I. THE APOSTLE'S EXAMPLE. "For we were not disorderly among you, nor did we eat bread for nought from any one, but in toil and weariness, working night and day." Though there were rich people in the Church, he accepted no gift from them, but laboured at his craft assiduously to earn a living for himself.

1. His refusal of support from his converts did not invalidate his right to it. "Not because we have not authority" - an authority which he fully expounds in 1 Corinthians 9. - for "the labourer is worthy of his hire," and has he not "a right to forbear working"?

2. It was based upon a supreme regard to Thessalonian interests.

(1) "That we might not be a burden to any one of you,"

(2) and "that we might give ourselves for a pattern unto you to imitate us." The apostle had evidently in view the extravagances of conduct that were beginning at an early period to spring from misunderstandings respecting the time of the Lord's coming. He was not ashamed of his handicraft. No Christian man ought ever to be ashamed of honest labour.

II. THE APOSTLE'S INJUNCTION TO THE DISORDERLY. "For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any one will not work, neither let him eat."

1. This does not apply to those who cannot work, but to those who will not. The command does not touch cases of charity.

2. It is a command based on the original law of Eden. "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread" (Genesis 3:19). Work is a Divine order, not repealed by Christianity but lifted up to higher blessing and dignity. The idle man ought, therefore, to be allowed to suffer the effects of his idleness.

3. It is a command which, when obeyed, will introduce tranquillity into life, and at the same time conduce to an honest self-respect. "That working with quietness they eat their own bread."

(1) They would thus be eating their own bread, not the bread earned by others' toil, nor that reserved by the same toil for the use of the really destitute and poor.

(2) They would thus carry more quietness into their own lives as well as those of their neighbours, for there would be no time for intermeddling with other people's concerns. We should live "quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty" (1 Timothy 2:2). - T.C.

Paul relinquished his right to support, that he might set a much needed example of industry- Let us consider —

I. EXAMPLE IN RESPECT OF OTHER THINGS WHICH HAVE GREAT INFLUENCE ON CONDUCT.

1. Advice is persuasive, but example more so. Let a man advise his friend contrary to his own conduct, and his friend will imitate his conduct and reject his advice.

2. Authority is great, but example is greater. A parent's habits have more force than his precepts.

3. The law of the land is not equal to the law of example. Written law must yield to common law, and common law is only immemorial example.

II. THE FORCE OF EXAMPLE ON THE VARIOUS STAGES OF LIFE.

1. Children are wholly subject to it.

2. Youths, thrown into the society of men, immediately assume the airs and manners of men, have their own leaders, and follow them.

3. Men aim at distinguishing themselves, but can only do so by imitating the distinguished in every department of active or studious life.

4. Old men both set and follow examples.

III. THE INFLUENCE OF EXAMPLE ON HUMAN SOCIETIES.

1. A family is a small but important society; and here it is not so much what parents command or others advise as what everybody does, that forms the characters and manners of children. Take a child from one family (although a foreign one), and place him in another, and he will more resemble that in which he was brought up than that in which he was born.

2. If you go into a little neighbourhood, parish, or town, you will find a similarity in their manners and customs which can be due to nothing but the force of example.

3. If we consider the peculiarities in national characters, we must ascribe them to the same. A nation takes its character from the stock from which it originates.

IV. EXAMPLE GOVERNS ALL THE MODES OF HUMAN CONDUCT.

1. The modes of speaking, reading, writing, vary according to the practice of the best instructors.

2. The higher branches are subject to the same sovereign authority. Sometimes mathematics, sometimes metaphysics, sometimes fine arts are in fashion; and each of these is principally cultivated according to the example of those who reign in the republic of letters.

3. Example governs the various modes of building. Different nations, states, towns, and even villages, commonly construct their houses in a different manner.

4. Example fixes the various degrees of reputation which belong to various stations and employments. Among the Jews it was reputable to labour in any of the mechanic arts. To cultivate the soil was honourable among the Romans. Elsewhere manual labour is thought a degradation.

5. The same law applies to the affairs of government. A single nation follows some great general or politician, and one nation treads in the steps of another.

6. So even in religion. The peculiarities and ceremonies of each took their origin from the opinion and practice of one or a few; and when a sect is formed, example preserves its existence and its peculiarities. Take the Friends, for examples.

7. Modes of mourning and rejoicing take their rise from the same cause. Savage nations mourn and rejoice according to nature; polished nations according to art.

