Paul would agree completely with the words of the Puritan Thomas Brooks, "Example is the most powerful rhetoric" (cited in I. D. E. Thomas, A Puritan Golden Treasury [Carlisle, Penn.: Banner of Truth, 1977], 96). And so 2 Thessalonians 3:7-9 begins and ends with the phrase "you… follow us," or "you… follow our example" (NASB).
One commentator said, "There's an old saying, 'What you do speaks so loudly, I can't hear what you say.' This could not be said of Paul, Silas, and Timothy. They lived by what they taught. They practiced what they preached" (The Preacher’s Commentary, Vol. 32, 2 Thess. 3:7-9, [Nelson Reference and Electronic: A Division of Thomas Nelson Publishers). Therefore, they did not hesitate to point to their own example as to how to live by the Word of God.
"Follow us" (v. 7a), or "follow our example" (NASB), literally means "to imitate." The noun form of that Greek verb is the word from which we get our English word "mimic." We are literally to mimic the life of Paul, or the lives of godly men and women around us.
In 1 Corinthians 11:1 Paul said, "Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ." This is the key. Paul followed Christ so closely, when you look at Paul's life you see Christ at work in him. "We were not disorderly among you," says Paul (2 Thess. 3:7b). "Nor did we eat anyone's bread free of charge, but worked with labor and toil night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, not because we do not have authority, but to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us" (vs. 8-9). Even though he could have received support from the church, Paul worked as an example for those who refused to work. Godly men and women exemplify Christ. Follow their example. Amen.
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