II Thessalonians 2:13-3:18

Dear RTB’ers,

I have a problem with food – I eat more than I need. Mostly it’s not a problem at mealtimes; the bigger problem is between meals when I am being lazy or when I’m bored, when I’m just sitting around not doing much. But contrast, when I am outside working I seldom think about food. And if I do realize that I’m hungry, I typically choose to finish the task before me rather than quitting just to get something to eat. Idleness is a problem for me.

Today’s reading connected with me on this idleness issue, although Paul has a bigger problem in mind: Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. (v. 3:6) Apparently there were Thessalonians who had chosen a lazy life. But not only were they not working, they were also compounding their idleness by engaging in gossip: For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but busybodies. (v. 3:11) Paul’s answer to his Thessalonian believers: …take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. (v. 3:14b) [The NASB has an even stronger translation, …that he will be put to shame.] For Paul, this idleness is shameful and that person is to be humiliated, to be shunned by the believing community. That may sound harsh, but I suspect that Paul’s intent is “tough love”, that his hope is for the Holy Spirit to quicken that idle person’s heart toward repentance and a changed life. Bottom line: better not to be too idle – for them or for me!

Blessings!

II Thessalonians 2:1-12

Dear RTB’ers,

So, what’s going on in today’s reading? Paul’s complex sentence structures often make it difficult to follow his intended teaching; repeated reading will help our understanding of what he is saying. Here’s my shortened take on today’s reading. There is a “man of lawlessness” who has not yet been revealed, but is somehow being restrained. At some point this restrainer will step aside and that man of lawlessness will be revealed. He/she/it will be Satan’s envoy and will claim to be God. Unbelievers will be deceived, but Jesus will take him down simply by blowing on him. Victory over him is certain!

Today’s key verse: For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed… (v. 3) Everything mentioned in the paragraph above is all preliminary to “that day”, which is the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to Him. (v. 1) But one question remains – who is this “restrainer”? My Study Bible suggests that the restrainer might be “the Roman state with its emperor, Paul’s missionary work, the Jewish state, the principle of law and government embodied in the state, the Holy Spirit, or the restraining ministry of the Holy Spirit through the church, or others.” This quote does not mention Jesus as the possible restrainer – and I agree. When Jesus is mentioned in today’s reading, it is with respect to His coming (v. 1) or to His killing that man of lawlessness. (v. 8) So Jesus is likely not the restrainer. Who, then, is holding back this evil Satanic emissary? Your thoughts…??!!

Blessings!

II Thessalonians 1

Dear RTB’ers,

Many Bible scholars maintain that II Thessalonians was written not long after I Thessalonians (maybe six month or so). Presumably Paul had sent Silas and Timothy to Thessalonica with his first letter; then when they returned (with more questions!) he wrote this second letter. The “end-times” dominates this second letter. Paul had already covered this topic in his first letter, especially his assurance to them that those believers who had already died would be with Jesus when He returned. In fact, my Study Bible pointed out that every chapter in I Thessalonians ends with a comment about Jesus’ second coming. Still, the Thessalonians had questions about the end-times and this second letter goes into much greater detail about Jesus’ return, especially the next chapter.

Paul speaks of suffering and retribution in the second half of today’s reading. He, himself had already suffered there (and been run out of town), so he had some idea of the persecution which those believers might have been experiencing. However, he has a two-part response. First, yes, they will suffer for their faith; endure it. Relief is coming when Jesus returns: …and to grant relief to you who are afflicted … when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven… (v. 7). Second, those non-believers who persecute you will get theirs – if not in this life, then certainly in the next: They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction … when He comes on that day to be glorified…! (vv. 9-10a) Paul has a lot more to say about all this. Check back tomorrow!!

Blessings!

---

See also: December 2 (2023) / II Thessalonians; Acts 18:12-19:22

I Thessalonians 5

Dear RTB’ers,

First, a bit of clarification… The words “sleep and asleep” occur four times in today’s reading (I Th. 5:6, 7, 10) and three times in yesterday’s reading (I Th. 4:13-15). In chapter 4 Paul was clearly using “sleep” as a metaphor for death referring to those believers who had died. Today he uses “sleep” in a very different context: So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. (I Th. 5:6) Here “sleep” refers to believers being (not) alert, ready, watchful. I Th. 5:10 is less clear. This wording, whether we are awake or asleep seems to apply more to believers who have passed on. So, mixed metaphors. Confusing.

We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. (vv. 12-13) It’s in my DNA to respect the clergy who serve us. My parents often brought food gifts to the priest and nuns at our parish – rabbits and chickens from the farm and fruit cakes that my mother baked at Christmas. They set an example – spiritual leaders were to be held in high esteem. In today’s reading Paul is also asking us to treat our Christian leaders with respect. But I wonder who it is in Thessalonica that is in leadership? Paul seems to have spent so little time there, having been run out of town. Did Timothy go back and appoint leaders? Or was it maybe converted Jews who knew the Old Testament scriptures well and were taught by Paul those essential prophetic verses that applied to Jesus? Then again, leadership may have evolved naturally. Just wondering…

And we urge you, brothers… (5:14a). Paul follows with fourteen action verbs in I Th. 5:14-22. A good action list for Christian living.

Blessings!

---

See also: December 1 (2023) / I Thessalonians

I Thessalonians 4

Dear RTB’ers,

For this is the will of God, your sanctification… (v. 3a, NASB). This word, “sanctification” occurs twice more in the next four verses in the NASB; the ESV has “holiness” in verses 4b and 7b. It was a new concept to me that I picked up on only a few years ago, in our Men’s Group meetings. One (or more) of the men spoke of “salvation and sanctification” – first an initial conversion, a turning to the Lord, then our continuing growth in Him, being filled with all that He has for us, being filled with the Holy Spirit, a changed life. That’s sanctification.

