of the Lord unsettled minds. Unsettled minds quit their jobs and started running other people's lives.
- Command. The correction comes in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is real authority, joined with pleading, because the aim is recovery, not removal.
- Quietness. The word means quietness, the opposite of interfering. The meddling and the idleness behind it must both go.
- Own bread. Scripture is full of calls to meet genuine need. It forbids living on what others earned instead of working. A false generosity makes you a partner in the fault.
- Result. Hope is never the enemy of labour: the eye gazes upward while the hand keeps working.
But *ye*, brethren, do not faint in well-doing.
Paul has just dealt with people in the Thessalonian church who refused to work and meddled in other people's affairs. Now he turns to the rest with a short word: keep going in what is right.
Two groups in Thessalonica get two different words from Paul.
In verse 12 we have Paul's word to these busybodies. He commands them to work for their own living. Then in verse 13 he turns to the rest of the assembly at Thessalonica and tells them not to be weary in well-doing. We can well imagine how tired they must have got of these disorderly brothers who kept taking advantage of their kindness. If they were now to be relieved of this burden, they should not stop being generous. They should still be hearty and cheerful givers in the interests of the Lord.
Watching other people behave badly changes the one who watches.
Disgust at people whose behaviour is unworthy is neither grace nor righteousness. It is easy for good people to lose heart in doing what is proper and honourable. The dislike of selfishness in others soon produces reaction and repulsion in themselves. The apostle would not have it so. He wanted steady, earnest perseverance in all that is fair in the Master's eyes, while dealing plainly with such erring brothers and dishonourable ways.
Being worn down does not leave us neutral. It pushes us one of two ways.
When we are around disorderly people, we must be careful not to grow impatient or weary in doing good. The constant strain can wear us down. Then we either grow indifferent to them, or we deal harshly with them.
Commentators differ on the exact shade of the phrase. Hole reads it as continued generosity toward others. Kelly reads the Greek differently.
This would not need saying, but great names have misled people. The word kalopoiountes, in itself and in its usage, does not allow the sense of doing good in acts of kindness to others. This on the contrary might play into the hands of those the apostle censures. We must not confuse to agathon (good done to others) with to kalon (what is honourable). They occur in the proper and distinctive sense of each in the same context of Galatians 6:9-10. Honourable and upright practice is the point here.
The call is about courage, not energy. Willis applies it to ordinary work.
I suppose this means you and I are not to be discouraged by the daily grind of our daily work. We are not to lose heart or turn coward — not in the office, the shop, the kitchen, the field, the school, or wherever else we work. Let us do our daily work to the Lord and not to men, and let us not grow discouraged in it. It is our Lord's own command. There may be much evil around you. It may be terribly hard, and we may be desperate. But even so, let us never give in to evil, never turn coward, never lose heart.
Willis traces the same word through other places where we are tempted to quit.
So, to sum up, let us not give in to evil — not by giving up prayer (Luke 18:1), not in failing health and old age (2 Corinthians 4:1 and 16), not in doing good (Galatians 6:9), not in tribulation (Ephesians 3:13), and not in our daily tasks (2 Thessalonians 3:13).
Doing right can feel dull and unrewarded. The cure is to change who you work for.
Though we feel "well-doing" to be a boring, unrewarding occupation, yet we must not become weary in it. Colossians 3:23 says, "Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men." If we take that to heart, it would lift every responsibility far above the thought of drudgery.
- Cause. Other people's disorder wears believers down. Paul writes to those tired of carrying idle brothers.
- Danger. Weariness has two exits: not caring about the disorderly, or being harsh with them. Disgust is neither grace nor righteousness.
- Meaning. Commentators differ. Hole keeps the sense of generous giving; Kelly reads the word as honourable, upright practice, not charity.
- Force. This is about losing heart, not losing strength. The same word covers prayer, failing health, tribulation, and daily work.
- Cure. Work done for the Lord and not for men stops being drudgery — in the office, shop, kitchen, field, or school.
But if any one obey not our word by the letter, mark that man, and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed of himself;
Paul closes his letter with a rule for the reader who refuses to obey it. Believers are to note that person and pull back from his company, so that he feels shame and turns. Two questions follow. How far does the pulling back go? And how does it stay short of treating a fellow believer as an enemy?
The trouble Paul has been correcting is not scandalous sin. It is idleness. One writer explains who acts in a case like this.
This is what we may call personal discipline in private life. It matters greatly. Sadly, it is much needed but little understood. It is not a case calling for the action of the assembly, but for faithful personal dealing. The disorderly walking referred to is a brother not working, but going about as an idle busybody. Such a one was to be admonished, and avoided. We cannot help thinking that this form of discipline is much needed. Many people whose ways do not call for excommunication still need faithful dealing.
Action starts when someone refuses to obey what Paul wrote in this letter. That letter is more than one man's opinion.
They were neither to be indifferent on the one hand, nor to be stumbled on the other. Disgust at those who walk unworthily is neither grace nor righteousness... Disobedience was not to be passed by. "What we say in this letter" was not a word of men. It was, in truth, God's word. It works in those who believe, and it leaves those who make light of it worse than before.
The same holds for all of Scripture. It speaks with authority straight to ordinary readers.
The apostles wrote to churches and to Christians. These people were to receive what they wrote and live by it — to receive it as "the commandments of the Lord." Those who did not heed the words of the apostles were to be noted and avoided. So the Scriptures came with authority, and came at once, to the body of ordinary Christians. They were bound to receive them, believe them, obey them, and act on them. No interpreter was to stand between the authority of that written word and their souls.
This instruction stops short of putting anyone out of the assembly.
This is not a case for putting away, or for church discipline as in 1 Corinthians 5. Here the believers act one by one against the idle and mischievous man, by withdrawing from all personal fellowship with him. The aim of this Christian discipline is to press a united testimony on the heart and conscience of the one who "walks disorderly," so that the assembly never has to expel him. The apostle does not say "put away." He says, "take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed" — that is, that he may see his evil way and forsake it.
Another writer marks how far the withdrawal reaches, and where it stops.
A believer who walks contrary to the Word of God is walking in disorder. Believers are to mark him out and keep apart from him, so that he feels his wrong and is ashamed of his course. Withhold all social contact and every expression of fellowship... This discipline of withdrawal is corrective. Its aim is that the disorderly one may be broken down in his course, restored to the Lord, and keep his place at the Lord's table. He is not to be counted as an enemy, but is to be admonished as a brother.
Withdrawal must not become coldness of heart. One writer separates two things that sound alike.
The apostle says, in writing to the Hebrews, "Let brotherly love continue." But he nowhere says, Let brotherly kindness continue. "Love never fails." Kindness must, in some cases. A brother, through the power of Satan, may be walking disorderly. Or he may fall into error, and so become a proper subject of discipline. Toward such a one our conduct must change, though our love stays the same, or even grows stronger... The people spoken of here are still in fellowship. So it is hard to cherish brotherly love and at the same time carry out a wholesome discipline toward them.
The pulling back can be quiet. One writer shows what it looks like day to day.
Sometimes a little silent neglect, which no one but our brother may notice, works better than pressing on with spoken warnings he refuses to hear. This is true above all when the withdrawal carries clear signs of sorrow, with acts of thoughtful love as occasion allows. Our blessed Lord gave the choicest portion of the dish to the poor wretch He knew was planning to betray Him.
- Word — the trigger is refusal to obey the letter. That letter is God's word, and it binds every ordinary Christian directly.
- Walk — the fault is not gross sin but disorder: not working, and going about as an idle busybody.
- Note — he is marked and avoided, but not put away. This is personal discipline, meant to prevent an expulsion rather than carry one out.
- Shame — withdrawing company is corrective. He feels his wrong, gives it up, and is restored to the Lord.
- Brother — kindness may stop; love never does. He is still a brother to admonish, not an enemy.
and do not esteem him as an enemy, but admonish [him] as a brother.
Paul has just told the Thessalonians to mark the brother who refuses his word. They must stop keeping company with him. This closing line sets the limit on that action. The man they avoid is still family. The aim is his recovery, not his removal.
Two levels of discipline stand behind this verse. Commentators place these instructions on the lighter of the two.
This is not a case for putting away, the church discipline of 1 Corinthians 5. It is discipline that believers carry out one by one against the idle and mischievous man. They withdraw from all personal fellowship with him. The aim of this Christian discipline is to press that united testimony on the heart and conscience of the man who walks disorderly, so that the assembly never has to put him out.
Withdrawing looks unkind. What makes the difference is the spirit behind it.
Some men are warned about their disorderly course and still keep on in it. Then much more serious measures of discipline are needed. This is more painful to put into practice, but it is true kindness. Believers must withdraw from the brother who walked disorderly. He was not put out of fellowship. Yet the believers were to have no personal fellowship with him, keeping a reserve that the offender would clearly feel. There is no thought here of personal impatience or anger. The desire is for the true recovery and blessing of the guilty party. The object of all discipline is restoration.
Paul does not simply say to warn the man. He says warn him as a brother. That relationship rests on birth, not on behaviour, so bad conduct cannot dissolve it.
One's brother must remain in that relation whatever the ups and downs of his affairs, or the character of his ways. The elder son in the parable was reminded that the prodigal was his brother (Luke 15:32). The Thessalonian Christians were urged to count the believer their brother, even though he was walking disorderly and would not obey the Word. He would need warning in such a case. They were not to hold that back. But the tie of spiritual birth was there, and they were to remember it.
Keeping no company with a man, while warning him as a brother, can look like a contradiction. One writer answers it by separating two things: how we act, and how we love.
Through the power of Satan, a brother may be walking disorderly, or he may fall into error. He then becomes a proper subject of discipline. Toward such a one our conduct must change, though our love remains the same, or even stronger... The people spoken of here are still in fellowship. That is what makes it hard to cherish brotherly love and at the same time exercise a wholesome discipline toward them.
So what would treating him as an enemy look like? One writer answers by pointing to the harsher step this man is being spared.
