1 Thessalonians 4:11

and that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business Lit., that you be ambitions to be quiet an example of St Paul's characteristic irony; the contrast between ambitionand quietgiving a sharper point to his exhortation, as though he said, "Make it your ambition to have no ambition!" The love of personal distinction was an active influence and potent for mischief in Greek city life; possibly the Thessalonians were touched with it, and betrayed symptoms of the restless and emulous spirit that afterwards gave the Apostle so much trouble at Corinth. Comp. 1 Timothy 2:2, where he makes it an object of prayer, "that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life." Eager and active as his own nature was, St Paul much admired this kind of life, and deemed it ordinarily the fittest for the cultivation of Christian character, and (study), he continues, to be occupied with your own affairs. This, too, was to be their aim and ambition, in contrast with the busybody, gad-about habits to which some of them were inclined (see 2 Thessalonians 3:11, and note).

Those who meddle with other people's business, commonly neglect their own; and idleness goes hand in hand with officiousness. Accordingly St Paul adds, and to work with your hands. Most of the Thessalonian Christians were probably handicraftsmen of one kind or other. Even for the few who possessed larger means the Apostle may have thought manual labour a good discipline; comp. note on ch. 1 Thessalonians 2:9, and 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12. He perceived the danger, especially marked in this Church, arising from the unsettling effect which great spiritual excitement is apt to have upon the pursuance of the ordinary duties of life. Hence this had been a subject of his warnings from the beginning even as we charged you (comp. 1 Thessalonians 4:2). The Apostle Paul combined in his teaching a lofty spirituality with a quick sense for practical necessities.