Second Thessalonians 3:1-18
II Thessalonians 3:1-3:
3:1As-to-the-rest, you must pray, brothers,
concerning us in order that the word of the Lord may run and may be
glorified according as (it is) also with you, .2and
in order that we may be rescued away-from the strange and evil men,
for the belief (is) not of all-people; .3but the
Lord is believable who will set you fast and will keep-watch
(regarding you) away-from the evil-one.
Having finished writing his prayer to God about
these Thessalonian holy-people at the end of
chapter 2, Paul now writes: as far as the rest (the remaining matters)
are concerned, you must pray concerning us
(communicate to/with God about myself and those with me) – brothers.
Again Paul addresses them as "brothers" thus reminding them that all
holy-people are brothers in the spirit category because of all being
sons of God having the spirit of Christ within us. We can help each
other by prayer, even though at times we may not be physically with
one-another.
As to the rest, you must pray, brothers, concerning us for the purpose
and result:
- that the word of the Lord may run and may be glorified according as it
is also with you (that the spoken-account pertaining-to and
proceeding-from the Lord Jesus Christ would actively hasten, hurry or
quickly-move and be given the importance, splendor, renown by other
people to whom we speak according as it is gloriously running with you);
and
- that we may be rescued away-from the strange and evil men (that myself
and those with me would be delivered, snatched, drawn away from the
out-of-place, unusual, crazy and actively-malignant men).
In truth, the belief is not of all-people. Everybody does not believe the
belief (faith, trust) that consists of the word of the Lord. Not all
people believe the belief that God has given us to believe regarding
Himself and His son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
But the Lord is believable who will set you fast and will keep-watch
regarding you away-from the evil-one. The Lord Jesus Christ is faithful,
he is trustworthy, he can be believed, had faith-in and trusted, he is
to be relied-upon! The Lord is believable who will firmly-fix or
establish you and he will be vigilant to guard and keep you away from
the evil-one (the one who is actively-malignant - referring to satan/the
devil, who has many different names corresponding to the different
characteristics, activities, etc, that particular name describes).
The Lord Jesus Christ is believable for he does and will do what he says
he does and will do, which is what God says. We holy-people have
received the spirit of Christ within us and therefore no devil-spirit
can take control or force us, neither can the devil stop us from being
gathered-together with our Lord Jesus Christ. Of course it is still up
to every holy-person to behave ourselves correctly and not to be
influenced by the activities of the devil and his followers during the
everyday living of our lives.
[Reference: Matthew 6:13; Luke 23:41; John 17:15; Acts 28:6; Romans
10:8-13, 15:30 and 31; Colossians 4:2-4; I Thessalonians 1:8, 5:25; II
Thessalonians 2:17; Hebrews 13:18; I John 5:18; Jude 1.]
Verses 4 and 5:
.4But we were persuaded2 in
(the) Lord on you that the-things-which we charge, you do and
you will do. .5But may the Lord straighten your hearts
along into the love1 of God and into the
patient-endurance of Christ.
Paul continues: but we (myself and those with me)
were persuaded and we are still persuaded (convinced) in the Lord
(basing our conviction upon the information revealed to us by the Lord
Jesus Christ) about you that the things which we presently charge (we
pass the message on to you), you presently do and you will do (perform)
in the future.
Again Paul writes his expressed desire in prayer regarding them: may the
Lord straighten your hearts along into the love1 of God (the
word "love1" comes from the Greek word agape which is
God's kind of love - cause the center of your beings to go straight down
in motion directed into the love of God in manifestation) and into
Christ's patient-endurance (bearing-up, holding, enduring, remaining
upwards or upright relative to God and the things of God under any
obstacles).
The love1 of God and the patient-endurance of Christ would
help them during the living of their everyday lives no matter what was
going on around them - Paul's prayer was for the Lord to help them in
these areas at that time.
[Reference: I Corinthians chapter 13; I Thessalonians 3:11.]
