Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother who walks in rebellion, and not after the tradition which they received from us.
"As important as it is to identify the cause and nature of the problem behavior addressed in 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15, we should not ignore the fact that our passage both begins (2 Thessalonians 3:6) and ends (2 Thessalonians 3:14-15) with exhortations, not to the idle but to the rest of the church. The admonition addressed directly to those Christians who were living improperly (2 Thessalonians 3:12) is, in fact, rather brief." [Note: Ibid., p. 271.] 