60 2 Thessalonians

5:19 /C~O/~2;t :t Jb 1:1.8 : 2:3

1 THESSALONIANS

354

Never try to suppress the Spirit » or trea t the gift of prophecy with conternpt ; ~g think before you do anything-hold on to wha t is good -and avoid every form of H evil. Closing prayer and farewell

Is 11:6 + 2 Th 3: 16 3: 13 1I Co 1:9 12 T h 3:3 2 Th 3:1 R m 15:30 12 C o 13:12 1-

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May the God of peace make you per fect and holy; and may you all be kept 23 safe and blame less, spirit, soul and body , e for the coming of our Lo rd Jesus Christ. God has called you and he will no t fail you. 24 Pray for us, my brothers. 25 G reet a ll the brothers with the holy kiss. • My orders, in the Lo rd' s name, ~~ are that this lett er is to be read to all the! brothers. 28 The grace of our Lord Jesus C hrist be with you.v

2 THESS ALONIANS THE SECO ND LETTER OF PAUL TO TH E CH URCH I N THESS ALO NIK A Address Fro m Pa ul, Silvanus and Tim othy , to the Ch urch in T hessalo nika which is in G od o ur Father and th e Lor d Jesus C hrist ; -wis hing you gra ce a nd pea ce from G od the Father and the Lor d Jesus Christ.

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1 T h 1:1 A c 15:22 +: 16:1 1-

Th anksgiving and encouragement. The La st J udgement

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We feel we must be continually thank ing God for you, bro thers ; q uite rightly, beca use your faith is growi ng so wonder fully and the love that you have for one a no ther never stops increasing; -a nd am o ng t he churches of G od we can ta ke specia l pride in you for your constancy a nd faith under all the persecut ion s and tro ubles you have to bear. - It all shows that G od's j udgement is ju st , and the purpose of it is that you may be found worthy of t he kin gdom of Go d; it is for the sa ke of th is that you a re su ffering now. Go d will very rightly repa y with injur y tho se who a re injuring you, -a nd reward you , who are suffer ing now , with the same peace as he will give US," when the Lord Jes us appear s from heaven with the angels of his power. • He will come in flaming fir e" to impose the penalty o n all who do not acknowledge God and refuse to accept the G ood News of our Lord Jesus. C - It will be their punishment to be lost eterna lly, excluded f rom the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his strength on that day when -he comes to be glorified among his saints and seen in his glory by all who believe in him;" and you are believers, through our witness .' Knowing this, we pray continually that our God will make you wor th y of his call, and by his power fulfil all your! desires for goodness and complete all that you have been doing through faith ; • because in this way the name of our Lord Jesus C hrist will be glorified in you and you in him , by the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. The eoming of the Lord and the prelude to it " To turn now, brothers, to the com ing of our Lord Jesus Christ and how we sha ll all be gathered round him: ' please do not get excited too soon or alarmed by any prediction or rumour or any letter claiming to come fro m us,

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tripartite d ivis io n o f body (eL Rm 7:24 -l- ) , so ul (cr. I Co 15:44 -t- ) and s p iri t (w hic h ca n be taken in two ways : as t he divine p resen ce in a hu man be in g,

giv ing h im ne w life in union wit h C hr ist. R m 5:5 +. or more pr obably as t he in nerm ost dep ths of th e human bei ng, o pe n a nd a wa ke to th e Sp ir it, cf. R m 1:9 4 ), f . v ure. in sert s 'h ol y' . 2 . Add . (Y ul a.) 'Ame n'

e . Vv.6-1O form a parent hesis, v.t t follows on 1 a . Pa ul oft en co mp ares h is own s itu ation wit h t ha t of th e chu rc hes he is writi ng to. cr. 1 T h 2:3: I Co 4:8 : from v.s . f . O r ' hi s' P h 1:30. etc . b . Heaven . cf'. 1 T h 4: 16. the angels. cf. Mt 13:39 . 2 a. In 1 T h 4:13 -5:11 Pa u l a vo id ed sug gesting 41,49 : 16:27p: 24:31: 25:31: Lk 12:8f (and probably any thlna th at wo u ld indic a te whe n the trarousia wou ld th e 'sa in ts ' of 1 Th 3:13) . the ' f ire' o f various ta ke p lace . cr. 1 Th 5: 1+ . Obv ious ly rep lying to further t heop hanie s, cr. Ex 13:22 + ; 19:16 + . are all conven- questions, P au l does not now rep eat all he sai d. ab ou t ti o na l e lements of a pocalyptic liter ature. cf. I Th 4:16 + . wha t would happen to the li ving and the de ad : all he is c . l.e . both pagans, 1 Th 4:5 . a nd Jew s. Rm 10: 16. co nce rned with is to emphasi se t hat the coming is no t d . Pa u l here seems 10 be thinkin g of an ge ls (t he imminent. a nd tha t it ca nnot take place t ill certain 's a ints ' , cr. Ac9:13 +> and C hr istians ('those who spec ific s igns ha ve preceded it . believe').

