For you know how you ought to imitate us. For we didn’t behave ourselves rebelliously among you,
Parallel Translations
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For you know how you ought to imitate us. For we didn’t behave ourselves rebelliously among you,
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Ye youre selves knowe how ye ought to folowe vs. For we behaved not oure selves inordinatly amonge you.
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For ye your selues know, how ye ought to follow vs: for we behaued not our selues inordinately among you,
Cross-references (11)
Passages linked to 2 Thessalonians 3:7 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 2 Thessalonians 3:6 Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother who walks in rebellion, and not after the tradition which they received from us.
- 2 Thessalonians 3:9 not because we don’t have the right, but to make ourselves an example to you, that you should imitate us.
- 1 Corinthians 4:16 I beg you therefore, be imitators of me.
- 1 Corinthians 11:1 Be imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.
- Philippians 3:17 Brothers, be imitators together of me, and note those who walk this way, even as you have us for an example.
- 1 Thessalonians 1:6-7 You became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all who believe in Macedonia and in Achaia.
- Titus 2:7 In all things be showing yourself an example of good works. In your teaching, be showing integrity, seriousness, incorruptibility,
- Philippians 4:9 The things which you learned, received, heard, and saw in me: do these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
- 1 Timothy 4:12 Let no man despise your youth; but be an example to those who believe, in word, in your way of life, in love, in spirit, in faith, and in purity.
- 1 Thessalonians 2:10 You are witnesses with God how holy, righteously, and blamelessly we behaved ourselves toward you who believe.
- 1 Peter 5:3 not as lording it over those entrusted to you, but making yourselves examples to the flock.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (17 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Lest he might seem to deal harshly with them,…
Lest he might seem to deal harshly with them, he setteth forth himself as an example, who besides his travail in preaching labored with his hands, which he saith he was not simply bound to do.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 7 For yourselves know how ye ought to follow…
7 For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you;
Ver. 7. For yourselves know] You idle addleheads, {a} 2Th 3:11. For these he here directs his speech, that by doing nothing, had learned at length to do naughtily. Nihil agendo male agere discimus.
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We behaved not ourselves disorderly] Gr. ητακτησαμεν, We brake not our ranks, as unruly soldiers.
{a} Applied contemptuously to one whose intellect seems muddled. ŒD
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Whereby the apostle intimates the aggravation of their crime…
Whereby the apostle intimates the aggravation of their crime who did walk disorderly, and so justifies the withdrawing from them. For they would be reproved not only by his doctrine, but example: what he required of others he practised himself, and that in some cases for this end alone, that he might be an example; examples teaching more than precepts, especially in ministers. And they did not only know how the apostle and his fellow ministers walked among them, but their end therein, whereby they knew they ought to follow them, and how to follow them; being guided as well as excited by their example. And this is expressed more generally. First, negatively:
We behaved not ourselves disorderly among you, which he speaks not in a way of self-commendation, but for their imitation; and he useth here the same word to express his own practice which he did in theirs, being properly a military word, as was said before. He went before them as it captain before the army, and taught them order by his own example; for in the negative the positive is included.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain In these verses the apostle plainly intimates, whom he…
In these verses the apostle plainly intimates, whom he meant by the disorderly brother mentioned in the foregoing verse; it is the idle person, called disorderly for this reason; because Almighty God having fitted man for, and ordained him to, labour, he that will not do so, deserts the order in which God has placed him, and thus renders himself disorderly.
To condemn which practice, St. Paul propounds his own example to their consideration and imitation; declaring, that he did not eat any man’s bread before he earned it, but wrought with his own hands in the day-time, and sometimes part of the night, at his trade of tent-making, that he might not be chargeable to any of them: not but that he had power to demand maintenance for his ministry; but he chose rather to depart from his right, and to labour in his calling, to excite others to do the like.
