Deeper Reflection
BEING “TAUGHT BY GOD TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER” (V.9), the Thessalonians were practising love intensively (1 Thess 1:3) and extensively (v.10a). But in exhorting them “to do this more and more” in “brotherly love” (vv.9-10b), Paul highlights an area where they failed in love: failing “to mind your own business and work with your hands” (v.11, NIV). Paul is referring to a group in the church whom he later identifies as “the idle” (1 Thess 5:14),²³ who were not working to support themselves.These Thessalonians stopped working because of their mistaken belief that Christ would return within the near future.²⁴ This is alluded to by Paul addressing the issue both directly before (v.11) and after (1 Thess 5:14) his explicit teaching on Christ’s Second Coming (1 Thess 4:13-18; 5:1-11).²⁵ And in this context, these Thessalonians misunderstood that “brotherly love” (v.9) entailed being supported by their brethren.²⁶ Paul’s argument is: To work for one’s own living is a mark of love, because one does not need to depend on the support of fellow believers (v. 12) while giving up work deliberately is a breach of love and becoming a parasite on the church.²⁷For these slack Thessalonians, living eschatologically means to stop living everyday life normally and responsibly. There is no distinction between the sacred and the secular. Praying in a closet is no more sacred or spiritual than talking with God about your work at your computer. God is to be the centre of everything in our lives, for we are to glorify God even in eating and drinking (1 Cor 10:31).

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²³ John R. W. Stott, 87 ²⁴ John R. W. Stott, 88 ²⁵ G. K. Beale, 128 ²⁶ G. K. Beale, 128 ²⁷ John R. W. Stott, 88