For a discussion of in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, see 2 Thess. 3.6.
Paul’s instructions are introduced by two verbs, both normally used by a superior addressing an inferior. Command clearly includes this meaning. Warn does not, and it is an unusual meaning of the Greek, which, in similar context, normally means “appeal to, urge, exhort, encourage.” Bible en français courant has “recommend” (cf. Biblia Dios Habla Hoy). Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch (cf. Bijbel in Gewone Taal) takes the two words together and translates “we exhort” (possibly “warn”) “then … with all emphasis.” Barclay, at the risk of anticlimax, differentiates the two verbs rather sharply as “our instructions and our plea.” Good News Translation‘s warn seems rather too strong. It is true that in verse 4 and 6 (cf. 10), Paul has used the same Greek verb without feeling any need to soften it by adding a gentler expression. However, examples of this procedure are to be found elsewhere in Paul’s writings (e.g. Romans 1.11-12), and verse 15 fulfills a similar function here. Some such expression as “command and urge” would preserve the balance. Best has the rather less emphatic “instruct and request.”
In some languages there is a problem in relating the verbs command and warn to what follows, because what follows is essentially direct discourse. One would expect the second person plural “you” to be used in the direct discourse, so that the latter part of verse 12 would read “we command these people and urge them, You must lead orderly lives and work to earn your own living.” A difficulty with the term warn is that it suggests a negative prohibition which might be taken to mean “warn them not to lead orderly lives.” A rendering such as “strongly urge” in place of warn would eliminate this difficulty.
Revised Standard Version‘s “such persons,” for these people, faithfully reproduces the form of the Greek, but sound too pejorative for a letter partly addressed to the people in question, and for a passage in which Paul insists that they are still “brothers” (v. 15). The Vulgate carefully avoids a common pejorative Latin pronoun, and translates “to those however who are of this kind.” Similarly Good News Translation avoids “such.”
There are two possible meanings of living a lazy life in verse 6 (cf. v. 11 and 1 Thess. 5.14), but we have already given reason for suggesting that Paul’s main attack is against refusal to work, rather than against disorderly conduct as such. However, the second meaning does lie in the background, and Paul’s fear that those who refuse to work may disturb and agitate the Christian community is reflected both in verse 11 (meddle) and here. Orderly is not formally related in Greek to the word for lazy or “disorderly” which has been used earlier, but the meanings are contrastively related. Orderly may mean either “calm” or “silent,” but “calm” fits the context better. Lead orderly lives is literally “go-on-working with calm” (Bible en français courant “work regularly,” cf. Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). Good News Translation separates work and attaches it to the following phrase.
It may be impossible to translate literally lead orderly lives. It may be possible to say “live in an orderly way,” but in many languages the concept of “orderly” has nothing to do with proper living. The closest equivalent in meaning may be more appropriately expressed as a type of modal, for example, “live as they should.”
Earn their own living is literally “eat their own bread” (see the notes on v. 8). This may be expressed in some languages as “earn money for food and clothes,” or “work to feed their mouths.” Or the focus may be upon family responsibilities, for example, “work to help their families.”
Quoted with permission from Ellingworth, Paul and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Second Letter to the Thessalonians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1976. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .