“…when we were with you, we commanded you this: IF ANYONE WILL NOT WORK, NEITHER SHALL HE EAT. For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies. Now those who are such we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread. But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good. And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and DO NOT KEEP COMPANY WITH HIM, that he may be ashamed. Yet DO NOT COUNT HIM AS AN ENEMY BUT ADMONISH HIM AS A BROTHER. Now may the Lord of peace Himself GIVE YOU PEACE ALWAYS IN EVERY WAY. The Lord be with you all.” (2 Thessalonians 3:10-16)
Paul instructs the Thessalonian church about how it should treat an unrepentant idle member. He refers to that person as someone who DOES NOT OBEY what he has written in 2 Thessalonians. Because the content of that letter was inspired by the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16), it carried full authority. Paul commands the faithful believers to clearly identify a disobedient, idle person, and WITHHOLD SOCIAL CONTACT FROM HIM until he repented and quit being idle. This seems to imply a less-severe form of rejection than what Paul prescribed for profound sin in 1 Corinthians 5, where he said, “In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, DELIVER SUCH A ONE TO SATAN for the destruction of the flesh, that HIS SPIRIT MAY BE SAVED in the day of the Lord Jesus.” (1 Corinthians 5:4-5)
Your Personal Pastor -Bill Stockham