Verse 6:
.6But we charge to you, brothers, in (the)
name of our Lord Jesus Christ to send-yourselves away-from every
brother walking disarranged and not according to the tradition which
they received from us;
Here again Paul addresses the
Thessalonian holy-people as "brothers" - reminding them that they
are all children of God their Father having the same holy spirit within
them and so they are all brothers in the spirit category. Paul writes:
we charge (pass the message on) to you, brothers, in the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ….
When reading the phrase "in the name of," we should understand that when
God talks about something being done "in the name of" something or
someone else, it incorporates the fullness of everything involved with
the one named. Regarding the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, it includes
all that the name of "Lord" and the name of "Jesus" and the name of
"Christ" represent and stand for. "In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ"
means: within the sphere of action of all the authoritative-power, and
ability, etc, that God gave to Jesus when he raised him up out-from the
dead-people, and gave him the name that is above every other name,
designating the resurrected Jesus being Lord and Christ (refer to Acts
2:21 and 38; 3:6 and 16; 4:7-12, and 30; Romans 1:3 and 4; Ephesians
1:19-23; Philippians 2:9-11).
Here, Paul has been given permission by the Lord Jesus Christ to write
what he is writing in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ who is Lord and
Christ of the Thessalonian holy-people and
of Paul and those with him.
But we charge to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to
send yourselves (to set yourselves in an ordered or arranged motion)
away from all/every brother walking disarranged (literally: moving the
feet around, going on foot in a disorderly manner; figuratively: walking
around or behaving during the everyday living of life being disarrayed,
conducting himself in a manner that is not in order, without arrangement
in ordered sequence, out of rank, like in the military sense when
soldiers do not keep their rank, neglectful of duties and insubordinate)
and not according to the tradition which they received from us (not in
accordance with that-which was given, passed or delivered along from us
to beside or alongside that brother and all of you, and which he and you
received at that time).
We can learn a very important lesson from these few verses, which is that
just because a person becomes a holy-person by believing what God says
(refer to Romans 10:8-10), this does not mean that his mind is
controlled by God or by the Lord Jesus Christ or by the gift of holy
spirit which he receives. A Christian has the freedom of will to make up
his own mind whether he will continue to do what God and the Lord Jesus
Christ would want him to do or whether he will disobey some things or
everything that God and the Lord Jesus Christ would want him to do.
So, instead of telling the Thessalonian
Christians who wanted to do the Word and will of God, not to care who
they "hung around with" or who they listened to, Paul and those with him
charged them in the name of their Lord Jesus Christ to send themselves
away from every brother walking disorderly and not according to the
tradition which they received from them.
[Reference: II Corinthians 8:20; I Thessalonians 2:13, 5:14; II
Thessalonians 2:15.]
Verses 7-10:
.7for you yourselves knew2 how it
is necessary to imitate us because we were not disarranged among
you, .8neither did we eat bread free-giftly
from someone but in labor and travail night and day working
towards not to pressure-weight-on someone of you, .9not
because we do not have authority but in order that we may
give ourselves (being) a type to you with-a-view-for us to be
imitated, .10for also when we used-to-be with you, this
we used-to charge to you: that if someone does not intend to work
neither must he eat –
Paul continues: in truth, you (emphatically)
yourselves knew and you still know (perceive, see) how it is
necessary to imitate us (you ought, must, it is binding for you to mimic
us in the sense of to follow myself and those with me) – because…
- we were not disarranged among you (verb form of 'disarranged' in verse 6
above – we were not out of order, disorderly, disarrayed, without
arrangement in ordered sequence, out of rank, like in the military sense
when soldiers do not keep their rank, neglectful of duties and
insubordinate – we were not that way during our time among you in
Thessalonica),
- neither did we eat bread free-giftly from
someone (we did not eat bread from any of you gratuitously - in other
words, we did not take-advantage of any person's hospitality by taking
food from you as a free-gift or present, we were not in it for the
"free-for-all" breakfast, lunch and dinner and everything else we could
take without paying for it!) –
- but on the contrary, in labor and travail (during times of exerting
wearisome effort and times of painful effort) night and day working
(expending energy during all available times earning needful-items or
money to buy what we needed to live) towards not to pressure-weight
(weight, with the emphasis being on the pressure and not on a physical
heaviness of a load or burden to be carried) on someone of you,…
…not because we do not have authority (the cause is not that we do not
have the authoritative-power, the permitted-right from God and the Lord
Jesus Christ, because we do; refer to I Thessalonians 2:6-9), but
contrary to having used our authority and having put pressure weighing
down on any of you, we behaved the way we did for the purpose and result
that we would give (willingly present) ourselves being a type to you (a
mark, impression or pattern, the same way as an old typewriter would
impress the shape of the required letter on a piece of paper, an example
for you) with-a-view-for us to be imitated, for also when we were with
you at that time, this we used-to charge to you (we passed the message
on to you): that if someone does not intend (will) to work neither must
he eat.
