⁶ In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. 

형제들아 우리 주 예수 그리스도의 이름으로 너희를 명하노니 규모 없이 행하고 우리에게 받은 유전대로 행하지 아니하는 모든 형제에게서 떠나라

In other matters Paul ‘begged’, ‘urged’, and ‘pleaded with’ the reader often but here Paul commands, and all the more in the name of the Lord, which implies the gravity of the warning. To keep away from a certain kind of believers. The verb for ‘to keep away’ is used in one other place in the NT in 2 Cor 8:20, in the sense of ‘being careful’ so that no one may criticise them with a certain matter. The ‘whole of brother’ they should be careful about is one who is idle.[1] This word only occurs three times in the NT both all of them only in 2 Thessalonians. Twice in the adverb form; once in the adjective. So it is not so easy to discern the nature of idleness Paul is referring to. But in light of the verses that follow and the continued sternness of the warning, it does not seem the normal sense of being lazy (NASB translates it ‘disorderly’), but is related to the following phrase, ‘not living out the tradition Paul set out for them’, which had been mentioned in 2:15.      

⁷ For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, 

어떻게 우리를 본받아야 할 것을 너희가 스스로 아나니 우리가 너희 가운데서 규모 없이 행하지 아니하며

Verse 7 gives us more clue by using the emphatic ‘yourselves’. So, Paul is commanding them to follow Paul’s example and not someone else’s whose words and acts do not match. They might say they are apostles but their way of living could be far from the new tradition set by the Paraclete: that God has sealed us from the beginning to the end; and in the middle however adverse circumstances might be His word prevails and does not fail us. (NB. https://readwithssam.com/2023/06/19/2-thessalonians-2-15-17-a-new-tradition-set-by-the-paraclete/)

Therefore Paul’s command here reminds me of Joshua’s final call: ‘Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve… But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.’  너희 섬길 자를 오늘날 택하라 오직 나와 내 집은 여호와를 섬기겠노라 (Joshua 24:15).

Lord we have a choice to make today whether to live like we are your believers or to only say that we are. Let us know what living out your tradition means, as we face people, as we do our chores, let us be reminded of what you would have done with us. And let us not forget to thank you that despite our hardness and stubbornness, your word still prevails in us. Let us know and acknowledge that truth and therefore neither lose heart nor become arrogant. Let us steadfast and grasp your tradition with the grip of the Holy Spirit today. Let us choose you. Lord have mercy. Amen.  

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[1] ἀτάκτως (ataktōs) idly, irresponsibly