2 Thessalonians 3:10

For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(10) For even.—The sequence of thought is a little difficult, but it seems best to regard this “for” as connecting its sentence, not with 2Thessalonians 3:9, but rather with 2Thessalonians 3:6. It does not give the reason why St. Paul and his companions worked: “because we strictly enjoined you to work, and therefore could not be idle ourselves.” Rather, it justifies the reiteration of the command: “We do not hesitate to command you now to repress this disorderly conduct, so contrary to the example set you; for, in fact, when we were with you we used to lay down this law.” So Theodoret takes it: “It is no new thing that we write to you.”

We commanded.—The tense in the original is that of constant re-assertion, which brings out once more the thorough grounding which the Apostles gave at once to their converts. (See Note on 2Thessalonians 3:6 : “the tradition;” also the Note on 2Thessalonians 2:5.) The same definite precept is referred to in 1Thessalonians 4:11.

If any would not work.—The word “would” stands for “is not willing,” “refuses.” To any weakness or incapacity for work, except in himself, St. Paul would be very tender; the vice consists in the defective will. The canon (in the original) is laid down in the pointed form of some old Roman law like those of the Twelve Tables: “If any man choose not to work, neither let him eat.” It does not mean, “let him leave off eating,” putting it to the man’s own conscience to see the necessary connection between the two things (Genesis 3:19); but, “let him not be fed.” The Thessalonians are not to be misled into a false charity: giving food in Christ’s name to persons who are capable of working and able to get work, and are too indolent to do so. The support which is here forbidden to be given to these disorderly persons might come either direct from the private liberality of individuals, or from some collected church fund administered by the deacons. It does not seem at all impossible that this Thessalonian Church, which St. Paul himself declares to have taken the churches of Judaea for a model (1Thessalonians 2:14), may have copied its model in adopting some form of communism, or, at any rate, some extensive use of the agapè which we see to have been in use at Corinth, established by the Apostle at the very time of writing this Letter (1Corinthians 11:21). Such a supposition would give much more point to St. Paul’s canon, as well as to other phrases in both these Epistles, and would enable us to understand better how this discipline could be actively enforced. That the ordinary agape was a matter of considerable importance to the poorer classes is evident from 1Corinthians 11:22.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

3:6-15 Those who have received the gospel, are to live according to the gospel. Such as could work, and would not, were not to be maintained in idleness. Christianity is not to countenance slothfulness, which would consume what is meant to encourage the industrious, and to support the sick and afflicted. Industry in our callings as men, is a duty required by our calling as Christians. But some expected to be maintained in idleness, and indulged a curious and conceited temper. They meddled with the concerns of others, and did much harm. It is a great error and abuse of religion, to make it a cloak for idleness or any other sin. The servant who waits for the coming of his Lord aright, must be working as his Lord has commanded. If we are idle, the devil and a corrupt heart will soon find us somewhat to do. The mind of man is a busy thing; if it is not employed in doing good, it will be doing evil. It is an excellent, but rare union, to be active in our own business, yet quiet as to other people's. If any refused to labour with quietness, they were to note him with censure, and to separate from his company, yet they were to seek his good by loving admonitions. The Lords is with you while you are with him. Hold on your way, and hold on to the end. We must never give over, or tire in our work. It will be time enough to rest when we come to heaven.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For even when we were with you, this we commanded you - It would seem from this that the evil of which the apostle here complains had begun to operate even when he was with them. There were those who were disposed to be idle, and who needed the solemn command of an apostle to induce them to labor.

That if any would not work, neither should he eat - That is, at the public expense. They should not be supported by the church. This was a maxim among the Jews (see Wetstein, in loc.), and the same sentiment may be found in Homer, Demosthenes, and Pythagoras; see Grotius, in loc. The maxim is founded in obvious justice, and is in accordance with the great law under which our Creator has placed us; Genesis 3:19. That law, in the circumstances, was benevolent, and it should be our aim to carry it out in reference to ourselves and to others. The law here laid down by the apostle extends to all who are able to work for a living, and who will not do it, and binds us not to contribute to their support if they will not labor for it. It should be regarded as extending:

(1) to the members of a church - who, though poor, should not be supported by their brethren, unless they are willing to work in any way they can for their own maintenance.

