2 Thessalonians 3:4-Paul, Silvanus and Timothy Were Confident the Thessalonians Were Obeying and Would Continue to Obey Their Teaching

2 Thessalonians 3:4 Now, each one of us is confident about each and every one of you because of your faith in and love for the Lord that what we are commanding, each one of you both are making it your habit of practicing, and each one of you will continue to practice. (Lecturer’s translation)

2 Thessalonians 3:4 begins with the declarative statement pepoithamen ephʼ hymas (πεποίθαμεν ἐφʼ ὑμᾶς), “each one of us is confident about each and every one of you.”

It is modified by the prepositional phrase en kyriō (ἐν κυρίῳ), “because of your faith in and love for the Lord.”

This prepositional phrase is then followed by a hoti direct object clause hoti ha parangellomen kai poieite kai poiēsete (ὅτι ἃ παραγγέλλομεν καὶ ποιεῖτε καὶ ποιήσετε), “that what we are commanding, each one of you both are making it your habit of practicing, and each one of you will continue to practice.”

This hoti direct object clause contains a correlative clause kai poieite kai poiēsete (καὶ ποιεῖτε καὶ ποιήσετε), “both are making it your habit of practicing, and each one of you will continue to practice.”

Now, the declarative statement pepoithamen ephʼ hymas (πεποίθαμεν ἐφʼ ὑμᾶς) asserts that Paul, Silvanus and Timothy were confident about each member of the Thessalonian Christian community.

The hoti direct object clause identifies what Paul, Silvanus and Timothy were confident about with regards to each member of the Thessalonian Christian community.

It affirms that each member of the Thessalonian Christian community was making it their habit of practicing what Paul, Silvanus and Timothy were commanding.

It also expresses the confidence of these three men that the Thessalonians would continue to obey what they were commanding them in the future.

The question arises as to what exactly did Paul, Silvanus and Timothy command the Thessalonians?

The accusative neuter plural form of the relative pronoun hos (ὅς) means “what” but “what” is the referent of this word?

Is it speaking of the contents of First Thessalonians or Second Thessalonians or both or is the word’s referent 2 Thessalonians 3:1-3?

I interpret this word as being “kataphoric,” which means that it is pointing ahead to the various commands and prohibitions, which Paul, Silvanus and Timothy communicate in 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15.

This interpretation is indicated by the fact that the verb parangellō (παραγγέλλω), “we are commanding,” which appears in the emphatic position of this hoti direct object clause, also appears in 2 Thessalonians 3:6, 10 and 12.

The emphatic position of this verb in the hotidirect object clause here in 2 Thessalonians 3:4 anticipates the critical role that this verb plays in 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15.

2 Thessalonians 3:6 But we command you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from any brother who lives an undisciplined life and not according to the tradition they received from us. 3:7 For you know yourselves how you must imitate us, because we did not behave without discipline among you, 3:8 and we did not eat anyone’s food without paying. Instead, in toil and drudgery we worked night and day in order not to burden any of you. 3:9 It was not because we do not have that right, but to give ourselves as an example for you to imitate. 3:10 For even when we were with you, we used to give you this command: “If anyone is not willing to work, neither should he eat.” 3:11 For we hear that some among you are living an undisciplined life, not doing their own work but meddling in the work of others. 3:12 Now such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to work quietly and so provide their own food to eat. 3:13 But you, brothers and sisters, do not grow weary in doing what is right. 3:14 But if anyone does not obey our message through this letter, take note of him and do not associate closely with him, so that he may be ashamed. 3:15 Yet do not regard him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. (NET)

In this section, the apostle Paul then addresses another major problem, namely that some in the Thessalonian Christian community were reverting back to their pre-justification days when they did not work.

He exhorts them to practice church discipline with these individuals (3:6) and he then reminds them that he, Silvanus and Timothy taught them that they must work for a living and that they gave them an example to follow in doing so (3:7-10).

He then informs them that he and Silvanus heard from Timothy more than likely that some of them were idle and disruptive and were not busy working but rather being busy bodies (3:11).

He then commands them to work for a living and never tire of practicing divine good, which is accomplished by obeying Paul’s apostolic teaching (3:12-13).

Paul closes this section with an injunction to again practice church discipline with those who are unwilling to work in obedience to his teaching (3:14).

