John Calvin Commentary 2 Thessalonians 3

Pray for us. Though the Lord powerfully aided him, and though he surpassed all others in earnestness of prayer, he still does not despise the prayers of believers, by which the Lord intends for us to be aided. It is fitting for us, after his example, to eagerly desire this aid and to encourage our fellow believers to pray for us.

However, when he adds — that the word of God may have its course, he shows that his concern and regard are not so much for himself personally as for the entire Church. For why does he desire to be recommended to the prayers of the Thessalonians? So that the doctrine of the gospel may have its course.

Therefore, his desire is not so much for personal regard as for the glory of God and the common welfare of the Church. Course here means dissemination; glory means something further — that his preaching may have its power and efficacy for renewing people in the image of God. Thus, holiness of life and uprightness on the part of Christians is the glory of the gospel; as, on the other hand, those defame the gospel who profess it with their mouths while meanwhile living in wickedness and immorality. He says — as among you; for this should be a stimulus to the devout, to see all others like them. Thus, those who have already entered into the kingdom of God are exhorted to pray daily that it may come (Matthew 6:10).

That we may be delivered. The old interpreter has translated it, quite aptly in my opinion, as unreasonable. Now, by this term, and also by the one that immediately follows (τῶν πονηρῶν), evil, Paul refers to wicked and treacherous men who lurked in the Church, calling themselves Christians, or at least Jews who, with a fanatical zeal for the law, furiously persecuted the gospel. He knew, however, how much danger threatened them from both these groups.

Chrysostom, however, thinks that this refers only to those who maliciously oppose the gospel with base doctrines—not with weapons of violence, such as Alexander, Hymeneus, and others like them. But for my part, I extend it generally to all kinds of dangers and enemies.

Paul was at that time traveling towards Jerusalem and wrote this during his travels. He had already been divinely forewarned that imprisonments and persecutions awaited him there (Acts 20:23). He means, however, deliverance in the sense that he might emerge victorious, whether by life or by death.

All have not faith. This might be explained to mean, “Faith is not in all.” This expression, however, would be both ambiguous and more obscure. Let us therefore retain Paul’s words, by which he intimates that faith is a gift of God that is too rare to be found in everyone.

God, therefore, calls many who do not come to Him by faith. Many pretend to come to Him, while their hearts are actually very far from Him. Furthermore, Paul does not speak of all people indiscriminately, but merely directs his comments toward those who belong to the Church.

For the Thessalonians saw that very many people detested the faith; indeed, they saw how small the number of believers was. Hence, it would have been unnecessary to say this regarding outsiders; but Paul simply says that not all who make a profession of faith are genuine in that profession.

If you consider all Jews, they appeared to have a closeness to Christ, for they should have recognized Him by means of the Law and the Prophets. Paul, without question, specifically singles out those with whom he would have to deal. Now, it is probable that these were individuals who, while they had the appearance and outward claim of piety, were nevertheless very far from genuine piety. This was the source of the conflict.

To show, therefore, that it was not without good reason that he dreaded conflicts with wicked and perverse men, Paul says that faith is not common to all, because the wicked and reprobate are always mixed with the good, just as tares are with the good wheat (Matthew 13:25).

And we ought to remember this whenever we are troubled by wicked persons who nonetheless want to be considered part of the Christian community—that all men have not faith.

Moreover, when we sometimes hear that the Church is disturbed by base factions, let this serve as our shield against such causes of stumbling. For we will not only harm pious teachers if we doubt their faithfulness whenever domestic enemies harm them, but our own faith will also waver from time to time, unless we keep in mind that among those who boast of being Christians, there are many who are treacherous.

But God is faithful. Since it was possible that their minds, influenced by unfavorable reports, might come to entertain some doubts regarding Paul’s ministry (as he had taught them that faith is not always found in men), he now calls them back to God. He says that God is faithful, to confirm them against all schemes of men by which they will try to shake them.

“They, indeed, are treacherous, but there is in God a support that is abundantly secure, to keep you from giving way.”

He calls the Lord faithful because He adheres to His purpose to the end in maintaining the salvation of His people, timely aids them, and never forsakes them in dangers, as in 1 Corinthians 10:13:

God is faithful, who will not suffer
you to be tried above that you are able to bear.

These words, however, themselves show that Paul was more anxious for others than for himself. Malicious men directed against him the stings of their malignity; its whole violence fell upon him. Meanwhile, he directs all his anxieties toward the Thessalonians, lest this temptation harm them.

The term evil may refer both to the thing (that is, malice) and to the persons of the wicked. I prefer, however, to interpret it as referring to Satan, the head of all the wicked. For it would be a small thing to be delivered from the cunning or violence of men if the Lord did not protect us from all spiritual injury.

We have confidence. By this preface, he prepares the way to give the instruction, which we will find him adding immediately afterward. For the confidence which he says he has concerning them made them much more ready to obey than if he had required obedience from them in a way of doubt or distrust.

