• We left off last week with Paul addressing the church at Thessalonica and their concerns for what is to come with the dead and themselves when Jesus returns.
• Now we get to the wrap up of his 1st letter to the Church at Thessalonica.

 
1 Thessalonians 5
EXHORTATIONS AND BLESSINGS

• A. L. Moore, in his 1969 commentary, says this: “There is no need to see behind each injunction a special situation supposedly requiring particular guidance; much of the advice and encouragement is of a general nature such as Paul would regard right and necessary for any church.”
• Howard Marshall, in his 1983 commentary said this: “The situation is the very natural one of a pastor who knows that a number of specific topics are usually important in exhortation and has a rough general pattern of teaching in his mind, but who presents it in such a way that he adapts it to the particular situation he has in mind.”[1]

12 Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to give recognition to those who 1) labor among you and 2) lead you in the Lord and 3) admonish you, 13 and to regard them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.

• Paul “asks” – means that he has a good 2 way respectful relationship with the Church in Thessalonica.
• He is not commanding.
• 1) The first thing that congregational leaders do is they “work hard/labor.”
• What does that mean? Well, the rest of the text says that “They rule over and admonish parishioners.”
• 1 Timothy 5:17 says they preach and teach.
• 1 Thessalonians 2:11 says that they engage in individual discipleship training.
• 2 Thessalonians 3:13 [and] Acts 20:35 say that they support the poor.
• 1 Thessalonians 5:14–15, coming up in our passage in just a little bit, says that they practice pastoral care, although they don’t do it alone but the whole church does it.
• These are at least some of the things that church leaders do [and] ways in which they work hard.
• 2) We live in a kind of politically correct age in which people are sensitive about people who have authority and how they exercise authority, I think that many commentators and many translations are a little too reluctant to recognize what is emphasized here in this passage.
• In this context Paul has in mind that authoritative function.
• 3) Admonition for the apostle never stems from a judgmental or vindictive spirit, but rather, it’s always done out of genuine love and concern for others.
• We can see that in Paul’s words to the Corinthians (1 Cor 4:14). He says, “to admonish you as my dear children.”
• That was the perspective by which Paul admonished the Corinthians—from the perspective that they were his dear, or his beloved, children.
• There are certain members in the Thessalonian church who are not only idle but, even worse, they’re rejecting—they are rebellious because they’re rejecting the admonition of the church leaders about their need for self-sufficient work.[2]

 

• Leavener – Organic>Institutional
• We receive questions & judgment because we aren’t organized like “others”.
  • 5 recognized elders (board – IRS)
  • Many elders (including women)
  • Deacons
    • Serve the ministry
    • Serve individual people/families
  • Members – There are no members
  • No voting among members
  • No committees
  • Organic small groups

14 And we exhort you, brothers and sisters: 1) warn those who are idle (rebellious idlers), 2) comfort (encourage) the discouraged, 3) help the weak, 4) be patient with everyone (all).

• ‘brothers and sisters’ - stresses the fact that pastoral care is the responsibility not of just the church leaders but the whole congregation.
• And this is an important point because, in today’s church, there is a tendency to farm out this responsibility of pastoral care to paid staff people or to trained church leaders.
• Instead, we have to recognize that the whole church, the whole body, has a responsibility to its fellow members.
• And what’s more, this is perfectly in keeping with Paul’s commands elsewhere that church leaders are not to do the work alone but, rather, are [Ephesians 4:11–12] “to equip the saints for the work of ministry.”
• 1) ‘the rebellious idlers’—those who are not merely lazy but who also compound their sin by rebelliously refusing to obey the command of both their congregational leaders and even Paul himself.”
• 2) ‘comfort/encourage the discouraged’ - in this context [of] “encourage/comfort,” remember, also occurs typically in the context of death.
• 3) ‘help the weak’ - The adjective here could refer to physical ailments, but because the moral character has been stressed in the previous two groups, it more likely suggests that here too Paul is referring to those who are spiritually weak.[3]
• 4) ‘be patient with everyone/all’ – Not just the first 3 mentioned but to ALL.

15 See to it that no one repays evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good for one another and for all.

• Paul knows that the natural reaction of humanity when someone does something wrong is to strike back in anger and in revenge.
• So here Paul is highlighting the principle of non-retaliation.
• The verb “pursue” is also a strong one. Some translations simply say something like “try to do what is good,” and that’s much too weak for what the verb conveys.
• In fact, this is a strong verb that is even used sometimes to describe persecution.
• So what Paul is saying is [that] we just don’t have to try to do what is good.
• Much more aggressively, we have to chase after—we have to pursue—what is good, and we have to do that toward all.[4]

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray constantly, 18 give thanks in everything; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

• Congregational worship – What is that?
• Paul connects the Holy Spirit with each one of these three things, and so that’s what holds this paragraph together.
• So joy, for instance, is connected with the Holy Spirit in Paul’s writings in this letter, earlier in 1:6, [and] also in Rom 14:17 and Gal 5:22.
• Prayer is connected with the Holy Spirit in passages like Rom 8:26–27; 1 Cor 14:15; Eph 6:18; and Phil 1:19.
• Pagan prayer – was more transactional.
• If you do this, I will do this in return.
• Christian payer is more relational. Not necessarily what we learned in church either.
• Thanksgiving is connected with the Holy Spirit in 1 Cor 14:16.[5]
• This doesn’t say ‘when you gather’.
• Worship is not just a Sunday AM thing.
• We worship always, constantly and in everything.
• Every breath we take is worship.
• How do you do these things ‘always’?
• Chaplain call on Friday – 46 year old husband and father of 3 died.
• “Why?” – How do you do this?
• ‘God’s will for you in Christ Jesus’ – to walk by His Spirit.
• The Spirit of God is the only way you get through this fallen world.
• I can’t explain why – there is a bigger picture.

19 Don’t stifle (quench) the Spirit. 20 Don’t despise prophecies, 21 but test all things. Hold on to what is good. 22 Stay away from every kind of evil.

• ‘stifle/quench’ – to walk by your flesh – selfishness.
• What I want… what I feel… What am I going to get out of this?... Flesh vs Spirit.
• Filter what you hear… when it comes to listening to teachers.
• Throw penalty flags and know why.
• Know the difference between good and evil.
• Spirit vs flesh
• Michael Martin, says, “Paul did not wish the church to become so cynical that they treated with contempt those who came with a word of prophecy. Neither was the church to be so gullible that they accepted whatever a so-called prophet said without carefully weighing it and determining that it was indeed a true word of God.”[6]

23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

• Peace… real peace only comes from God… the Spirit inside of us.
• ‘sanctify you completely’ – Set apart
• Explain how a believer’s soul and spirit has already been redeemed at the cross. Out of this comes acts of the Spirit.
• Our body has not been redeemed. Out of this comes acts of the flesh.
• Not only in your soul and spirit, but also your body.
• May you not only be perfected in your true identity but your behavior as well.

24 He who calls you is faithful; he will do it. 25 Brothers and sisters, pray for us also. 26 Greet all the brothers and sisters with a holy kiss.

• The “holy kiss” was not a sensual thing. Usually the men kissed the men, and the women kissed the women[7]
• This is a command that Paul gives in only three of his letters, and always to congregations where, earlier in the letter, he has addressed some form of internal conflict or division.
• So the fact that Paul includes the kiss greeting in his letter closing to the Thessalonians is a strong suggestion that he has a particular internal division in the church in mind.
• And the kiss itself in the ancient world was a lot more than just saying hi or goodbye.
• It was a sign in the ancient world of, well, almost forgiveness, of reconciliation, of unity and togetherness.[8]
• I am good with saying, “I forgive you” and “I love you.”

27 I charge you by the Lord that this letter be read to all the brothers and sisters. 28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. [9]
‘Grace be with you’ – The ability of God in you to live your life for you.

[1] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[2] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[3] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[4] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[5] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[6] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[7] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 190). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[8] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[9] Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (1 Th 5:12–28). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

• We left off last week…
• In this passage, is primarily, as we’ve noted a number of times, not predicting but pastoring.

 
1 Thessalonians 4
THE COMFORT OF CHRIST’S COMING
13 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For we say this to you by a word from the Lord: We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming (parousia) will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.

• Paul referred to the coming of the Lord as his parousia, a term that commonly meant the glorious “coming” of a deity or the official visit of a sovereign to a city, who himself was often honored as divine.
• An imperial visit was an event of great pomp and magnificent celebrations, with rich banquets, speeches that praised the imperial visitor, a visit to the local temple, rich donations, celebration of games, sacrifices, statues dedicated, and arches and other buildings constructed.
• Money was minted to commemorate the event, crowns of gold might be given, and at times a new era was inaugurated.[1]

16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

• So it could be, for instance, a general to his soldiers, saying “Charge!” or it might be a captain to the rowers.
• So the first command has, again, the idea that it is spoken by somebody who has power and authority [at] a time of great importance or excitement.[2]
• “Trumpet of God” – I can’t find any historical record, Josephus included, where this is mentioned.
• In funeral processions the trumpets were sounded, and so common was this custom that when the emperor Claudius died the sound of the trumpets was so deafening that it was thought that the dead could hear them.
• But the idea of this verse is not simply that the dead will hear the great sound of the trumpet call of God, but that they will respond to the command to rise[3]

17 Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together (harpazō) with them in the clouds to meet the Lord (apentesis) in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

• The key verb harpazō, and that’s found here in verses 16 and 17.
• This is where, again, we get the word and the idea of the rapture because harpazō in Greek was translated into rapio in Latin and the Vulgate, and from that we get the noun “rapture.”[4]
• There’s pretty strong evidence that the word, the verb harpazō, was used rather widely in the ancient world to refer, in the context of death, to how people were snatched who were taken away from the advantages of life to death.
• Paul is using “harpazo”, unlike what the common world expects, [being] snatched from life to death, but meaning we’re going to be snatched from life to not death but life to life or from one kind of life to an eternal form of life.[5]
• To meet (apatensis) was almost a technical term that described the custom of sending a delegation outside the city to receive a dignitary who was on the way to town.[6]
• Read: Polybius spoke of the great pomp of such occasions (5.26.8), and author after author described how not only certain officials but also all the population would file out of the city to meet the emperor in his parousia.
• Josephus, for example, tells how the citizens of Rome went out to meet Vespasian as their new emperor (who, by the way, had just come from leading the Roman troops in the battles to quell the Jewish rebellion that began in a.d. 66):
• “Amidst such feelings of universal goodwill, those of higher rank, impatient of awaiting him, hastened to a great distance from Rome to be the first to greet [apentesis] him. Nor, indeed, could any of the rest endure the delay of meeting, but all poured forth in such crowds—for to all it seems simpler and easier to go than to remain—that the very city then for the first time experienced with satisfaction the paucity of inhabitants; for those who went outnumbered those who remained. But when he was reported to be approaching and those who had gone ahead were telling of the affability of his reception of each party, the whole remaining population, with wives and children, were by now waiting at the road-sides to receive him; and each group as he passed, in their delight at the spectacle and moved by the blandness of his appearance, gave vent to all manner of cries, hailing him as “benefactor,” “savior,” and “only worthy emperor of Rome.” The whole city, moreover, was filled, like a temple, with garlands and incense.[7]
• Matthew 25:6
• So one of its other occurrences is in Matt 25:6, the parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins.
• We read how the virgins, all of them, went out to apantēsis, to meet, the bridegroom; and then, once the bridegroom comes, what happens? Do they take off with him on the honeymoon? Well, of course not. The wedding hasn’t even happened yet. They escort him to the place he was always going—the wedding banquet, the wedding feast.
• Acts 28:15
• The second occurrence takes place in Acts 28:15, and the context is Paul has appealed to Caesar, and so he is on this perilous journey to appear before Nero himself. And there are Christians in Rome who hear that Paul is coming, and so they, somewhat naturally, say [that] Paul, an important person from their point of view, is coming. And so what they do? They send a delegation party out to—here comes that same word in our text from Thessalonians—to apantēsis, to meet the apostle.
• Well, what happens when they meet Paul? Do they escape with Paul and go into hiding? Well, the answer, of course, is no; they escort Paul to the place he was always going, Rome, the place from which they, the members of the delegation party, came.[8]

18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.[9]

• But the concern of the teachers was not to explain all the details of Christian eschatology but rather to console members of the church in their moment of agony, as the final verse once again clarifies.[10]

 

• I don’t believe the Bible, here or elsewhere, talks about the rapture in terms of a sudden disappearance of Christians—where they just vanish, they’re gone, and this happens for seven years;
• and then, while the bad stuff happens after seven years, these Christians who have enjoyed, well, perfection in heaven and fellowship with God and Christ, somehow come back, and [that] begins the thousand-year reign of Christ.
• That teaching, I’m afraid, is not supported in the clearest text anywhere, potentially, in the Bible, on the rapture—the one found in our passage, 1 Thess 4:17.[11]

 

• Now, we have these two passages which both deal with the second coming of Jesus, and both of them, we’ll see, are primarily speaking a word of comfort.
• But there is an important difference between the two of them; that is, 4:13–18 and 5:1–11.
• [Thessalonians] 4:13–18 speaks about comfort with regard to deceased Christians at Christ’s return, whereas 5:1–11 speaks about comfort with regard to Christians who are alive at Jesus’s return.[12]

 
1 Thessalonians 5
THE DAY OF THE LORD

• People are way more interested in the last days on earth than they are with the abundant life here on earth with Jesus.
• 1970- Hal Lindsey’s book – The Late Great Planet Earth. – Sold over 1 million copies!
• Edgar Whisenant - 88 Reasons Why the Rapture will Happen in 1988 – Sold 4.5 million copies!
• Left Behind Series by Tim LaHaye & Jerry Jenkins – 16 novels (’95-’07) – Teenage Series – 3 movies with Kirk Cameron... 65 million copies
• Probably one of the few things I have in common with John Calvin… he wrote a commentary on every book of the Bible except Revelation.
• The real question is, “Are you ready for that day?”
• Similar to Y2K… are you ready?
• They worried whether they were worthy enough to avoid the judgment connected with that end-time day and whether they would indeed experience salvation and eternal life with Christ at His return.
• That this is the specific trouble—namely, not just a general concern about the timing of the event but, rather, their status at that event.[13]
• The problem doesn’t seem to be one of knowledge but, rather, one of anxiety and apprehension and fear about their status on the Day of the Lord.

5 About the times and the seasons: Brothers and sisters, you do not need anything to be written to you. 2 For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.

• So, up to this point in the letter, three times Paul has used that first term “coming,” the Greek word parousia. He used it in 2:19 [and] 3:13, and he used it in the immediately preceding paragraph as well.
• The Day of the Lord concept is different; it has its roots in the Old Testament, where it refers to a future time when God would come to do what? Well, on the one hand, He’s going to punish the wicked; and on the other hand, He’s going to vindicate the righteous, His people, although, when we look at the text, there’s almost a stronger emphasis on the notion of judgment associated with the Day of the Lord than there is with the vindication of God’s people.[14]
• Listen to a number of these selected verses from various Old Testament prophets, all of them describing the judgment connected with the Day of the Lord.
• Joel 2:31 says, “The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.”
• Zephaniah 3:8, where God says that He will “pour out my wrath on them—all my fierce anger. The whole world will be consumed by the fire of my jealous anger.”
• Jeremiah 46:10 - “But that day belongs to the Lord, the Lord Almighty—a day of vengeance for vengeance on his foes. The sword will devour till it is satisfied, till it has quenched its thirst with blood.” Obadiah 15 - “The day of the Lord is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head.”
• Amos 5:18–20 - “Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord! Why do you long for the day of the Lord? That day will be darkness, not light. It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on a wall only to have a snake bite him. Will not the day of the Lord be darkness, not light—pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?”[15]

3 When they say, “Peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

• Paul is comforting them by saying that you have no reason to fear the Day of the Lord.
• Paul, in this reference, is making a clear allusion—not a very subtle one at all—to the propaganda and the sloganeering of the Roman state and its rather boastful claim of providing for its citizens these two benefits.
• But Paul has a stern warning for all who face the Day of the Lord by looking to Rome and its political power to save them on that day instead of God.
• As he says in the rest of the verse, he says all those who proclaim peace and security—what’s going to happen to them? Then “sudden destruction comes upon them … and they will certainly not escape.”[16]

4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in the dark, for this day to surprise you like a thief. 5 For you are all children of light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or the darkness.

• Paul says the same thing twice for the purpose of emphasis but just says it in reverse/opposite.

6 So then, let us not sleep, like the rest, but let us stay awake and be self-controlled. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled and put on the armor of faith and love, and a helmet of the hope of salvation.

