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The
apostle Paul was having an odd kind of problem with the believers in
Thessalonica. In one manner of speaking they were
over
converted.
So
wrapped up were they in the expectation of an early return of Jesus
from the heavens that they no longer bothered with the “business
as usual” kind of existence. Since the Lord was due to come
just any moment, so they presumed, they had quit their jobs and
ceased all work. After all, if God is going to ring down the curtain
and bring an end to it all, why bother to cultivate the crops,
report to your foreman on Monday morning, or enroll the kids in
school?
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Had
Jesus come all that soon there would have been no problem. But as he
tarried the weeds continued to grow, work around the house piled up,
and stomachs began to growl with hunger. While they were waiting
(and surely it could not be much longer!) it was convenient for them
to live off other believers, whose conversion had not led them to
such a radical change in day-to-day living. They, too, believed in
the Lord’s coming, but they continued to stack up the
firewood, cultivate their crops, and report for work as usual. They
were like the presiding elder of an assembly of divines in New
England when heavy clouds moved in over the area, darkening their
procedures. Some of the clergy cried out that it must surely be the
end of the world, that the Lord Himself is at hand. The elder calmed
his fellows and called for the candles to be lighted. “If the
Lord comes, he assured them, it is just as well that he find us at
work.”
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Such
a problem is intensified if people are inclined toward indolence
anyway, as most of us probably are. I’m always looking for
good excuses to escape some of my inevitable tasks! Some of the
Thessalonians had this problem, and what is a better excuse than the
world’s sudden demise? Why chop wood if nobody will be around
to cram it into the cook stove? Why bother with preparing meals
since we will at any moment be caught up in the air? In the
meantime, if there is a delay tactic on the Lord’s part, we
can always drop in on the Smiths and have a meal with them, and
while we are there we can borrow a leg of lamb, just in case the
Lord keeps postponing the big event. That the situation was
something like this at Thessalonica is evident from what Paul writes
to them in the first letter, which apparently did not have the
effect he intended.
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Williams
renders 1 Thess. 4:11 this way: “Try hard to live quietly, and
mind your own business, and work with your hands, as we told you.”
The Jerusalem Bible puts it: “Make a point of living quietly,
attending to your own business and earning your living, just as we
told you to.” The first letter is filled with teaching about
the second coming, with at least one reference to it in each
chapter. In both letters the point is made that, while Jesus will
indeed come again, they are not to be so disturbed about it as to
make normal living difficult or impossible. “Let no one
mislead you,” he urges, and goes on to assure them that
certain things must take place before the Lord comes, such as the
great rebellion and the appearance of the man of sin. And so in 1
Thess. 5:14 he includes in his list of admonitions:
We
urge you to warn the idle.
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But
Paul goes even further. Not only does he warn against idleness and
indolence, whether they use the second coming as a reason or not,
but he even demands that
If
a man will not work, he shall not eat
(2
Thess. 3:10). He tells them that he himself was an example for them
in this regard, for while in their midst he took on one’s food
without paying his part, even though he had the right to expect them
to provide his necessities (verses 7-8).
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Now
we have the context for this terribly abused passage before us. In 2
Thess. 3:6 he is talking about these people who will not work and
who go around sponging off other people. This violates his own
example as well as his instructions. The
King
James
rendering,
“withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh
disorderly.” is improved upon in other versions, though this
version is clear enough when the entire paragraph is studied. In v.
8 the apostle tells them that he did not “behave disorderly”
in that he worked and was chargeable to no one . Verse 1 identifies
the disorderly as those who “work not at all, but are busy
bodies.”
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Other
versions make verse 6 even clearer. Phillips has it: “Dont
associate with the brother whose life is undisciplined.” and
the
Revised
Standard
puts
it: “keep away from any brother who is living in idleness.”
The
New
English:
“Hold
aloof from every Christian brother who falls into idle habits,”
while Williams gives it as: “Avoid any brother who is living a
lazy life.”
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The
apostle is obviously dealing with a very special problem. Using the
coming of Christ as a reason, some of them no doubt sincerely, a
number had turned to a life of idleness and indolence, which not
only made for an imposition upon others who were poor to start with,
but which also violated the principles and example that Paul had set
before them. Some strong measure had to be applied. So he is telling
the faithful to avoid or hold aloof those who refuse to work and
bear their own load.
