2 Thessalonians 3:10Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Notice how he reasons in the first Epistle. There he speaks about this somewhat more gently, for example when he says: "We urge you, brethren, to abound more and more, and to aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you" (1 Thess 4:10-11). Nowhere does he say to them, "we command." Nor does he add, "in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ," which inspired fear and pointed to danger. Rather he says, "to abound" and "to aspire." This was fitting for one who exhorted them to lead a virtuous life. "That you may walk properly," he says (1 Thess 4:12).

"With you" (προς υμάς) stands in place of "among you" (μετ' υμών). In the first epistle the Apostle discusses this indulgently, but here more strictly. For if he himself labored day and night, though he had no need, then all the more should others have done so.

First of all, therefore, we must show that the blessed Apostle Paul wanted the servants of God to perform bodily labor aimed at a great spiritual reward. Thus they would receive neither food nor clothing from anyone, but would obtain them by their own hands. Then we must show that those evangelical commandments, from which some foster not only their laziness but also their pride, do not contradict the apostolic precept and the apostolic example. Let us therefore see from what words the Apostle passes to the words, "If anyone will not work, neither let him eat," and what he adds afterward. In this way the saying will become clear from the very context of the statement. What can be said about this, if by his own example he taught what he commanded?

If you needed a word, we spoke. If a letter was needed, we wrote that whoever does not wish to work should not eat.

We are not writing anything new to you, but what we taught from the beginning. The Apostle said, "let him not eat," not to those who give, but to those who live in idleness. A few words later he advises those who give not to look at the bad conduct, but to show the generosity proper to them.

Let everyone who comes to you in the name of the Lord be received. Then, after testing him, you will know him, for you must have discernment and distinguish right from left. If the one who comes is a traveler, help him as much as you can. But he must not remain with you more than two days, or, if necessary, three. If, being a craftsman, he wishes to settle among you, let him work and eat. But if he does not know a craft, consider and take care to arrange matters so that a Christian does not live idly among you. If he does not wish to conform to this, he is a Christ-peddler. Keep away from such people.

And you, young men of the Church, strive to serve in all needs without laziness. Attend to your own tasks with all honesty, so that throughout your whole life you may provide for yourselves and for those in distress. Thus you will not burden the Church of God with yourselves. So also we, though occupied with the word of the Gospel, are not careless about work. Some of us are fishermen, others sew tents, and others are farmers, so that we may never be idle. Solomon says in one place: "Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways and be wise. She has no commander, overseer, or ruler, yet she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food at harvest" (Prov 6:6-8). Or go to the bee and learn how industrious she is, and what honorable work she produces.

Someone may perhaps say: who is able to think constantly about God and eternal blessedness, when all people must care for food, clothing, and household order? But God does not command us to reject care for the present life. Through the Apostle He commanded, "If anyone will not work, neither let him eat." The same Apostle also says of himself: "We worked with labor and toil night and day, that we might not burden any of you" (2 Thess 3:8). If neither stinginess nor greed, the usual servants of sensual pleasure, is joined to this care, which the Lord has especially commanded, then every labor and every concern must truly be counted righteous. Only let these occupations not grow so great that we have no time left for piety, for it is written: "The burdens of the world have made them wretched." The source of this quotation is unknown.

"If anyone will not work, neither let him eat." Man, created according to the image of God (Gen 1:27), is born on earth so that, as in a school where life's difficulties are his trials, he may perfect his soul (Mt 5:48). He must conquer negative inclinations within himself (Job 5:7) and strive toward the likeness of God, as St. Gregory of Nyssa teaches. At the same time we must labor morally, intellectually, and physically, and by labor secure our own existence. This truth is confirmed not only by Holy Scripture, but also by psychological, moral, physiological, economic, and other considerations. Labor is not a punishment to which the Lord condemned man for sin (Gen 3:19). It is the necessary condition of our development, health, and morality. Therefore idleness is always criminal precisely because it acts destructively upon the human soul: let the idle man not eat bread.

Compare 1 Thess. 4:10-11.

But what if someone is rich and has no need of his own personal labor? Even for such people the apostolic commandment concerning labor remains binding. For in the person of our forefather Adam, the Lord appointed the whole human race to eat its bread in the sweat of its face. Only the forms of labor differ endlessly. To some there falls simple physical labor; to others, intellectual and scholarly labor; to others, official and civic labor. To others there falls the free labor of love for the benefit of their neighbors in all the fields just mentioned, and so forth. In any case, only the one who labors in one way or another has the lawful right to eat bread, whether he is poor or rich. According to the Apostle, there is no reason to feed idlers and loafers with bread.

The disorderly brethren had a second motive for living decently in the precise commandment given personally by the Apostle himself. An example could still be misinterpreted, but a direct commandment was binding and removed every possibility of evasion. The commandment imposed a duty. The example disposed them to fulfill it, showing the way and leading them as along a road already laid out. Both together ought to have acted victoriously for the correction of a disposition that had previously been wrongly directed. The Apostle uses both. The example is strong, and the commandment is set forth in a very strict tone: "If anyone will not work, neither let him eat." He means this: there is no reason to feed such a man with bread. He loses, as it were, the right to partake of food.