In 2Thessalonians 3:6 Paul tells his readers to withdraw from brethren who walk disorderly, and the reason he offers is that he gave them an example to follow, saying specifically: “we did not act disorderly among you” (2Thessalonians 3:7).[1] Therefore, it seems logical that, if we understood how Paul and those with him acted when they were in Thessalonica, we would clearly understand what he meant by brethren acting disorderly (G814) in 2Thessalonians 3:6. Most Biblical critics, today, seem to believe that these folks stopped working in the marketplace and depended upon their brethren to support them. However, I don’t think this understanding is supported in the text, once it is compared with other parts of Scripture and remembering that one must not force the word of God to contradict itself (John 10:35).
First of all, if the word, disorderly (G814), meant some folks literally stopped laboring for the necessities of life with the expectation that others would support them, how should we understand 1Thessalonians 4:11-12? There, Paul commanded believers to strive to be quiet, do their own business and work with their own hands. The problem with understanding this to mean one quite working to support his own physical needs is that Paul mentions these things with reference to those who were “without” or outside the believing community. When Paul arrived in Thessalonica, he didn’t come to a church already there. In other words, if, by walking disorderly (G814), Paul meant not laboring for one’s support, how could those folks who did that expect to be supported by unbelievers and folks ignorant of Christ? If believers, by walking disorderly (G814), could not expect unbelievers to offer them the necessities of life, why should we force the text to mean the believer who walked disorderly (G814) within the church expected his brethren to support his physical necessities? Such contradiction is illogical. Such an understanding of 2Thessalonians 3:6-8 lacks justification for what Paul said in 1Thessalonians 4:11-12.
An interesting fact about 2Thessalonians 3:8 is that the greater part of the verse is repeated almost exactly in 1Thessalonians 2:9…
…labor and hardship, night and day, working in order not to burden any of you (1Thessanonians 2:9 and 2Thessalonians 3:8). (same English words, same Greek words)
Why would this be important? Paul adds the words: “We preached unto you the Gospel of God” in 1Thessalonians 2:9. Therefore, these words: “labor and hardship, night and day, working in order not to burden any of you” were written in the context of preaching the Gospel, not whether or not one worked in the marketplace to afford the necessities of life.
Moreover, Paul begins 2Thessalonians 2:8 with “Neither did we eat any man’s bread for naught…” which, taken by itself, supports the translator’s understanding that these folks stopped working for the necessities of life. Nevertheless, I believe the verse is translated this way in order to support that understanding. Notice the order of the Greek:
G3761 Nor G1432 naught G740 bread G5315 did we eat (G3844) anyone’s G5100 any
The Greek syntax is different from our own, so we need to translate according to our own reading or speaking order, but we shouldn’t change the words around in order to modify a different word in the text, so as to put a different spin on the translation. The KJV translates: “Neither did we eat any man’s bread for naught…” However, the translators left anyone’s (G3844) out of the English translation and chose the word any (tis, G5100) to modify bread (G740). Now, the bread’s owner is identified, but this is not done in the Greek. Additionally, this is the only place in the Bible where para (G3844) is translated into: any man’s or anyone’s (even though the translators left it out in the English). It is usually translated: side, at, before, above and a few other words, but never any man’s or anyone’s except in 2Thessalonians 3:8. I am not a Greek scholar, but I think the verse could be translated better by saying: “Nor did we eat bread beside (or with) anyone…”
But, what does this tells us? I believe Paul was saying he didn’t eat bread before anyone in the same sense that he wrote in 1Corinthians 11:17-29. There he told the Corinthians that, when they assembled together, it wasn’t for their good, because there were divisions among them (1Corinthians 11:17-18). When this occurred they couldn’t partake of the Lord’s Supper (verse-20), because they expressed division instead of being the one bread they really were (cp. 1Corinthians 10:17). In other words the bread is the body of people, the assembly. As one bread they “are all partakers of that bread,” i.e. they partake of one another in unity. However, if they were divided (if they came together expressing their differences in doctrine etc.) they couldn’t partake of the Lord Supper, which, bread, they were.
According to Paul, the Corinthians each took before their brother in Christ his own supper (i.e. what the Lord gave him), that is, he ate his own bread. Therefore, he was full, but his brother, who may not have been used by the Lord in that way, was hungry, not feeling as close to the Lord as he perceived his brother must be (cp. 1Corinthians 11:21). So, Paul’s words: “Nor did we eat bread beside (or with) anyone…” (2Thessalonians 3:8), taken in the context of 1Corinthians 11:17-29, has to do with partaking of the Lord’s Supper, meaning partaking of one another. Therefore, Paul’s words: “…labor and hardship, night and day, working in order not to burden any of you” (2Thessalonians 3:8), have to do with preaching the Gospel (cp. 1Thessalonians 2:9) without causing his brethren to feel he was less a servant of the Lord than Paul, or that Paul was more important in the Body of Christ than he or she was.
This, of course, doesn’t mean that, because all are equally important to be Body of Christ, that Paul had no authority within that Body, but, rather, he, as one who was great within the Body (cp. Luke 22:25-26), was the servant of all by being an example for all to follow (2Thessalonians 3:9).
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[1] See my previous study on this subject: Avoid the Brother Who Walks Disorderly.
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