Paul speaks of the “end times” in today’s last six verses – one of the clearest pictures that he gives us of what the end will look like. To me 4:14 is the key verse: For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep. Paul seems to be answering a question, possibly brought to him by Timothy, that the Thessalonians were concerned that their friends who had died would not see Jesus when He returns. Paul clarifies that for them – and for us! For the following twenty centuries billions of Christians have “fallen asleep” – and many of us will (?possibly, probably?) join them before Jesus returns. But because He died and rose again, so shall we!

One other item. 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… (v. 17) My Study Bible said that this is the only place in the New Testament where a rapture of living Christians is clearly stated. Yet so many people/denominations make such a big deal about it!

Blessings!

I Thessalonians 3

Dear RTB’ers,

Reminder: The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea… (Acts 17:10) Paul had spent only three weeks in Thessalonica. That was enough time to win a few converts and to begin relationships, but his sudden, unexpected departure put an end to his teaching and created in him a real longing for those whom he had left behind. He went to Berea and Athens, spending enough time in those cities to preach and win a few converts, then went on to Corinth. In spite of ministry successes in Berea and Athens and Corinth, Paul’s Thessalonians have not been far from his mind or his heart. So he sends Timothy to check on them. Those few relationships that he had developed in Thessalonica must have been strong indeed!

Paul’s prayers and concerns answered: But now that Timothy has come to us from you … we have been comforted about you through your faith. (vv. 6-7) And Paul continues to pray for them: we pray … night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith… (v. 10) Yes, he will see them face-to-face (Acts 20:1-3), but it will have been after about a five-year separation.

Blessings!

I Thessalonians 2

Dear RTB’ers,

I posted yesterday on a bit of the background to the Thessalonian letters. Paul mentions in today’s second verse a bit that I had left out, that Paul had come to Thessalonica from Philippi where he and Silas had been badly treated, not by the Jews this time, but by the town merchants who were afraid of losing their markets as people turned away from their idols to the true God Whom Paul was preaching. The miracle of their release surely emboldened Paul to preach all the more strongly wherever he went. Clearly the Thessalonians were the recipients of this powerful message.

As we read through today’s second chapter we get the sense that Paul has built a very strong relationship with the Thessalonian believers: So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us. (v. 10) In fact, however, Paul had spent only three sabbaths there! (Acts 17:2) But those three weeks must have been powerful times for him with them – so powerful that he had felt the need to send Timothy back to check up on them, and then to revisit them himself nearly two years later on a major detour as he was headed to Jerusalem.

In my comments on chapter 1 four years ago I had mentioned how often in Paul’s letters we will see him writing in triads – three items typically tied together by the conjunction “and” or some other connector. There were two yesterday, in I Thes. 1:3 (faith, love and hope) and in I Thes. 1:9b-10a (turned, to serve, to wait.) Today we see five: I Thes. 2:5-6; 2:10; 2:11; 2:13-14 (a bit hidden); and in I Thes. 2:19. Look back and find them all yourself; it’s a fun exercise!

Blessings!

I Thessalonians 1

Dear RTB’ers,

Today we go in a new direction in our walk through the Bible –the first of Paul’s epistles. Although our Bibles have (in order) seven epistles before we get to I and II Thessalonians, most scholars agree that I Thessalonians was the first epistle that Paul wrote – in fact, the first of any of the New Testament writings that we include in our Bibles. Some scholars argue for Galatians to have been the first epistle that Paul wrote, but they are in the minority.

The background to the Thessalonian letters begins in Acts 17:1-10 with Paul’s visit to Thessalonica during his second missionary journey. Most importantly in those verses we see that …the Jews were jealous, and … they formed a mob … (Acts 17:5) and …the brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea… (Acts 17:10a). Right away we remember the problems that Paul had with “the Jews from Asia” during his first missionary journey and continuing with his trials later in Acts. We see the same behavior by the Thessalonian Jews – jealous, angry, violent against Paul’s preaching. So Paul is quickly taken south to Berea, then on to Athens (Acts 17:16-34), then on to Corinth (Acts 18:1-18a) where he stayed a year and a half. From Corinth Paul sent Timothy (and Silas?) back to Thessalonica to encourage the believers there. Timothy’s report to Paul when he returns to Corinth forms the base for I Thessalonians, wherein Paul spends much of his writing answering questions that arose from Timothy’s report.

So now, with this background in place we begin Paul’s epistles. Enjoy!

Blessings!

Psalms 28-29

Dear RTB’ers,

Psalm 28. …who speak peace with their neighbors while evil is in their hearts. (v. 3b) These words struck me today, by way of condemnation! So often I find myself in two-faced conversation – speaking words and listening to what is being said while my mind is way off somewhere else – somewhere else that I needed to be or something else that I wanted to do. Yes, I have a hearing problem and I tend to tune out when I am not hearing well. But that does not excuse me in two-person conversation! By the way, verse 3a, the lead-in to the half-verse that I quoted above, tells us that David is speaking of the wicked … the workers of evil. Ouch!!

Psalm 29. It is easy for us to put ourselves into this Psalm! Sitting on a covered porch during a summer rain while lightning flashes and thunder roars – we see God’s power and majesty firsthand! The voice of the LORD (seven times in this Psalm) … and in His temple all cry, “Glory!” (v. 9b). GLORY!!

Blessings!