2 Thessalonians 3:6-15

Warning Against Idleness

6 Now we command you, brothers, ¹in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, ²that you keep away from any ³brother ⁴who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us.

7 For you yourselves know ⁵how you ought to imitate us, because ⁶we were not idle when we were with you,

8 nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but ⁷with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you.

9 It was ⁸not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves ⁹an example to imitate.

10 For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: ¹⁰If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.

11 For we hear that some among you ¹¹walk in idleness, not busy at work, but ¹²busybodies.

12 Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.^[a]

13 As for you, brothers, ¹³do not grow weary in doing good.

14 If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and ¹⁴have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed.

15 ¹⁵Do not regard him as an enemy, but ¹⁶warn him as a brother.

2 Thessalonians 3:6-15 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 2 THESSALONIANS 3

In this chapter the apostle requests of the Thessalonians, that they would pray for him, and other Gospel ministers; and he puts up prayers for them, gives them rules about dealing with disorderly persons, and concludes the epistle with his usual salutation. The request to pray for ministers is in 2Th 3:1 the petitions to be made for them are, that their ministry might be succeeded, and their persons preserved and delivered from evil minded men, destitute of faith in Christ, 2Th 3:1-2 and, for the consolation of the saints, observes the faithfulness of God engaged in their behalf to establish them in the faith they had, and to preserve them from everything and person that is evil, 2Th 3:3 and expresses his confidence in them with respect to their walk and conversation, 2Th 3:4 and then prays for them that their hearts might be directed into the love of God, and patience of Christ, 2Th 3:5. And next follows an order to withdraw from every disorderly walker, particularly idle and slothful persons, 2Th 3:6 and from such a lazy idle life the apostle dissuades by his own example, who behaved not disorderly, nor ate the bread of others, but wrought with his own hands, though he had a right to a maintenance without it, but did this to set an example to them, 2Th 3:7-9. He puts them in mind of a precept of his when among them, that such who would not work should not eat, 2Th 3:10 and the order he now gave, and the precept he reminds them of, were not without reason; seeing there were disorderly idle persons, and busy bodies, among them, whom the apostle exhorts and beseeches, in the name of Christ, to be industrious, and eat their own bread, as the fruit of their labours, 2Th 3:11,12 and as for the other members of the church, he exhorts them to diligence and constancy in well doing, and to mark those that were incorrigible, and have no conversation with them, yet dealing with them not as enemies, but admonishing them as brethren, 2Th 3:13-15. And closes all with prayers, that the Lord would give them peace, and grant his presence to them, and with his usual salutation, written with his own hand, as a token of this being a genuine epistle of his, and by which every epistle of his might be known, 2Th 3:16-18.

Cross References

• 1. 1 Corinthians 5:4
• 2. ver. 14; [Matthew 18:17; 2 Timothy 3:5]; See 1 Corinthians 5:9; 2 John 10
• 3. 1 Corinthians 5:11
• 4. ver. 11; 1 Thessalonians 5:14
• 5. [Acts 20:35]; See 1 Thessalonians 1:6
• 6. 1 Thessalonians 1:5
• 7. See 1 Thessalonians 2:9
• 8. 1 Corinthians 9:4; 1 Thessalonians 2:6
• 9. ver. 7; 1 Peter 5:3
• 10. [Genesis 3:19]; See 1 Thessalonians 4:11
• 11. ver. 6
• 12. 1 Timothy 5:13; 1 Peter 4:15
• 13. Galatians 6:9; [1 Corinthians 15:58]
• 14. See ver. 6
• 15. See Leviticus 19:17; Matthew 18:15
• 16. 1 Thessalonians 5:12, 14; [Titus 3:10]

Footnotes

• [a]. Greek eat their own bread