• Contrasting metaphors.

9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.

• They were worried [about] whether or not they would avoid the judgment connected with that end-time day and [would] instead experience salvation and eternal life with Christ.[17]

11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up as you are already doing.[18]

• Once again, Paul is being pastoral.
• Stay focused. You are good for the final day.

You have been made holy, righteous, redeemed and justified.

[1] Green, G. L. (2002). The letters to the Thessalonians (p. 223). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans Pub.; Apollos.
[2] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[3] Green, G. L. (2002). The letters to the Thessalonians (p. 225). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans Pub.; Apollos.
[4] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[5] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[6] Green, G. L. (2002). The letters to the Thessalonians (p. 226). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans Pub.; Apollos.
[7] Green, G. L. (2002). The letters to the Thessalonians (p. 227). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans Pub.; Apollos.
[8] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[9] Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (1 Th 4:13–18). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[10] Green, G. L. (2002). The letters to the Thessalonians (p. 228). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans Pub.; Apollos.
[11] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[12] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[13] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[14] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[15] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[16] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[17] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[18] Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (1 Th 5:1–11). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

• We left off 2 weeks ago with Paul encouraging the Church to live in holiness (learning to live out of their new heart).

 
LOVING AND WORKING
1 Thessalonians 4
9 About brotherly love: You don’t need me to write you because you yourselves are taught by God to love one another.

• Paul makes the jump from holiness to love pretty quick.
• The only way to live in holiness is being empowered by the Holy Spirit in us. Allowing Him to do it.
• If the Holy Spirit is working in and through us, then love is not a difficult jump from holiness.
• In the Greek language we have 4 common usages of the word “love”
• Eros (erotic) – Can be sinful or sensual. Not used in the New Testament. Eros the word was reduced in quality
• Storge (pronounced STOR-jay), refers to family love, the love of parents for their children. This word is also absent from our New Testament.[1]
• Philia – Brotherly love; deep affection such as in friendship or even a marriage.
• Christians share this love because we have the same Father. Our Father teaches us to “love another”
• Agape - the love God shows toward us. It is not simply a love based on feeling; it is expressed in our wills.
• It is a self-sacrificing love
• Agape love treats others as God would treat them, regardless of feelings or personal preferences.[2]
• When one is given a “new heart”, it is natural for them to love. It is a believer’s distinctive character to love. Just as a fish swims and a bird flies.
• How does God cause our love to “increase more and more”? By living… our circumstances force us to practice Christian love.
• Love is the “circulatory system” of the body of Christ, but if our spiritual muscles are not exercised, the circulation is impaired.
• The difficulties that we believers have with one another are opportunities for us to grow in our love.
• This explains why Christians who have had the most problems with each other often end up loving one another deeply, much to the amazement of the world.[3]

10 In fact, you are doing this toward all the brothers and sisters in the entire region of Macedonia. But we encourage you, brothers and sisters, to do this even more, 11 to seek to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, 12 so that you may behave properly (honestly, decently) in the presence of outsiders and not be dependent on anyone.

• Unfortunately, some of the new believers in the church misunderstood the doctrine of Christ’s return and gave up their jobs in order to wait for His coming.
• This meant that they were supported by other Christians, some of whom may not have had sufficient funds for their own families.
• It also meant that these fanatical people could not pay their bills, and therefore they lost their testimony with the unsaved merchants.[4]
• Jesus is coming back so I am going to run up all my credit cards!
• I’m gonna win the lottery can I borrow some $$$
• I’m filing bankruptcy, I might as well spend as much as I can.
• The church was to live in this manner in order to “win the respect of outsiders” and “not be dependent on anybody” (v. 12).
• Thus a series of commands that begins with a concern for growing, mutual Christian love concludes with a concern for the church’s relationship to the non-Christian community.
• R. F. Hock presents another alternative to an eschatological understanding of these verses.
• He argues that the commands “to lead a quiet life” and to “mind your own business” were encouragements to political quietism.
• By avoiding political activism and working at respectable occupations, the church would gain the approval of their non-Christian neighbors.
• Some of the terms Paul used in these verses were indeed used by various Greco-Roman philosophers to encourage withdrawal from public life.
• Such encouragements would make sense in light of the apostle’s past experience in Thessalonica.
• After all, Paul was charged with causing social and political unrest in the city (Acts 17:6–7) and might have responded by advising the church to avoid political entanglements.[5]
• It should be clear from Paul’s own history, however, that living quietly did not mean the church should tone down its proclamation of the gospel.
• On the contrary, Paul consistently encouraged boldness in this regard.
• The church was not to live so quietly that they failed to function as witnesses of Christ both in word and deed. [6]
  
  

THE COMFORT OF CHRIST’S COMING
13 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.

• the verb koimaō literally means “to sleep,”
• this is a euphemism for death. (an agreeable or inoffensive expression that is substituted for one that might offend or suggest unpleasantness[7])
• So when Paul uses the word “sleep,” he’s using it in this figurative sense and referring to Christians who have already died.[8]
• Paul’s focus on what Timothy has reported is that they are grieving over the return of Christ.
• Self-focused – “What happens to us?”
• The ancient Greek writer Theocritus, lived about three hundred years before Paul, but he wrote a saying which is very helpful for our question here.
• He said simply this: He said, “Hopes are for the living; without hope are the dead.”
• This is a great quote because he uses the word “hope,” and he talks about it in the context of death.
• And Theocritus is clear that living people are the only people who can have hope, and [for] anybody who’s dead, well, hope is nowhere on the scene.
• That seems to echo, exactly, Paul’s claim in his opening assertion.[9]

14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep.

• Paul is presenting his readers with something that he assumes—and they assume—is true.
• It’s going to be a foundation for an argument that Paul makes, and that’s why some translations render this verse not as “if we believe” but “since we believe”; or sometimes they just make it into a statement: We believe that such and such is the case.[10]

15 For we say this to you by a word from the Lord: We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are still 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.

• This is a specific text that theologians associate with the “rapture”.
• I can break that down for you but we will miss the pastoral intent of Paul’s letter.
• So let me stay with the intent and I will briefly revisit this passage next week in light of the “rapture”.
• The Thessalonians are grieving over fellow Christians who have fallen asleep, who have died.
• And this is an easy trouble for us to understand because all of us, young or old, have experienced, also, the grief that comes from the death of a loved one.
• We have funerals and now they are called “Celebration of Life”.
• We can grieve and have hope at the same time.
• For instance, in Philippians 2:27 Paul refers to this helper that was sent to him from Philippi; his name was Epaphroditus. And Paul says that if Epaphroditus had died from his illness, Paul would have had “sorrow upon sorrow.” So Paul wouldn’t have felt guilty, and he expected to grieve if, indeed, Epaphroditus would die.
• In Romans 12:15 Paul has an important command; it’s simple but important. He says, “Weep with those who weep.” So Paul recognizes that some of the Christians in Rome are going to be suffering a number of trials, and that will lead to weeping.

 

• Would these family members and friends miss out on the return of Jesus?
• Paul is truly taking their focus back to the teaching of Jesus.
• The Gospels weren’t yet written but remember that Paul had the download of Jesus’ teachings back at his conversion.
• Matthew records some of Jesus teachings on His return in Matthew 24.
• Ask – “How many of you believe Jesus raised from the dead?”
• Paul is saying, “Well, as real as you believe Jesus rose from the dead, that’s how real you can believe your deceased loved ones will rise from the dead.”[11]
• Paul is reminding them to get their focus off yourself and back on Jesus.
• You will still experience grief because of death but grieve with hope. (unlike the others)

18 Therefore encourage (comfort) one another with these words.[12]

• Paul ends the passage by commanding the Christians to parakaleite;
• that is to, well, literally, to be called alongside of one another.
• And this word is the same word that the Gospel writer John uses in his Gospel to describe the Holy Spirit.
• Some older translations actually just take the noun form of the verb and they just render it “the Paraclete,” but the word and the verb refer to someone who is called to your side.
• And, what’s more, when we take seriously the notion of comfort in this closing verb, it’s yet a reminder of the point, and we’ll have to keep making it because it’s a temptation that many who fall into—and that is, to turn this into an end-time, prophecy-type discussion.
• I say to you, the primary purpose of Paul in this passage is not to predict but to pastor.
• In fact, [it’s] not just in this passage of the end times, [and] not just in the next passage, 5:1–11, but even in 2 Thessalonians.
• All three of these extended end-time discussions end with the same concern of Paul, [to comfort] his readers.
• So I know that these words of hope can be words of hope for you.
• And so as you perhaps have already been thinking, in the midst of our study of this passage, about someone you love who has already died, my prayer is that the Holy Spirit will work together with His Word in such a way that, through your tears, you’re not grieving like the rest of men, but you’re a person who grieves with hope.

