Deeper Reflection
THREE GROUPS OF PEOPLE WERE DISTURBING THE Thessalonian church: persecutors (2 Thess 1), false teachers (2 Thess 2) and idlers (2 Thess 3). In both Thessalonian letters, Paul uses three similar words to identify the “idlers” in the church: “the idle [ataktos]” (1 Thess 5:14), “walk in idleness [ataktōs]” (2 Thess 3:6, 11), and Paul as the contrast, “we were not idle [atakteō]” (2 Thess 3:7). Paul uses the term four times, and only in 1 and 2 Thessalonians. This suggests that idleness was a serious problem among the Thessalonians. As to the meaning of the term, “outside Christianity, in relation to work, its emphasis is ‘not in the first instance…on sloth but rather on the irresponsible attitude to the obligation to work’”⁹.Paul dealt with this pastoral problem in four progressive steps. Apparently, the problem was there when he was in Thessalonica and he addressed it, as indicated in his exhortation in 1 Thessalonians 4: “work with your hands, as we instructed you” (v.11). This was the first step. It seems that after he had left Thessalonica, he learned that nothing had changed. So, the second step: In his first letter to them, “we urge you… to work with your hands” (vv.10b-11). And the third step: To ensure that his instruction is followed, he rallied the discipleship community to help: “admonish the idle” (1 Thess 5:14). Still nothing had changed. And so the fourth step: Church discipline – “keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness” (2 Thess 3:6). We see here a portrait of grace and discipline in community discipleship.

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⁹John R. W. Stott, The Message of Thessalonians, The Bible Speaks Today (IVP, 1991), 87-88