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About Jesus Steve Sweetman ch. 1:1-12 ch. 2:1-12 ch. 2:13-17 ch. 3:1-5 ch. 3:6-15 ch.3:16-18 My
Commentary On Second Thessalonians
Introduction. The following commentary is based on the New
International Bible, 1973 edition. Chapter
titles in this commentary correspond to chapter titles in this addition of the
NIV Bible. Note that later additions
of the NIV differ slightly from the 1973 addition.
Paul most likely wrote this second letter to the
Thessalonian church shortly after he wrote his first letter.
That would place the date in the later half of 51 AD.
He most likely wrote the letter from Corinth
where he wrote his first letter to these people.
Thanksgiving
And Prayer (ch. 1:1 - 12) As in all of Paul’s writings he addresses his
letter to those he is writing to, and in this case it is to “the church of the
Thessalonians”. Note there
is only one church addressed here. This does not mean that there are not a
number of small house churches in Thessalonia.
Paul appears to view all of the possible gatherings of Christians in this
city as the church. I believe in
Paul's thinking, there is only one church per city The Greek word that is translated as
"church" here is “ekklesia”, simply meaning “an assembly of
people”. It is a secular word that
was used for any gathering of people. This
word was not a “Christian only” word. Paul
and other New Testament writers used this word to denote Christian groups, no
matter how small or large they were. I like the word "ekklesia", and wished the
King James Bile would have transliterated it instead of making the word church
out of it. The problem with the word
"church" today is that it really doesn't mean or portray what
"ecclesia" means. Most
think of church as a building or an organization, but it isn't.
Church is simply people who have given their lives to Jesus.
Paul does specify what kind of “ekklesia” this
is. That is to say, the church, or
the assembly that Paul is addressing “is in God the Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ”. This is what
distinguishes this gathering of
people from other gatherings of people. Note
also that he does not speak about these people simply as the people “of
God”, meaning some generic god that anyone can ascribe to.
The God that Paul is speaking about is
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christians do not serve a generic
God. We serve only one God, and He
is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
If you do not believe in this God, then you do not believe in the
Christian God. Paul also include Silas and Timothy as co-writers, or
at least fellow workers in the gospel. The
letter is from all three of these men. There is a teaching going around these days in the
church concerning submitting one's life to a spiritual father.
Those who promote this teaching state that Paul was a spiritual father to
Timothy, and in one respect they are right.
But, note here that Paul considered Timothy a co-worker, not a son in the
Lord. Paul never considered Timothy
as a child, maybe a son, but not a child. Most
of all, Paul considered Timothy a co-worker, someone equal to him in the service
of the gospel. In verse 2 Paul speaks of grace and peace that comes
from God the Father. Both
"grace" and "peace" have two aspects to them.
Grace is the unmerited favour shown to humanity.
It is also the ability that God gives us to do His will.
Peace is something we have within us from knowing God.
It is also the idea that we are no longer enemies with God.
Jesus has caused us to be God's friend, thus we have peace with Him.
In verse 3 Paul thanks God for these people, as he
did in his first letter to these people. He
seems quite proud of them, especially concerning their faith and love that is
growing more and more. As noted in
earlier commentaries, Paul often links faith and love together.
First comes faith, that is trusting Jesus, which results in love for
others. I don't believe that you can
express Biblical love without trusting Jesus, without finding strength to love
from Him. Biblical love is all about
sacrifice, that is, sacrificing yourself for others.
The world's definition of love and the Bible's definition of love are two
different definitions. In verse 4 Paul says that he boasts of these people
to other churches because of their faith in the midst of all the trials and
persecutions they are going through. You
can see this boasting in his second letter to the Corinthians when he speaks
about the Macedonian’s giving in spite of their extreme poverty.
Remember, Thessalonica was the capital of the province
of Paul made it very clear to these people when he first
met them that if they gave their lives to Jesus, they would suffer
persecution. They suffered persecution from the Roman government.
Becoming a Christian for these people was something they thought
seriously about. It was not some
quick decision made by them based on an emotional plea.
Paul seldom used emotion in his pleas.
He used more intellect than anything else.
When these people gave their lives to Jesus, they expected their life to
be very difficult as a result. They
knew all this in advance. Paul made
it clear. He did not sugar coat the
gospel. Of course, the conviction of
the Holy Spirit aided these people in their conversion.
