Admonish the Idle
Paul, in his two
letters to the Church at Thessalonica, repeatedly warned against idleness. His
admonition against idleness first occurs in a list of practical “Christian
living” instructions at the close of his first letter that sounds a lot like a
1st Century bullet list describing how to live out your
eschatological convictions. Suppose Paul used bullet points, then 1 Thess. 5:14-15
it might look like this:
- admonish the idle,
- encourage the fainthearted,
- help the weak,
- be patient with them all.
- See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but
- always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.
What’s in the Attic?
There is so much in this short list for us to
think through, pray about, and respond to. But for today, I am intrigued by the
word “idle”. The Greek word used here is ataktos. Various
lexicons such as Thayer’s describe the common uses of this word as falling into
three general senses.
- Disorderly, out of ranks (often so of soldiers).
- Irregular, inordinate, immoderate pleasures.
- Deviating from the prescribed order or rule.
Ataktos is the negative opposite of orderly and purposeful biblical words
such as appointed, ordained, and devoted. One online resource, Blue
Letter Bible, mentions the word ataktos was used in Greek society for “those who did not show
up for work.”
This word means so much more than the inactivity
suggested by the English word “idle”. It describes
not merely passive indolence but those who are actively unproductive. While its meaning includes the idleness characterized by the lack
of profitable or purposeful work, it extends to describing someone who is
not a team player as evidenced by an unruly and undisciplined lifestyle,
illogical thinking, unbridled passions, and ungovernable attitudes. Most
English translations use “idle” or “unruly” to translate ataktos.
This word could be used to describe destructive direct-action
groups like Antifa. The something that they do is the epitome of unruliness.
Such behavior should not be found in the community of Jesus’ followers for it
demonstrates that one is not his disciple.
Though it is a serious issue, I find this unruly,
disordered, aspect of ataktos a bit
humorous since if you say this word out loud it sounds like “attic-toss” which
is ironically appropriate for those disordered places where we toss the things
we don’t want to deal with now but hope to handle someday… be it a literal
attic, or a garage, closet, shed, trunk, etc. The people who would hang around
the marketplace were those who had no positive purpose for the day. They would
have the ready-made excuse of looking for work or of discussing important
issues, but not much of either went on.
Cleaning the Attic
In his second letter to the Thessalonians, Paul
spent a full seven verses discussing/describing how to avoid such unruly idleness.
Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking
in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from
us. For you yourselves know how you ought to
imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone's bread without
paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we
might not be a burden to any of you. It
was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in
ourselves an example to imitate. For even when we
were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to
work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among
you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies [nice
wordplay]. Now such persons we command and
encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their
own living. (2 Thess. 3:6-12 ESV)
If I were to
paraphrase the three main instructions about idleness in this passage it would
be…
- Don’t hang out with the unruly, disordered, and idle who reject the gospel message and the God-given purpose and joyous responsibility it brings.
- We are not asking you to do anything that we have not done as examples for you. We never expected a free meal but worked hard to pay our own way so as to burden no one.
- There are some among the believers who are “idle”—on one hand, living off the generosity of others and on the other refusing to accept the responsibility that faith in Jesus Christ lays upon us all. It should stop now!
Is There More To the Story?
Have you ever
wondered why Paul seemed extra concerned with confronting such unruly idleness (ataktos)
in Thessalonica? It may have something to do with his experience in their city on
his second missionary journey. It is found in Acts 17:1-15.
Verse 5 tells of corrupt men hired by the jealous Jews to persecute
the Christians.
But the Jews were jealous, and taking some
wicked men of the rabble [agoraios], they formed a mob, set the city in an
uproar [thorybeō], and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out
to the crowd.
The phrase, “wicked men of the rabble” is all too familiar in
any place and any culture. Some, out of their unruly idleness, are only too
ready to “work” toward a twisted purpose if only to make the lives of others
more unpleasant. The “rabble” (agoraios) refers to “the men from the
marketplace” who could be either hired or incited for just such a disruptive
cause as tossing a Christian’s house and repeatedly dragging church leaders out
to face mob justice. A.T. Robertson wrote, “The agora or marketplace was the
natural resort for those with nothing to do (Matt. 20:4) … Plato calls these agoraioi
idlers or good-for-nothing fellows.”[i]
What about us? Do we follow the law of love and overflowing
goodness given to us by our Lord Jesus? Are we keeping in step with the Holy
Spirit (Gal. 5:16, 25)? Or are we lounging around in a self-focused stupor, or
running over the rights and emotions of others?
A Thessalonian Thorybeo Redux?
There are those who, when their ideas and economy are threatened, readily find the agoraioi and use them to create a riot/uproar, or as the Thessalonians called it, a thorybeō.
I live in the Pacific Northwest, an area of the country where
Antifa groups have been actively unruly. Their goal is to make the cities
ungovernable, thereby setting up their mob views as the law of the land. Such
tactics are lacking in both love and logic, but they try to make up for it with
high-volume profanities, group intimidation tactics, and violent destructive
acts. They are often paid agitators who attack police and lawful citizens
alike. They do no real work and have nothing to share with others for the good
of the community. In their unruly idleness, they are everything bad that they
claim to be against.
The church should never be this kind of idle nor that kind of
unruly. In Jeremiah 29 God gave his exiled people a great promise (v.11) but
set it in the context of a generation of waiting and actively working for the
good of the place he had put them (v.4-7). This working for the common good was
not to be done primarily through power and command but through humble service
and community engagement.
The church has often been harmed in times of persecution by
the “unruly idle” but this is to be expected. Jesus told his followers that
this would happen. However, it is often harmed more deeply by the “unruly idle”
within the church. Are we patiently warning those in our midst to not be idle?
Are we living as productive and godly examples for them?
I would also like to point out that while this list of
Christian living action points (1 Thess. 5:14-15) begins
with strong words like “urge” and “warn” or “admonish” it moves directly to the
less confrontational but much-needed verbs — encourage, help, and be patient.
Our marching orders are simple, clear, and intended for the good of the
community. The next part of the action list (v.16-21) touches on our attitude
while following Jesus.
- Rejoicing not sulking and stomping
- Praying without ceasing rather than fierce independence
- Giving thanks in everything not grumbling and complaining.
- Being open to the Spirit’s work in and through us.
- Remaining teachable to the prophetic words of God.
- Being deeply discerning thinkers but not cynics, for we hold on to what is good.
Finally, the concluding instruction to “abstain from every
evil” (v.22) forms an inclusio or bookend with the first about warning the
unruly idle. This understanding of ataktos sheds
new light on the old saying, “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.” If we are to abstain from every evil then we must not
be idle. Jesus Christ has called us to great purpose, by a greater love than we
have ever known.
Marching Orders
There was a time when the Apostle Paul (then known as Saul of
Tarsus) had been persecuting Christians and he was “admonished “ by Jesus
himself (Acts 9). Later Paul would repeat the marching orders he received that
day, “And I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to
me, ‘Rise, and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all that is
appointed for you to do.’” He also wrote to a young
pastor in Ephesus, using a military metaphor, “Share in suffering
as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in
civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.” (2
Tim. 2:3-4). Let us not forget to ask the Lord what we should be doing today and,
in the days, to come.
I think today
is a great time for us to queue up for the march, right?