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II 1 Th 1:4-5 1 Th 4:3 +.8 I P 1:2 1 T h 3:6.8 1 Co 1l:2 + 1 T h 3:11-13

Ps 147: 15 Eo6: 19f Co l 4:3 1 T h 5:25 H eb 13:18 Rm 10:16 M/6 :/J 1 T h 5:24 1 I n 2:14 + 2 Co 7:16

35 6

2 THESSALON I AN S

implying that the Day of the Lord has already arrived. Never let anyone deceive you in this way. It cannot happen until the Great Revolt" has taken place and the Rebel, the Lost One, has appeared. -This is the Enemy,« the one who claims to be so much greater than all that men call 'god', so much greate r than any th ing that is worshipped, that he enthrones himself in God's sanctuary and claims that he is God. Surely you remember me telling you about this when I was with you? -And you know, too, what is still holding him back:' from appearing before his appointed time. -Rebellion is at its work already, but in secret,' and the one who is holdi ng it back has first to be remo ved -before the Rebel appears openly." Th e Lo rd« will kill him with the breath of his mouth and will ann ihilate him with his glorious appearance at his com ing. But when the Rebel comes, Satan will set to wor k:" there will be all kinds of miracles and a deceptive show of signs and portents, -and everyt hing evil that can deceive those who are bound for destru ction because they would not grasp the love of the tr uth which could have saved them . -The reason why God is sending a power to delud e them and mak e them believe what is untrue -is to condem n all who refused to believe in the trut h and chose wicked ness instead.'

357

Encouragement to persevere} But we feel that we must be continually thanking Go d for you, brothers whom the Lord loves, because God chose you from the beginn ing> to be saved by the sanctifying Spirit and by faith in the truth. Through the Go od News that we brough t he called you to this so that you shou ld share the glory of our Lord Jesus Chr ist. -Sta nd firm, then, brothers, an d keep the trad itioos that we taught you, whether by word of mou th or by letter.' May our Lord J esus Christ himself, and God our Fa ther who has given us his love and, through his grace, such inexhaustible comfort and such sure hope, -comfor t you and strengthen you in everything good that you do or say. Fina lly, brothers, pray for us ; pray that the Lor d's message may spread quickly, and be received with honou r as it was am ong you ; -a nd pray that we may be preser ved from the interference of bigoted and evil people, for fait h is not given to everyone. -But the Lord is faithful, and he will give you strength and guard you from the evil one,> -a nd we, in the Lord, have every confidence that you ar e doing and will go on doing all that we tell you. May the Lord turn you r hea rts to war ds the love of God and the fortitude of Christ. 0

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1 Th4:1.1112: 5:14 2: 15 + : 3:14 Ac 18:3 + I Co l l :1 Ga 4: 12 1 T h 2:9 + M/ 6:11

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Gn 3:19 Ga6:9 3:6 1 Co 5:5.9-11 2 Co 2:7 Ga6: 1 1 Th 5:14 M / 18 ;15-18

Against idleness and disunity In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we urge you , brothers, to keep away fro m a ny of the brothers who refuses to work or to live acco rding to the tradition we passed 0 11 to you. Yo u know how you are supposed to imitate us:" now we were not idle when we were with you, - nor d id we ever have our meals at anyone's ta ble without paying for them; no, we wor ked night and day , slaving and strai ning, so as not to be a burden on an y of you. Thi s was not because we had no right to be, but in ord er to ma ke ourselves an example for you to follow. We gave you a rule when we were with you: not to let anyone have any food if hc refused to do any wor k.s -Now we hear that there are some 01 yo u who are living in idleness, do ing no wor k themselves but interfering with everyone else's. In the Lord Jesus Christ, we order and call on people of this kind to go on quietly work ing and earning the food th at they eat. My brothers, never grow tired of doing what is right. If anyone refuses to obey what I have written in this letter, take note of him and ha ve nothing to do with him , so that he will feel that he is in the wrong; - though you are not to regar d him as an enemy but as a bro ther in need of correction.

