“Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.”
II Thessalonians 3:6 KJV
There is a saying, “Bad manners corrupt good morals.” Good parents recognize the truth in that saying because they pay attention to who their kids hang out with. It is a fact that the good is more easily influenced toward evil than the evil is toward good.
Because of this old flesh, we easily gravitate toward sin. And God knows that. That’s why He warned the children of Israel not to intermarry with the heathens and to avoid associating with them. And that’s why He commands us in II Thessalonians to avoid believers who walk disorderly. God knows how easily we’re corrupted, how quickly we turn away from following Him, but there is blessing and reward in obeying God.
Revelation 22:14 says, “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”
The dictionary defines disorderly as “unruly, riotous,” but the Bible gives us a different definition.
II Thessalonians 3:11 says, “For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.”
So the Bible defines a disorderly person as a busybody. But whether we consider disorderly to mean unruly or meddling, or maybe a little of both, God commands us to avoid “disorderly believers.”
In I Peter 1:15-16, God commands us to be holy. Holiness requires separation from the world and all ungodly influences. Believers who are disorderly are out of fellowship with God, drifting toward the things of the world. Therefore, they are ungodly in their influence, whether or not they realize it. For us to maintain a close relationship with God, we must separate ourselves from those who have chosen to separate themselves from the Lord. Otherwise, we will be influenced by their ungodly actions and attitudes.
That’s what happened to Barnabas. The apostle Peter had no problem eating with the Gentiles until the Jewish brothers showed up. Because he feared what the Jews would say, he separated himself from the Gentiles. Paul called his action hypocritical, and said that even Barnabas (a missionary to the Gentiles) was influenced by his actions. (Galatians 2:12-13)
That’s why God commands us to separate ourselves from every believer who behaves disorderly and not according to the instruction of God’s word.