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2 Thessalonians 3:14
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14 And [de] if any man [ei tis] obey [hupakouo] not [ou] our [hemon] word [logos] by [dia] this epistle, [epistole] note [semeioo] that [touton] man, and [kai] have [sunanamignumi] no [me] company with [sunanamignumi] him, [autos] that [hina] he may be ashamed. [entrepo] KJV-Interlinear
14 And if anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that man and do not associate with him, so that he may be put to shame. NASB
This verse unfortunately had been abused and interpreted as authorizing a form of ostracism or excommunication, of the offender, out from the church or group, and that is the incorrect application of the principle being taught in this verse.
Our context is busybodies or sinners due to their incorrect application of Biblical principles. People who are otherwise annoying because they are pushy, or defiant, or belligerent, or opinionated, or people who have selfish or deceitful agendas in their use of the Christian faith, and so forth.
And so this is how you are to deal with these folks. They are presumably believers if Christ, but just misguided by their enthusiasm and lack of preparation, or by their greed and desire to take advantage.
To not obey, means to misapply or misuse the principles of truth. Whether they abuse Christian principles through ignorance or intentionally, is irrelevant.
The implication here is that they have been confronted, once or twice or several times, and thus have no excuse for not understanding their error, but continue to defy correct instruction, and continue going about their ways.
Instruction by this letter, is a reference to the teaching from Paul within this epistle, as we have been studying, or by their disobedience of any Biblical principle for that matter.
Then, they are to be isolated, not permanently, but association is simply to be withdrawn so as to make them embarrassed or shamed because of their behavior.
This serves two purposes. First, the disassociation protects you from their further false teaching. That preserves your knowledge and continued growth. And second, if the person is isolated by the majority, then they might see the error of their ways and make the necessary changes in their life, in order to get back into the general group.
But we all know that in the real world, belligerence attracts others of a similar attitude, clique’s arise to form their own group. This is how many of the protestant denominations began in past centuries, for example. This is a common action is many social clubs as some members break off to form their own club.
So, embarrassment, or shame is not something that you or I can cause in a person, in order to get them to change.
God is the ultimate power who will bring shame. And Bible doctrine is His tool of choice here in this world.
Doctrine is truth and truth needs no help when it comes to critiquing, or correcting the errors of our life.
2 Tim. 3:16
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; NASB
So it is not for you nor I to argue or attempt to force someone into how they should or should not think. All we can do is state our position, then turn away, or withdraw from the discussion, and then leave the matter in Gods hands.
Busybodies will often times not give up but will push and push their points, without listening to anything else.
A reasonable person will listen. A responsible Christian will listen, and in listening, you can see clearly the errors of the views that are being presented or pushed onto you.
Remember, the Christian examines everything. And we examine not to find fault, but to objectively know the right from the wrong contained within the argument, whatever it may be.
If the busybody is going to change then God will accomplish that in His own good time. Perhaps the person will remember something you have said, and at some later date will realize their error. Perhaps the person will hear your view, from some other person. Perhaps God will bring a hardship into their life, and through that, they will wake up.
By whatever means, your responsibility is to speak your piece, hold on to your correct beliefs (just make sure that what you believe is correct), do not retaliate, and simply walk away from the conversation. This will save you a whole lot of frustration and grief.
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