II THESSALONIANS 3:6-15

Unlike many other letters of Paul which conclude with a miscellaneous list of practical admonitions, II Thessalonians devotes these ten verses to a single subject – the presence of the “idle” in their congregation. Actually, that Greek word and its derivatives have been translated in two basically different ways: either “idle, lazy” (RSV, NRSV, NEB, Living Bible, The Message, TEV) or “disorderly, disruptive” (KJV, Phillips, NASB, AB). NIV straddles the fence by calling those people “idle and disruptive.” In a similar manner, The Jerusalem Bible labels this section “Against Idleness and Disunity.”

The supposed origin of the root ataki- comes from a military setting in which it refers to those who are “out of step” with everyone else. But it is easy to see from the context of this II Thessalonians passage that the specific way in which these people were being disruptive was in their refusal to work like the others in the Christian community. Indeed, as Elias notes, within the NT the Greek root only appears in the two letters to the Thessalonians so that “we are largely restricted to the clues contained within these two epistles” in order to determine its proper meaning.

The flow of this passage takes a literary, rather than a strictly logical, form as shown below:

                                      Figure I: The Structure of II Thessalonians 3:6-15

    A. Keep away from them, brothers (v. 6a)

            B. The earlier received tradition (v. 6b)

                    C. Paul's example of unselfish behavior (vv. 7-9)

            B'. The earlier given command (v. 10)

                    C'. The idler's example of wrongdoing (v. 11)

            B''. Reiterated command to work quietly and do right (vv. 12-13)

    A'. Keep away from them, brothers (vv. 14-15)

Bolstering up this symmetrical literary organization is the presence of specific words to tie together parallel units. Thus, “brothers” and “believers” appear in A and A'; “brothers” also occurs in B and B'; “command” is in B' and B''; “idle(ness)” is found in C and C'; “for” begins both C and C'; and “imitate” acts as a set of bookends to enclose C.

With that background, we can now briefly consider what some Bible scholars have to say about the text:

II Thessalonians 3:6 – Sumney: “The lives of Paul and other faithful leaders exemplify the mold living believers are to imitate (3:6-7), but prior apostolic instruction is the basis for determining what constitutes ethical living.”

“Elsewhere Paul employs the formulas 'in the name of the Lord Jesus' (1 Cor. 5:4) and 'by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ' (1 Cor. 1:10) precisely where he is issuing emphatic commands regarding the behavior of the community. At a theological level the addition of 'in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ' to a command implies that the command is not simply Paul's but that it has the sanction of the Lord Jesus Christ himself...As the second part of the verse makes clear, Paul adds to his theological coercion the coercive power of the community to enforce the prescribed form of conduct.”

II Thessalonians 3:7-9 – “In an ethics of Christian discipleship, the master is Christ, yet secondarily, disciples also learn to recognize excellence of practice by observing and imitating those who are more mature in the faith.” (Tousley and Kallenberg) And Cosgrove says, “Moral teaching is not only by word but also by personal examples to be imitated.”

As an aside, Wanamaker notes that “the broken grammatical construction of v. 8 is inexplicable if the writer had direct access to 1 Thess. 2:9 [a similar statement] where Paul makes good grammatical sense.” This helps confirm my own deductions based on structural considerations that II Thessalonians was actually written before I Thessalonians (see my reasoning in “I and II Thessalonians: Introduction to the Literary Structure”).

II Thessalonians 3:10 – M.A. Powell states, “Positively, work is to be encouraged (2 Thess. 3:10-12) and, indeed, viewed as a vocation from God.”

II Thessalonians 3:11 – “Paul employs work imagery in commending the Thessalonians for their 'work of faith and labor of love' (I Thess 1:3)...but more striking is the forthright instruction to 'work hard with your hands' (I Thess 4:11).” (Dictionary of Biblical Imagery)

Banks points out that “we should avoid idleness (2 Thess. 3:11-13), but we should not fall into the opposite error of too much busywork.” And that includes being a busybody.

As to the source of this idle attitude and behavior, Sumney and others conjecture: “The conduct of the 'disorderly' (the 'idle' of 3:6-15) flows from their overrealized eschatology. Asserting that their experience of a spiritual coming of Christ gives them superior spiritual blessings and abilities, they quit their jobs, impose themselves as ministers on the church, and demand salaries. This letter rejects their eschatology and understanding of spirituality by telling the church not to to support them. Proper conduct for members follows the apostolic example of giving of oneself for the good of the church, and it does not include demanding deference and pay.”

Unfortunately, I have run into extreme examples of this very behavior in two churches I have attended in the past. One acquaintance tried to drum up financial support for himself and his whole family to take an extended vacation in Europe with the idea that they would witness to people they met on the way. And another man had the plan to get the church members to support him while he quit his job, moved to another city, and witnessed to his neighbors in the evenings. And neither of them even had the excuse of believing in realized eschatology.

II Thessalonians 3:12-13 – “Like no other Pauline epistles, 1 and 2 Thessalonians establish and reinforce a work ethic...Idleness is singled out as the most shameful behavior in the Thessalonian community.” (DBI)

Wanamaker points out that the opening words of this verse have been taken by some scholars as indication that a new subject is being introduced. However, he feels, as indicated also in Figure I above, that “vv. 14f. are probably intended as a clarification of v. 6.”

II Thessalonians 3:14-15 – C. Marshall notes that “New Testament texts on punishment fall into two main categories: those that refer to punitive practices in wider Roman society...and those that describe disciplinary actions within the community of faith. In the latter case, physical or financial punishments are never imposed as a means of church discipline...In every case, it can be shown that the goal of such punishment was to clarify the moral demands of discipleship and to summon repentance from offenders and their reintegration into the community.”

Sumney agrees with this contention: “Christians who fail to live by the expected standards...are not relegated to the ranks of the unbelievers destined for destruction. Such errant believers remain part of the family of believers, and they must be set apart from the community but not treated as enemies. Rather, the church is to nurture their return to full fellowship.”

In order to emphasize this point, Paul purposely employs the description “believers” twice in this passage, both times referring specifically to the idlers.

The verb “associate with” appears only one other time in the NT, at I Corinthians 5:9-11 where Paul instructs believers to “dissociate themselves from anyone who claims to be Christian but is guilty of immorality.” (Wanamaker) That shows how seriously Paul also takes the issue of idleness at Thessalonica.