When
they come around, don’t let them impose on you, don’t
feed them. Put a hoe or an ax in their hand and let them work for
what they eat.
This
is what he is telling them.
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That
this has no reference to any kind of formal withdrawing of
fellowship is evident by the context. Paul did not want these people
run off. He wanted them to get on the stick and get to work. His
final word on the subject is in 2 Thess. 3:14-15 where he says, “If
anyone refuses to obey our orders in this letter, note that man;
have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed of himself; but
do not consider him an enemy; warn him as a brother.” The
brother who would not heed the apostle’s urgings was to be
kept at bay. They were not to associate with him nor in any way
encourage his prodigality, including turning him away from the door
at mealtime. This might lead the brother to shame and get him back
in line. Paul never really touches upon the subject of excluding
such ones from the fellowship of the congregation, as he does, for
instance, in the case of the fornicator at Corinth. Such idle ones
might well have shown up in the assemblies at Thessalonica, for,
after all, they were suppose to be standing by, waiting for Jesus to
come. The apostle does not deal with this part of the problem,
except to tell the faithful to “warn him as a brother.”
So they kept on treating them as
brothers.
I
can hear one of them say to such an erring one, “Andy, I’ll
be up early plowing in the morning and I surely could use some help.
When the day is over, we’ll have a sack of food ready for you
to take to your family.” Or Mary might invite Ruth over for a
quilting or a cooking spree, after which the spoils would be
divided. But they would avoid them or hold them aloof insofar as
they sought to impose their idle ways upon others.
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So,
the passage isn’t really all that involved, is it? It emerges
in Paul’s writings only because of this sticky problem in that
small, persecuted, poverty-stricken congregation in Thessalonica.
Paul could never have dreamed that his words, “Withdraw
yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly.” would
someday be used as a proof text for “withdrawing fellowship”
from those who veer from this or that doctrinal position, whether in
reference to a divorce, speaking in tongues, importing an organ,
becoming a Mason, conducting a Sunday School, using uninspired
literature, adopting the pastor system, or supporting a TV-radio
program through the treasury of the church.
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It
is common for our bulls of excommunication, those letters of
“disfellowship” that make the rounds, to begin with a
quotation of this passage. “In view of the apostle’s
injunction to withdraw fellowship from all those who walk disorderly
we do here by. . .” may well be the language. Somebody,
sometimes an entire congregation, gets the ax, and 2 Thess. 3:6 is
the proof text. Any person who breaks rank with what might well be
called “Church of Christism” is said to be walking
disorderly and comes under the indictment of 2 Thess. 3:6. Pat Boone
began to “walk disorderly,” not while sipping cocktails
at Hollywood parties, but when he began to speak in tongues. A
congregation is said to be “walking disorderly” when it
invites “liberal” preachers or allows women to conduct
seminars.
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We
have seen that Paul really never said anything about “walking
disorderly” to start with, but something like
living
in idleness.
But
even if we take that term and apply it to some behavior in the
scriptures, which would surely be
disorderly,
if
anything would, it does not necessarily bear any such penalty as we
seek to impose upon 2 Thess. 3:6. Take Gal. 6:7 where Paul refers to
a brother being “overtaken in a trespass,” which is
surely
disorderly
conduct.
But there is no reference to withdrawing from him, but of restoring
him in a spirit of gentleness. There was a great deal at Corinth
that was
disorderly.
such
as taking each other to court and having assemblies that were
confusing and unedifying, but the apostle did not relate this to
withdrawing of fellowship.
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We
all
walk
disorderly in one way or another, just as we are all wrong or
“brothers in error” in one way or another. It is a
matter of intention and the condition of the heart as to how serious
these errors are. What really counts is our faithfulness to Jesus.
If we lift him up in our lives, yielding ourselves to his example
and to the scriptures the best we know how, then our feebleness, our
disorderly moments in act and thought, our errors of judgment and
behavior will be covered by his love and grace. If this is not the
way of it, then we may as well call the whole thing off, for all our
works, even those “done in righteousness,” are for
naught. It is only by his mercy that we are saved, not by
orderliness of doctrine and practice.—Editor