Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Thessalonians 3:11

"For we hear of some that walk among you disorderly, that work not at all, but are busybodies." — 2 Thessalonians 3:11 (ASV)

For we hear — This phrase explains why Paul addresses this topic. Previously, he had only been giving instructions without stating his reasons. News had undoubtedly been brought back by those who delivered his first letter.

Walk among you disorderly — This is a direct repetition of the phrase from 2 Thessalonians 3:6. It is not the same as saying “some among you walk disorderly,” because the phrase “among you” suggests the vague and various directions taken by these aimless people as they went from house to house and workshop to workshop.

Working not at all, but are busybodies — This phrase explains the nature of their disorderly conduct, as we would have gathered from 2 Thessalonians 3:10. There is a scornful play on words in the Greek that is lost in the English translation. The word for “busybodies” is simply a compound form of the word for “working.”

Literally, the compound means “working enough and to spare,” “being overbusy,” or “overdoing.” Since a person cannot truly overdo their own proper duties, the term came to mean one of two things:

1. Doing useless things that concern no one and might as well be left alone (for instance, the magic described by this word in Acts 19:19, or the natural science in the Athenians’ accusation of Socrates).
2. Meddling in matters that do not concern the doer but do concern other people, as it is used in 1 Timothy 5:13.

Professor Lightfoot suggests (in On a Fresh Revision, page 59; compare to page xviii, 2nd edition) that the wordplay can be preserved by using the English words “business” and “busy.” We could perhaps say they were “not being business-men, but busybodies.” However, it is uncertain which of these two meanings is more prominent here.

The Thessalonians do not seem to have been greatly tempted by the first type of danger—idle speculations, like those in the Colossian or Ephesian churches. Yet we cannot entirely exclude this meaning. Paul's readers had been overly preoccupied with theorizing about the status of the dead at Christ's coming (1 Thessalonians 4:15). They had been so eager about their idle doctrines of the Advent that they misrepresented, if not actually forged, communications from Paul (2 Thessalonians 2:2). Such false inquisitiveness and gossiping discussions could well be described by this Greek word.

However, everything points to a more practical form of this tendency to mask idleness with a cloak of activity. This took the form of a feverish excitement that led people to meddle and interfere with others. They perhaps spent time in “religious” work that should have been dedicated to their everyday duties (see 1 Thessalonians 4:11–12). While there is nothing to show definitively how this busy idleness arose, it may very probably be the result of the shaken and troubled state of mind mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 2:2.