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Note here, 1. That had not St. Paul laboured in his calling of tent- making, he had not been a disorderly person; but lest any should think so, he takes away and cuts off all occasion of suspicion, by working with his hands; his ministerial office would have freed him from the charge and imputation of idleness, and made maintenance from the church his due; but idleness, the apostle observed, was a growing sin, which needeth an example as well as doctrine to subdue it; and accordingly the apostle sets one, I behaved myself not disorderly or idle amongst you, but wrought with labour and travail night and day.
Note, 2. It is commendable to follow good examples, but much more to set a good example: as ministers ought to be patterns, so people ought to be followers; and their will be much the greater, and their punishment much the sorer, who do not follow their ministers’ doctrine, when they have seen it exemplified in their conversation.
Note, 3. There have all along been some persons in the world who have looked upon the work of the ministry as a very easy calling, yea, as an idle calling, that a little time, a little pains and labour, is enough for it: whereas, the labour of the ministry in the exercise of the mind, may justly be esteemed the greatest of labours; yet we see people all along have not judged it so, but the ministers of Christ find it so.
From the poverty of St. Paul’s condition, that he had nothing before- hand, but was forced to earn his bread before he eat it;
Learn, that it pleases God sometimes to measure out a very hard lot to his own children, and to give but little of earth to those who glorify him most upon earth; and those upon whom he intends to bestow extraordinary measures of glory in heaven, are cut short, very short of these outward comforts.
Here behold St. Paul, a chosen vessel, one of the holiest men, and the most serviceable man that lived in the world in his time, yet without a penny in his purse, but what he wrought for with his hands, nay, working night and day for bread! Lord! how endearing are thy children’s obligations to thy goodness, for their easy and plentiful circumstances in the world! what a favour it is to have fulness upon earth whilst we live, and the assurance of thy everlasting fruitation when we die!
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us,....…
For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us,.... The apostle goes on to dissuade from that which denominates persons disorderly walkers, and exposes them to the censure of the church, and that partly by the example of the apostles, and partly by their command. He appeals to them, to their knowledge and judgment, it being a thing well known to them, that they ought to walk as they had the apostles for ensamples; for who should they follow but their spiritual fathers, shepherds, and guides? and especially so far as they were followers of Christ, as they were, in the case referred unto, working with their own hands:
for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you; they could appeal to them as witnesses, and God also, how holily, justly, and unblamably they walked among them; see Th1 2:10 and particularly, that they did not live an idle and inactive life among them.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 7. We behaved not ourselves disorderly] ουκ ητακτησαμεν.…
Verse 7. We behaved not ourselves disorderly] ουκ ητακτησαμεν. We did not go out of our rank-we kept our place, and discharged all its duties.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us…
For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us - You know what you should do in order to imitate us.
For we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you - See the notes on 1Th 2:10.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain how ye ought to follow us--how ye ought to…
how ye ought to follow us--how ye ought to live so as to "imitate (so the Greek for 'follow') us" (compare Notes, see on Co1 11:1; Th1 1:6).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 7. Yourselves know—Another appeal to their own consciences in…
7. Yourselves know—Another appeal to their own consciences in proof of his truth.
Ourselves—Again appealing to his own example. Note, 1Th_2:9.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 7. For yourselves know how ye ought to follow…
7. For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us] Lit., imitate us: see note on 1Th_1:6; and again, ch. 2Th_2:14, and 2Th_3:9 below. you know of yourselves—“without our needing to tell it all again.” Such references are frequent in these Epistles; see note on 1Th_2:1.
“How you ought to imitate us” points beyond the mere duty to the spirit and manner of the imitation desired—“with what diligence and devotion.”
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for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you] This “for” differs from that at the beginning of the verse; it is a specifying for—giving not a reason for what has just been said, but a definition of its meaning: in that we did not play a disorderly part among you. The readers’ attention is called to this feature of the missionaries’ conduct, and imitation is recommended. There is a meiosis (or litotes) in the expression, resembling that of 2Th_3:2, and of 1Th_2:15 (see notes). “Far indeed was our walk from giving an example of disorder!” How far, the next line shows.
