Articles
A Quiet Life
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We urge you, brethren, that you . . . aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing. (1 Thess. 4:10-12)
We hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies. Now those who are such we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread. (2 Thess. 3:12)
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These two admonitions, so similar in content and tone, but found in two different epistles, suggest a likely character flaw among some of the Christians in Thessalonica. These individuals--perhaps in response to Paul's teaching on the second coming of Christ--had quit their jobs and were spending their time in idle babble among their brethren. Their behavior was not only unproductive but disruptive, and Paul urged them to knock it off and get back to work.
Notice that in both texts Paul uses some form of the word "quiet" to describe the desired behavior. In the original language, this word indicates "tranquility arising from within, causing no disturbance to others" (W. E. Vine). The "quiet life" is not the absence of activity (note the injunction, "work in quietness"). Rather, it is a lifestyle that emphasizes two qualities: First, "mind your own business," i.e., don't be a busybody. Then, "work with your own hands . . . eat your own bread." In other words, a tranquil life is the product of social propriety coupled with self-sufficiency.
These attributes are two sides of the same coin. The person who is busy providing for himself, his family, and the disadvantaged around him will have no time to meddle in the affairs of others. By the same token, those who habitually intrude into the private lives of their friends, either through gossip, invasive visits or calls, or unwelcome "counseling," obviously have too much spare time on their hands.
What Paul is pleading for here is a lifestyle of personal responsibility. Humanity does not need more mobs marching in the streets agitating for "change." It needs millions of people quietly going through their daily lives doing the Lord's work in their homes, their jobs, and their communities.
Only then will the world enjoy the quiet peace we all desire.
--David