8. In dress, modes of living, and diversion, example reigns alone and supreme. Example commands the French always to change, and forbids the Spaniards ever to alter.

V. THE IMPROVEMENT. We learn from the great influence of example —

1. Why parents are so unsuccessful in the education of their children. They defeat their instructions and corrections by their examples.

2. Why it is so difficult for any not to deviate from the path of virtue. It was through example that so many of the good men of the Bible went astray.

3. The importance of avoiding bad company.

4. That no man can live in the world without doing good or hurt to others.

5. The account which great and influential men will have to give for their use of example.

6. How easy it is to effect a reformation. A few can do it anywhere by a good example.

(W. Emmons, D. D.)

Felix Neff, pastor of the High Alps, finding his people miserably poor, through ignorance of the proper methods of agriculture, endeavoured in vain to persuade them to a change. At length, having himself a garden at Queyros, he determined to plant it with potatoes. They watched him planting in the way he had recommended to them, and ridiculed what they were sure was a waste of labour. But when the gathering time came, and they saw him turning up plants with sixty tubercles, they begged that he would teach them next season to do the same.

(J. F. B. Tinting, B. A.)

During the siege of Sebastopol, Gordon was one day going the round of the trenches when he heard an angry altercation between a corporal and a sapper. On examining the cause, he learned that the men were instructed to place some gabions on the battery, and that the corporal had ordered the sapper to stand on the parapet, where he would be exposed to the enemy's fire, and to place the gabions, while he, perfectly sheltered, handed them up from below. Gordon at once jumped on the parapet, ordering the corporal to join him, while the sapper handed them the gabions. When the work was done, and done under the fire of watchful Russian gunners, Gordon turned to the corporal and said, "Never order a man to do what you are afraid to do yourself."

(Life of General Gordon.)

Paul, ThessaloniansThessalonicaAuthority, Claim, Conduct, Desire, Ensample, Example, Follow, Imitate, Imitating, Model, Offer, Order, Ourselves, Pattern, Power1. Paul craves their prayers for himself;
3. testifies what confidence he has in them;
5. makes request to God in their behalf;
6. gives them various precepts, especially to shun idleness, and ill company;
16. and then concludes with prayer and salutation.

2 Thessalonians 3:9

     8115   discipleship, nature of

2 Thessalonians 3:6-9

     5109   Paul, apostle

2 Thessalonians 3:6-15

     5343   idleness

2 Thessalonians 3:7-9

     8449   imitating

2 Thessalonians 3:7-12

     5629   work, ordained by God

The Lord of Peace and the Peace of the Lord
'Now the Lord of Peace Himself give you peace always, by all means. The Lord be with you all.'--2 THESS. iii. 16. We have reached here the last of the brief outbursts of prayer which characterise this letter, and bear witness to the Apostle's affection for his Thessalonian converts. It is the deepening of the ordinary Jewish formula of meeting and parting. We find that, in most of his letters, the Apostle begins with wishing 'grace and peace,' and closes with an echo of the wish. 'Peace be unto …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Love and Peace.
"The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patience of Christ."--2 THESS. iii. 5, R.V. "The Lord of peace Himself give you peace always by all means."--2 THESS. iii. 16. It is striking to note the number of prayers in these two short Epistles to Thessalonica. They are probably the earliest of the Apostle's writings, and the frequency of his prayers is a significant testimony to his thought for his converts and their needs. Hardly less striking is the variety of the prayers, …
W. H. Griffith Thomas—The Prayers of St. Paul

The Waiting Christ.
WAITING for the coming of the Lord is one of the blessed characteristics of true Christianity. In the parable of the ten virgins the three great marks of a true believer are stated by our Lord. These are: Separation, indicated by the virgins having gone forth. Manifestation, they had lamps, which are for the giving of light, and Expectation, they went forth to meet the Bridegroom. With five of them it was only an outward profession. The foolish virgins are the type of such who are Christians …
Arno Gaebelein—The Lord of Glory

The Patience of Christ.
"BUT the Lord direct your hearts into the Love of God and into the Patience of Christ" (2 Thess. iii:5). With these words Paul exhorted the Thessalonian believers. They had many trials and difficulties. They suffered persecutions and were troubled. False alarms had affected their patience of hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. The inspired exhortation puts before their hearts the Patience of Christ. Comfort and joy, encouragement and peace, would surely come to their hearts and strengthen them, if they …
Arno Gaebelein—The Lord of Glory

Thy Bidding, Holy Brother Aurelius, it was Meet that I Should Comply Withal...
1. Thy bidding, holy brother Aurelius, it was meet that I should comply withal, with so much the more devotion, by how much the more it became clear unto me Who, out of thee, did speak that bidding. For our Lord Jesus Christ, dwelling in thine inner part, and inspiring into thee a solicitude of fatherly and brotherly charity, whether our sons and brothers the monks, who neglect to obey blessed Paul the Apostle, when he saith, "If any will not work, neither let him eat," [2476] are to have that license …
St. Augustine—Of the Work of Monks.

These Things, My Brother Aurelius, Most Dear unto Me...
38. These things, my brother Aurelius, most dear unto me, and in the bowels of Christ to be venerated, so far as He hath bestowed on me the ability Who through thee commanded me to do it, touching work of Monks, I have not delayed to write; making this my chief care, lest good brethren obeying apostolic precepts, should by lazy and disobedient be called even prevaricators from the Gospel: that they which work not, may at the least account them which do work to be better than themselves without doubt. …
St. Augustine—Of the Work of Monks.

But when He Might Use to Work, that Is...
15. But when he might use to work, that is, in what spaces of time, that he might not be hindered from preaching the Gospel, who can make out? Though, truly, that he wrought at hours of both day and night himself hath not left untold. [2518] Yet these men truly, who as though very full of business and occupation inquire about the time of working, what do they? Have they from Jerusalem round about even to Illyricum filled the lands with the Gospel? [2519] or whatever of barbarian nations hath remained …
St. Augustine—Of the Work of Monks.

For He Himself Also, with an Eye to the Like Necessities of Saints...
16. For he himself also, with an eye to the like necessities of saints, who, although they obey his precepts, "that with silence they work and eat their own bread," may yet from many causes stand in need of somewhat by way of supplement to the like sustenance, therefore, after he had thus said, teaching and premonishing, "Now them which are such we command and beseech in our Lord Jesus Christ, that with silence they work and eat their own bread;" [2521] yet, lest they which had whereof they might …
St. Augustine—Of the Work of Monks.

First Then we Ought to Demonstrate that the Blessed Apostle Paul Willed the Servants...
4. First then we ought to demonstrate that the blessed Apostle Paul willed the servants of God to work corporal works which should have as their end a great spiritual reward, for this purpose that they should need food and clothing of no man, but with their own hands should procure these for themselves: then, to show that those evangelical precepts from which some cherish not only their sloth but even arrogance, are not contrary to the Apostolical precept and example. Let us see then whence the Apostle …
St. Augustine—Of the Work of Monks.

Ascetic.
(i) Of the works comprised under this head, the first are the three compositions entitled Tractatus Prævii. The first, Prævia Institutio ascetica ('Asketike prodiatuposis ), is an exhortation to enlistment in the sacred warfare; the second, on renunciation of the world and spiritual perfection, is the Sermo asceticus (logos asketikos). The third, Sermo de ascetica disciplina (logos peri askeseos, pos dei kosmheisthai ton monachon), treats of the virtues to be exhibited in the life …
Basil—Basil: Letters and Select Works

But He Speaks More Openly in the Rest which He Subjoins...
9. But he speaks more openly in the rest which he subjoins, and altogether removes all causes of doubting. "If we unto you," saith he, "have sown spiritual things, is it a great matter if we shall reap your carnal things?" What are the spiritual things which he sowed, but the word and mystery of the sacrament of the kingdom of heaven? And what the carnal things which he saith he had a right to reap, but these temporal things which are indulged to the life and indigency of the flesh? These however …
St. Augustine—Of the Work of Monks.

Fifteenth Lesson. If Two Agree
If two agree;' Or, The Power of United Prayer Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my Name, there am I in the midst of them.--Matt. xviii. 19, 20. ONE of the first lessons of our Lord in His school of prayer was: Not to be seen of men. Enter thy inner chamber; be alone with the Father. When He has thus taught us that the …
Andrew Murray—With Christ in the School of Prayer

There Also is Said at what Work the Apostle Wrought. ...
22. There also is said at what work the Apostle wrought. "After these things," it says, "he departed from Athens and came to Corinth; and having found a certain Jew, by name Aquila, of Pontus by birth, lately come from Italy, and Priscilla his wife, because that Claudius had ordered all Jews to depart from Rome, he came unto them, and because he was of the same craft he abode with them, doing work: for they were tent-makers." [2549] This if they shall essay to interpret allegorically, they show what …
St. Augustine—Of the Work of Monks.