To-be-disorderly (a single verb in the Greek) is a word applied to soldiers out of rank. Officers in the army are as much subject to its discipline as the rank and file; and the Apostle Paul felt it to be due to the Churches over which he presided, that he should set an example of a strictly ordered and self-denying life.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (7) For justifies the assertion that they had received…
(7) For justifies the assertion that they had received a better teaching. (Comp. 1Th_2:1; 1Th_4:9; 1Th_5:2.)
To follow us.—The word, of course, means “to imitate”; and the rather compressed expression seems to stand for something fuller, such as, “Yourselves know how you ought to live, for you have but to imitate us: you recollect not only a tradition, but an example.” This is better than (with St. Chrysostom) to make the whole “tradition” consist of example without precept, however such an interpretation might simplify the logic.
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For (or because).—Historical justification of the statement that their example was a trustworthy mode in this particular, at any rate: see the same use of “for” in 1Th_2:9, “for labouring,” &c.; 1Th_4:3. It is perhaps simpler, however, to translate the word “that,” instead of “for “: “You know perfectly how to live—how to imitate our example—that we never,” &c. Then follows a description of the Apostles’ conduct at Thessalonica similar to that in the First Epistle, thus giving us a clearer understanding why they dwelt so long and so passionately upon the topic there—namely, in order by force of tacit, contrast to shame the disorderly brethren into imitation.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain For yourselves know; without it being necessary for me…
For yourselves know; without it being necessary for me to say anything about the matter; ye yourselves are witnesses. How ye ought to follow (or, imitate) us; better, perhaps, to be restricted to Paul than used as inclusive of Silas and Timothy. For we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you; referring to the apostle"s residence in Thessalonica.
Vers. 7-10.
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The example of the apostle himself as a support to his command.
I THE APOSTLE"S EXAMPLE. "For we were not disorderly among you, nor did we eat bread for nought from any one, but in toil and weariness, working night and day." Though there were rich people in the Church, he accepted no gift from them, but laboured at his craft assiduously to earn a living for himself.
1. His refusal of support from his converts did not invalidate his right to it. "Not because we have not authority an authority which he fully expounds in 1Co 9. for "the labourer is worthy of his hire," and has he not "a right to forbear working"?
2. It was based upon a supreme regard to Thessalonian interests.
(1) "That we might not be a burden to any one of you,
(2) and "that we might give ourselves for a pattern unto you to imitate us." The apostle had evidently in view the extravagances of conduct that were beginning at an early period to spring from misunderstandings respecting the time of the Lord"s coming. He was not ashamed of his handicraft. No Christian man ought ever to be ashamed of honest labour.
II THE APOSTLE"S INJUNCTION TO THE DISORDERLY. "For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any one will not work, neither let him eat.
1. This does not apply to those who cannot work, but to those who will not. The command does not touch cases of charity.
2. It is a command based on the original law of Eden. "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread". (Gen_3:19) Work is a Divine order, not repealed by Christianity but lifted up to higher blessing and dignity. The idle man ought, therefore, to be allowed to suffer the effects of his idleness.
3. It is a command which, when obeyed, will introduce tranquillity into life, and at the same time conduce to an honest self-respect. "That working with quietness they eat their own bread.
(1) They would thus be eating their own bread, not the bread earned by others" toil, nor that reserved by the same toil for the use of the really destitute and poor.
(2) They would thus carry more quietness into their own lives as well as those of their neighbours, for there would be no time for intermeddling with other people"s concerns. We should live "quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty T.C. (1Ti_2:2)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us
2Th_3:7-9
For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us
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Apostolic example and precept concerning industry
1.
Paul found it expedient on many accounts to commend industry.
(1) The early Christians felt a most lively sense of the evidence and importance of Christianity, were greatly affected by its promises, and looked with indifference on a world from which they had little to expect but persecution. The zeal engendered by all this, however, had its dangers. A contempt for the world may be carried too far, and Paul was afraid it might be here, and lead to a widespread negligence of work and consequent ruin to many families.
