2 Thessalonians 3: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

Paul closes the letter by asking the Thessalonians to pray that the message spreads and that he and his companions are kept safe from wicked men. He then gives a command about believers who refuse to work and live as busybodies: stay away from them, and he tells such people to work quietly and earn their own food, and to warn such a person as a brother rather than treating him as an enemy. He reminds them that he and his companions paid their own way while with them, as an example. He ends with a prayer for peace, a greeting written in his own handwriting, and a blessing.

Claim by Claim

1. 3:1
   • Paul tells the recipients, addressed as brothers, to pray for him and those with him.
   • The purpose of the prayer is that the word of the Lord may run ahead unhindered.
   • A further purpose is that the word of the Lord may be honored.
   • The word of the Lord already ran and was honored among the recipients.
2. 3:2
   • A further request is that the writers be rescued from perverse and evil men.
   • The reason given is that not everyone holds the faith.
3. 3:3
   • The Lord is faithful.
   • The Lord will strengthen the recipients.
   • The Lord will guard the recipients from evil; the source leaves open whether this means evil in general or the evil one.
4. 3:4
   • The writers have confidence in the Lord concerning the recipients.
   • That confidence is that the recipients are doing what the writers command.
   • That confidence is also that the recipients will continue to do what the writers command.
5. 3:5
   • The writer asks that the Lord direct the recipients' hearts into the love of God.
   • The writer asks that the Lord direct their hearts into the endurance of Christ; the source leaves open whether this is Christ's own endurance or endurance in waiting for Christ.
6. 3:6
   • The writers issue a command to the recipients, addressed as brothers.
   • The command is given in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
   • The command is to keep away from every brother who lives in an unruly, undisciplined way.
   • Such a brother does not live according to the tradition he received from the writers.
7. 3:7
   • The recipients themselves know how they ought to imitate the writers.
   • The writers were not unruly or undisciplined while among the recipients.
8. 3:8
   • The writers did not eat anyone's food without paying for it.
   • The writers worked with labor and hardship night and day.
   • The purpose of that work was to avoid being a burden to any of the recipients.
9. 3:9
   • The writers do have the right to be supported.
   • The writers worked in order to make themselves a pattern for the recipients to imitate.
10. 3:10
    • When the writers were present with the recipients, they gave them a command.
    • The command was that if anyone is unwilling to work, he should not eat either.
11. 3:11
    • The writers hear that some among the recipients live in an unruly, undisciplined way.
    • Those people do no work at all.
    • Those people meddle in others' affairs.
12. 3:12
    • The writers command and urge such people.
    • The command and urging are given by the Lord Jesus Christ.
    • The instruction is that they work quietly.
    • The instruction is that they eat their own bread.
13. 3:13
    • The recipients, addressed as brothers, are told not to grow weary in doing good.
14. 3:14
    • A condition is set: if anyone does not obey the writers' word given through this letter.
    • In that case, the recipients are to take note of that man.
    • The recipients are not to associate with him.
    • The purpose is that he may be put to shame.
15. 3:15
    • The recipients are not to regard him as an enemy.
    • The recipients are to warn him as a brother.
16. 3:16
    • The writer asks that the Lord of peace himself give the recipients peace.
    • That peace is asked for at all times and in every way.
    • The writer asks that the Lord be with all of the recipients.
17. 3:17
    • The greeting is written in Paul's own hand.
    • This handwriting is the mark in every letter Paul sends.
    • Paul states that this is how he writes.
18. 3:18
    • The writer asks that the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with all of the recipients.
    • The letter closes with Amen.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

3:1

"Brethren" translates a Greek word for fellow members of the community that covers both men and women, which is why the rendering says "brothers and sisters." "Have free course" is 1611 English for running freely or unhindered, the image of a runner on a clear track or water in an open channel. "Be glorified" here means be held in honor, spoken well of, rather than made to shine.

3:2

The KJV's "all men have not faith" is older word order for "not all men have faith." It does not mean that no one has faith. "Unreasonable" translates a Greek word meaning literally "out of place," so improper or perverse in behavior, not illogical in argument.

3:3

"Stablish" is simply an older form of "establish," here in its sense of making firm or strengthening. "Keep you from evil" is genuinely ambiguous in Greek: the phrase can mean "from the evil one," that is, a personal adversary, or "from what is evil" in general. Both readings have been defended since antiquity.

3:4

"Touching you" is 1611 English for "concerning you" or "about you." It has nothing to do with physical touch.

3:5

The Greek phrase translated "the patient waiting for Christ" is open to more than one reading. It can mean the steady endurance that Christ himself showed, or the endurance that belongs to those who follow him, or waiting patiently for his return. The KJV chose the last; most modern translations choose one of the first two.

3:6

"Walketh disorderly" translates a Greek word drawn from military life, describing a soldier out of rank or a unit that will not keep formation. Applied to a person it means undisciplined and out of step, and in this letter it points specifically at people who have stopped working. "Withdraw yourselves" means keep your distance socially, not expel from the community; verse 15 makes the limit explicit. "Tradition" translates a word meaning something handed on from one person to the next, here the teaching Paul delivered in person, not custom in the modern sense of old habit.

3:8

"Any man's bread" means anyone's food or meals generally. "For nought" means without paying for it, free of charge. "Travail" here is hard toil, not childbirth. "Chargeable to any of you" means a financial burden on you, someone you had to support. Paul worked a trade while teaching rather than accept the maintenance a traveling teacher could normally expect.

3:9

"Power" translates a Greek word meaning right or entitlement rather than strength. The claim is that Paul was entitled to be supported by the congregation and chose not to use that entitlement. "Ensample" is an older form of "example," a pattern to be copied.

3:10

The rule turns on being unwilling rather than unable: the Greek says "if anyone is not willing to work." It is aimed at people who refuse available work, not at those who cannot work.

3:11

There is a pun in the Greek that English cannot easily carry. The words for "working" and for "being busybodies" come from the same root, so the line runs roughly "not busy, just busybodies." A "busybody" in 1611 English means someone who meddles in other people's affairs.

3:12

"With quietness" means calmly and without commotion, settling down to ordinary life. "Eat their own bread" means earn the food they eat rather than live off others.

3:14

"Note that man" means mark him out, take formal notice of him, not write something down about him. "Have no company with him" means do not mix socially with him. The stated purpose is shame that leads to a change, and verse 15 rules out treating him as an enemy.

3:15

"Admonish" means to warn or correct someone directly, in a way that expects them to listen. It is what you do to a person still counted as one of your own.

3:16

"By all means" here carries its older sense of "in every way" or "in every circumstance." It is not the modern phrase meaning "certainly, go ahead."

3:17

Letters in this period were usually dictated to a trained scribe, with the sender adding a closing greeting in his own handwriting. That handwriting served as the signature and proof of authenticity. The point matters here because the same letter warns earlier about a letter circulating as if it came from Paul when it did not.

3:18

"Grace" translates a Greek word for a favor or gift given freely to someone who has not earned it and cannot repay it. "Amen" is a Hebrew word carried over untranslated, meaning roughly "so be it" or "this is true," said to agree with what has just been spoken.