(2) to those who beg from door to door, who should never be assisted unless they are willing to do all they can do for their own support. No one can be justified in assisting a lazy man. In no possible circumstances are we to contribute to foster indolence. A man might as properly help to maintain open vice.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

10. For even—Translate, "For also." We not only set you the example, but gave a positive "command."

commanded—Greek imperfect, "We were commanding"; we kept charge of you.

would not work—Greek, "is unwilling to work." Bengel makes this to be the argument: not that such a one is to have his food withdrawn from him by others; but he proves from the necessity of eating the necessity of working; using this pleasantry, Let him who will not work show himself an angel, that is, do without food as the angels do (but since he cannot do without food, then he ought to be not unwilling to work). It seems to me simpler to take it as a punishment of the idle. Paul often quotes good adages current among the people, stamping them with inspired approval. In the Hebrew, "Bereshith Rabba," the same saying is found; and in the book Zeror, "He who will not work before the sabbath, must not eat on the sabbath."

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The words contain a reason, as the illative for imports; but what it refers to is uncertain; most probably a further reason of the apostle’s working with his hands, because when with them he left this command,

that if any would not work, neither should he eat; he would therefore practise himself what he commanded them, and not be thought to be as the Pharisees, binding heavy burdens upon others, and he not touch them himself. And this is another of the commandments which the apostle gave them, which he declared his confidence that they would do, 2 Thessalonians 3:4. And this command seems grounded upon the law given to Adam: In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, Genesis 3:19. For when he recommends a practice not directly grounded upon some word of God, or of Christ, or from infallible inspiration, he calls it a permission, as 1 Corinthians 7:6; but when otherwise, he saith: I command, yet not I, but the Lord, 1 Corinthians 7:10; and calls it the commandment of the Lord, 1 Corinthians 14:37. And this in the text is not his alone, but the Lord’s, and is elsewhere mentioned, as Ephesians 4:28: Let him that stole steal no more, but work with his hands, & c.: see 1 Corinthians 7:20. God requires it of us as men, that we may be profitable in the commonwealth, supply our own wants and of those that depend upon us, and have wherewith also to supply the wants of the poor, Ephesians 4:28, to be kept from the temptations of idleness. Christianity doth not extinguish the profitable laws of nature or nations. Yet this general command admits limitations; if men have ability and opportunity to work, or if the ends of working are not otherwise supplied. For he that lives out of the reason of the law seems not bound by the law; or if the work be mental, and not manual, the law is fulfilled; and the equity of the law reacheth all men so far, as that none ought to be idle and useless in the world. And the apostle’s argument for it in the text is cogent from nature itself; agreeably to that of Solomon, Proverbs 16:26: He that laboureth laboureth for himself, for his mouth craveth it of him. Whereupon some judge these believing Thessalonians to be generally a people that lived by some handicraft trade, or some other manual labour. And the eating here intended is meant of relief from the stock and charge of the church: such should not be relieved who would not work, as it is in the text; who could, but would not, the fault being in the will.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For even when we were with you,.... At Thessalonica in person, and first preached the Gospel to them,

we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat; the Ethiopic version reads in the singular number, "when I was with you, I commanded you"; using the above words, which were a sort of a proverb with the Jews, and is frequently used by them, , or , "that if a man would not work, he should not eat" (q). And again (r),

"he that labours on the evening of the sabbath (or on weekdays), he shall eat on the sabbath day; and he who does not labour on the evening of the sabbath, from whence shall he eat (or what right and authority has he to eat) on the sabbath day?''

Not he that could not work through weakness, bodily diseases, or old age, the necessities of such are to be distributed to, and they are to be taken care of, and provided with the necessaries of life by the officers of the church; but those that can work, and will not, ought to starve, for any assistance that should be given them by the members of the church, or the officers of it.

(q) Bereshit Rabba, sect. 14. fol. 13. 1. Echa Rabbati, fol. 48. 4. & Midrash Koholet, fol. 65. 4. (r) T. Bab. Avoda Zara, fol. 3. 1.

Geneva Study Bible

For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, {c} neither should he eat.

(c) What will we do then with those fat lazy monks, and sacrificing priests? A monk (says Socrates, book eight, of his Tripartite History) who does not work with hands, is like a thief.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

2 Thessalonians 3:10. A further reason, along with the example of the apostle, which should preserve them from ἀτάκτως περιπατεῖν.

γάρ] co-ordinate with the γάρ in 2 Thessalonians 3:7. καί cannot serve to bring out ὅτε ἦμεν πρὸς ὑμᾶς (so Hofmann), so that it would be explained, with Theodoret: Οὐδὲν καινὸν ὑμῖν γράφομεν, ἀλλʼ ἅπερ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὑμᾶς ἐδιδάξαμεν. For ὅτε ἦμεν πρὸς ὑμᾶς is no new additional idea, but only again resumes what was at least already implied in 2 Thessalonians 3:7-8. Καί must accordingly be taken with τοῦτο παρηγγέλλομεν ὑμῖν, and the emphasis lies on τοῦτο, which is placed first. The meaning is: for even when we were with you, this we commanded you.