Paul does not tell them that they must have the same personality or the
same haircut or wear the same clothes or laugh at the same jokes or
get-up every morning at the same time.
Also, when Paul wrote "if someone does not intend to work neither must he
eat," he is not referring to those people who wanted to work and
were actively seeking employment but just
didn't find a job yet, nor was he writing about those people who were
unable to work for some reason applicable to their-own situation at that
time. Paul specifically writes by revelation that he is referring to
those people who do not intend/will to work. If someone does not
want to work in order to have bread or the means to buy
himself food to eat and maintain himself, and
his dependants if he has any, in an appropriate manner for Christians,
God's children, then he should not eat - he should not take and take and
take from others! Such a person would be demonstrating that he did not
want to behave as God and the Lord Jesus Christ have asked him to
behave. Paul's usage of the word "if" and the verb "intend" in the
indicative, present and active form, shows that this was actually
happening at that time in Thessalonica and so the word "if" could have
been translated as "since."
[Reference: I Corinthians 9:1-18, 11:1; II Corinthians 11:7 and 27;
Philippians 3:17; I Thessalonians 1:6 and 7, 5:14.]
Verses 11-13:
.11for we hear (that there are)
some-people walking disarranged among you working nothing but
working-around, .12but to the-people-of-this-kind we
charge and we encourage in (the) Lord Jesus Christ in order
that working with quietness they may eat the bread of themselves;
.13but you, brothers, let you not despond
doing-beautifully.
In truth we (myself and those with me) hear that
there are some of you walking (behaving, conducting themselves) in a
disarranged manner (refer to verses 6 and 7 above) by working
not-one-thing, not at all, but contrary to working, they are
"working-around," going around work. They spend their energy and time on
the perimeter of work, as going above it or below it but not doing it,
busying themselves around work and therefore in useless-matters. They
did not do any actual work to produce what is needful for
themselves to live appropriately nor to help
the other holy-people/Christians if needed. They were what we might call
today "busy-bodies" - they were meddling or interfering in other affairs
instead of doing their own work.
But to the people of this sort (who behave in this disorderly manner), we
charge and we encourage (exhort) in the Lord Jesus Christ (within
everything our Lord Jesus Christ is to us and for us) for the purpose
and result that they would eat their own bread (not taking from others
but eat the food they earn themselves) by working with quietness
(expending their own energy doing work in company and association with
quietness, not making a big scene about it but minding their own
business, their own affairs and not disturbing everybody else).
Paul did not tell them what kind of work they ought to do, but that they
should work and eat what they can either buy with the money they earn
from working, or produce it themselves by growing crops, and do this
with quietness (refer to I Thessalonians 4:11 and 12).
In verse 13, Paul again addresses the church of the Thessalonians in God
our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ as "brothers" – they were all
brothers because they had all become sons of God having received holy
spirit-life.
