Albert Barnes Commentary 2 Thessalonians 3

Second Thessalonians Chapter 3

Analysis of the Chapter.

This chapter is made up of exhortations and directions regarding the performance of various Christian duties.

1. The apostle asks for their prayers (2 Thessalonians 3:1–2). He desires them to pray particularly that the true religion might be prospered, and that in preaching the gospel, he might be delivered from the opposition of unreasonable and wicked men.

2. He expresses confidence that God would incline them to do what was right, and prays that God would keep their hearts in His love, and in patient waiting for the Savior (2 Thessalonians 3:3–5).

3. He commands them to remove from their number those who are disorderly, and especially those who are idle. He also addresses an earnest exhortation to this group, that they should be diligently engaged in the work of their appropriate callings (2 Thessalonians 3:6–12).

4. He exhorts them not to grow weary in doing good (2 Thessalonians 3:13).

5. He directs that if anyone does not obey the commands given in this epistle, that person should be noted, and the believers are to separate themselves from him. Yet, they are not to regard him as an enemy but to admonish him as a brother (2 Thessalonians 3:14–15).

6. The epistle closes with the usual salutations (2 Thessalonians 3:16–18).

Finally, brethren, pray for us. That is, for Paul, Silas, and Timothy, then engaged in arduous labors at Corinth. This request for the prayers of Christians is one Paul often makes (see Barnes on 1 Thessalonians 5:25).

That the word of the Lord may have free course. This refers to the gospel. The margin reads run, which is also the sense of the Greek.

The idea is that it might meet no obstruction but be carried abroad with the speed of a racer whose path is clear of every hindrance. The gospel would spread rapidly throughout the earth if all the obstructions people have placed in its way were removed; therefore, praying for their removal should be a constant subject of prayer.

And be glorified. Be honored; or appear to be glorious.

As it is with you. It is evident from this that Paul met with some obstructions in preaching the gospel where he was then laboring.

He mentions what these obstructions were in the next verse. He was then at Corinth (see the Introduction), and the history in the Acts of the Apostles informs us of the difficulties he had to encounter there (see Acts 18).

And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men. That is, from opposition in their endeavors to spread the gospel. Paul encountered such men everywhere, as all do who labor to diffuse the knowledge of the truth, but it is probable that there is particular reference here to the opposition which he encountered when in Corinth. This opposition arose mainly from the Jews. (See Acts 18:5-6, 12-13).

The word unreasonable is rendered in the margin "absurd." The Greek word (atopov) means properly, out of place; then absurd, unusual, strange; then improper, unreasonable, wicked. It is rendered in Luke 23:41, amiss; in Acts 28:6, harm. It does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament. It refers here to men who acted amiss or improperly; men who were not found in the right place, or who did not have the right views of things; and probably does not refer so much to their being positively wicked or malicious, as to their putting things out of their proper place.

They gave an undue prominence to certain things, and less importance to others than they deserved. They had a distorted vision of the value of objects, and in tenacious adherence to their own views, and prosecuting their own objects to the exclusion of all others, they presented a constant obstruction to the true gospel.

This word would apply, and probably was designed to be applied, to Jewish teachers who gave an undue prominence to the laws of Moses; but it will apply well to all who entertain distorted views of the relative importance of objects, and who put things out of their place.

Men often have a hobby. They give more importance to some object than it deserves. They, therefore, undervalue other objects; press their own with improper zeal; denounce others who do not feel the same interest in them which they do; withdraw from those who will not go with them in their views; form separate parties, and thus throw themselves in the way of all who are endeavoring to do good in some other method. It was from men who thus put themselves out of place that the apostle prayed to be delivered.

And wicked men. Men with bad aims and purposes. It is not always true that those who would come under the appellation of what the apostle here calls "unreasonable" are wicked. They are sometimes well-meaning but misguided men. But in this case, it seems, they were men of bad character, who were at heart opposed to what was good, as well as inclined to put things out of their place.

For all men have not faith. Of the truth of this, no one can doubt. The only question is as to its bearing on the case before us. Some suppose it means, "there are few men whom we can safely trust;" others, that it means that they do not have that "upright and candid disposition which would engage men to receive the testimony of the apostle" (Doddridge); others, that "all men do not embrace the Christian faith, but many oppose it" (Benson); and others, that "all men do not believe, but the worthy only" (Bloomfield).

The connection seems to require us to understand it as meaning that all men are not prepared to embrace the gospel. Hence they set themselves against it, and from such men Paul prayed that he might be delivered. (Compare to 2 Timothy 3:8).

The state of mind in which the apostle was when he wrote this seems to have been this: He recollected the readiness with which the Thessalonians had embraced the gospel and the firmness with which they held it, and seems to suppose that they would imagine the same thing must be found true everywhere. But he says all men do not have the same faith; all were not prepared cordially and fully to embrace the gospel. There were unreasonable and wicked men whom he had encountered, from whom he prayed that he might be delivered.

But the Lord is faithful. Though people cannot be trusted, God is faithful to his promises and his purposes. He can always be confided in; and when people are unbelieving, perverse, unkind, and inclined to do us wrong, we can go to him, and we will always find in him one in whom we can confide.

This is an exceedingly interesting declaration, and is a beautiful illustration of the resource that a truly pious mind will feel it has. We often have occasion to know, to our sorrow, that all men have not faith. We witness their infidelity. We see how they turn away from the truth.

We see many who once gave some evidence that they had faith abandon it all; and we see many in the church who seem to have no true faith and who refuse to lend their aid in promoting the cause of religion. In such circumstances, the heart is inclined to despond, and to ask whether religion can be advanced in the midst of so much indifference and opposition?

At such times, how consoling is it to be able to turn, as Paul did, to one who is faithful, who never fails us, and who will certainly accomplish his benevolent purposes. People may be faithless and false, but God never is. They may refuse to embrace the gospel and set themselves against it, but God will not abandon his great purposes.

Many who are in the church may forget their solemn and sacred vows and may show no fidelity to the cause of their Savior, but God himself will never abandon that cause. To a pious mind it affords unspeakably more consolation to reflect that a faithful God is the Friend of the cause which we love, than it would if all people, both in and out of the church, were its friends.

Who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil. (See the notes on John 17:16).

Compare with the notes on Ephesians 6:16.

The allusion is to the Evil One, or Satan, and the meaning is that God would keep them from his wiles.

And we have confidence in the Lord. Not primarily in you, for you have hearts like others, but in the Lord. It is remarkable that when Paul expresses the utmost confidence in Christians that they will live and act as befits their profession, his reliance is not on anything in themselves, but wholly on the faithfulness of God. He must be a stranger to the human heart who puts much confidence in it even in its best state (Philippians 1:6; Philippians 4:7; 2 Timothy 1:12).

Compare to Jude 1:24; Revelation 3:10; Proverbs 28:26.

And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God. So direct your hearts that you may love God.

And into the patient waiting for Christ. The marginal reading is patience of Christ. This reading is in accordance with the Greek and seems best to express the apostle's meaning.

The prayer of the apostle was that they might have the love of God in their hearts and "the patience of Christ;" that is, the same patience which Christ demonstrated in His trials.

They were then suffering affliction and persecution. They needed patience so that they might endure their trials in a proper manner.

It was natural for the apostle to refer them to the Savior, the great example of patience, and to pray that they might have the same patience He had. That it does not mean that they were to wait patiently for the appearing of Christ, as our translation seems to imply, is quite clear, because the apostle had just been showing them that He would not appear until after a long series of events had occurred.