May God comfort you with this hope of the gospel.[13]

[1] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 177). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[2] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 177). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[3] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 177). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[4] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 177). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[5] Martin, D. M. (1995). 1, 2 Thessalonians (Vol. 33, pp. 136–137). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[6] Martin, D. M. (1995). 1, 2 Thessalonians (Vol. 33, p. 137). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[7] Merriam-Webster, I. (1996). Merriam-Webster’s collegiate thesaurus. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster.
[8] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[9] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[10] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[11] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[12] Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (1 Th 4:9–18). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[13] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

• We left off last week with Paul encouraging the Church through persecution they were experiencing.

 
PRAYER FOR THE CHURCH
1 Thessalonians 3
11 Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you.

• At least four times Paul has told them this.
• Military reference from 2:18 – our way has been blocked (by satan/evil one)
• May the Lord clear the way/path so we can get to you.

12 And may the Lord cause you to increase and overflow with love for one another and for everyone, just as we do for you. 13 May he make your hearts blameless (strengthen) in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. Amen.[1]

• That verbal phrase “strengthen your hearts” provides a link to what Paul has said earlier in 3:2.
• There Paul talks about how he sent Timothy to the persecuted church in Thessalonica in order [to do] exactly the same thing, “to strengthen [your hearts].”
• So this is a way in which the second prayer anticipates this discussion that Paul is going to have, not love for God and/or Jesus, although that surely was part of the parcel, but here he’s concentrating about the love that the Thessalonians ought to have for one another, and that’s found in the second prayer.
• A second theme in the prayer is this concern for holiness.
• A third topic or concern in the prayer which looks ahead is a reference to what is a temporal reference to the coming of the Lord Jesus “with all his holy ones.”
• May he make your hearts blameless (strengthen) in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.
• He has already made our hearts blameless through his blood.
• He is referring to us learning how to live out of the holiness.
• May we be strengthened in the understanding of our holiness and choose to live out of that strength.

 

• Well, we’re at that middle point. We’ve finished our careful study of the first half of the body of the letter, and now Paul, with the help of his transitional prayers, has nicely echoed and concluded the concerns of the first half, but he’s also prepared us well to anticipate the discussion he’s going to have now in the second half of the letter.[2]

 

• Do you believe that we live in a sex saturated world? (TV, movies, internet, etc)
• Do you think it is the worst it ever has been right now?
• Your perspective is maybe 2-4 generations old.
• This letter was written to the Gentiles. The ones who worshipped so many different gods.
• These pagan gods were sexual in their characteristics.
• Man-made gods… why wouldn’t they be sexual?
• Understand the culture during that time:
• We can see that, first of all, in marriage in that time.
• Marriage back then was not a choice but most often an arranged marriage between a man in his twenties and a girl barely in her teens.
• And given the arrangement of the marriage and given the difference in age, it was actually expected that the husband would have a sexual partner who was different than his wife;
• and evidence that that indeed happened, and happened widely, can be seen in grave inscriptions.
• Prostitution is something that you and I wouldn’t want in any way to be associated with, but in the ancient world it really wasn’t a big deal at all.
• In fact, there were many leading and important citizens, people of the upper class, who made money off of men and women in prostitution, and there was no sense of shame or embarrassment about that at all.[3]
• Cicero gave this statement in response to the habits of men who were engaging in the services of affairs with prostitutes. He wrote:

“If anyone thinks that young men should be forbidden to have affairs even with prostitutes, he is very strict indeed … for his view is contrary not only to the law of the present age but even with the habits of our ancestors and what they used to consider allowable. For when was this not a common practice? When was it blamed? When was it forbidden? When, in fact, did that which was lawful become that which was not lawful?

• Cato is a Stoic philosopher who lived a little bit before the time of Paul, and he gave this advice to men. He said, [in effect,] “Men, in order to satisfy your sexual desire, don’t do that with another man’s wife. Make use of a prostitute instead.” That was his practical advice about how men should handle their sexual desires.
• So it’s not surprising that this predominantly Gentile church, who were still relatively new in their faith, would need further instruction from Paul about, well, what [it means] to turn from idols and to serve the living and true God [and how they can] more faithfully live lives in which they do indeed serve that living and true God.
• In English we have this expression “old habits die hard.” So, again, to newbie Christians—to believers who are young in the faith; to Christians who are experiencing pushback and opposition—the apostle Paul is concerned that these Jesus followers might revert back to their former inappropriate behavior.
• And so there is a need—and Timothy informed Paul about this need—to encourage and to equip the Thessalonian Christians to [be holy] in their sexual conduct.[4]
• So the second half of the letter is going to share with the Thessalonians how they can do just that.[5]

THE CALL TO SANCTIFICATION
1 Thessalonians
4 Additionally then, brothers and sisters, we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus, that as you have received instruction from us on how you should live and please God—as you are doing—do this even more. 2 For you know what commands we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
3 For this is God’s will, your sanctification:

• Paul says this: “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified.”
• We could equally translate it, “It is God’s will that you should be holy.”
• The words “sanctified” and “holy” are two different English words for the one Greek word that lies behind them both (hagiasmos), and this is a key word occurring four times in the paragraph, holding this paragraph together and revealing its primary theme.
• It’s a passage about being holy—and, especially, holy with regard to your sexual conduct.[6]​

that you keep away from sexual immorality,

• The first of the three commands is the shortest and the most general, and it goes like this. He says, in verse 3b, “You should avoid sexual immorality.” The verb that Paul uses here (“avoid”) is actually a rather strong one in the original Greek language, and it has the idea of not just avoiding something but keeping away from.
• You know, there is a strong sense of “don’t come anywhere near.”
• The word porneia is typically understood as referring to any form of sexual misconduct.
• this first command is quite countercultural. And the challenge is also for us today[7]

4 that each of you knows how to control his own body in holiness and honor, 5 not with lustful passions, like the Gentiles, who don’t know God.

• Paul is talking about how each person should learn to control their own vessel; that is, they should control their own body; that is, they should control their own sexual desires.[8]
• He says here, in the second command of verses 4 and 5, “that each of you should learn to control.”
• Now, I am not naïve. I recognize how there are other things that are influenced by our genetic makeup that are not easy to control.
• For instance, some of us are prone to anger; we fly off the handle just like that. It’s not easy to fix, but yet we are still called upon to correct our behavior. Some of us struggle with food; somehow we’re wired in a way that we react to food differently than other people do.
• Yet we are still called upon—it may not be easy, but we’re still called upon—to, well, to learn to develop control.
• And in a similar way, Paul says that when it comes to our sexual desires, even though we’ve been created with these desires, we have to learn how to control them.
• And how do we control them? For the second time in the passage, he talks about the word “holy,” that we control our body in a way that is holy and honorable, “not in passionate lust like the Gentiles who do not know God.”[9]
• The same thing comes up with another important Old Testament text from Lev 20:23–26. God says this to His covenant people:
• “Do not follow the practices of the nations whom I am driving out before you.… I am the Lord your God, who has separated you from all the nations.… And you will be holy to me, because I, the Lord your God, am holy, the one who separated you from all the nations to be mine.”
• Again, I hope you heard the connection between the two references to “holy” and the words “separated” and “separated” because, again, we are getting this idea that the meaning, the concept of the word holy and holiness, is the idea of being unique, being set apart, being distinctive, being separate.[10]

6 This means one must not transgress against and take advantage of a brother or sister in this manner, because the Lord is an avenger of all these offenses, as we also previously told and warned you.

