II Thessalonians 3:1-18

And we have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things that we command. (v. 4) Paul has real confidence in the Thessalonians – in this case, confidence that they will follow his teachings (commands). Earlier I posted about the “third-person compliments” (I Thessalonians 1:9) that he had paid to them and in a later epistle (II Corinthians 8:1-5) he commends them for their generosity when he is talking about contributions toward the faithful in Jerusalem. What a great relationship he has with them!

In verses 6-12 Paul returns to two items he has mentioned previously – their imitating him and his working among them so that he was not dependent on them for his food. Every time I read his words about his disciples’ imitating him, I ask myself if I can say the same thing – “Imitate me!”. Although that should be something that we can easily say, I find it awkward and quite humbling to think of writing or saying that. And as for idleness, I just want to say a word about our staff. They are working tirelessly on our behalf these days, especially David and Kelly. Personally I would also put Todd in that category, but mostly I see the work that he is doing that the rest of you don’t see. In addition there are a number of volunteers who are putting in many extra hours. We are facing challenging times; I am proud of our church’s response! GLORY!

Slava Bohu!

II Thessalonians 2:1-17

Paul’s long sentences and parenthetical expressions often make for difficult reading. I posted in part on this difficulty yesterday. This happens twice today, in verses 1 and 2, then immediately again in verses 3 and 4. Look below at how these verses can be more easily understood when you read the entire verses through, then when you read a second time reading only the bold words:

First, verses 1 and 2: Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. There’s nothing wrong with Paul’s extra words; they contain additional information for the reader. Everything that is not in bold in these verses has to do with how the Thessalonians might be “quickly shaken”, so those are valuable insights that Paul is offering them – things to watch out for. However, their addition does confuse Paul’s main point – that the day of the Lord has not yet come. It takes reading and re-reading to see through these sentence constructions.

Second, verses 3 and 4: Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that [when] he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Again, those words not in bold help us to understand something about this “man of lawlessness” – his opposition to others and his exaltation of himself. But a quick read through these verses and you could easily miss the main point, that this “man of lawlessness” is claiming to be God.

Again, as I said in the first paragraph, read these verses through, recognizing that there are those additional words not in bold, and you will follow the meaning much more clearly. By the way, I recognize these sentence structure issues whenever I find myself troubling over something that Paul has written that I don’t understand. It may well be the same with you!

Verses 6 and 7 talk about a “restrainer”, someone or something that is restraining the “man of lawlessness”, presumably limiting ?him? from accomplishing even more evil. Who is this restrainer? My NKJV has the restrainer pronouns capitalized, implying that it is Jesus or His Holy Spirit. My Study Bible goes further, suggesting 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.” I certainly don’t know – take your pick!!

Enough for today – I am not an eschatological (end-times) scholar!!

Slava Bohu!

II Thessalonians 1:1-12

I was having trouble with verse 6: …since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you. I wondered how Paul knew that the unbelieving tormenters in Thessalonica were being repaid with affliction. Did Silas and Timothy bring back word to that effect? Then I realized that the first half of verse 7 might really be a parenthetical phrase or an incomplete sentence set off in dashes. Let’s look at verses 6 and 7 with dashes: …since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you – and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us – when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. That is, in shortened form, …God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven… It makes a lot more sense that way! The tormenters will be repaid with affliction when Jesus returns!

There’s a lot of material in this reading about Jesus’ return: mighty angels, flaming fire, inflicting vengeance, eternal destruction, glorified in his saints, marveled at by believers. There’s not much I can say – or that I ever do say – about Jesus’ return. I leave that to end-times authors!

Slava Bohu!

I Thessalonians 5:12-28

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) That short phrase, “in the Lord” is important. When I first read it, I thought Paul might be referring to employers and politicians as well as Christian leaders, but upon a re-read it’s clear Paul is speaking about their Christian leaders. At first glance it might also seem like Paul is a bit self-serving, since he is one who labors among them. But you may recall (Acts 18:3) his labor in Corinth with Aquila and Priscilla (and later he will justify his “paying his own way”), so he is defending other Christian leaders and not setting himself above anyone. One other item here – 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 naturally have evolved. Just wondering…

…always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. (v. 15b) It’s good that Paul added “and to everyone”. Earlier in this reading he is speaking only of Christians. He follows that up with a bunch of commands in verses 16 through 22. It’s a good listing. I asked myself if I was obeying all those commands. Sadly, I fail miserably on “pray without ceasing”. But our Christian leaders today are saying the same thing, encouraging us to pray constantly for those many needs around us. I’m thankful for “prayer warriors”, but that does not dismiss me to being more active in my prayer life.

Now on to II Thessalonians!

Slava Bohu!

I Thessalonians 5:1-11

Instead of triads today, I saw two interesting duets. Here’s the first: …the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night … and …sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman. (vv. 2-3) The thief and the pregnant woman… The former comes completely unexpectedly, the latter at some unknown but relatively predictable time. [Naturally, there are exceptions – our grandson Matt came three months early!] However, for both the thief and the pregnant lady there is some sense of preparation – locking up the house at night against the thief and preparing the nursery for the upcoming birth. For both the warnings are there: be prepared!

The second duet is an intriguing pair – sleeping and drinking! Paul uses these two activities to highlight the contrast between night and day: So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. (vv. 6-7) My Study Bible suggests that Paul’s reference to sleep is meant to reflect “spiritual insensitivity”. So he is telling the Thessalonian Christians not to be spiritually insensitive or drunk, but instead that they are to be …children of light, children of the day… (v. 5), people who seek the Lord and stay sober!

For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with Him. (vv. 9-10) A bit of a clarification on the word “asleep” in verse 10 – Paul is mixing his metaphors. Here the word “asleep” refers to our physical death. So, whether we are alive or dead (awake or asleep) we live with Him! I think too many Christians focus on salvation as a means to escape the fires of hell and are not living their full “alive life” in Christ. But it’s not just a matter of escaping hell. We can be with Jesus NOW, in our earthly life, then eternally when we leave this earth. NOW!! That’s a GLORY shout!!

Slava Bohu!

I Thessalonians 4:13-18

I get the feeling from today’s reading that Paul thought Jesus’ return was in the very near term. Now, almost 2000 years later we still wonder about His return – yet we still believe and wait. I appreciated Paul’s compassion for his readers, especially his regard for their concern for their fellow believers who had already died. His words were both encouraging (v. 13, But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope) and full of force (v. 15, …we declare to you by a word from the Lord…).

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!

Today’s reading is a really hopeful message for all of us!

Slava Bohu!

I Thessalonians 4:1-12

Paul writes “more and more” twice, in verses 1 and 10. There are really different senses for what Paul is saying in different translations. For example, the NKJV has that you …abound more and more… and that you …increase more and more… (respectively). The words “abound” and “increase” have an evangelistic ring to them. Contrast with the ESV which says that …you ought to walk and please God … more and more (v. 1) and …to love one another … more and more. (vv. 9b and 10b) This translation is more a sense of personal growth. Although these two translations carry very different meaning, they each carry good messages – evangelism and personal growth. More and more…

Not because it’s a triad, but because it’s just good common sense: …live quietly, … mind your own affairs, and … work with your hands (v. 11) More and more…!

Slava Bohu!

I Thessalonians 3:1-13

I would have let you find your own triads today, but there is one that shows up in the NKJV only. Whereas the ESV has …we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s coworker in the gospel of Christ… (v. 2), the NKJV has …Timothy, our brother and minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ… Minor, but interesting…!

Paul shows his concern for the Thessalonians in today’s first five verses and his joy at Timothy’s good news in the next four verses. It’s especially touching to see that he longs to see them face to face (v. 10). That phrase hit me this morning, when I thought about someone in our lives. You may remember a Slovak couple and their four-year-old son, Vlado and Maria and Oliver. They attended St. Andrew’s irregularly (they lived about 100 miles away), but St. Andrew’s effectively became their home church. During a Pastor’s Briefing in December 2016 they said good-bye to the church, thanking us for our reception of them and the strengthening of their faith that had occurred in their times with us. Slightly built, small Maria was especially touching – near tears as to how Father David and St. Andrew’s had brought her back to faith.

We visited them in Poland in the summer of 2017 and baptized them with Mark Bruner in a public swimming pool in Czechia. Then we also visited them in Slovakia in 2019, always desiring to encourage them and strengthen their faith. They have really missed our worship services and had been in the early planning stages to visit us when the CV pandemic hit. HOWEVER, with our worship services videotaped we were able to forward those links to them and they have been with us online for the past three weeks. Then we SKYPE’d with them each day after the service. So, we have mirrored (and imitated) Paul, with our concern and love for them and finally seeing them “face to face”. It has been as touching for us as I’m sure it was for Paul!

I can’t help wondering about Silas. In Acts 18:5 Luke reports that Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia to Corinth where Paul was staying. But we only read about Timothy being sent on his round trip to Macedonia, to the Thessalonians – no word about Silas. Then I thought Silas might have been sent to Philippi, but only Timothy is mentioned in Paul’s letter to the Philippians (v. 1:1). Also, after the beating and jail time in Philippi I wondered about Silas’ desire to return!! But then I imagined, reading clearly outside the pages, that Silas might have been sent to Berea – I imagine a letter from Paul to the Bereans similar to I Thessalonians that has never been recovered. But I’m going too far afield…!! Please forgive…!

Slava Bohu!

I Thessalonians 2:13-20

Please forgive my focus on the triads! But when you look for the triads, you find them. The triad in verse 19 is clear: hope, joy, crown of boasting. But another is more hidden in verses 13 and 14: …you received … and accepted the word of God… (v. 13), you became imitators of the churches … in Judea (v. 14), and you suffered the same things from your own countrymen (v. 14). One thing worth noting about this second triad – whereas some triads are simply listings, as in verse 19, the triad in verses 13 and 14 is sequential: You received the word, you became imitators, you suffered.

In Paul’s letter he is affirming what Luke had written in Acts 17: …you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they (Judean Christians) did from the Jews (v. 14b). You may recall that Judean Christians were being murdered (Stephen in Acts 8, James in Acts 12) and that in Acts 17 Jews from Philippi had come to Thessalonica to create [made] havoc for Paul, driving him out of town whereupon he headed to Berea. Paul has three references (vv. 14, 16, and 17) to their harsh treatment in Thessalonica. We’ve already seen Paul in Galatians 1, 2 affirm Luke in Acts 9. We’ll see this on other occasions in Paul’s letters.

Slava Bohu!

I Thessalonians 2:1-12

The triads… Once you are aware of them, you tend to see them quite often. I counted three today; the first two are obvious: …how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct… (v. 10) and …we exhorted … and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God… (v. 11). But the third triad is hidden a bit in verses 5 and 6: For we never came with words of flattery, … nor with a pretext for greed (v. 5) … Nor did we seek glory from people… (v. 6).

This third triad is more interesting. Paul is talking about how he might be preaching – actually how his preaching could have been misguided. First he could have come trying to win coverts with flattery, making the Thessalonians feel good about themselves. Or he might have come preaching and asking for their support – I so remember a “teaching” that I attended in my early born-again years where the last half of the two-hour “teaching” was their need for support to maintain their ministry. Turned me off!! Finally, Paul could have courted praise from his listeners, winning them over with HIS (not the Lord’s) manner and elocution. Again, misguided. Instead Paul spoke as a person …approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel… not to please man, but to please God. (v. 4) There’s a bottom-line message in all that for us: we must be genuine when we share the Gospel. Our listeners will see right through any insincerity in our words or in our hearts. We are entrusted with Jesus’ Gospel. Don’t misuse it!

Slava Bohu!