They were neither to be indifferent on the one hand, nor to be stumbled on the other. Disgust at those who walk unworthily is neither grace nor righteousness... Is he then put out from among the believers, as a wicked person? Exactly the opposite: "Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother." He was seriously wrong, and believers refused his company. But brotherly warning is the word, not being put out of the assembly as if he were an enemy and a wicked man.
A warning only works if the man can tell it comes from love.
On the other hand, there must be care that no harshness or unbrotherly conduct creeps in. That would destroy the effect of the discipline all over again. Harshness or a legal spirit could not reach the end sought — only love could. Being sure of that love would take hold of the offender. It would draw him, and let the warning gain a hearing. Only at another's feet can one wash them.
- Brother, not offender. New birth forms the tie, so it survives the failure. The son who ran away was still his father's son and his brother's brother.
- Brother, so limited. This is not putting away. Believers withdraw personal company, one by one, and stop short of putting him out.
- Brother, so aimed. The point of the withdrawal is recovery. Discipline that goes beyond restoration has overshot its purpose.
- Brother, so loved. Conduct toward him changes; love toward him does not — and may need to grow stronger.
- Brother, so gently. Harshness kills the very effect sought. Only love makes the admonition worth hearing.
But the Lord of peace himself give you peace continually in every way. The Lord [be] with you all.
The letter closes with a prayer, not a command. False teaching and hard circumstances were robbing young believers of their peace, so Paul hands the whole situation over to Christ under a name used nowhere else.
The letters link peace to God again and again. One phrase, though, stands alone.
Seven times in the letters we read of "the God of peace," and surely He will supply abundance of peace for those who love Him. Once is that beautiful title given to Christ by the Spirit — "the Lord of peace." How encouraging is the verse where it occurs.
A name in Scripture is not decoration. It tells you what the one who bears it will do.
"The Lord of peace" is a blessed title. In it He stands related to the saints and revealed to them. They might and ought to be sure that He could not fail to act in keeping with it. For the name of the Lord expresses what He is and what He does. We feel we owe help to our own relatives when they are in difficulty. What is that sense of duty compared with His unfailing grace?
The title fit their situation. They were young believers, and everything around them was working against their peace.
These were unsettling circumstances indeed, designed to rob these young believers of their peace. Note what was in danger of unsettling them. It was in no way the teaching they had received from Paul. It was the false doctrine being spread, and their circumstances. How appropriate for them to be directed to "the Lord of peace," the one who holds supremacy or, as has been said, the one who "is at the helm and not only preserves the ship but controls the elements."
The verse does not stop at describing His character. It asks Him to hand that peace over.
Now Paul goes a step further. He not only presents to them the Lord of peace but expresses his desire that He, the Lord of peace "Himself", would "give" them peace. Peace is not only at His disposal, it not only characterises Him, but He would make it available to them.
The two small phrases at the end of the request are the point of it. Paul closes off every gap through which fear might return.
Paul did even more. He asked for peace not only at all times, but "in every way." Could anyone imagine a more deliberate shutting out of every source of alarm at all times? Could there be a stronger guarantee of peace from the Lord of peace Himself? And what fountain of peace can match with Him? These were saints of little experience, passing through a world full of trouble at all times, with a predicted time of tribulation ahead beyond anything before it.
If the supply never fails, a lack of peace must have another cause. Grant quotes an older translation, where the two phrases read "always" and "by all means."
The apostle's desire is that the Lord may give them this peace "always" and "by all means." It is not that the Lord withholds it by choice. Our state of soul may be such that we do not enjoy it. The answer to this is the drawing of our hearts and eyes to Himself. "By all means," too, suggests that every circumstance He allows may be the means God uses to make this peace a constant reality to the heart.
The first letter ended by asking the God of peace to set them wholly apart for Himself. Writers notice that the second ends lower, and more soberly.
It will be observed here that there is no longer the same expression of the energy of communion and of life as before (compare 2 Thess. 3:16 with 1 Thess. 5:23). Nevertheless the Lord was still the Lord of peace; but the beauty of that entire consecration to God, which would shine out in the day of Christ, does not present itself to the apostle's mind and heart as in the first letter. He prays for them, however, that they may have peace always and by all means.
The closing words look like an ordinary farewell. Faith sees far more in them.
This, too, is crowned by "The Lord be with you all" — a wish of small price in eyes which see only a man writing to other men. What is it to those who know by faith? They see God using a servant, under His own unfailing guidance, to communicate His mind and heart to His children while they pass through the world. What use are all other helps, if "the Lord" is not with us all? And why should we not have perfect peace, if He is with us, whoever and whatever else is lacking?
- Person — the answer to trouble is a title, not a technique: "the Lord of peace," used only here. A name in Scripture states what its bearer does.
- Gift — Paul does not just describe Him as peaceful. He asks Him to hand that peace over, because it is His to give.
- Reach — "at all times" and "in every way" shut out every moment and every route by which alarm could return.
- Reception — the supply never fails. Where peace is not enjoyed, the state of the soul is in question, and the cure is to look back to Him.
- Presence — the prayer ends with the Lord Himself among them. If He is with us, no other lack can rob us of peace.