No one should be surprised at how this chapter is used to reinforce middle-class materialism. There are countless commentaries singing the praises of wage slavery and striving after the hedonistic lifestyle of the West. There is no excuse for worshiping Mammon, and this passage is not supporting the American dream.
Did you notice how Paul invested a lot of space discussing eschatology in these two letters? Apparently the Thessalonians were so taken with enthusiasm about the return of Christ that they talked of little else. The city was known for frequent small volcanic tremors, and this message was in itself so earthshaking that it caused a very substantial shift in thinking about life itself. The speculation was that, since Christ was going to return so soon, it was necessary to revamp their whole lives. It would have been very easy to get lost in it.
Envision how young teenage believers act when they first get consumed by the notion of Jesus coming back any day now. They can’t get enough of it. It could easily be a distraction from just about everything else. Teenagers are always looking for a distraction. Apparently, some of the residents of the city were like this, and they quit their jobs.
They became experts in every detail about the doctrine of Christ’s return, and perhaps imagined themselves prophets, having wild dreams and so forth. Instead of minding their own business, they intruded into everyone else’s business, always eager to tie up everyone with chatter about this wonderful thing just around the corner.
Paul reminds his readers (vv. 6-15) that, when he first passed through the city, he also taught them a number of “traditions” (Greek: paradosis), a term specifically referring typically to Jewish Law. In this case, Paul referred to those elements from the Covenant of Moses that were universal, not contextual to Israel alone. Christian teaching includes a bit of law code to indicate something about the heart of God. One of those traditions was that a rabbi should always develop a trade or skill that could earn him a living.
Thus, when Paul was there for those three weeks in Thessalonica, he paid his own way, partly with money donated for the journey, and partly by working, and helping out in general, as did the rest of his party. The image he draws in this passage is that he avoided having his entourage become a burden on what began as a rather small community. While the same traditions included community support for those who brought the gospel, something Jesus Himself took advantage of, the situation in Thessalonica against the number of people traveling with him made Paul uncomfortable claiming it.
Thus, no one still there in the city could use his example as an excuse for becoming parasites. These people were not ministers. The Greek word typically translated as “busybody” was peri-ergazomai, and was based on the concept of avoiding “work” (ergazomai) by dodging around it — doing lots of stuff that isn’t work and isn’t helpful, but keeps you “busy”. He says almost literally “no loaf for the loafer” (v. 10). It was not God who told you to quit working.
It’s one thing to help someone in need, but it’s another to encourage silly exuberance that embarrasses the Lord. Uphold the community standard as people who carry their own load. A wealthy middle-class lifestyle was not the objective here, working overtime and keeping up with the Jonses. In other letters, Paul hammered the churches for allowing ostentation in dress. The word “modest” meant not showing off material wealth.
However, Paul took the line that these busybodies were not demonic, just brothers and sister who caught a case of the sillies. This was a busy port city; there were plenty of jobs. They needed to get back to work and build up the community, so that when the Lord comes back, He will find them faithful in keeping His Word.