May the Lord of peace himself give you peace all the time and in every way." The Lord be with you all. From me, PAUL, these greetings in my own handwriting, which is the mark of genuineness in every letter ; this is my own writing. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. e 0

In 14:27 1 Th 5:23 Ga6:11 + Co14:18 2:2

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2 TH ESSAL O NIANS

Prayer and farewell wishes

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b. The way thi s Revo lt t atostasta} is me n tio ned he re s ho ws t ha t th e Thessalon ian s had already bee n to ld somethi ng abo u t it. Th e wo rd is used he re in its usual sense of tsecesslon' o r 'd efec tion' b u t with a spedftca llv relig io us reference. Ac 5:37; 2 1:21 : Heb 3: 12. l t seems t ha t the rebels arc not o n ly th ose wh o h ave never bel on ged to C h ri s t but a lso those w ho ha ve given up the faith. cf. I T m 4:1 : 2 T m 3: I: 4:3[; etc . c . T he ap os tasy will be due t o a being who is given th ree names. He is the ' Rebe l' (li t. 'man of lawlessness' or ' man of si n' ). He is a be ing des ti ne d (0 be 1051 (lit . ' son of Perdition') v.lO ; I n 17:12 : cf. 1 Th 5:5. He is the enemy of God and is described here in te rms reminiscent of the de scrtmton of Ant io ch us Eniphanes in O n I I :36. La ter o n in Christ ia n t rad ition , base d on O n, he is ca lled the Antichris t, cf . I Jn 2:18: 4:3: 2 In 7. U nlike Satan , whose tool he is, and who is a lread y a t wo rk in ' secret' (li t, ' th e mys tery ') v.7, the lawle ss one is represented as a pe rso n who will be reve aled a t t he 'end of time ' , and whose power will persecute a nd sed uce C h ris tians. On the final 'test'. that will only come to an end with the parousta of Christ, cr. Mt 24:24 ; Rv 13:1-8 . d. We d o not know what Paul refer s to when he talks abo ut a caus e that de lays the parousta of Ch rfst. A ll he says is tha t it is something, v.e. or so meone, v.7, that can 'del ay ' it. T hi s person or power bloc ks the comins of C hris t by pr event ing th e man ifest at ion of the Messiah's enem y who must precede the com ing of the Messiah hi mse lf. e. Rebe llion (Hr. ' law less ness ') is goin g on. but it is underground, secretly preparing for the grea t revolt , When the ob stacle, wha tever it is , is removed, lawlessness (or the lawless o ne) will wor k unmasked. I, Th e revealing of the Rebel, vv . 6-8 , is the cou nt erpar t of t he reveali ng of Christ, 1:7; I Co 1:7, in the sa me way as his parousta is the co unterpa rt of Ch rist's parousta, v.g. T he enemy of God becomes t he ene my of C hris t, but Chri st will conquer his enemy . a, Add . 'Jcsus' .

h. The Rebel is the instr ument th rough whi ch Sa tan wo rks , cf. I Th 2: 18, a nd who m he endows with su per h uma n power rath er as C hris t endows his followers with his own Spirit. Cf. t he Dragon an d the Beast, Rv 13:2.4. I. Tr uth a nd unt ruth here have a re ligious as well as a n intellectual re fere nce because they involve the whole of human life and ac tivity, cr. I In 3:19. J. T his pas sag e. 2:13-3:5, is very clo sely linked to the de scrip tion of the paronsia . Having corrected the false ide as of th e T hessa lo nians . Paul goe s o n to describe the positive con sequences of his co nceptio n. k . Va r. 'as ftrs t-Irui ts ". I. W ha t Pau l t aug ht them when he wa s in Thessa lo nika a nd wh at he had written to them sinc e he returned from ther e . 2:2.5 : 1 T h 3:4: 4:2.6 : 5:27, include. In t he message 0:' th e Good News , cr, I Th 2:13 + . the principles o n which a Ch ristian sho uld lead his life, cf, 1 Th 4:1 ; 1 Co 11:2.23- 25. 3 a. Or perhaps 'from evil'. C hri stians will be tempted but no t beyond their powers of resistance. 1 C o 10:13. b. By Imita ti ng Pa ul, 1 Co 4:16 : Ga 4:12 : Ph 3:17, Christian s wil l be imi tat ing Christ, I Th 1:6 ; Ph 2:5 : cr. Mt 16:24 : I P 2:2 1: I I n 2:6. who Is hlmile lf the one th at Paul Is imitatin g, t C o 11:1. ChristJans must also imitate God , Ep 5:1 (cf. Mt 5:48), and they must imitate each ot her , I Th 1:7: 2:14 : Heb 6:12. Behind this comm unity of life is t he idea of a model of doctrine, Rm 6:17, that has been received by tradition. v.s: 1 Co 11:2 + : 1 T h 2: 13+ . The leaders who transmi t th e doctrine m ust themselves be 'm odels' v.s: Ph 3: 17: I Tm 1:16 : 4:12 ; Tl2:7 : 1 P 5:3. whose faith and life a re to be Imitated. Heb 13:7. c. T his m ay have been laid d own by Jesus . bu t it may have been a pro verb : It has been ca lled t he soiden r ule for C hri st ian wo rk . d. Va r. (vula.j 'ever ywhe re", e. Add. 'Am en'. cf. 1 T h 3:13; 5:28.

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