Working and Eating

“Anyone unwilling to work should not eat” Paul wrote this in his second letter to the Thessalonians.¹ Have you heard someone quote this verse? How have you heard that verse used? Sometimes, Christian people will use this verse to justify cuts to SNAP or other government food programs. Sometimes even to set limits to charitable giving. Often people nuance this a bit by saying Paul meant people who refused to work (as distinct from people who were unable to work.) Implicit in this use is the idea that some people do not deserve food assistance, because they are lazy, or deliberately and willfully taking advantage of others. Some may cite a “Christian work ethic” to support that idea.

However if you have even a passing familiarity with the Bible this verse will seem at odds with the rest of Scripture. It’s certainly nothing that Jesus ever said. Jesus literally says, Give to everyone who begs from you…². Torah teaches that caring for the hungry is required. One example among many, says “since there will never cease to be some in need …I command you. Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor…”³ The prophets also speak clearly and often about the need to care for hungry people.

So what is going on here? What was Paul saying? We need to do a few things to try to understand what Paul means. The first thing is to put this verse back into its larger context. This means reading the verses around the single verse. It also means thinking about what life was like in the first century Roman Empire, and thinking about the reason for and intent of Paul’s letters.

Now we command you, brothers and sisters, in the enamel of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from every brother or sister living irresponsibly and not according to the tradition that they received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not irresponsible when we were with you, and we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it. but with toil and labor we worked night and day so that we might not burden any of you. This was not because we do not have that right but in order to give you an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: anyone unwilling to work should not eat. For we hear that some of you are living irresponsibly, mere busybodies, not doing any work. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right. 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 NRSVue

Paul’s letters are pastoral in nature. He was writing to answer questions and concerns from small local congregations. We don’t have the letters Paul was responding to and so we only have half the information we need to understand well. We don’t know exactly what was happening in the church in Thessalonica, so it’s difficult to know with certainty why Paul wrote what he wrote. we do know being a Christian was a new way of living. This emerging Christian way of life was at odds with the culture of the time. People had questions about what their lives should be like once they became followers of Jesus. They were trying to figure it out. I suspect Paul didn’t think he was writing doctrine for all times and all places. Paul was writing as a pastor (actually he was the founding pastor) to this particular congregation. Which is not to say that Paul’s writings aren’t helpful and instructive to us. We need to remember John Walton’s statement, “The Bible was written for us, not to us.”⁴ Our world and Paul’s world are very different cultures. It is our responsibility to transpose Paul’s ideas from the world of first century Roman empire to our world, of the 21st century.

What was Paul trying to do in these verses? Was Paul talking about poor people who were abusing the “system” ? Or was he talking about rich people who took advantage of the work of others? Most people in the first century were poor, the only people who could not work, would have been the wealthy.

Or had people stopped working because they believed Christ’s return was imminent and so there was no point or need to work?

What did he mean by “work”? The Greek word translated as “work” could mean physical labor. It also could carry connotations of action, commitment, an act, and doing. It could mean the opposite of idleness⁵. He mentioned “busybodies” and “living irresponsibly”. Perhaps he meant something more like what we might call being disorderly, idle, or disruptive.⁶ Was Paul saying don’t be idle or disruptive, don’t cause problems for the community, rather contribute in some way to the community.

Paul was not writing to set public social policy for Thessalonica or Macedonia. The kind of social services we think of today were not then functions of the state. The Roman empire did not have a systemic, dependable food support program. There were no programs similar to SNAP or WIC. Most people lived hand to mouth. They had little if any food or cash saved. To not work, meant they didn’t eat. In times famine there were food sharing programs that were often ad hoc and based on patronage. By around 22 CE there was a government food program, but it was only for male citizens of Rome.

In the Roman empire, people often belonged to voluntary trade or religious associations which for many helped them survive in a culture with no government social programs. There were a variety of activities associated with these associations but meals and banquets for members were part of what they did.⁷ Voluntary associations, patrons, religious groups, and family groups were what helped people survive. The early church was not exactly like these voluntary associations but there may have been some common practices. We should recall the way in which Jesus redefined family, and re-oriented family responsibilities for his followers to their new community. From its start, Christianity was based in community. Joining Christian community often meant leaving the support of family. It did mean leaving other societal support. For the early Christians, where one belonged had changed.⁸

Now holding all this in mind (and it’s a lot) re-read what Paul had to say. Imagine a small community that lived by different standards, norms, and practices than the rest of society. This community may have faced persecution of some sort.

Paul used himself as an example of someone who contributed what they could to the community, even though he was not required to. This may be Paul’s point. As part of this local community, everyone needs to “work”- to act, to commit to others in the community. They need to support each other as they are able. One’s efforts (whatever those efforts are) are for the benefit the community.⁹

In other letters Paul calls for people to be removed from fellowship for inappropriate behaviors, perhaps what he wrote here is similar. Although in the next two verses he wrote, “Take note of those who do not obey what we say in this letter; have nothing to do with them, so that they may be ashamed. Do not regard them as enemies, but admonish them as brothers and sisters”.¹⁰ Perhaps he didn’t mean a permanent exclusion.

I think we can safely say Paul didn’t mean that people should not eat.The early church was known for its care for the poor, hungry and sick. But he may be saying that they shouldn’t eat as part of the church fellowship. The early church was organized to make sure that when it gathered for a meal, there was food for all. And it was organized to care for each other, mutual aid and support, when someone was in need.¹¹ Paul appears to be addressing a problem of people not honoring their commitments to the community.

All things considered, to take this part of a verse and use it to make a Christian case for denying people the means to obtain food is at best wrong. It is antithetical to the Christian gospel. Rather it is the gospel of the empire. It is a gospel of control and power over others by a privileged few. The gospel of the empire reduces people to units of production who only have value when they are productive. What counts as productive is defined by an empire economy that is never satisfied.

In the gospel of Jesus Christ, people are created in the image of God. Because they are image bearers, they are valued simply because they exist. God loves them, not for what they can do, but simply because they exist.

As Christians, when we engage in conversation about who “deserves” assistance, let us remember we are talking about people, whose value resides not in what they can do, but whose value resides in who they are.

1. 2 Thessalonians 3: 10 ↩︎
2. Matt 5:40-42 ↩︎
3. Deuteronomy 15:11 ↩︎
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_H._Walton ↩︎
5. https://biblehub.com/greek/2038.htm ↩︎
6. https://www.christiancentury.org/sunday-s-coming/when-panic-and-when-act-2-thessalonians-3-6-13 ↩︎
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Associations_in_ancient_Rome and https://oxfordre.com/classics/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-1695?d=%2F10.1093%2Facrefore%2F9780199381135.001.0001%2Facrefore-9780199381135-e-1695&p=emailAK91S8.CoZw0Q ↩︎
8. Wright, N. T. The New Testament and the People of God, Fortress Press, 1992, page 448-449 ↩︎
9. https://www.christiancentury.org/sunday-s-coming/when-panic-and-when-act-2-thessalonians-3-6-13 and https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-33-3/commentary-on-2-thessalonians-36-13-2 and https://cepreaching.org/commentary/2022-11-07/2-thessalonians-36-13-3/ ↩︎
10. 2 Thessalonians 3: 14-15 NRSVue ↩︎
11. Quigley, Jennifer A. “Viewpoint: Workers and Welfare” in The SBL Study Bible, HarperOne, 2023, Page 2084 ↩︎