This passage is often misinterpreted as a blanket call to shun all sinners or unbelievers indiscriminately, extending beyond the church to society at large, whereas it specifically addresses disorderly behavior within the believing community, like idleness and busyness in others' affairs; others wrongly apply it to justify permanent excommunication without prior warnings or hope of restoration, ignoring the chapter's balanced instructions for admonishing such individuals twice before separation, or to support rigid denominational separatism unrelated to apostolic doctrine.
II Thessalonians 3:6
King James Version (1769)
6 Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.
Paul issues a solemn command in the name of Jesus Christ to the Thessalonian church, urging them to withdraw from any brother who lives disorderly and rejects the apostolic traditions they received, emphasizing church discipline to preserve purity and order, particularly against idleness where some refused to work while expecting support from others, promoting instead a life of diligent labor and quiet self-sufficiency as modeled by the apostles themselves.