In verse 5 Paul is saying that their suffering
“will count them worthy of the The suffering that these people were going through
was associated with God's righteous judgment.
I believe the word "judgment" here should be understood in
terms of God deciding to do something. It
was His choice that these Christians should suffer.
That being said, they would reap a reward for this suffering.
God would not allow them to suffer for no reason and not be rewarded for
this suffering. There will be a
special reward waiting for these Christians when the Lord returns.
In verses 6 and 7 Paul tells these people that God
will bring affliction to those who cause their present suffering.
He also says that God will help them through their suffering.
He also says, and I believe Paul is speaking of the affliction of those
making these people suffer, will take place at the end of this age when Jesus is
revealed. That means, when Jesus
returns to earth. The idea here is that God Himself will avenge the
evil being done to these people. That's
why the Bible says "vengeance is mine says the Lord."
We do not have to pay back evil for evil.
If someone does evil to us, God will do a much better job than we will
ever be able to do to repay the evil done to us.
Paul goes on to say that “He will give relief to
those who are troubled, and to us as well”, since Paul and his friends are
always suffering for Jesus’ sake as the Thessalonians were suffering. This too
is part of God’s just judgment at the end of the age.
He will punish those who do wrong and will reward those for doing good. In case you aren’t sure that Paul is speaking of
future events here, he says in verse 7, “this will happen when Jesus is
revealed from Heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels”.
In 1 Thess. 3:13 Paul says that he will come with all of his “holy
ones”. Here Paul seems to clarify
to a degree who these holy ones are. He
says that they are angels. He also
says that Jesus’ return will be like a “blazing
fire”. In his first letter to
these people he said that Christ’s return would be sudden and destructive.
Here he adds another thought, and that is concerning the blazing fire. The
power of God is often seen as fire in the Bible.
There was fire on For those who don’t believe that God will, or can
punish anyone, in verse 8 Paul clearly says that God “will punish those who do
not know God or obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus”.
If a so-called Christian tells you that God does not punish people, then
they view Scripture differently than I do. Note
here that obeying the gospel of Jesus means trusting Him for salvation, or faith
in Him alone for salvation, not of works, lest any man should boast. How will these people be punished?
They will be punished with “everlasting destruction”.
The destruction that Paul mentions here may be compared to the
destruction that he spoke about in 1 Thess. 5:1 and 2.
Yet Paul says that this destruction is “everlasting”.
It is not a one time event. These
people are constantly, and forever experiencing destruction.
They will always be in the process of being destroyed, but never being
destroyed. This is a subject
that some may not want to talk about because it is scary and negative, but it is
a part of Scripture and should not be forgotten. Another
way I like defining eternal judgment is one being in the process of always
dying, and always wanting to die, but never
being able to die. Paul also says in verse 9 that these people “will
be shut out from the presence … and majesty of God”.
The fact that God’s presence will be nowhere found might be punishment
enough, but still, I do believe it is more than the lack of the presence of God.
In today’s world God’s presence is available for those who wish it.
His majesty can be seen in creation, as well as in other ways, but not in
the days ahead for those who reject the gospel. These people will be no where
close to God's immediate presence as the believer will be. Paul says that all this punishment will begin
when Jesus returns “to be glorified in His people”.
At that day, and that day only, will God’s people find perfection as
Jesus returns in person to be with us. His
prayer in John 17 will finally find its fulfillment on the day He returns for
His people. Not only will Jesus be glorified among His people,
but “He will be marveled at among all those who have believed”. The Greek
word “teras” is translated here
as “marvel”. This is the same
word that is translated as “wonders”, as in “signs and wonders’
elsewhere in the New Testament. It means “something strange that causes one to
sit back and marvel, or wonder in their imagination”.
When Jesus returns to earth to set up His eternal
Kingdom, this will be a thing to be marveled at.
It will be absolutely amazing, something beyond our wildest dreams.
Paul re-affirms that the Thessalonians are part of
the people who will someday marvel concerning the return of Jesus.
Why? Because they have
believed the good news of Jesus. It
is as simple as that. In verse 11, because of all these end time happenings
Paul prays for his readers that “God may count them worthy of His calling, and
that by His power He may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act
prompted by your faith”. Paul is
praying that God will help these people in whatever they do as a result of
trusting in Jesus. This may suggest
something. Sometimes people think
that they should do nothing as Christians unless they feel the Lord telling them
to do it. Paul, at least in my
thinking, says that we can do things as a result of our faith.
If because we trust Jesus we want to do something good, Paul hopes and
prays that God will bring success to our endeavor. If our desire is to teach
children about Jesus, for an example, go ahead and teach children, and pray that
God will bring success in what you do. This
can be in whatever endeavor you may feel like doing as
a Christian. In verse 12 Paul tells his readers why he prays for
such success in whatever they do. It
is so that Jesus will be glorified in them, meaning being seen in them in all
His power and splendor. It is so
Jesus will be seen for who He is in His people by the success they have in doing
good. This is the purpose of the church on earth.
That is, Jesus being seen in us to the world so others will want to
become a part of the He closes this chapter with the phrase “by the
grace of our God and our Lord Jesus Christ”.
It is by God’s, and Jesus’ grace that such good things we do can be
done in such a way to bring glory to Jesus.
If it is done purely in a humanistic way, in our own human strength, then
the glory will go to us and not to Jesus where it belongs.
Anything good that we do should be done to bring glory to Jesus, not to
us. Notice the many references to the coming of Jesus at
the end of this age in this chapter. Much
of what Paul says is in light of this fact.
The coming of Jesus seems to be in the forefront of Paul's thinking, so
much that we do should be motivated by the coming of Jesus. .
The
Man Of Lawlessness (ch. 2:1 - 12) Paul begins chapter 2 with the words “concerning
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to Him…”
This gathering together of all Christians to meet Jesus is what Paul
spoke about in his first letter when he said that the dead in Christ would rise
first and those who are left would rise to meet Him in the air. Note here that there are two aspects spoken
concerning the return of Jesus that Paul is addressing.
They are "Jesus' coming", and the saints "being gathered
together". Many Futurists see
this as the rapture of the church before the Great Tribulation because
Christians "being gathered" with Jesus seems to be in reference to
Christians meeting Jesus in the sky, as seen in 1 Thess. 4:16 to 17.
Yet on the other hand many Christians see this to be speaking of Jesus'
second coming, when He returns to earth for good to set up His kingdom.
They believe the dead will rise first, as Paul states, living Christians
will then be transformed in newness of life, and then Jesus, Christians, and the
angels will come down to earth. This is all about the word "rapture" that
has become a debatable topic, and especially so in the last few decades.
There are three basic ways to view the rapture.
Some people see it taking place before the Great Tribulation.
Some see it taking place in the middle of the Great Tribulation, and
still other say it takes place at the end of the Tribulation.
Verse 2 implies that there has been someone, either
through a prophecy, or some other kind of report which includes a false letter
from Paul saying that “the day of the Lord has already come.”
Someone was trying to tell these people that the gathering together of
the saints had already happened. Paul
is discounting these rumors in the following verses. Paul goes as far as to say that whoever is spreading
such teaching is trying to “deceive” them.
Paul’s instruction here is to clarify certain facts about the second
coming of Christ. In verse 3 He says that Jesus will not return until
“the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed
to destruction”. Paul, when he had
visited these people told them all about the second coming of Jesus.
Here in this letter he only reminds them of a few of the facts, not all
of the facts. In verse 5 he says,
“don’t you remember that when I was with you, I used to tell you of these
things”. I wish that Paul had of
reminded them of more of these particular facts in this letter.
It would have clarified many questions that Christians have asked over
the years. Two major questions are, what is the rebellion, and
who is the lawless man? In this
particular letter Paul does not explain his words concerning some kind of future
rebellion. People’s theology on
this point comes from their interpretation of other Scriptures that they link to
this verse. I believe the NIV makes the rebellion purposely
vague. In my Greek text it states a
falling away that must "first" come.
The Greek word translated as "first" in some translations, does
not appear in the NIV. That makes
you think that the lawless one leads the rebellion, when in fact that rebellion,
or the apostasy, must come first so
that the lawless one can then come. This is how I presently see this.
Christian influence slowly disappears from society.
This is the apostasy. Then
when there is no longer a Christian consensus, the lawless one will have an easy
time taking over. There will be
little opposition to him because of this apostasy.
This is what is clearly happening in the world today. Once the lawless man appears in the world he will
lead some kind of rebellion against God. The
rebellion against God won't appear to be a rebellion against God
right away, but as is seen in the book of
Revelation, the final fight will be against God. This lawless man, someone who has no respect for
God’s laws is “doomed to destruction”. Before he is destroyed, he will
lead this rebellion. “He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything
that is called God or is worshipped, so that he sets himself up in God’s
temple proclaiming himself to be God.” In verse 4 we see that this lawless man will oppose
not only God, but everything that is called God.
He will set himself up as the chief religious person in the world.
That means he would take control of not just the Christian church, but
the Catholic church, Muslim's, Hindus, and every other religion.
You can see things shaping up for such a take over now.
Back in the 1960's Time Magazine pronounced that God is dead.
Well, He has now been resurrected because much of the talk in the news
these days concerns religion and religious struggles.
This lawless man will get tired of this and declare himself as the chief
over all religions. You see this in
the book of Revelation. He will
appoint a false prophet to represent him in the world of religion.
Verse 4 also says that the lawless man will set
himself up in the "temple
of Concerning this rebellion, there are other view
points on "the rebellion". Many
Futurists believe this rebellion is a great "falling away" from God
and the things of God. The Those who believe that Paul is speaking of a literal
temple have to believe that the temple in In reading these words by Paul, we cannot really say
for sure what he means by the use of the word temple.
We can speculate. I would not
be surprised if it is a literal rebuilt temple in When it comes to the lawless man, I think it is
pretty clear this is the anti-christ. Concerning
the rebellion spoken of, I think it is the thrust by the devil against God and
His people In verse 5 Paul reminds these people that he told
them all about these things when he was with them, and he was not with them
long. Paul must have felt the end
time teaching was important enough for him to
teach these people all he knew on the subject.
As I said before, I wish I had the note from Paul's "in person"
teaching on these things. Most of
what we debate over concerning end times as Christians would be answered is we
had such notes. In verse 6 Paul says, “now you know what is holding
him back so that he will be revealed at the proper time”.
These people may have well known what Paul was saying.
They may well of known who was holding this
lawless person back. They
knew from previous conversations they had with Paul.
This is where I wish Paul would have clarified what he had previously
told them. This verse has created
endless discussions on what is holding this man back.
If Paul could have simply added a couple more sentences and told us who
was holding him back, it would have solved many problems, but he didn’t.
The things that are not said here by Paul are probably designed by the
Lord. It makes us trust Him, as well
as it makes us keep our eyes open. In verse 6 the pronouns "him" and
"he" refer back to this
lawless man. The lawless man is a
"he" and not a nation or a world system as some think. Concerning the phrase "proper time".
God has a time table of events. Nothing
happens to soon or too late. The
anti-christ will appear in the world exactly when God wants him to appear. I think the word "reveal" might mean
something here. To reveal something
is to unveil something that has been in existence but now is being shown.
I think, God is the one who will "reveal" or "unveil"
the anti-christ because he is a tool to bring about God's judgment on the earth
and the end of this age. In verse 7 Paul says that even now, before these
upcoming events “the secret power of lawlessness is already at work”. In 1
John 2:18 John says something similar. He speaks of the anti-Christ that will
come, yet at his writing the spirit of anti-christ was already working in the
world. This most likely is what Paul
is getting at here. The spirit of
the lawless one, most likely meaning the devil, is at work in the world right
now as Paul was writing these words. The word "secret" implies that the spirit
of anti-christ can't be seen. He is
working behind the scene. Of course
that is true. The secular man can't
see what is happening, but the intelligent Christian can. The rest of verse
7 says, “but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is
taken out of the way”. The
previous verse uses the impersonal word “what”, that is some thing is
holding this lawless man back. This
verse says that “one”, a personal word, suggesting a person is holding
someone back. The word “it” in
the verse is impersonal, most likely referring to the “secret power of
lawlessness”, not the “lawless man”. But
what does the pronoun “he” refer to in this sentence. That is to say,
“one” is holding “it” (lawless power) back until
“he” is taken out of the way. Who
is “he”? The “he” is referring to the one dong the restraining, because
Paul goes on to say, “and then the lawless one will be revealed”.
When “he”, the restrainer is taken out of the way, then the lawless
one can appear in world history, until then, only the secret power of
lawlessness is at work. Some think that the presence of the church is holding
this man back. These people believe
that there is a Great Tribulation period to come and at some point before it
begins, the church will be raptured away to escape the troubles of that day.
So they believe the "he" refers to the church. Others say the
"he" is the Holy Spirit holding this man back.
Some combine these two by saying the Holy Spirit within the church is
holding him back. Some people also say the You can
see that there are all sorts of opinions. We
just don’t know for sure from these verses who is holding him back.
Some even suggest an angel is the one doing the holding. We do know that something, or someone is preventing
this lawless man from appearing in the world and creating this rebellion, until
“the proper time” comes. By the
use of the words “proper time”, suggests to me that God has a proper time
for these things to happen and that He is in charge of these events.
This means that God Himself has power over this lawless man and the
rebellion that he will instigate is part of God’s plan of redemption.
Really, God is using this lawless man for his own purpose.
God often uses His enemies as an agent to have His will come to pass on
earth. We see in verse 8 that the lawless one is revealed,
then Jesus Himself will destroy him, simply by His return to earth, and with
“the breath of His mouth”, or “spirit of His mouth.
The Greek word “pnuema” is the word translated as “breath” here,
but is also the word we translate as “spirit” in the New Testament.
In verse 9 Paul continues by saying “the coming of
the lawless one is in accordance with the work of satan”.
This tells me that the lawless one is not satan, but one who works with
satan, which would fit the description of a man, an anti-christ. This lawless one Paul says will do many spectacular
miracles and will “deceive those who are perishing”.
This is important when we are trying to figure out who the anti-christ
really is. When a man of power
begins to do miracles, then you will know.
Note that it is the unbeliever that will be deceived.
We as Christians should not be deceived.
In verse 10 Paul says that “it is every sort of
evil” that will deceive those who are perishing.
This man will have the power to promote every kind of evil activity,
maybe more than we have ever known in world history.
Those who are perishing will be caught up in this evil and will not see
the truth of the gospel. In verse 10 Paul says “that they are perishing
because they refused to love the truth”, that is, the truth of the gospel of
Jesus. We as Christians should have
a real love for the truth of Scripture, but in our post-modern church, this is
not the case. Verse 11 is interesting.
It says, “for this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that
they will believe the lie, and so that all will be condemned who have not
believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness”. We see God Himself
sending people a “powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie” of
the lawless one. God is actually
encouraging these people, and even helping them to follow this man of sin, as
the KJV version calls him. The
reason why God is doing this is because previously these people chose not to
follow the truth but gave themselves to wickedness.
It is God’s prerogative to
do what He wishes to do with His creation, and in this instance He chooses to
influence sinners to believe the great lie of the lawless one. Some may suggest
that this is a reason for a pre-tribulation rapture, since God would do such a
thing. Why would He condemn people
while Christian activity is still on the earth?
Why would He condemn someone while we are trying to save the same people?
Once again, the text does not say this.
This way of thinking would only be speculation.
We should stick to the words of the text. Paul's thinking in the first two chapters of Romans
comes into play here. In those
chapters Paul points out how sinful man has become.
He says that God will hand people over to their sinfulness, if that is
what they want. Simply put, God
says, "if you want to sin, go ahead, sin all you want and as often as you
want. Just remember, there are
consequences." If there
is no love for the truth, then God will hand people over to the lie of the
anti-christ. That is what they
really want anyway. Verse 12 says that "all will be condemned",
that is, "all who have delighted in wickedness."
Note here the word "delight'.
Mankind delights in doing wicked things.
This will be the nature of man at the end of this age, as it is fast
becoming now. Men and women
throughout the world are delighting in all sorts of ungodliness.
It is a sign of the time. Our
hedonistic lifestyles is exactly what Paul is talking about here.
Here is a summery
of this chapter. Before Jesus
can return there will be “the rebellion”, a forsaking of the ways of God.
After that the "lawless one” will be revealed to those on earth.
Yet there is “one holding” the “lawless one, and the power of
lawlessness” back at the moment. At
some point “he”, (the one holding the lawless one back) will be removed,
which releases the lawless one to work miraculous signs and wonders along with
doing great evil, deceiving those who are perishing.
He will try to set himself up as God in God’s temple, yet at the return
of Jesus he will be destroyed with everlasting destruction. Concerning this lawless one who I believe is the
anti-christ, we need to understand, from a variety of other passages, that he is
like an angel of light. He is a very
attractive and well liked man. What
he promotes will be logical and loving for our world.
He will come in the name of love and unity, something we all want.
His message will be readily accepted by the world, because it is what the
world will desperately need at the time. My
point here is simple. The
anti-christ will not appear as an evil man.
He will appear as the savior of the world, and most in the world will be
glad to see him come.
In verse 13 Paul says that he thanks God for these
people. The reason he gives for this thankfulness is that “from the beginning
God chose you”, meaning, the Thessalonians.
What does Paul mean by the words, “from the beginning”?
It is my thinking that these words refer to time prior to creation.
We see Paul use such language in other of his writings.
This brings up the subject of predestination.
Does God choose certain people and not choose other people?
For a detailed explanation you can refer to my
commentary on Romans 8:29 and 30 concerning predestination.
In short these verses say that God calls people, then justifies them, and
then He glorifies them. God has predestine to call everyone to salvation.
This is where predestination comes in .
He chooses and calls everyone, yet only the ones who respond to His call
will subsequently be justified and glorified.
Justification is our salvation and glorification is our final salvation
when Jesus returns for us. Paul says that these people are saved “through the
sanctifying work of the Spirit and belief in the truth”.
“Belief in the truth”, means faith in Jesus and His gospel, or
trusting Him alone for our salvation. Belief
in Scripture means more than simply mentally agreeing with the truth, but
actually giving yourself to the truth, that is Jesus Himself.
Once you have given yourself to the truth, God’s Spirit comes to reside
within you, beginning the sanctifying process.
This is a process, not a one time experience as some claim.
It lasts a lifetime. Paul goes on to say in verse 14 just how God
“called” these people . The way
in which God called the Thessalonians was through the preaching of "our
gospel". Once again, referring
back to Romans, in chapter 10, it is clear that preaching is extremely
important. It is the preaching of
the gospel that God uses to bring people to Him, as foolish as that may seem.
Then once people have given themselves to the gospel
“they will share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ”.
There is a partial present day glory to share in, yet as we have seen in
the last chapter, and in Paul’s first letter to these people, the real glory
comes when Jesus returns for us. “He
will be glorified in His people”. (ch. 1:10) We will share in this glory.
Note the words "our gospel".
Some have made too much of these words.
They believe that Paul had his gospel.
Peter had his gospel, and each apostle had their own gospel.
This is far from the truth. There
is one gospel, and that is the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
All the early apostles, including Paul, spoke Jesus' gospel.
Those who say that each apostle has his own gospel say this in order to
also say that those under the authority of a particular apostle must submit to
everything their apostles says, that might differ a bit from the apostle down
the street to whom others must submit to.
Inv verse 15 Paul speaks about their salvation that
culminates in their full salvation at the return of Christ, Paul asks these
people “to stand firm”. He also
tells them to hold on the teaching that he has passed on to them, “whether by
word or letter”. I am sure that
Paul did more teaching by word than he did by letter.
I wish he had recorded more of his words in letter form. Note the words "passed on".
This tells me what really happened with the gospel he calls "our
gospel". He simply passed the
gospel on that he had heard from Jesus. He
did not make his own gospel up. He
heard from Jesus and passed it on to others.
It is as simple as that. In verses 16 and 17 Paul ends this chapter by saying,
“may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who loved us and by His
grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and
strengthen you in every good word and deed”.
Paul knew that he had limitations in helping these people grow as
Christians, but God Himself had no limitations.
God, through His Spirit can give these people the encouragement and
strength they need in the midst of their trials.
Yet this encouragement and strength was not merely given to get them
through the trials, but to help them do good works in the midst of these trials.
We often feel that we need help to simply get by, but Paul says that
there is help for us to do more than just get by, but to do good things no
matter how hard our lives are. Paul
was a living example of this. Jesus
does not want us to stop doing good when we find ourselves in the midst of
trials. Notice that Paul is saying that both God the Father
and Jesus is able to encourage the hearts of these people who are under great
stress. I often hear people saying
that we must be accountable to others who can admonish and strengthen us, and to
a degree this is true, that is, as long as such admonitions aren't dictatorial.
That being said, human encouragement has its limitations.
Only God, only Jesus, through the Spirit of God can reach into the heart,
where encouragement is needed most. In
the final analysis, no one, no man or woman, can take the place of the Holy
Spirit in this respect.
Request
For Prayer (ch. 3:1 - 5) Note in chapter 3 verse 1 that Paul asks his readers
for prayer, but not necessarily prayer for himself, but for the preaching of the
gospel, so it would “be honoured and spread.” Paul
was clearly more interested in the survival of the gospel than he was for
himself. This is something that all
church leaders should think seriously about In verse 2 Paul does ask for specific prayers for
himself and his fellow workers. He
asks the Thessalonians to pray “that they will be delivered from wicked men,
for not everyone has faith”. Once
again, we need to understand that Paul is not asking for protection out of
selfishness. He wants the protection
in order to preach the gospel. Paul
isn't worried about his own life. He'd
rather be with the Lord anyway. His
only mission on earth was to preach the gospel. In verse 3 Paul says that “the Lord will protect
them from the evil one”. We can
accurately assume by the “evil one”, he means satan. Paul believes that his
readers can be protected from the devil, even though Paul himself was hindered
at one point by satan from visiting these people.
Satan got in Paul’s way, but he did not harm Paul.
The only exception to this might be Paul’s thorn in the flesh which he
called “a messenger from satan”,
and this was God’s doing because of the excess of revelations that Paul had.
Both the Thessalonians and us most likely have not experienced this
excess and therefore don’t have to worry about a thorn in the flesh, a
messenger from satan. Also, even though Paul was bothered by a messenger from
satan, he was not overtaken by him.
In verse 4 we see the word "command".
Paul was an apostle and with this apostolic ministry comes a certain
authority. He acknowledges that the
Thessalonians were doing, and would continue to do, “as he commanded”.
The Greek word used here for our English word “command” is
“parangello”. It is made up of 2
words meaning, “to announce”, and “beside”.
This command was more of a passing along of the word of God to these
people. It was not a command as from
a dictator. Yet on the other hand,
this was the Word of God which brings with it a good measure of authority and
should not be taken lightly. Paul
never viewed authority n a dictatorial way.
His motivation was the love of God. Verse 5 says, “may the Lord direct your hearts into
God’s love and Christ’s perseverance”.
Notice Paul mentions both God and Christ, as he quite often does.
Paul expects God to direct people to do as they should.
Warning
Against Idleness (ch. 3:6 - 15) Verse 6 begins with the words "in the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ. That means
that what Paul is about to say, he is saying on the behalf of Jesus, since he is
representing Jesus.
Paul uses the word command once again.
He “commands” his readers to “keep away from every brother who is
idle and who does not live according to the teaching you received from us”. A
number of things can be noted here. One
is that Paul is actually commanding these people to stay away from certain
“brothers”. By the use of the
word “brothers”, we should be able to say that he is talking about
Christians. These Christians are
ones who are idle and do not follow after what Paul taught.
The picture is that there is a community of Christian
brothers, but not all work hard. Some
are idle and prefer to live off of others. This
would disturb Paul. for he himself hated to impose on anyone.
He felt that everyone should do their best to provide for themselves.
When it comes to the idea of working hard, I'm not sure Paul would be
very happy with the average Christian today. The Greek sentence structure used here implies “a
falling out of rank”, a military phrase. Some
were falling out of rank which Paul had previously established in his teaching.
They were falling out of step with the will of the Lord. Paul is speaking not just about being idle.
He is speaking about men departing from the teaching he taught them.
This would have been just as important as being idle. Paul goes on to say in verses 7 through 9 , “you
yourselves know how you ought to follow our example”.
The words “you yourselves” place double emphasis on Paul’s point.
Even though Paul did not stay long with these people, he must have
stressed the point that they needed to follow his example of living, which
included working for your living. Paul says that his example was not idleness when he
was with them, “nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it”.
He goes on to say, “on the contrary, we worked hard night and day,
labouring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you”.
You can see Paul’s thinking on the subject of working.
I believe his thinking was
based on love, or what Jesus said, “it is better to give than to receive”.
Those who always receive and never give are not living the life of
Christ. Paul says to “keep away”
from such people, even if they are called brothers in Christ.
I need to speak about the words "follow my
example". We need to understand
these words, not from our understanding, but from how Paul understood and lived
these words out. Paul is not being a
dictator. Paul is not saying that these people should copy every aspect of his
life. In this context especially,
Paul is saying "follow my example in how I work hard for the sake of the
gospel." We are not talking
about heavy handed "submission and authority" here.
In verse 10 Paul gives his reason for living this way
while they were among the Thessalonians. He
wanted to be “a model”, an example for them to follow.
Even though he felt that an apostle has the right to receive financial
help from those he served, he refused it in order to be an example of one who
would rather give than receive. In verses 11 through 13 Paul notes that there were
some slackers among these people. They
wanted to live off of others, something that is not demonstrating God's love.
He urges, even commands, that these brother settle down and start earning
their own living. Then for those who
are earning there own living, he encourages them to work even harder.
Again, Paul is not afraid of hard work.
I can just see Paul in today's socialistic world speaking out about
excessive socialism. While Paul was with these people he taught many
things to them as you can well understand. One thing he taught, and actually
commanded is seen in verse 14. He
says, “if a man will not work, he should not eat”.
Notice the use of the word “man” here.
He did not say women or children. He
used the word “man”. In 1
Timothy 5 Paul gives various instructions to Timothy and one is to look after
the widows who do not have children to look after them.
Paul doesn’t say to look after the widowers.
Most likely in their society a widower was more able to make a living
than a widow. Yet even in financial
distribution to the poor, Paul had certain requirements.
One was that a widow, if she
had children to look after her, should not receive financial help.
Here in 2 Thess. Paul would say, that if a man was capable of working and
didn’t, he too should not receive financial help.
Money did not come to Paul on a silver platter, and I don’t think he
was in favour of throwing it away to those who did not appreciate it.
This is something for all of us to understand in church life today as we
help the poor among us. Somehow Paul had heard that there were some among the
Thessalonians who were idle. “They are not busy, but busybodies”, he says.
Idleness produces things like gossip, and other such evils. He commands
these idle people to earn their own money and buy their own food.
For the rest of the hardworking people he urges “never to tire of doing
what is right”. In verse 14 Paul speaks from his apostolic authority
once again when he says, “if anyone does not obey our instructions in this
letter, take special note of him. Do
not associate with him in order that he will feel ashamed”.
Paul is being quite bold in his words here, and maybe even harsh on these
idle men, but harshness is probably what they needed.
They needed to be ashamed of the way in which they were living.
Maybe if they were ashamed enough, they would come to their senses and
get back being productive people. Once
again, Paul is telling his readers to stay away from a certain sector of the
Christian family, something that we might not be all that comfortable with
today, nevertheless, this is Paul’s command. Even though he tells these people to stay away from
the idle man, in verse 15 he tells them not to treat him “as an enemy, but
warn him as a brother”. If you
remember, Paul told the Corinthians to excommunicate one brother from their
midst because of the sinful life he was living.
They were to treat him as a sinner, but not in this case.
Final
Greetings (ch. 3:16 - 18) Paul ends his second letter to the Thessalonians in
verses 16 through 18 by praying that the Lord would give these people peace in
all that they do, and in every circumstance they find themselves in.
It is only Jesus who can give such peace to anyone.
These people really needed peace because of all the hardships and
persecution they were going through. He ends by saying in verse 17, “I, Paul, write this
greeting in my own hand, which is the distinguishing mark in all my letters.
This is how I write.” Note
that Paul does not say his hand wrote the whole letter, only the final greeting.
Like most of Paul’s letters, he dictated it to someone else. He says,
“this is the way I write”, hoping that people would know his writing style
and thus be sure that this letter was actually from him.
Can we read anything further into this? Maybe we can, but it is pure
speculation. When he says, “this
is the way I write”, and “this is the distinguishing mark”, might this
suggest that his hand writing for some reason is much different than normal?
In Gal. 6:11 he mentions the big letters he was using.
Were these big letters the distinguishing mark that everyone would
recognize. Once again, this is only
speculation, but an interesting idea. I
mention this because many people say that Paul's thorn in the flesh was bad
eye-sight, and the big letters would suggest that.
Paul ends his letter by saying, “the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ be with you all”. Again, these people needed both peace and
grace from God just to survive. It
is only by the Grace of our Lord that we can possibly succeed in our lives as
Christians.
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