RSV ~ 2 Thessalonians 3 Notes

2 Thess 3:1-2 | ISB Notes

Paul requests intercession for the progress of the gospel and the protection of missionaries entrusted with it. It is because Paul lived and worked in the midst of constant danger that he relied on his churches to pray for a safe and successful ministry (Rom 15:30-31; 2 Cor 1:11; 1 Thess 5:25).

2 Thess 3:4 | ISB Notes

which we command: Whether in person (3:10) or in writing (3:6, 12).

2 Thess 3:6-15 | ISB Notes

Paul addresses an embarrassing situation in the Thessalonian Church. Certain believers, perhaps enamored with the idea that Christ could return at any moment, became idlers, who stopped working for a living, freeloaders, who relied on the charity of others to support themselves, and busybodies, who started meddling in the affairs of everyone else. Paul insists they should return to work, earn their own living, and mind their own business (3:12). He urges the Church to get involved in correcting this problem by warning such brothers (3:15) and, if necessary, shunning them if they refuse correction (3:14). See introduction: Purpose and Themes.

2 Thess 3:8 | ISB Notes

toil and labor: Paul and companions supported themselves with a trade or some other form of employment on top of their missionary work. Paul was teaching the Thessalonians by example about the dignity and necessity of human labor (CCC 2427). See notes on 1 Thess 2:9 and 4:11.

2 Thess 3:10 | ISB Notes

when we were … with you: Suggests idleness was already an issue when Paul ministered among them. This is why his earlier letter urges the Church to “admonish the idle” (1 Thess 5:14).

let him not eat: i.e., let him not live off the labor of others without contributing efforts of his own.

• Manual labor aims at obtaining food, removing idleness, curbing fallen desires, and enabling almsgiving. As a means of acquiring food, work is commanded as a precept, so that one who has no other means of livelihood is bound to work. This is signified by the words of the apostle (St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae II-II, 187, 3).

2 Thess 3:14 | ISB Notes

may be ashamed: Disciplinary exclusion from the life and liturgy of the Church would serve (1) to deter others from living or contemplating a life of idleness and (2) to induce repentance from the offenders in the hope of restoring them to full fellowship.

2 Thess 3:17 | ISB Notes

I, Paul, write this: Paul takes up the pen to write the final greeting with his own hand, having dictated the rest of the letter to a secretary. His personal signature and remarks authenticate the epistle as a genuine apostolic work (1 Cor 16:21; Col 4:18). He stresses the point here because the Thessalonians may have received a forged letter that alleged to be from Paul but was not (2 Thess 2:2).

every letter of mine: Implies that Paul was in the habit of sending out letters. The statement strikes many scholars as odd, since the Thessalonian letters are the two earliest NT writings that come from Paul. Some take this as evidence that someone other than the apostle—most likely a later disciple, familiar with the corpus of Pauline epistles—must be the real author of this letter. The argument is ingenious, but it must be remembered that not all of Paul’s correspondence necessarily made its way into the collection of NT books. It is possible that some of his letters were neither canonized nor preserved (see, e.g., 1 Cor 5:9 and Col 4:16). The existence of noncanonical letters written during Paul’s early ministry is not established with certainty, but it cannot be ruled out.