When Paul exhorts the Thessalonians to keep away from every one of their number who disobeys his apostolic teaching to work, this separation would be the result of going through the process of church discipline mapped out by the Lord Jesus Christ for His disciples in Matthew 18:15-17.

Now, as we noted the hoti direct object clause here in 2 Thessalonians 3:4 contains a correlative clause, which presents the correlation between the Thessalonians practicing the commands and prohibitions in 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15, when they received Second Thessalonians and that they would practice them in the future.

Therefore, the declarative statement and the hoti direct object clause in 2 Thessalonians 3:4 are asserting that Paul, Silvanus and Timothy were confident about each member of the Thessalonian Christian community that each of them were making it their habit of practicing what these three men taught them in 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15 and would continue to practice what they commanded them in these verses in the future.

The declarative statement, which begins 2 Thessalonians 3:4 is modified by the prepositional phrase en kyriō (ἐν κυρίῳ).

The latter is presenting the reason why Paul, Silvanus and Timothy were confident about the Thessalonians that they were making it their habit of practicing the various commands and prohibitions recorded in 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15 and would continue to do so in the future.

It asserts that it was because of the Thessalonian Christian community’s post-justification faith in the Lord as well as their love for Him that these three men were confident about the Thessalonians.

The noun kurios (κύριος) is a reference to Jesus Christ and contains the figure of metonymy which means that the Lord is put for the Thessalonians exercising faith in the Lord’s Spirit inspired commands which Paul, Silvanus and Timothy communicated to them.

This word is also put for the Thessalonians love for the Lord, which manifested itself through the Thessalonians practicing the love of God when interacting with each other and those outside the Christina community who were persecuting them.

This love for the Lord was motivated by the Lord suffering a substitutionary spiritual and physical death on the cross while they were His enemies in order to deliver them from eternal condemnation, spiritual and physical death, enslavement to sin and Satan and his cosmic system (cf. Rom. 5:6-8).

This love was also motivated by the fact that the Spirit raised up the Thessalonians and seated them with Jesus Christ at the Father’s right positionally through the baptism of the Spirit at the moment of their justification when they were dead spiritually in their sins and transgressions (cf. Eph. 2:5-6).

This interpretation of the noun kurios here in 2 Thessalonians 3:4 is indicated by two factors.

First, in context Paul is affirming that the Thessalonians were obeying his teaching in 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15.

He also expressed his confidence that this obedience to this teaching would continue in the future.

Secondly, obedience to this teaching is the direct result of exercising faith in this teaching (cf. Heb. 11:8), and which faith is motivated by the Lord’s love for them at the cross when they were His enemies and through the baptism of the Spirit at their justification when the Spirit raised them and seated them with Jesus Christ when they were dead in their sins and transgressions.

So therefore, here in 2 Thessalonians 3:4, the apostle Paul asserts that he, Silvanus and Timothy were confident about each member of the Thessalonian Christian community because of their faith in and love for the Lord that they were practicing and would continue to practice what they were commanding them in 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15.

2 Thessalonians 3:4 is marking a transition from Paul, Silvanus and Timothy requesting that the Thessalonians intercede in prayer for them to affirming that the Thessalonians were obedient to their teaching recorded in 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15 and expressing confidence that this obedience would continue in the future.

Therefore, a comparison of 2 Thessalonians 3:4 and 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15 reveals that the praise for the Thessalonians which appears in the former is not addressed to each and every member of the Thessalonian Christian community since the latter reveals that some were disobedient to the apostolic teaching.

Therefore, 2 Thessalonians 3:4 contains the figure of hyperbole, which is a deliberate exaggeration, in which more is said than is literally meant, in order to add emphasis.[1]

Thus, when Paul asserts in 2 Thessalonians 3:4 that all or each member of the Thessalonian Christian community was obeying his apostolic teaching recorded in 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15, he does not literally mean each and every person in this community.

This is indicated by the fact that 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15 asserts that some of them were not working.

Thus, the majority of the Thessalonian Christian community were obeying Paul’s Spirit inspired apostolic teaching recorded in 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15, which echo 1 Thessalonians 4:11 and 5:14.

[1] Campbell, D. K. (1991). Foreword. In C. Bubeck Sr. (Ed.), Basic Bible Interpretation: A Practical Guide to Discovering Biblical Truth (p. 154). Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook.