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Evidently the problem of idleness had worsened. Using language associated with church discipline (see, e.g., 1Co 5:4-5), Paul becomes more pointed: idleness and unruliness are not acceptable in the church.
Paul addresses the whole congregation, warning the majority to remain aloof from those who had quit working. They are not to support the idle by feeding them, and they are to avoid following their example.
Instead, they are to follow Paul’s example (see 1Th 2:3-12). Paul urges both the problematic minority and the tempted majority to remember both his model and teaching: If a man will not work, he shall not eat (v.10). A refusal to work disrupts the fellowship, especially in a poor economic setting. (It is worth noting that this statement has no bearing on current conditions of unemployment where work is simply not available.)
As if to reinforce the teaching, Paul refers to the report he has received: We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies (v.11; NIV brings out the play on words in the Greek very well). In what sense they are busybodies is unclear, but, as Bruce wryly observes, “the vice to which they were prone is familiar enough for us to be thankful that it is so severely condemned in the apostolic teaching” (p. 209).
Paul commands these people to settle down and earn the bread they eat (v.12). They must use their time usefully rather than in a disruptive and disreputable manner. Equally, the majority is to be unflagging in its desire to do right.