II Thessalonians 2:1-17 I am intrigued by “the restrainer”. In verse 6 Paul tells the Thessalonians that they know who or what the restrainer is: And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. So evidently Paul made it clear when he was with them in person …
Monthly Archives: August 2021
August 11 / II Thess. 1:1-12
II Thessalonians 1:1-12 Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring. (v. 4) As the Thessalonians read or heard the words that Paul wrote they must have enjoyed a certain amount of personal pride (which …
August 10 / I Thess. 5:1-28
I Thessalonians 5:1-28 Do not quench the Spirit. (v. 19) First David, then Michael encouraged us to become a “Three Streams” church – sacramental, scriptural, Spirit-filled. It’s not hard to buy into those first two streams; it’s easy to see that St. Andrew’s is both sacramental and scriptural. But I fear that there are too …
August 9 / I Thessalonians 4:1-18
I Thessalonians 4:1-18 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven … And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. (vv. …
August 8 / I Thessalonians 3:1-13
I Thessalonians 3:1-13 Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone… (v. 1). “left behind” and “alone”… In our Men’s Group discussion this past Tuesday someone said that the Christian life is meant to be lived in community, not alone. And there’s great truth in …
August 7 / I Thessalonians 2:1-20
I Thessalonians 2:1-20 A correction… In the second paragraph from my second set of comments in the links below I wrote that “Jews from Philippi had come to Thessalonica to create havoc for Paul, driving him out of town…”. I don’t know where I got that information; I looked back and forth in Scripture and …
August 6 / I Thess.1:1-10
I Thessalonians 1:1-10 Our second of Paul’s epistles, this one to his converts from Thessalonica. Presumably Paul wrote this letter and a second (II Thessalonians) while he was in Corinth. Just yesterday we were reading in Acts 18 about Paul’s 18-month stay in Corinth. Very likely, through Silas and Timothy Paul stayed in communication with …
August 5 / Acts 18:1-28
Acts 18:1-18 And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla… (v. 2) Aquila was a traveler!! Pontus was a region along the north/northeast coast of modern-day Turkey, bordering the Black Sea to the north. To get to Italy Aquila had to travel west through …
August 4 / Acts 17:16-34
Acts 17:16-34 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. (v. 21) This sentence seems to me very unlike the rest of Luke’s writing. Most often he is direct, specific, exact. Here he is speaking very generally – …all the Athenians… …
August 3 / Acts 17:1-15
Acts 17:1-15 …they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. (v. 17b) I should have pointed out yesterday that Paul and Silas did not go to the synagogue in Philippi, but went down to the river where there was a “place of prayer”. Then upon coming to Thessalonica Paul and Silas …