Paul a Pattern of Prayer
"Go and inquire for one called Saul of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth."--ACTS ix. 11. "For this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting."--1 TIM. i. 16. God took His own Son, and made Him our Example and our Pattern. It sometimes is as if the power of Christ's example is lost in the thought that He, in whom is no sin, is not man as we are. Our Lord took Paul, a man …
Andrew Murray—The Ministry of Intercession

Secondly, for Thy Words.
1. Remember, that thou must answer for every idle word, that in multiloquy, the wisest man shall overshoot himself. Avoid, therefore, all tedious and idle talk, from which seldom arises comfort, many times repentance: especially beware of rash answers, when the tongue outruns the mind. The word was thine whilst thou didst keep it in; it is another's as soon as it is out. O the shame, when a man's own tongue shall be produced a witness, to the confusion of his own face! Let, then, thy words be few, …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

We are not Binding Heavy Burdens and Laying them Upon Your Shoulders...
37. We are not binding heavy burdens and laying them upon your shoulders, while we with a finger will not touch them. Seek out, and acknowledge the labor of our occupations, and in some of us the infirmities of our bodies also, and in the Churches which we serve, that custom now grown up, that they do not suffer us to have time ourselves for those works to which we exhort you. For though we might say, "Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? Who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the …
St. Augustine—Of the Work of Monks.

The Beginning of the New Testament
[Illustration: (drop cap T) Coin of Thessalonica] Turn to the list of books given in the beginning of your New Testament. You will see that first come the four Gospels, or glimpses of the Saviour's life given by four different writers. Then follows the Acts of the Apostles, and, lastly, after the twenty-one epistles, the volume ends with the Revelation. Now this is not the order in which the books were written--they are only arranged like this for our convenience. The first words of the New Testament …
Mildred Duff—The Bible in its Making

The Clergyman and the Prayer Book.
Dear pages of ancestral prayer, Illumined all with Scripture gold, In you we seem the faith to share Of saints and seers of old. Whene'er in worship's blissful hour The Pastor lends your heart a voice, Let his own spirit feel your power, And answer, and rejoice. In the present chapter I deal a little with the spirit and work of the Clergyman in his ministration of the ordered Services of the Church, reserving the work of the Pulpit for later treatment. THE PRAYER BOOK NOT PERFECT BUT INESTIMABLE. …
Handley C. G. Moule—To My Younger Brethren

Letter ii (A. D. 1126) to the Monk Adam
To the Monk Adam [3] 1. If you remain yet in that spirit of charity which I either knew or believed to be with you formerly, you would certainly feel the condemnation with which charity must regard the scandal which you have given to the weak. For charity would not offend charity, nor scorn when it feels itself offended. For it cannot deny itself, nor be divided against itself. Its function is rather to draw together things divided; and it is far from dividing those that are joined. Now, if that …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux

How those that are at Variance and those that are at Peace are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 23.) Differently to be admonished are those that are at variance and those that are at peace. For those that are at variance are to be admonished to know most certainly that, in whatever virtues they may abound, they can by no means become spiritual if they neglect becoming united to their neighbours by concord. For it is written, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace (Gal. v. 22). He then that has no care to keep peace refuses to bear the fruit of the Spirit. Hence Paul …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

Christian Behavior
Being the fruits of true Christianity: Teaching husbands, wives, parents, children, masters, servants, etc., how to walk so as to please God. With a word of direction to all backsliders. Advertisement by the Editor This valuable practical treatise, was first published as a pocket volume about the year 1674, soon after the author's final release from his long and dangerous imprisonment. It is evident from the concluding paragraph that he considered his liberty and even his life to be still in a very …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

The Fourth Commandment
Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day and hallowed it. Exod 20: 8-11. This …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

Perseverance of Saints.
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 1. It is said that the natural tendency of this doctrine condemns it; that it tends to beget and foster a carnal presumption in a life of sin, on the part of those who think themselves saints. There is, I reply, a broad and obvious distinction between the abuse of a good thing or doctrine, and its natural tendency. The legitimate tendency of a thing or doctrine may be good, and yet it may be abused and perverted. This is true of the atonement, and the offer of pardon through …
Charles Grandison Finney—Systematic Theology

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