He says, however, that this hope, which he cherished concerning them, was founded upon the Lord, since it is His role to bind their hearts to obedience and to keep them in it; or by this expression (as appears to me more probable), he meant to testify that it is not his intention to command anything except by the Lord's commandment.

Here, accordingly, he sets limits for himself regarding commanding, and for them regarding obeying—that it should be only in the Lord. All, therefore, who do not observe this limitation, resort to Paul’s example in vain, intending to bind the Church and subject it to their laws.

Perhaps he also had this in mind, so that the respect due to his apostleship might remain undiminished among the Thessalonians, however much the wicked might attempt to deprive him of the honor that belonged to him; for the prayer which he immediately adds tends toward this goal. For if men’s hearts continue to be directed toward love to God, and patient waiting for Christ, other things will be in a desirable state, and Paul declares that he desires nothing else.

From this it is clear how very far he is from seeking dominion specifically for himself. For he is satisfied if they persevere in love to God and in the hope of Christ’s coming. By following his expression of confidence with prayer, he admonishes us that we must not lessen our eagerness in prayer because we cherish good hope.

However, since he states here concisely the things that he knew to be most necessary for Christians, let everyone endeavor to become proficient in these two things, to the extent that he desires to make progress toward perfection. And, undoubtedly, the love of God cannot reign in us unless brotherly love is also practiced.

Waiting for Christ, on the other hand, teaches us to practice contempt of the world, mortification of the flesh, and endurance of the cross. At the same time, the expression might be explained as meaning the patience of Christ—that which Christ’s doctrine produces in us—but I prefer to understand it as referring to the hope of ultimate redemption.

For this is the only thing that sustains us in the warfare of this present life: that we wait for the Redeemer. Furthermore, this waiting requires patient endurance amid the continual trials of the cross.

He now proceeds to correct a particular fault. Since there were some indolent, and at the same time meddlesome and prattling persons, who, to scrape together a living at the expense of others, wandered from house to house, he forbids encouraging their indolence through indulgence. He teaches that those live in a holy manner who provide for themselves the necessities of life through honorable and useful labor.

And in the first place, he applies the term disorderly persons, not to those who live a dissolute life, or to those whose characters are stained by flagrant crimes, but to indolent and worthless persons who engage in no honorable and useful occupation. For this truly is ἀταξία (disorder)—not considering the purpose for which we were made, and not regulating our life with that end in view. It is only when we live according to the rule prescribed to us by God that this life is properly regulated.

If this order is set aside, nothing but confusion remains in human life. This also should be noted, lest anyone take pleasure in busying himself apart from a legitimate call from God. For God has so structured the lives of people that everyone should exert himself for the benefit of others.

Therefore, he who lives for himself alone, being in no way profitable to the human race—indeed, being a burden to others and giving help to no one—is rightly considered ἄτακτος (disorderly). Hence, Paul declares that such persons must be removed from the community of believers, so that they may not bring dishonor upon the Church.

Now we command you in the name. Erasmus translates it as “by the name,” as if it were an adjuration. While I do not entirely reject this rendering, I am, at the same time, rather of the opinion that the particle in is redundant, as in very many other passages, and that this is in accordance with Hebrew idiom.

Thus, the meaning will be that this commandment should be received with reverence, not as from a mortal man, but as from Christ himself; Chrysostom also explains it in this manner. This withdrawment, however, of which he speaks, relates—not to public excommunication but to private social interaction.

For he simply forbids believers to have any familiar association with drones of this sort, who have no honorable means of livelihood in which they may busy themselves. He says, however, expressly, from every brother, because if they profess to be Christians, they are more intolerable than anyone else, inasmuch as they are, so to speak, the pests and stains of religion.

Not according to the injunction—namely, that which we will find him adding shortly afterward: that food should not be given to the man who refuses to work.

Before coming to this, however, he states what example he has given them personally. For doctrine gains much more credibility and authority when we impose no other burden on others than we take upon ourselves. He now mentions that he himself was engaged in working with his hands night and day, so that he might not be a financial burden to anyone. He had also briefly touched on this point in the preceding Epistle, to which my readers should refer for a fuller explanation.

Regarding his statement that he had not eaten anyone’s bread for nothing, he certainly would not have done this, even if he had not labored with his hands. For what is due by right is not gratuitous, and the value of the labor that teachers expend on behalf of the Church is much greater than the food they receive from it.

But Paul had in mind here inconsiderate people, for not all have enough fairness and judgment to consider what payment is due to ministers of the word. Indeed, such is the stinginess of some that, although they contribute nothing of their own, they envy them their livelihood, as if they were idle men.

He also immediately afterward declares that he waived his right when he refrained from taking any payment, by which he implies that it is much less tolerable for those who do nothing to live on what belongs to others.

When he says that they know how they should imitate, he does not simply mean that his example should be regarded by them as a law. Rather, the meaning is that they knew what they had seen in him that was worthy of imitation; indeed, that the very thing of which he is now speaking had been set before them for imitation.