34. “Walking Disorderly” (2 Thessalonians 3)
“Withdraw yourselves from every brother
that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us...
And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no
company with him, that he may be ashamed” (2 Thes.
3:6,14).
The argument for a “pure fellowship”
achieved through broad excommunication goes as follows: “It is part of
Paul’s word by this letter that we ‘withdraw’ from any brother
who ‘walks disorderly’. If this withdrawal is not enforced, then it
is necessary to ‘have no company’ not only with the original sinner,
but also with all who disregard Paul’s
instruction.”
This rather casually constructed logic runs afoul
of several considerations:
- Verse 6 describes not false teachers, but those whose way of
life is contrary to the apostolic norm. The “disorderly” meant the
idlers, or loafers, who rapidly turned into “busybodies” (vv.
7,10,11). The word translated “disorderly” here is also translated
“unruly” in 1 Thessalonians 5:14. It is actually a military term for
those “out of step” when marching, and thus
“insubordinate” (A. Hall, The Epistles to the Thessalonians,
p. 147). This lack of discipline in the case of the Thessalonian ecclesia
was manifested in a refusal to work (vv. 8,10,12), perhaps because of a
misguided belief that Christ’s imminent return rendered labor
unnecessary.
- It must not be supposed, because
Christadelphians conventionally use the milder “withdraw” instead of
the more appropriate “disfellowship” or “excommunicate”,
that the severing of fellowship ties is the meaning of “withdraw”
wherever it occurs. As a matter of fact, the word stello
(withdraw) signifies “to avoid”, the idea being that the
ways of the unruly are to be shunned. The brethren themselves, however,
are exhorted by Paul to work (v. 12); they have not been cast out of the
meeting! He speaks to them directly in terms that would seem highly
inappropriate to evildoers no longer worthy of fellowship at all. Verse 15 uses
the word “admonish”, a quite mild term. The parallel passage (1
Thes. 5:14) says that such disorderly brethren are to be “warned”,
again a degree of discipline much less severe than
excommunication.
- Verse 14: “Have no company
with” merely means: ‘Do not join such brethren in their idle ways.
By your aloofness you can express dissatisfaction. And perhaps the busybodies
will become ashamed (v. 15) and begin to reform themselves.’
We see, therefore, that 2 Thessalonians 3 does
deal with matters of ecclesial order, but only as pertaining to local matters of
personal conduct. The terms of separation do not necessarily imply
disfellowship. Even if disfellowship were the final outcome of an unrepentant
attitude, the basis of that disfellowship would be improper conduct and not
false doctrine. Finally, there is no suggestion that ecclesias failing to act as
severely as Paul commands should themselves be disfellowshiped en masse by all
other ecclesias. Yet all use of this passage to justify “block
disfellowship” or “guilt by association” assumes that it
clearly says this.