But you, brothers, let you not despond doing-beautifully – you shouldn't
lose-courage while you are presently and actively doing things in a
manner that has a manifested decorous, harmonious and acceptable
goodness about it. Don't become faint-hearted, don't give-up as a coward
would give-up when faced with trial, badness or evil, while you are
performing what is beautiful in God's viewpoint.
[Reference: Acts 19:19; Galatians 6:9 and 10; I Timothy 5:13.]
Verses 14 and 15:
.14But if someone does not obey our word by
means of our letter, you must signal-to-yourselves this-person
(so as) not to be mixed-up-together with him in order that he
may be caused-shame, .15and you must not lead (your
minds to regard) him as an enemy but you must admonish
(him) as a brother.
But if someone does not obey (does not
listen-attentively and carry-out what is heard which is) our word by
means of our letter (the spoken-account that myself and those with me
speak to you through our epistle that we write and send to you), you
must make a sign to yourselves (take note in your mind) of this
disobedient person so that you do not mix with (not mingle and keep
company with) him. Why not? For the purpose and result that this
disobedient person may be ashamed (would be caused to turn in on
himself and recoil from that-which is wrong
when he reflects on his own walk/behavior).
Also you must not lead your minds to regard him as an enemy (do not take
the initiative or cause it to be in your minds to esteem or view him in
comparison to someone in opposition, so as to treat him as an object of
enmity), but on the contrary, you must admonish him as a brother (put
him in mind of God's Word as you would with a brother, and truly he is
your brother in the spirit category).
The Thessalonian holy-people were exhorted to
put the disobedient brother in mind of God's Word, to speak God's Word
to him as they would speak it to any other holy-person/Christian, thus
giving him the opportunity to change his own mind and ask God for
forgiveness in the walk/behavior category, and then live his everyday
life in accordance with God's Word which is what Paul and those with him
had taught them and were writing to them at this time.
[Reference: I Corinthians 4:14, 5:9-11;
Philippians 2:6.]
Verses 16-18:
.16But may the Lord of the peace himself give
to you the peace continually in every manner. (May) the Lord
(be) with all of you. .17The greeting of Paul by
my hand which is a sign in every letter, thus I write:
.18(may) the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ (be) with all of you.
Now, towards the end of this second letter to the
church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ,
Paul writes this prayerful desire: may the Lord of the peace himself
(emphatically the Master of the only true peace which is the peace that
comes from God) give the peace to you continually (through all
occasions, all the time) in all/every manner (within every turning you
make during your everyday lives). All holy-people are at peace with God
and the Lord Jesus Christ and one-another in the spirit category, and
Paul's prayerful desire for the Thessalonian
holy-people was that they would walk/behave within it continually with
the Lord's help.
May the Lord be with all of you (be in company and association with you
during your everyday living). The greeting (salutation) of Paul by my
hand which is a sign (signal, standard of designation and
authentication) in every letter, in this manner I write.
Paul specifically marks the end of this letter with his own handwriting,
showing definitely that this is his greeting with his hand (the word
"my" is emphasized), thus authenticating that this is a letter from
Paul, the apostle, and not from somebody else who may have wanted to
deceive the Thessalonian church. Even though
the bulk of some of Paul's letters may have physically been written by
his assistant, the words which were written are words which Paul spoke
receiving them by revelation from God and/or the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul's own hand-written indication at the end of the letter was his
safeguard against the Thessalonian church
being misled by a counterfeit letter.
Paul began this letter with grace, and here he ends this letter writing
this prayerful desire: may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with
all of you (may the unmerited-favor belonging-to and bestowed-by our
Lord Jesus Christ be in company and association with all of you during
the everyday living of your lives).
[Reference: Romans 16:24; I Corinthians 16:21; Colossians 4:18. Note:
verbs with a superscript 2 (2) immediately following them
indicate the "perfect" tense - details are provided in the "Relevant
Notes" link of this study.]
(May) the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ (be) with all of
you.
