2 Thessalonians 3:3-18

3 But the Lord is faithful, who shall establish you and keep [you] from evil.

4 But we trust in the Lord as to you, that the things which we enjoin, ye both do and will do.

5 But the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patience of the Christ.

6 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.

7 For ye know yourselves how ye ought to imitate us, because we have not walked disorderly among you;

8 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:

9 not that we have not the right, but that we might give ourselves as an example to you, in order to your imitating us.

10 For also when we were with you we enjoined you this, that if any man does not like to work, neither let him eat.

11 For we hear that [there are] some walking among you disorderly, not working at all, but busybodies.

12 Now such we enjoin and exhort in [the] Lord Jesus Christ, that working quietly they eat their own bread.

13 But *ye*, brethren, do not faint in well-doing.

14 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;

15 and do not esteem him as an enemy, but admonish [him] as a brother.

16 But the Lord of peace himself give you peace continually in every way. The Lord [be] with you all.

17 The salutation by the hand of me, Paul, which is [the] mark in every letter; so I write.

18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ [be] with you all.

2 Thessalonians 3:3-18 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or perhaps 'the evil one.'
• [b]. As 'directions,' 1Cor. 11.2.
• [c]. Or 'shrink from,' 'avoid;' only occurs here and 2Cor. 8.20. Not as 'withdraw,' 2Tim. 2.19.
• [d]. Meddling in others' affairs.