Study To Be Quiet

From the Pastor: Dr. M. J. Seymour, Sr.

“And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.” (I Thess. 4:11-12)

The word “study” in this passage is much different in the Greek than the one found in II Timothy 2:15. The word “study” here means to exert one’s self out of love and a sense of honor, and to make it a point of honor; exerting one’s self for honor’s sake.

The word “quiet” refers to one refraining from speech, meddlesomeness, and unwarranted activity. The thought is to lead a quiet and tranquil life by restricting one’s speech and not meddling in other people’s affairs.

Putting these two words together in the phrase “study to be quiet” is to say: Out of a love for an honorable life, exert yourself to hold your tongue, limiting your speech, and to keep yourself from intruding into other people’s affairs. That is, the saints are to make it a point of honor to keep their tongues under control and to mind their own business. The saints’ speech must be guarded and not given to unnecessary running off at the mouth about anything and anyone. It must be a point of honor before God and before the unbelievers; exert yourself to do so out of a love for saintly honor.

The Apostle James wrote: “And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. … Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things out not so to be.” (James 2:6, 10) The course of nature is that fire strives to consume and burn up everything in which it comes in contact. The fire of hell seeks to destroy everything that is associated with the holiness of the eternal God of the heavens. When the saints do not keep quiet and mind their own business they unleash the fire of hell, which burns as a wild fire scorching the witness of Christ Jesus in the world.

Brethren, we are commanded of God to make it a point of honor, because of our love for God and Jesus, to guard our speech and to mind our own business. This is especially true of preachers, who are as men of God to be examples unto the flocks of the Good Shepherd.