2 Thessalonians 3:6-15

6. Charge that idlers be required to become industrious or be disowned, 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15.

When the apostle first came to Thessalonica he gave an example of manual labour, and gave special charge to his converts to be models of industry. This charge was made necessary, evidently, from the fact that some of his converts were from among the class of idlers, and needed the most stringent instruction that to be a Christian was to be a faithful performer of every secular and industrial duty. Yet as the gospel opened the hearts of the wealthier portion to liberal charities, the temptation became strong, after Paul’s departure, for the idler to avail himself of these means of support in idleness. The apostle, therefore, in his first epistle, (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12,) gave them a gentle admonition. This failing, he now, in the most authoritative style, requires that these brethren correct or be disowned. He recalls his own example and previous precepts, and concludes with this solemn direct appeal to them.

Many standard commentators, as Olshausen, Lunemann, and Alford, maintain that the expectation of the immediate advent was the main cause of this idleness. But the only ground for such a supposition is the fact of the coexistence of the two things, namely, the expectation and the idleness. There is not one syllable in either epistle that connects the two things as cause and effect. On the contrary, the whole aspect of the case is the reverse. The idleness existed previous to the existence of the expectation. Paul exerted example and precept, at his first appearance among them, against it. In the first epistle the excitement of expectation had not risen, and yet the idleness existed. Nor does the quality of this idleness suit the expectation of an immediate advent. It was not a solemn giving over of business, and attending exclusively to religions exercises; nor even an overdone religious dissipation; but a lounging and gadding spirit of meddlesome gossip, impudently devouring the charities of the Church. Nor does St. Paul refer to the palpable inconsistency of such a spirit and conduct with the expectation of the immediate judgment, but grounds his solemn charge on the very nature of Christian duty, as if purposing to place honest secular industry permanent and regular attention to business among the cardinal virtues of Christianity.

Two periods of excitement in expectation of the advent on a specified day are memorable in American religious history. In the latter of these, which occurred within our own memory, there was an intense religious excitement, but no relaxation of business, and no increase of secular idleness. The evangelical Churches, especially those most exposed to the excitement, received large accessions of converts, followed by an immense diminution the year following. In a former generation in New England, under the preaching of an eloquent divine, named Austin, a day was fixed and a great excitement rose. The appointed day happened, in fact, to be characterized by a great darkness. The Legislature of Connecticut, it is said, was in session, and its members were in no little commotion. But the presiding officer addressed them substantially in the following terms: “Let us keep order, gentlemen; the judgment-day can find us in no better business than the discharge of our regular duties.”