2 Thessalonians 3:6
Now we command you, brethren, kin the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye lwithdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after mthe tradition which he received of us.
Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.
Παραγγέλλομεν δὲ ὑμῖν, ἀδελφοί, ἐν ὀνόματι τοῦ Κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, στέλλεσθαι ὑμᾶς ἀπὸ παντὸς ἀδελφοῦ ἀτάκτως περιπατοῦντος, καὶ μὴ κατὰ τὴν παράδοσιν ἣν παρέλαβε παρ᾽ ἡμῶν.
Textual key: no entry
k:
1 Corinthians 5:4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Acts 3:6 Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.
2 Thessalonians 3:12 Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.
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2 Thessalonians 3:14 And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed.
2 Thessalonians 3:15 Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.
2 Thessalonians 3:11 For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.
1 Timothy 6:5 Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.
Romans 16:17 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.
2 Timothy 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
1 Thessalonians 5:14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.
1 Thessalonians 4:11 And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;
Titus 3:10 A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject;
2 John 1:8 Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.
2 John 1:9 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.
2 John 1:10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:
1 Corinthians 5:9 I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:
1 Corinthians 5:11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.
1 Corinthians 5:13 But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.
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2 Thessalonians 2:15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.
Here the apostle proceeds to a discourse of another kind, which is about their carriage to disorderly members in the church. And having before declared his confidence, 2Th 3:4, that they did and would do the things he commanded them, he now tells them what he commands; and because either it is a matter of great importance, or that which’they would be backward in, he therefore speaks with great vehemence. When he spake in the former Epistle, 1Th 5:14, of warning the unruly, he then spake with greater mildness:
We exhort you, brethren, & c.; but now to withdraw from them is a harsher duty; or they having first warned them, if they reform not, next they are to proceed to withdraw from them. And this he now commands as that which he supposeth they might be backward to. παραγγελλομεν the word properly signifies a command conveyed from another, so the apostle commands here
Though he had authority to command as an apostle, yet it was derived to him from Christ, and therefore he usually conjoins Christ with his exhortations and commands.
or avoid, as the word signifies, and is so rendered, 2Co 8:20. The word is used also, Gal 2:12, of Peter’s withdrawing himself from eating with the Gentiles; and rendered drawing back, Heb 10:38, alluding, as some think, there to a soldier that draws back from the battle; but here in the text to a mariner that steers his ship from the rocks; and so it implies the danger of not withdrawing, which may be the reason of the apostle’s so solemn command about it. And it is not from a heathen man, but a brother, one that is of the church; and it is every brother, let him be rich or poor, high or low, &c.; as he writes to the Corinthians, 1Co 5:11: If any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, & c.
alluding, as some think, to soldiers who keep not their rank, not walking according to rule, or, as he expresseth it,
What is to be meant by tradition, is explained in the former chapter. And he cannot be understood to speak here of rites and ceremonies relating to church worship or order, as some imagine; the apostle doth in the following verses explain himself otherwise. But what is this withdrawing?
Is it excommunication, the greater or the less? In a general sense it may be so called, for it is an abstaining from commnnion; but it is not so properly, for that is called putting away a person, a purging out the old leaven, 1Co 5:7, this is only a withdrawing from him; much less is it a delivering up to Satan, which the apostle required, 1Co 5:5, and himself inflicted upon Hymeneus and Alexander, 1Ti 1:20. The nature of the crime here mentioned will not bear that. It was not incest or blasphemy, as in the former instances, but only disorderly walking, which he specifies afterwards. And with respect to such the apostle required in the former Epistle warning only: Warn the unruly.
And though this is something more, yet it implies not a casting a man out of the church, which is Christ’s visible kingdom, into Satan’s kingdom, for he is still to be admonished as a brother, as 2Th 3:15. And excommunication is the exerting an act of church power, as 1Co 5:4, whereof no mention is made here; or of an absolute rejection, which is elsewhere required, Tit 3:10. It seems then to be only a withdrawing from familiar converse and society, as 1Co 5:11: If any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, covetous, &c.; with such an one no not to eat; alluding to the custom of the Jews, who would not eat with the Gentiles; and by eating is expressed communion in Scripture, and profane writers also. And such communion is forbidden to such a brother, which the apostle allowed them to have with such sinners that were of the world, and not of the church, as 2Th 3:10, which cannot be meant of sacred communion. And familiarity with such a brother would harden him in his sins, and reflect dishonour upon religion, and endanger their infection, more than with a pagan, or infidel: which therefore the apostle forbids them to a brother, as he did the Corinthians mentioned before, as also the Romans, Rom 16:17. And which may be a step towards excommunication from spiritual communion, which is the greater punishment, especially if the brother be not hereby made ashamed, and reform his course, and doth not only now and then do a disorderly action, but
and that after warning also. Others think it is meant of excommunication, and judge not the reason against it to be cogent.