1 Thessalonians 4:11

“and that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your hands, even as we charged you”

“Study”: To be fond of honor, that is, emulous (eager or earnest to do something): to labor, strive, study. “Endeavour to live quietly” (Mof). “To be ambitious, to aspire, to strive” (Hendriksen p. 105). “Quiet”: "Seek strenuously to be still. It denotes tranquility of life. Paul is very anxious to recall them to. balanced outlook. If the Lord were coming soon, then the best way for them to be found was doing their ordinary work” (Morris p. 133). “The idleness of the Thessalonians was apparently accompanied by. feverish excitement” (Stott p. 89-90). Barclay notes, “The best way in which Jesus Christ could come upon them was that He should find them quietly, efficiently and diligently doing their daily job. It is not hysterical and useless waiting but quiet and useful work” (p. 233). “Do your own business”: Evidently some will not accept this instruction (2 Thessalonians 3:11). “To have the habit of attending to their own affairs. It is amazing how much wisdom people have about other people's affairs and so little interest in their own” (Robertson p. 30). “To work with your hands”: “The Greeks were. restless people, often given to intermeddling in the business of other people” (Fields pp. 110-111). “Fanatics, busybodies, and loafers, nearly every church has them! Often one and the same person is all three” (Hendriksen p. 105). “It was the Greeks who despised manual work as degrading to free men and fit only for slaves. Christianity came into direct collision with this view. Paul the tentmaker reinforced the example of Jesus the carpenter and gave dignity to all honest human labor (2 Thessalonians 3:8; Ephesians 4:28)” (Stott p. 90).

Notice how this section follows the section on brotherly love. “It is an expression of love to support others who are in need, but it is also an expression of love to support ourselves” (Stott p. 90). Stott also notes that these "non-workers", are called "disorderly" (2 Thessalonians 3:6). “In classical Greek this word was applied to an army in disarray, and to undisciplined soldiers who either broke rank instead of marching properly or were insubordinate. He also pointed out that the same Greek word is found in Egyptian papyri, with the meaning to "play truant" (p. 87).