1 Thessalonians 4:11
And that sye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;
And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;
καὶ φιλοτιμεῖσθαι ἡσυχάζειν, καὶ πράσσειν τὰ ἴδια, καὶ ἐργάζεσθαι ταῖς ἰδίαις χερσὶν ὑμῶν, καθὼς ὑμῖν παρηγγείλαμεν·
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1 Corinthians 7:20 Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.
1 Corinthians 7:24 Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.
1 Peter 4:15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters.
Acts 20:34 Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me.
Ephesians 4:28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.
1 Timothy 5:13 And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.
2 Thessalonians 3:7 For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you;
2 Thessalonians 3:10-3:12 10. For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. 11. For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. 12. Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.
1 Thessalonians 2:9 For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail: for labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God.
he exhorts to quietness, and yet to be diligent; and probably he might see this needful, either by what he himself had observed amongst them, or by what he had heard of them, as appears by what he writes in his Second Epistle, 2Th 3:10,11. To be quiet is to be of a peaceable temper and carriage, as the Greek word ησυχαζειν importeth both; and stands contrary to strife, contention, division, either upon a civil or religious account. And to
because the thing may be difficult, especially in some circumstances of times, places, and persons. And the Greek word φιλοτιμεισθαι implies an ambitious study. Quietness we should pursue with a holy ambition, as that which is honourable to ourselves and our profession, Pro 20:3. The same word is used 2Co 5:9, where it is rendered we labour, & c. Study is properly the exercise of the mind, yet it here comprehends any kind of labour. This agrees with what the apostle elsewhere exhorteth to, Heb 12:14: see 1Pe 3:11.
he next commendeth to them diligence, and that in our own business; and this he prescribeth as a good way for quietness, contentions often arising from meddling in the affairs of other men which concern us not; for which he rebukes some in this church, 2Th 3:11. But yet only to seek our own things is a great fault, and lamented by the apostle, Php 2:21. We are to concern ourselves in the affairs of others when called to it, and not otherwise; and then we may reckon them among our own things. A Christian’s calling is either general or particular, and what falls not within the compass of one of these, is to be accounted not our own business.
And our doing and suffering ought to be kept within the sphere of our calling; for to suffer otherwise, is to suffer as busybodies, which the apostle cautions against, 1Pe 4:15; as a bishop intruding himself into another’s office, to which the word there alludes.
this condemneth idleness, and living out of a calling; we are not only to keep within our own sphere, but to stretch forth our hands to work. The same precept he gives to the Ephesians, Eph 4:28, not to steal, but to work with their hands, that they may not only eat their own bread, 2Th 3:12, but have to give to him that lacketh.
Not that there is no other work but that of the hands; the ministers of the gospel are excused from that, 1Co 9:6, but not from work; there is the work of the head, and the tongue, and the foot, and the lungs, as well as of the hands; but either under one species he comprehends all, or it may be he fitteth his speech to the condition of the people to whom he writes, who generally had such occupations wherein they wrought with their hands, Thessalonica being a great place of trade.
And the apostle speaks of the churches of Macedonia as a poor sort of people, 2Co 8:2, and liberal beyond their power; though some among them might be tempted to idleness by the charity of others to them, which, as some conceive, was the occasion of the apostle’s thus writing. But if men have estates, and upon that account need not work, yet no man is to be idle: men’s time, parts, or other talents are to be employed, and account thereof is to be given, Mat 25:19; and the unprofitable servant is cast into outer darkness, Mat 25:30. Some way or other every man is to work, and may work, for profit to himself and others, unless under some invincible impediment.
he means, when he was with them. He might probably observe some occasion for this commandment. Industry is of good report with all; and by meddling in others’ affairs, and unquiet carriage and idleness, they might dishonour their Christian profession among the heathen, which might be the chief reason of this commandment: and the apostle doth not act herein as a civil magistrate, commanding about civil affairs for the public welfare; but as a minister of Christ, with respect to a spiritual end, as appears by what follows.