(2) The apostles had assurances of support from Christ, and there was a danger lest Christians should apply them generally.
(3) The opinion of the nearness of the Second Advent led some to regard work as superfluous.
(4) The eminent liberality of the first believers was a temptation to dishonest and lazy men. Thus there was a danger lest the Church, instead of being a society of honest, busy men, should become a nest of drones.
2. St. Paul, therefore, recommended industry by precept and example. He had a strong claim to maintenance as an apostle of Christ, and especially to the Gentiles, and a very small sum would have been sufficient for a man who only required food and raiment. Yet he chose to waive this right, and laboured night and day rather than eat any mans bread for nought. Such a person, therefore, might well lay the stress he does here on labour; elsewhere he condemns what we should regard as carelessness or indolence, denial of the faith and infidelity. Consider this example as a precept of industry in--
I. Our worldly callings. This is necessary, because--
1. We came naked and destitute, both physically and mentally, into the world. But both body and soul are designed by God, the one to improve in understanding and the other to increase in strength. Thus, by the voice of nature, God teaches us to be improvable and industrious beings.
2. The Scriptures echo the voice of reason, and command and commend industry throughout.
3. God has made us dependent on others, and teaches us, by the voice of reason, that we ought in return to promote the welfare of others.
4. The Gospel commands us to do good--i.e., what an idle person has not the power or inclination to perform. He who is negligent of his own interests will hardly be serviceable to others.
5. Whosoever is slothful in business will be a slothful Christian, for the same temper disposes to both.
6. Idleness is the parent of vice. He who has some good end to pursue is too busy for temptation; but the idle, having nothing else to do, is tempted to yield. A vacant mind is a proper habitation for the devil. An idle person loathes his own company, and thus gets into worse, and, unless favoured by an extraordinary concurrence of circumstances, falls into want and thence into wickedness.
7. Of all bad dispositions, laziness is the most vexatious. The love of ease and pleasure produces idleness; yet such is the nature of things, idleness produces neither ease nor pleasure, but the reverse.
8. By industry we obtain credit and reputation.
9. By industry we shut out many fretting desires, sorrowful reflections, and turbulent passions.
10. By industry we become beneficial to others, and thereby secure many blessings for ourselves.
II. Our religious affairs.
1. The shortness and uncertainty of life warn us not to neglect it, since upon our present behaviour depends our future state.
2. The reward before us excites us to it.
3. Gratitude to Him who has done so much for us moves us to do something for Him.
4. The punishment allotted to the idle and wicked servant calls us to it.
5. Our present interest invites us to it, bringing as it does peace of mind and the blessing of God upon our worldly affairs. (J. Jortin, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 7. Ye know how ye ought to follow us.…
7. Ye know how ye ought to follow us. For Paul's example in the matter of work at Thessalonica, see 1 Thess. 2:9. He labors for his own support.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain 7-12. Here we see that while the apostles earned…
ARGUMENT 9
SELF-SUPPORTING EVANGELISM
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7-12. Here we see that while the apostles earned their bread by manual labor, they certify (2Th 3:9) that they have a right to their temporal support while preaching the gospel. This is certainly the feasible basis for the evangelization of the world. Delinquency in reference to our temporal support does not excuse us from the commission, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” We are to go and preach just as if we had a bushel of gold lying in the Bank of England to draw on ad libitum, trusting God, with or without human agency, to feed us like he feeds the birds. Thus we are to push the conquest to the ends of the earth, evangelizing all nations under the commission,
“Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age.” (Mat 28:20.)
With his presence we can certainly trust him for our bread. All this so strikingly contrasts with the financial policy of modern ecclesiasticism, hiring the preacher like a rail-splitter.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain For yourselves know how ye ought to imitate us:…
For yourselves know how ye ought to imitate us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you ;
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 3:7 Teaching by example was highly regarded in the…
3:7 Teaching by example was highly regarded in the ancient world. Paul himself provided an example by working for his own food (3:8; 1 Thes 2:9).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.