τοῦτο] namely, what follows: ὅτι εἴ τις κ.τ.λ.

εἴ τις οὐ θέλει ἐργάζεσθαι, μηδὲ ἐσθιέτω] was a Jewish proverb; see Schoettgen and Wetstein in loco. It has its root in the expression in Genesis 3:19, that man in the sweat of his brow shall eat his bread.

οὐ θέλει] Bengel: Nolle vitium est.

Expositor's Greek Testament

2 Thessalonians 3:10. Precept as well as example (DC[36], ii. 2). As is perhaps implied in ὅτι, εἰ … ἐσθιέτω is a maxim quoted by the apostle, not from some unwritten saying of Jesus (Resch) but from the Jewish counterparts, based on Genesis 3:19, which are cited by Wetstein, especially Beresch. rabba, xiv. 12: “ut, si non laborat, non manducet”. Cf. Carlyle’s Chartism, chap. iii (“In all ways it needs, especially in these times, to be proclaimed aloud that for the idle man there is no place in this England … he that will not work according to his faculty, let him perish according to his necessity”). The use of ἐν Κυρίῳ here and in 1 Corinthians 11:11 (cf. Matthew 19:4 f.) proves, as Titius argues (der Paulinismus unter dem Gesichtspunkt der Seligkeit, 1900, p. 105), that the original divine ideas of the Creation are fulfilled and realised in the light of Christ’s gospel; the entire process of human life culminates in the faith of Christ, and therefore no unqualified antithesis can be drawn between ordinary life and Christian conduct.

[36]CG Hastings’ Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels (1907–1908)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

10. For even when we were with you, this we commanded you] Better, For also: St Paul’s present charge on the subject repeats and reinforces what he said in his oral teaching; this we used to charge you—same verb as in 2 Thessalonians 3:4; 2 Thessalonians 3:6 (see note), and same tense as in ch. 2 Thessalonians 2:5 (“I was wont to tell you”), and 1 Thessalonians 3:4 (see note). To this original “charge” the Apostle referred in 1 Thessalonians 4:11, touching the same point; it formed part of “the tradition” which he and his fellow-missionaries “delivered” to the Thessalonians (2 Thessalonians 3:6, ch. 2 Thessalonians 2:15).

that if any would not work, neither should he eat] In the Greek this is put vividly in direct narration: If any will not work, neither let him eat. A stem, but necessary and merciful rule, the neglect of which makes charity demoralising. But this law of St Paul’s touches the idle rich, as well as the poor; it makes that a discredit which one hears spoken of as if it were a privilege and the mark of a gentleman,—to “live upon one’s means,” to live without settled occupation and service to the community—“natus consumere fruges.”

The form of the Greek implies in this case a positive refusal to labour: the man wont work (Latin nonvult operari). Then it is God’s law that he shall starve.

Bengel's Gnomen

2 Thessalonians 3:10. Ὅτε, when) They had already seen the necessity of this commandment among the Thessalonians.—ἔι τις οὐ θέλει, if any will not) To be unwilling is a fault.—μηδὲ ἐσθιέτω, let him not eat) An Enthymeme.[25] Supply, But every man eats: therefore let every man labour. Paul does not mean, that such a man should have his food immediately withdrawn from him by others; but he proves from the necessity of eating the necessity of labouring, by throwing out this pleasantry, let such a one show himself as an angel.[26] There is a similar Enthymeme at 1 Corinthians 11:6.[27]

[25] This is the oratorical Enthymeme, wherein the argument is confirmed from its contrary. The logical Enthymeme is a covert syllogism.—ED.

[26] i.e. Let him do without food, as the angels do.—ED.

[27] “If the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn” (But she is not shorn; therefore let her be covered).—ED.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 10. - For even when we were with you; during our residence in Thessalonica. This we commanded, that if any man would not work, neither should he eat. This or similar expressions have been shown to be a proverb in frequent use among the Jews. Thus: "Whoever doth not work doth not eat" ('Bereshith Rabba'); "Let not him who would not labour before the sabbath eat on the sabbath" ('In Lib. Zenon.'). It is a law of nature, and the apostle here sanctions it as a law of Christianity. There is here a reference to the sentence pronounced on man in Paradise in consequence of disobedience: "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread" (Genesis 3:19). Labour, indeed, may in one point of view be considered as part of the curse, but it is also a blessing adapted to man's fallen nature. Labour is the law of God; idleness is the parent of many crimes and is productive of misery. He who has no business allotted to him ought to choose some useful occupation for himself. 2 Thessalonians 3:10

Vincent's Word Studies

If any would not work, etc.

A Jewish proverb.