2 Thessalonians 3:6

Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother that walks disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received from us.

Verse 5 Read Chapter 3 Verse 7

Ambrosiaster

AD 400

Since every congregation not everyone is obedient to the word of doctrine and some prefer their own pleasure and determination, not that of the law, Paul directs the Thessalonians to turn away from them so that they will realize their error. *A brother who is caught doing such things the bishop can bar him not only from the Sacraments but also from common intercourse with his fellows, so that when he is avoided by them he may feel ashamed and repent.

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Basil the Great

AD 379

[Paul] says, “Knowing this, that our old nature is crucified with him, that the body of sin may be destroyed to the end that we may serve sin no longer.” By these words we are taught that he who is baptized in Christ is baptized in his death, and is not only buried with Christ and planted together with him but is first of all crucified with him. Thus we are instructed that as he who is crucified is separated from the living, so also he who has been crucified with Christ in the likeness of his death is completely set apart from those who live according to the old nature. Hence the Lord commanded us to beware of false prophets, and the apostle says, “And we command you, brothers, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother walking disorderly and not according to the tradition which they have received of us.” The “old nature” mentioned by the apostle signifies all sin and defilement, taken individually and together, as if they represented his own members. .

1 min2/12

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Basil the Great

AD 379

“And now there remain faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.” In view of such declarations on the part of our Lord and the apostle, I marvel, I say, how it is that men display such zeal and such intense absorption in the pursuit of goods that will come to an end and be destroyed but have no regard for that which will remain, especially charity, the greatest of all goods, the distinguishing mark of the Christian. And not only this, but they show hostility to those who are zealous in its practice, and in fighting against them they fulfill the words of the Lord, namely, that they themselves do not enter in and those that are entering in they hinder. I beg and implore you, therefore, to be content with the words of the saints and of the Lord himself. Desist from curious inquiry and unseemly controversies. Think on those things that are worthy of your heavenly calling. Live in a manner befitting the gospel of Christ, relying on the hope of eternal life and ... Read More

1 min3/12

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Cyprian of Carthage

AD 258

The words of the apostle’s testimony are, “We command you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that you withdraw from all brothers who are living disorderly lives and not according to the tradition which they received from us.” And again he says, “Let no one deceive you with empty words; for because of these things the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience. Don’t be, therefore, partakers with them.” We must withdraw, indeed flee from those who fall away, lest, while one is joined with them while they walk wickedly, passing over the paths of error and crime, wandering apart from the way of the true road, he himself also be caught in a similar crime. God is one and Christ one and his church one and the faith one and the people one, all joined together by the tie of concord into a solid unity of body. The unity cannot be torn apart, nor can the one body be separated by a division of its structure, nor torn into bits by the lacerating of its entrails. Whoever departs from the ... Read More

1 min4/12

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Cyprian of Carthage

AD 258

"We command you "he says, "in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.". The word of the witnessing apostle is: "We command you "says he, "in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from all brethren that walk disorderly, and not after the tradition that they have received from us.". Paul to the Thessalonians: "But we have commanded you, in the name of Jesus Christ, that ye depart from all brethren who walk disorderly, and not according to the tradition which they have received from us."

1 min5/12

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George Leo Haydock

AD 1849

Charge, or declare; or by the Greek, we command. In the name of our Lord. This may signify a separation by excommunication. (Witham) That you withdraw St. Chrysostom upon this place, St. Augustine, Theophylactus, and others understand St. Paul as speaking of a kind of excommunication. But St. Chrysostom on ver. 13. and 14. seems to restrain its meaning to a prohibition for the guilty to speak to any body, unless they spoke to him, if their conversation tended to exhort him to repentance. Theophylactus likewise remarks that this punishment was formerly much dreaded, though now not in use.

1 min6/12

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Interlinear Gloss

AD 1480

But we strongly caution you: because those who refuse are to be excommunicated.

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Irenaeus of Lyons

AD 202

believing in one God, the Creator of heaven and earth, and all things therein, by means of Christ Jesus, the Son of God; who, because of His surpassing love towards His creation, came down to be born of the Virgin, He Himself uniting man through Himself to God, and having suffered under Pontius Pilate, and rising again, and having been received up in splendour, shall come in glory, the Saviour of those who are saved, and the Judge of those who are judged, and sending into eternal fire those who transform the truth, and despise His Father and His advent. (Against Heresies 3.4.2)

1 min8/12

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John Cassian

AD 435

Lastly, those very people [the Thessalonians] whom in his first epistle Paul had treated with the gentle application of his words, he endeavors in his second epistle to heal with severer and sterner remedies, as those who had not profited from any more gentle treatment. And he no longer applies the treatment of gentle words, no mild and kindly expressions such as, “But we ask you, brothers.” Rather he says, “We command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother that lives in a disorderly fashion.” In the first letter Paul asks; in the second he commands. In the first we see the kindness of one who is persuading; in the second the sternness of one protesting and threatening. “We command you, brothers,” because, when we first asked you, you scorned our words. Now at least obey our threats. Paul renders this commandment severe, not by his bare word but by the imprecation of the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is concerned that they might ag... Read More

1 min9/12

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John Chrysostom

AD 407

That is, it is not we that say these things, but Christ, for that is the meaning of in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; equivalent to through Christ. Showing the fearfulness of the message, he says, through Christ. Christ therefore commanded us in no case to be idle. That ye withdraw yourselves, he says, from every brother. Tell me not of the rich, tell me not of the poor, tell me not of the holy. This is disorder. That walks, he says, that is, lives. And not after the tradition which they received from me. Tradition, he says, which is through works. And this he always calls properly tradition.

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Tertullian of Carthage

AD 220

and not according to the tradition that they received from us: That is, in opposition to Apostolic tradition.

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Tertullian of Carthage

AD 220

Again, they say the same apostle has left a precept, according to his own example, "That each one work with his own hands for a living.". Sy; nor is there any other cause whence they find themselves compelled to deny the Paraclete more than the fact that they esteem Him to be the institutor of a novel discipline, and a discipline which they find most harsh: so that this is already the first ground on which we must join issue in a general handling (of the subject), whether there is room for maintaining that the Paraclete has taught any such thing as can either be charged with novelty, in opposition to catholic tradition. "For I offer you withal, for your investigation, this very question: Whether there were in the first Epistle others, too, who "wholly saddened "the apostle by "acting disorderly". What more disgraceful than immodesties? If, moreover, even from a "brother "who "walketh idly"

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