• The third command says that to be holy in our sexual conduct means you act in a way in which you don’t bring harm to others.
• Paul says, “The Lord will punish people for all such sins.”
• Now, he adds, at the beginning, the little word “because,” which is omitted in most translations, but it’s important because it shows that this statement is meant to give a justification for the commands that come before it.
• Why should the Thessalonians, and why should we, be holy in our sexual conduct?
• And the first reason has to do with the Lord Jesus Christ and something that He is going to do in the future, Paul says, “because …”; and a more literal rending of the verse is “because an avenger is the Lord concerning all these things.”
• The first reason, for being holy in one’s sexual conduct has to do with the future return of Jesus.[11]

7 For God has not called us to impurity but to live in holiness.

• He’s saying, “You guys who live in a sex-saturated society, God’s will is that you be holy; that you be separate; that you be set apart; that you be distinct; that you be, well, peculiar when it comes to not only attitudes toward sex but also practices toward sex.”
• And if you’re keeping track, and I am, this is now the third of four occasions within the paragraph of verses 3–8 where Paul uses this keyword and key concept of “holy” because the big theme of the whole passage is the challenge and the call for the Christians not only of the ancient world but us today to live what kind of life with regard to our sexual conducts?
• To live a holy life. And Paul reminds us that God has called us—God has appointed us—to live just that way.[12]

8 Consequently, anyone who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.

• Paul doesn’t really write “God gives you his Holy Spirit”; he writes, “God gives you his Spirit who is holy.”
• Is there a difference between the two? Yes, there is.
• The second reading puts an emphasis on the character of the Spirit that God gives.
• Paul is stressing that God is giving not any old spirit to us His people; He is giving us a Holy Spirit.
• So the reason we can live a holy life is because we have the Holy Spirit living within us.
• Now, Paul is not teaching this, but this verse reveals his indebtedness to the Old Testament. Paul is a thoroughly trained Jew who knows the Old Testament inside out. And here he is reflecting—again, not teaching, but he is reflecting—in his statement beliefs and convictions that the Jewish people had about the future, about how one day God would pour out His Spirit.
• So, if we imagine an Old Testament perspective for a moment, we say, “O God, how we love your law. Out of all the people in the earth, we are the only ones with whom you’ve entered into a covenant relationship.
• We are the only ones to whom you have revealed your will. But although we’re glad for the law, we are struggling with the attempt to obey it fully, so we are appreciative of the sacrifices, which don’t pay for our sins but give us an opportunity to express our true penitence for our failures and our true gratitude for your grace in our lives.”
• We nevertheless are looking to the future, a future time that Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel talked about, a time when God would, well, enter into a new kind of relationship with us His people, a new covenant; and part of that new covenant is that God will pour out His Spirit. And we want that Spirit. Why? Not just because we have the Spirit for the Spirit’s sake. No, the Spirit will empower us to do and to be what God has always called us to do and be, and that is—already, at Mount Sinai—“a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”
• So God’s will for His people doesn’t change. He has always called His covenant people to be holy as He is holy.
•  The key to living such lives of holiness is the present and ongoing presence of God’s Spirit.
• So here, as elsewhere in Paul’s letters, the Holy Spirit is the power that enables believers to live holy lives.
• What Paul is promising the Thessalonians, and what God’s Word is promising us here in this third cause is that we who are members of God’s people [have] been given the promised gift of the Holy Spirit, which ultimately is a gift of power, power to overcome sin and to live the holy life that God has always called His people to live.
• So how can we be holy in our sexual conduct?

Well, we can’t do it on our strength, [and] we can’t do it by our own abilities, but we can do it with the present empowering presence of the Holy Spirit. That’s the good news of the gospel that Paul shares with the Thessalonians, and that is also good news for you and me.[13]


[1] Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (1 Th 3:1–13). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[2] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[3] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[4] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[5] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[6] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[7] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[8] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[9] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[10] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[11] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[12] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[13] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

• We left off last week with Paul validating himself…

 
RECEPTION AND OPPOSITION TO THE MESSAGE
1 Thessalonians 2
13 This is why we constantly thank God, because when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you welcomed it not as a human message, but as it truly is, the word of God, which also works effectively in you who believe.

• Paul was praising the Thessalonians for their spiritual wisdom.
• They recognized and accepted the gospel as a word from God himself, not the product of debatable human wisdom.
• The fact that this word “is at work in you who believe” serves as further validation both of the truth of the gospel and of the Thessalonian faith.
• The present tense participle “believe” shifts the focus of the verse from the event of the Thessalonians’ conversion to the present state of their faith.[1]

14 For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of God’s churches in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, since you have also suffered the same things from people of your own country,

• The gospel was worth suffering for.
• Persecution started in Jerusalem, spread through Israel and now has made its way to Mecedonia.

just as they did from the Jews 15 who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and persecuted us.

• This is the only instance in which Paul charged “the Jews” with the death of Jesus (cf. 1 Cor 2:8).
• “the Jews” is used as a reference not to the people as a whole nor even to those who remained Jews religiously but to those Jews who actively opposed the spread of the gospel.[2]
• Was Paul giving evidence of “religious bigotry” when he accused the Jews of killing Jesus Christ and persecuting the Christians? No, he was simply stating a fact of history.
• Nowhere does the Bible accuse all Jews of what a few Jews did in Jerusalem and Judea when Christ was crucified and the church founded.
• The Romans also participated in the trial and death of Christ, and, for that matter, it was our sins that sent Him to the cross (Isa. 53:6).
• There is no place in the Christian faith for anti-Semitism.
• The first Christians were Jews, as was Paul, the greatest Christian missionary.
• Paul himself loved his fellow Jews and sought to help them (Acts 24:17; Rom. 9:1–5).
• Why, then, did the leaders of Israel officially reject Jesus Christ and persecute His followers? They were only repeating the sins of their fathers.
• Their ancestors had persecuted the prophets long before Jesus came to earth (Matt. 5:10–12).[3]

They displease God and are hostile to everyone,

• Paul encouraged the suffering Christians by assuring them that their experiences were not new or isolated.
• Others had suffered before them and were even then suffering with them.[4]

16 by keeping us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. As a result, they are constantly filling up their sins to the limit, and wrath has overtaken them at last.

• Paul was feeling a little bit sensitive to the criticism, apparently from those outside the church, that “If Paul were really genuine, if he was really sincere, how come he hasn’t come back? How come he hasn’t returned? He’s kind of taken your money and your attention, and he’s left the scene.”
• So our passage comes logically where it does, after 2:1–16, because Paul moves from the past defense to, now, a present defense.[5]

 
PAUL’S DESIRE TO SEE THEM

• Don’t give up on me (Paul)

17 But as for us, brothers and sisters, after we were forced to leave you for a short time (in person, not in heart),

• The Greek term used here, aporphanizō, describes separation between people.
• It was often used in the context of parent-child relationships in which it could describe either children who had been orphaned by their parents or parents who had lost their children.
• Here Paul depicts himself as a father cut off from his children—the Thessalonian believers (compare v. 11).[6]
• Paul is the orphan from the Church at Thessalonica.
• And this is another powerful picture or powerful metaphor that Paul makes.
• If you think about a young boy or girl who loses their parents, they can’t see them, and they often start crying.
• And this is the emotion that Paul is trying to evoke by this metaphor.
• Paul says, “You know, I’m like a little child. I’ve been torn away; I have been orphaned from you, and I’m grieving this separation.”[7]

we greatly desired and made every effort to return and see you face to face.

• Zoom Meetings don’t cut it during a pandemic.
• I hugged someone yesterday and you could feel the emotion between the two of us. I even heard an emotional gasp from the spouse who wasn’t hugging others. There was an obvious absence there.

18 So we wanted to come to you—even I, Paul, time and again—but Satan hindered us.

• Military metaphor – “blocked” – dug out in the road.
• Later uses term “the Lord make a way.”

19 For who is our hope or joy or crown of boasting in the presence of our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? 20 Indeed you are our glory and joy![8]

• If you said to someone, “I love you,” that would be one way of expressing your love.
• But what if you said, “I really, really, really, really, really love you”?
• And that’s kind of what Paul does in this paragraph.
• He goes over the top; he uses excessively emotive language in order to drive home this truth and to make sure there’s no doubt in his readers’ minds at all about his genuine love for them.[9]

 
ANXIETY IN ATHENS
1 Thessalonians 3

• Don’t give up on the faith

1 Therefore, when we could no longer stand it, we thought it was better to be left alone in Athens. 2 And we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s coworker in the gospel of Christ,

• Did Paul really need to explain who Timothy was?
• Were there multiple Timothys?
• No! He was affirming the authority of Timothy among the church.

to strengthen and encourage you concerning your faith, 3 so that no one will be shaken by these afflictions.

