The Apostle had the right not to labor, since he was occupied with a more important task, preaching, and to be fed at the expense of his disciples; however, out of his goodness he labored and fed both himself and those with him, in order to teach this to his disciples as well.
2 Thess. 3:10. For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: if anyone is not willing to work, neither let him eat.
"Among you" (προς υμάς) instead of "with you" (μετ υμών). In the first epistle the apostle discusses this leniently, but here more strictly. For if he himself labored day and night, though he had no need to, then all the more should others have done the same.
2 Thess. 3:11. But we hear that some among you are walking disorderly, not working at all, but being busybodies.
Since our mind is in constant motion, when we do not occupy it with needful matters, it gives itself over to unseemly matters, as was said above, and begins to busy itself with prying into how others live, and from there passes into gossip, idle talk, and empty chatter. Therefore, one ought to labor, working with one's own hands. He who has the strength to work but gives himself over to idleness should not even ask for alms. You will say: I pray and I fast. But that is not the work of the hands. You can have manual labor alongside these things. And if you are negligent in this, you are subject to judgment as a lover of idleness. They will say: why then is the one who teaches not compelled to work? He has a more important and more difficult work, which does not allow him to engage in manual labor. But upon you, a private person, no such obligation rests, and you sin by being negligent about labor.
2 Thess. 3:12. Such people we exhort and urge by our Lord Jesus Christ,
Since he expressed himself more strictly, having said: "we exhort," he again turns to them with greater condescension and says: "we entreat." But through this exhortation it becomes even more weighty and strict.
2 Thess. 3:12. that they, working in quietness, would eat their own bread.
He demands two things from them: as from the disorderly — that they be quiet, and as from the idle — that they work, eating their own bread and not another's. For they ought not to turn their eyes toward the hands of others.
2 Thess. 3:13. But you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good.
See how quickly the fatherly heart was softened — he immediately took pity on them. Withdraw from them, he says, and separate yourselves, but nevertheless do not allow them to starve to death. So then, what will come of this? Surely no one, being confident that I will feed him, will remain idle? It is enough for you to withdraw from him and not embolden him, acting as though you are angry with him. Even if someone after all this does not reform, still do not grow weary of doing good.
2 Thess. 3:14. If anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person.
Some read: "our word" (λόγω ημών), with the letter ή, which is why they understood it thus: if anyone does not obey my word, Paul's, as if spoken through this epistle, mark that person and treat him as one excommunicated. But Saint John read: "your" (υμών) and gave us to understand this passage thus: if anyone does not obey us who speak to him that which you have learned through this my epistle.
2 Thess. 3:14. and do not associate with him, so as to put him to shame.
You see what benefit there is from his being excommunicated? It is precisely a shaming. For if it is shameful simply to receive, then how much more so if they give to him after excommunication. In ancient times, excommunication was considered a great punishment, but nowadays it is not regarded as such. For if one had to shun a person who simply did nothing, then how much more so others.
2 Thess. 3:15. But do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.
Just as above, having said "let him who does not work not eat," the apostle feared that such people might perish entirely from hunger, and therefore added, "but you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good," so now, having said "do not associate with him," he feared that this might completely separate him from the brotherhood, as one who has despaired of himself. Therefore he also added, "yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother." And after the giving of aid, he commands to admonish him, not to insult him, so that he might receive benefit both for the body and for the soul. He who admonishes a brother does not openly display his grievance; on the contrary, he does it privately and with forbearance. Let us grieve, he says, not over the fact that we give alms to one who does nothing, but over the fact that he transgresses the law of God, and let us sympathize with him as with one who is sick. Let those hear this who not only do not give, but also insult the poor and throw stones at him. For your sake he is poor, so that you might heal your own wounds through love for him, yet you drive away the one who endures poverty for your sake. What heartlessness!
2 Thess. 3:16. Now the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way.
Everywhere he seals his exhortations with prayer, placing prayers like certain seals and marks upon what has been stored away in the treasury for safekeeping. Thus here also, since there were probably disputes among the Thessalonians as a result of such cases, when some — those being removed — became more hardened, while others — the wealthy — no longer gave to such people with full readiness: the apostle rightly prays that peace may "always" be among them. For they should take care to always preserve peace. And moreover "in everything," so as to have no occasion for discord from any source, neither from words nor from manner of conduct. For in this way, he says, you will without difficulty make even the disobedient better. Nothing so contributes to the correction of what we wish to correct as a peaceful, calm manner of address, and admonition without anger.
2 Thess. 3:16. The Lord be with you all!
This is what the Lord also promised: "and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matt. 28:20). If, he says, He will be with all of you, that is, both with those who need to be corrected and with those who have been corrected, then all will be for the good. Those unwilling to labor He will heal, and those who love labor He will strengthen in their industriousness.
2 Thess. 3:17. The salutation with mine own hand, Paul's,
He calls the greeting a prayer, showing by this that even when it was necessary to greet, this was accomplished with spiritual benefit and prayer, and was not a simple sign of friendship.
2 Thess. 3:17. which serves as a sign in every epistle,
So that letters would not be composed in my name by any deceivers (and this, as we said at the beginning, many were doing), I, he says, write the greeting with my own hand. "In every epistle," which will perhaps be sent to you, or in every epistle, to whomever it may be sent.