• The Greek word thlipsis is not referring to the bad things [that] happen to all people, that come from living in a fallen world.
• And what that involved in the ancient world was not [getting] thrown into jail or thrown to the lions or in the arena; instead, it’s more accurate to think about ridicule, ostracization, [or] maybe spontaneous acts of violence.
• But that kind of social harassment [is] the key concept that these early Christians were experiencing.
• And it was not because their pagan neighbors were upset that they worshiped Jesus.
• No, it was the fact that they worshiped only Jesus.
• It was the exclusivity of the Christian faith that got them into trouble. So Christians, by not participating in the pagan practices of that day, often wounded public sensibilities, and it led them to being charged [with] being atheists.[10]
• Much like today. If you say, “Jesus is my sole focus.”, you will be called out for not taking a stand on one of the many social agendas that is happening in our world right now.
• Paul was literally encouraging the Church to continue their practice of focusing on their faith in Jesus alone.
• Focus, focus, focus… don’t be distracted by all that is going on around you.
• It is your faith in Jesus that is going to allow you to love and serve others… not your words… not your posts… not your selfish motives… not your agenda… your faith alone in Jesus… Stay focused.

For you yourselves know that we are appointed to this.
4 In fact, when we were with you, we told you in advance that we were going to experience affliction, and as you know, it happened.

• Paul is saying that his reader should not be surprised or discouraged by the suffering, since they already know that these things are a normal part of the Christian life.
• Paul was encouraging the Thessalonians in the midst of their suffering [and] to make sure that they remain strong in their faith is to remind them of something he said many times, and that is that it is normal for followers of Jesus Christ to experience this pushback.[11]

5 For this reason, when I could no longer stand it,

• Repeated verse 1.
• “no longer stand it” – watertight – leaking out of a vessel.
• Paul loved the Church at Thessalonica so much that it was cracking and leaking… like a ship or a bowl.

I also sent him to find out about your faith, fearing that the tempter had tempted you and that our labor might be for nothing.
 
ENCOURAGED BY TIMOTHY

• God hasn’t given up on you
• Just like the two troubles in paragraphs one and two ultimately stem from Satan’s evil supernatural power—verses 2:18 in the first unit and 3:5 in the second—so, also, the solution to the two troubles is God’s good supernatural grace.[12]

6 But now Timothy has come to us from you and brought us good news about your faith and love.

• Timothy has just returned as Paul pens this letter.
• Paul is encouraging them about “their faith”

He reported that you always have good memories of us and that you long to see us, as we also long to see you. 7 Therefore, brothers and sisters, in all our distress and affliction, we were encouraged about you through your faith.

• Faith & love were, and still are, the distinctive characteristics of those who are true members of the community of the redeemed (Gal. 5:6; Eph. 1:15; Col. 1:4–5; 1 Tim. 1:14; Phlm. 5; Rev. 2:19).[13]

8 For now we live, if you stand firm in the Lord. 9 How can we thank God for you in return for all the joy we experience before our God because of you, 10 as we pray very earnestly night and day to see you face to face and to complete what is lacking in your faith?[14]

• There is something about seeing a person face to face.
• About touching them… hugging them… having conversation without restrictions of letter writing, social networking or seeing them through a screen.
• We always long for the reunion… my sister and niece are flying to Indy on Saturday.
• We are taking 66 people to camp next Sunday.
• We get to reunite at Pinheads on July 12th…
• In the mean time…
• How can we thank God?

[1] Martin, D. M. (1995). 1, 2 Thessalonians (Vol. 33, p. 88). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[2] Martin, D. M. (1995). 1, 2 Thessalonians (Vol. 33, pp. 90–91). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[3] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 169). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[4] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 169). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[5] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[6] Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (1 Th 2:17). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[7] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[8] Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (1 Th 2:13–20). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[9] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[10] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[11] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[12] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[13] Green, G. L. (2002). The letters to the Thessalonians (p. 167). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans Pub.; Apollos.
[14] Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (1 Th 3:1–10). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.

• We left off last week with Paul’s introduction (opening) and verses of Thanksgiving for the Church at Thessalonica.

 
PAUL’S CONDUCT
1 THESSALONIANS 2

• In 2:1–12, Paul is defending his past character during his three-plus Sabbaths in that church.

1 For you yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our visit with you was not without result.

• Paul emphasized the fact that the readers themselves must testify to his character.
• “You know” is emphatic in the Greek text.
• If Paul was combating critics, he did so by calling on the Thessalonians as defense witnesses.[1]
• He’s reminding them of what was done and also looking for confirmation.
• “Yes, right?”

2 On the contrary, after we had previously suffered and were treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know, we were emboldened by our God to speak the gospel of God to you in spite of great opposition.

• They were beaten Philippi and ran out of town.
• But then God gave them boldness/courage to come to Thessalonica and teach the same message.
• Tell me today, that Pastors aren’t told what to preach/talk about on Sunday mornings.
• Paul said he came to speak the Good News instead of what everyone else is instructing him to do.

3 For our exhortation didn’t come from error or impurity or an intent to deceive.

• Even in Paul’s days, there were people who preached a message with the intent of making money.

4 Instead, just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please people, but rather God, who examines our hearts.

• A person obligated to speak for one who can judge the heart would be foolish to change the message in order to please the hearers.
• Such an act would comprise a breach of trust.
• Thus it was impossible in the mind of the apostle to be a person pleaser and a God pleaser at the same time[2]
• A steward owns nothing, but possesses and uses everything that belongs to his master.[3]
• Are you a good steward of your resources, time and physical body?

5 For we never used flattering speech, as you know, or had greedy motives—God is our witness--

• Paul didn’t put on a show or manipulate emotions to share the Gospel.
• There were no fancy presentations.
• There was no salesmanship occurring.
• Material support in return for spiritual or philosophical instruction was common both in the church and in the Hellenistic world in general.
• It was not considered improper.
• In this context the term indicates more than simple financial support.
• It refers to the weight of authority that might put a demand for financial support or a demand for respect.[4]

6 and we didn’t seek glory from people, either from you or from others.

• What is the problem that Paul is trying to address?”
• And the answer is [that] he’s trying to react and correct criticisms about his character from opponents.
• Paul’s opponents were both the Jews & the Gentiles.
• He was teaching and people were converting from Judaism and the pagan gods.
• You probably have had that experience where someone you know is in the room and they get a phone call, and you hear one half of the conversation.
• But even though you don’t hear the other half, it’s not difficult, usually, for you to reconstruct what the other person is saying.
• And something similar like that is true for us when we read Paul’s letters.
• We are hearing one half of the conversation, Paul’s half, but from what Paul says we can pretty easily and pretty confidently reconstruct what the other half is, what other people were saying to which Paul is now responding.[5]

 

• Paul, in our passage, gives the Christians in Thessalonica three pictures, three family pictures: a picture of an infant, a picture of a mother, and a picture of a father.
• And Paul gives them these three pictures in order to help the Thessalonians think about Paul in the right way.
• Paul is concerned about this issue because he knows of the intimate connection between the messenger and the message.
• The intimate link between the messenger and the message.
• In other words, if there are any questions about the character of the messenger, that automatically can raise in people’s minds questions about the character, the integrity, of the message.[6]
• Trust – If you don’t trust your pastor, you need to find one you can.
• The same thing Paul is teaching is what I am teaching.
• Trust the Father. But how can we teach you to trust the Father if you can’t even trust us?
• One of my biggest issues, is integrity.
• Some say that is a pride issue.
• Let me be the 1st to say, I’m not perfect in my behavior.
• But when it comes to my integrity, you might have just pushed one of my buttons.
• I want to be able to live my life (even though I still do acts of the flesh) so that it will publicly prove my integrity.
• I am not interested in putting on a show.
• I am interested in people connecting with me and trusting me.
• It is through the connection and trust that they will listen to the message of Jesus Christ.
• If I can’t connect with people and build their trust, then I am nothing but a clanging gong.
• I don’t see it as a “pride issue” but a necessity for the Gospel to be heard by the community.

7 Although we could have been a burden as Christ’s apostles, instead we were gentle (infant) among you,

• The idea of innocence also comes from an ancient author of Paul’s day.
• Philo, the important Jewish writer, said this: “It is impossible for the greatest liar to invent a charge against infants”—same word that Paul uses—“as they are wholly innocent.”
• So this quote from Philo is important to show that in the ancient world the word that Paul uses--nēpios or “infant” or “baby”—was associated with the idea of innocence.[7]

as a nurse (mother/ wet nurse) nurtures her own children. 8 We cared so much for you that we were pleased to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us. 9 For you remember our labor and hardship, brothers and sisters. Working night and day so that we would not burden any of you, we preached God’s gospel to you. 10 You are witnesses, and so is God, of how devoutly, righteously, and blamelessly we conducted ourselves with you believers.

• Interesting how Paul refers to himself as a nursing mom.
• One that connects intimately with their children no matter what they do.
• Mothers have a tendency to look the child in the eye during nursing and there is a connection there that a Dad will never have.
• The sacrifice of a nursing mother is that she is available both day and night.
• The nursing mother eats the food and transforms it into milk for the baby.
• The mature Christian feeds on the Word of God and then shares its nourishment with the younger believers so they can grow.
• This metaphor Paul uses about his ministry is to help them understand how much he deeply loves them.
• So, although effective ministry demands that pastors and church leaders act in a professional way, ministry must never become a profession.[8]

11 As you know, like a father with his own children, 12 we encouraged, comforted, and implored each one of you to live worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.[9]

• There is no question that, in the ancient world, parents—and especially fathers—were authoritative powerful figures.
• That has changed in our society because we get Homer Simpson, Tim the Toolman Taylor, Al Bundy and Phil Dunfy.
• In other words, it’s important to see that Paul is not misusing his authoritative fatherly role; instead, Paul says the purpose of [his] being a father to [them was to help them] live lives that are “worthy of God.”
• What does it mean to “walk worthy of God”?
• Walk by the Spirit
• Having my integrity with Cory & Chloe is more important than having it with you.
• They have to trust me if I am going to have intimate conversations with them.
• I used to come at them with emotions… it just turned them away.
• So there are clear structures put on the authority and the purpose of that authoritative role that Paul, as a spiritual father, has.
• Pastors do not wait to discover how the rest of the congregation feels about a particular issue before they venture their own opinion; but instead, they, in an appropriate way, move ahead in articulating a vision for the future.
• That means that church leaders don’t quickly retract statements or change their opinion at the first sign that people don’t like what they say.
• In other words, they are not afraid to run the risk of saying things that are biblical and that are relevant and true but are also potentially unpopular.
• These three same family metaphors are true and appropriate not just for those in leadership position but for all members of the church.[10]

[1] Martin, D. M. (1995). 1, 2 Thessalonians (Vol. 33, p. 70). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[2] Martin, D. M. (1995). 1, 2 Thessalonians (Vol. 33, pp. 73–74). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[3] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 163). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[4] Martin, D. M. (1995). 1, 2 Thessalonians (Vol. 33, p. 76). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[5] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[6] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[7] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[8] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[9] Christian Standard Bible. (2020). (1 Th 2:1–12). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[10] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

• We left off last week with Paul in Corinth.
• Silas and Timothy rejoined him there.
• Timothy has given him a direct report of all that has occurred in Thessaloniki since Paul’s departure.
• Paul sits down to write this letter to the Church at Thessalonica.
• The Church in Thessalonica was close to perfect as you could get in comparison to the other churches Paul writes letters to.
• “If you find the perfect church, don’t join it because you will make it imperfect.” Statement based upon behavior.
  
  

1 THESSALONIANS
GREETING
1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy:

• First and Second Thessalonians are the only two of his letters in which Paul did not add some elaboration to his name and/or to the names of his cosenders.[1]

To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

• Paul uses the word church which is transcribed ekklesia in Greek.
• The word church means “a called-out people.”
• Whenever you read about a call in the Bible, it indicates divine election—God is calling out a people from this world.[2]
• The Jews were God’s chosen people (called out) in the Old Covenant.
• Ekklēsia is also a synonym for “synagogue” (synagōgē) and was occasionally used of Jewish assemblies in the Septuagint.[3]
• Yes, Paul was intentional in using “ekklesia” because he was making the point of "oneness" in Christ.
• There had to be Jews who were upset that he was including the Gentiles.
• There had to be Gentiles who didn't want to be associated with the Jews.
• But those who were focused on Paul's message of Good News were rejoicing in the "oneness".

Grace to you and peace.

• Grace precedes peace, because peace is the result of grace.
• When God’s grace comes to you, then grace will come from you and you will have peace.

 
THANKSGIVING

• This “thanksgiving” section is a commendation and exhortation.
• It is the “coming attractions” for the body of the letter.

2 We always thank God for all of you, making mention of you constantly in our prayers.

• Paul could not call them, social network, visit them.
• He could not be with them.
• His only option was to think about them and pray for them.

3 We recall, in the presence of our God and Father, your work produced by faith, your labor motivated by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

• Faith, hope and love.
• Timothy has shared how they have modeled their faith to Paul.
• Works were produced by faith
• Labor was motivated by love
• Endurance was inspired by hope
• All three were based upon “in our Lord Jesus Christ.”
• Jesus does this through the Church.

4 For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you,

• Elect, chosen because they are “in Christ”.

5 because our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, in the Holy Spirit, and with full assurance.

• It was not because we spoke eloquently.
• But you could clearly see God working in us and through us.
• Power = “dynamite”
• The assurance of the converts, if that is what Paul had in mind, might have been demonstrated by their willingness to endure persecution even after Paul was run out of the city[4]

You know how we lived among you for your benefit, 6 and you yourselves became imitators of us and of the Lord

• We patterned for you what it was like to live your life by another power.
• There was no New Testament at that time.
• It was Paul, Silas & Timothy’s spoken word as well as the Spirit living and working through them.
• You are talking about Paul, the killer of Christians.
• See how the Lord transformed him.
• If Paul, the man who killed Christians, can have a heart change, then so can you.

when, in spite of severe persecution,

• The Gospel was in opposition of idolatry.
• Christians got blamed for everything.

you welcomed the message with joy from the Holy Spirit.

• You had faith, hope and love from the Holy Spirit.

7 As a result, you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.

• Paul is commending here with also the implication that they should continue on doing these things.
• People are talking about you all over the world.

8 For the word of the Lord rang out from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place that your faith in God has gone out.

• This is the ripple effect.
• It was evident. They couldn’t hold back
• It was like this loudspeaker.
• Not only in their words but their life actions.

Therefore, we don’t need to say anything, 9 for they themselves report what kind of reception we had from you: how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God

• This leads us to believe that the majority of the believers in Thessalonica were Gentiles because they turned from their idols/gods.

10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.[5]

• Paul teases them with the resurrection and what is to come.
• He will answer their questions in chapters 4-5.

 
What every church should be is what every Christian should be: elect (born again), exemplary (imitating the right people), enthusiastic (sharing the Gospel with others), and expectant (daily looking for Jesus Christ to return).[6]

[1] Martin, D. M. (1995). 1, 2 Thessalonians (Vol. 33, p. 47). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[2] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 159). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[3] Martin, D. M. (1995). 1, 2 Thessalonians (Vol. 33, p. 50). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[4] Martin, D. M. (1995). 1, 2 Thessalonians (Vol. 33, p. 59). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[5] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (1 Th). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[6] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 2, p. 163). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

• We left off last week with… Paul preaching in Athens at the Aeropagus where he was both ridiculed and followed. Notably by specific women

A SHORT MINISTRY IN THESSALONICA
Acts 18
51 AD
1 After this, he left Athens and went to Corinth,

• Corinth was approximately fifty miles from Athens and almost due west. (Show map)
• Corinth, with its 200,000 people, would not be the easiest city in which to start a church, and yet that’s where Paul went after leaving Athens.
• And he went alone! The going was tough, but the apostle did not give up.
• A man was shoveling snow from his driveway when two boys carrying snow shovels approached him.
• “Shovel your snow, Mister?” one of them asked. “Only two dollars!”
• Puzzled, the man replied, “Can’t you see that I’m doing it myself?”
• “Sure,” said the enterprising lad; “that’s why we asked. We get most of our business from people who are half through and feel like quitting!”[1]
• Rob Bell - “Puke & Rally”
• Corinth’s reputation for wickedness was known all over the Roman Empire. (Rom. 1:18–32 was written in Corinth!)
• Thanks to its location, the city was a center for both trade and travel. Money and vice, along with strange philosophies and new religions, came to Corinth and found a home there.
• Corinth was one of the two most important cities Paul visited. The other was Ephesus.

2 where he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul came to them, 3 and since they were of the same occupation, tentmakers by trade, he stayed with them and worked.[2]

• Jewish rabbis did not accept money from their students but earned their way by practicing a trade.
• All Jewish boys were expected to learn a trade, no matter what profession they might enter.
• “He who does not teach his son to work, teaches him to steal!” said the rabbis; so Saul of Tarsus learned to make leather tents and to support himself in his ministry[3]

 

• Priscilla and Aquila are Jews who have been expelled from Rome by Emperor Claudius.
• They, like Paul, are tentmakers. Because the Isthmian games are being held in Corinth at this time, there is a great need for temporary shelter. Thus the three tentmakers get plenty of business.
• Were Aquila and Priscilla Christian believers at that time? We don’t know for certain, but it’s likely that they were.
• Perhaps they were even founding members of the church in Rome. We do know that this dedicated couple served most faithfully and even risked their lives for Paul (Rom. 16:3–4).
• They assisted him in Ephesus (Acts 18:18–28) where they even hosted a church in their home (1 Cor. 16:19).
• Aquila and Priscilla were an important part of Paul’s “team” and he thanked God for them. They are a good example of how “lay ministers” can help to further the work of the Lord.
• Every pastor and missionary thanks God for people like Aquila and Priscilla, people with hands, hearts, and homes dedicated to the work of the Lord.
• Paul lived and worked with Aquila and Priscilla, but on the Sabbath days witnessed boldly in the synagogue.
• After all, that was why he had come to Corinth. When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia (Acts 17:14–15; 18:5), they brought financial aid (2 Cor. 11:9), and this enabled Paul to devote his full time to the preaching of the Gospel.
• What a joy it must have been for Paul to see his friends and to hear from them the good news of the steadfastness of the Christians in the churches they had planted together (1 Thes. 3).[4]

 
Problems in Thessaloniki

• There is a Greek scholar who said this Thessaloniki is the only seaboard city of contemporary Greece that has never, from its foundation (316 BC) till today, lost its commercial importance.
• Ranged in population anywhere from sixty-five thousand to a hundred thousand is a good guesstimate, and that means that Thessalonica ranks up among the top ten most important cities in the ancient world in the Roman Empire.[5]
• You’re likely familiar with the fact that Julius Caesar was assassinated, and, ultimately, that assassination led to a battle against two of the assassins, Brutus and Cassius.
• [There were] two other Romans who were defending the honor of Caesar. One was Marc Antony, and the other was a kid, because he was only eighteen years old. He was the grandnephew of Caesar, and he became, ultimately, Caesar Augustus.
• And so we have this massive battle between Romans taking place—of all places, not in Italian soil but in northern Greece, just down the road from Thessalonica around the city of Philippi.
• And on one side, with Philippi behind it, stood Brutus and Cassius, and they were in the stronger position.
• And on the other side, to the west, with Thessalonica behind them, was Marc Antony and Octavian.
• And so the city of Thessalonica had to make a choice: Which side would they support? And the consequences were potentially great.
• Well, either out of wisdom or out of luck, they sided with the right people because, somewhat surprisingly, Marc Antony and Octavian won this battle, and as a result of their loyalty, the city of Thessalonica was rewarded by these two now-Roman leaders Marc Antony and Octavian with the status of a “free city.”[6]
• Now, the status of a free city is really a big deal because that meant that the city enjoyed some important benefits, like a measure of autonomy over administrating their local affairs.
• They had the right to mint their own coins, they had some tax concessions, and they also were free from military occupation.[7]
• We might think today that in a city of 65,000–100,000, a top-ten city in the ancient world, so what if there are some fifty Jesus followers in the city? Who cares?
• But if you remember this close intimate relationship between Thessalonica and Rome, we can better appreciate how the city leaders and those people in positions of power and authority would be very much concerned if there were any local citizens who would be saying or doing things to undermine this special relationship between the city of Thessalonica and Rome.[8]

 
Luke the Historian

• In Philippi:
• Acts 16:20-21 - Bringing them before the chief magistrates, they said, “These men are seriously disturbing our city. They are Jews 21 and are promoting customs that are not legal for us as Romans to adopt or practice.”[9]
• In Thessaloniki
• Acts 17:5-9 - But the Jews became jealous, and they brought together some wicked men from the marketplace, formed a mob (citizen assembly – lowest form of authority), and started a riot in the city. Attacking Jason’s house, they searched for them to bring them out to the public assembly (city council – executive branch of the lowest authority).  6 When they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city officials, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here too, 7 and Jason has welcomed them. They are all acting contrary to Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king—Jesus.” 8 The crowd and city officials who heard these things were upset. 9 After taking a security bond from Jason and the others, they released them[10] (city officials - Now, the third and highest level is a very unique office. The Greek word is politarchēs, and there’s no really easy way to translate it. Most Bible translations simply say the “city leaders” or the “city rulers.”)
• And there’s been a bit of controversy about this highest level because in the past, a generation or more ago, many scholars, especially more liberal scholars who seriously doubted the historical reliability of Acts, wondered about this particular office of politarchēs because, by the early 1900s, there was no inscriptional or archaeological evidence for the existence of this particular office.
• And so those scholars tended to appeal to that as evidence that Luke was not a good historian; he was only making up history to serve his theological purposes.
• But as is often is the case, these scholarly claims often are later proven false, and that’s what happened here.
• In fact, they’ve uncovered now seventy inscriptions to this unique office of politarchēs, twenty-eight of which come from the city of Thessalonica itself.
• There’s a reason that we didn’t find them for a long time, and that has to do with the second thing we talked about just a few moments before, and that was that “free city” status that Thessalonica enjoyed.
• One of the benefits of having that free city status is [that] instead of wiping out the existing political structures and doing things the Roman way, instead, in Macedonia they could keep doing things the way they had done all along.
• And so this office of politarchēs is actually a rather ancient Macedonian office because of the free city status of Thessalonica that was allowed to continue to exist in the city of Thessalonica.[11]

 

• And this is important because it shows, again, how historically reliable Acts—and Luke, the writer of Acts—is. In fact, [Luke] is so [familiar] with the historical context that just earlier, in the account in Acts 16, when Paul is in the city of Philippi, Luke uses particular titles for the city leaders there that are appropriate for that being a Roman city and then switches to this unique title here in Acts 17, the account in Thessalonica, that unique phrase politarchēs.
• So, instead of Luke looking like a bad historian, he actually comes across as an extremely knowledgeable one, and he knows that when the missionaries of Paul and Silas and Timothy come from the Roman city of Philippi to the ancient Macedonian, free city-status city of Thessalonica that in that place Paul would have been brought before politarchēs.[12]

 
Crisis in Thessalonica

• Silas and Timothy join Paul at Corinth. The church in Philippi has once again sent a financial gift to Paul, and Silas hands it to him. The money enables Paul to devote himself exclusively to the work of church planting.
• Timothy brings news from Thessalonica. The church is being persecuted, but it is standing steadfast for the Lord. It is also sounding forth the gospel.
• Believers from the churches in Macedonia (Philippi) and Achaia (Corinth) have visited the Thessalonican believers, and they are encouraged by their faith, their love, and their steadfastness in the midst of local persecution.
• However, due to the pressure, some of the Thessalonican believers are returning back to their pagan lifestyles—namely fornication. Someone has died in the church recently, and the believers are grieving the loss.
• They also have questions about what happens to believers when they die.
• The church in Thessalonica has been on Paul’s heart. He has desired to see the believers and has been lifting them up to the Lord day and night, asking for God to make a way for him to visit them.

 
1 THESSALONIANS
1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy:
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace to you and peace.

• Paul’s ministry in Thessaloniki, is that he worked as a tentmaker… Yet, he lived out the Gospel through his daily life and conversations.
• I’ve been asked, what is my response to “all this”.
• What is “all this”? Pandemic, Spaceex, Covid-19, riots?
• I have my thoughts… both good & bad. I express many of them to Michelle (because she is safe).
• But my response was…
• “Staying focused. I can't change people's behavior, opinions or minds. Not my job. Be the light.
• Nor can they tell me what I should say or do.”
• As most pastors have posted, I am probably in most agreement with Tony Dungy’s post. But he’s said it.
• The best that I can do is remain true to my calling.
• Teach the Word of God in a fallen and evil world.
• Love others with the leading of the Holy Spirit that resides in my body.
• See the bigger picture and remain faithful in the little things that reflect Jesus to this world.

[1] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 474). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[2] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Ac 18:1–4). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[3] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 475). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[4] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 475). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[5] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[6] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[7] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[8] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[9] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Ac 16:20–21). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[10] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Ac 17:6–9). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[11] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
[12] Weima, J. A. D. (2020). NT350 Book Study: 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.