The Goodbye Lines: 1 Thessalonians 5

Wow. It’s been awhile since I last visited this project. I’m quite scared to look back at the prior entries I’ve written, knowing how much learning and growing has happened since the first one. Still, we keep going.

In Summary:

Today we examine 1 Thessalonians 5, the closing chapter of this epistle of the Apostle Paul. It’s an epistle, so that means it’s a letter but we give it a fancy name. As the closing of any letter would have, Paul finishes his thoughts from earlier and then says goodbye.

Of course, Paul’s a preacher. So it takes a chapter to wrap up and a paragraph or two to say goodbye. That’s how we all are, even the introverts. 

1 Thessalonians 4 has talked some about the return of Jesus and tried to prepare the church for those times which are yet to come, and the thought continues at the beginning of this chapter. Here, we see the instruction that the church is to stay awake and be self-controlled, following Jesus.

We get an interesting comment at the beginning of the chapter, though, where the church is told that “you do not need anything to be written to you.” Why would that be? It’s important for us to remember that Paul’s letters were not the only way in which he taught. Most of his writings go to churches that he has been with personally and further are being sent with people who have traveled with and spent time with Paul. Some matters do not need writings because they were covered face-to-face! He simply calls to mind the prior teaching they had received.

(Much to our chagrin, true?)

The next paragraph reads like the bullet points of reminders that a professor might spout at a student group right before the test: it’s short, punchy, and easy to remember. It also lacks details—why “Do not treat prophecies with contempt” (5:20)? What are “prophecies” in this case? What was covered in sermons that we just don’t get today? There are questions here that require thought and humility.

In Focus:

Let us put the focus, though, on the conclusion: 1 Thessalonians 5:28 gives us “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” What can we draw here?

First, our shared relationship with Jesus: Paul does not speak of “his” Lord or to the church of “their” Lord, but of “our” Lord. That matters—while we should not hinge doctrine entirely on a pronoun, there is a useful reminder here that preachers, teachers, apostles, missionaries, churches all share the same Lord: Jesus Christ. There is no division, not through distance nor through work in the Kingdom.

Second, our continued need for grace. Sometimes, our traditions put the whole emphasis of grace onto the moment of conversion, but the letter is to the church, to those who have been converted. There is grace for the past, grace for the future, and even grace for right now.

In Practice:

Practically, then, we ought to seek unity: there are many parts of the body of Christ but only one Lord. One source of grace. And we can, through our actions and inactions, push away from Him and His grace for our current needs. Paul gives us the keys to holding true, though: prayer and fellowship. Prayer for others, fellowship with our family of faith, and trust in Jesus.

And then, as we contemplate the return of the Lord, we should remember Paul’s points of emphasis: that we live for the Lord, that we live like it is day and work like it is day. It may be our calling to work through the whole of our lives for Jesus, as has been the calling for all the generations before us. Why should we expect Jesus to come back and keep us from having to be faithful through our death? So strengthen your hands, serve the Lord, and build good relationships with fellow believers that you can encourage and be encouraged by.

In Nerdiness: 

This chapter gives us some good moments to contemplate what it means to work on the inter-cultural understanding of Scripture. First, there is the translation of the Greek word that is most commonly rendered as “brothers.” That word (adelphoi, roughly) can be used to indicate both a group of men and a mixed group of men and women. Gendered languages work like that—usually informed by male dominance, mixed groups take the masculine form of the word.

So what do we do with that word in Scripture, like 1 Thessalonians 5:25-27? Some translations go with the literal translation: “Brothers.” Some interpret the idea: “fellow believers” or “believers.” Some interpret the idea with the family view: “brothers and sisters.” Which one is right?

Good question. Most of us would agree that even translating as “brothers” should not be seen to exclude women—and if you disagree we have much deeper issues—so we would still update our idea. Why not render it that way into English, since the Greek can be understood to mean something more than just literal brothers? 

Second, we see the concept in 5:26 of greeting with “a holy kiss.” Now, we don’t typically smooch one another at church—so what do we do here? Obey literally? Or obey the concept of relational intimacy and vulnerability? It would be easier to adopt the physical, Latin American or Italian “kiss on the cheek” idea than to be relational and vulnerable in modern America…but what’s the real point?

Look at it all: 1 Thessalonians 4

 In Summary:

Paul opens this chapter with a great word: “Additionally.” He’s linking the chapter to the one before, which is a good reminder that all of Scripture flows together, and especially one book goes as a whole book. In the modern era, we sometimes think people speak in short bursts of words, like a sentence, some spare characters, and an emoji. But down in, you don’t communicate that way: your communication is ongoing and linked to the encounters before and after it. 

Scripture is fundamentally the same: each thought links to prior communication. The linking is important and outweighs our habit of memorizing single verses wrenched from their context. You need to see the whole picture, read the whole chapter. 1 Thessalonians 4 gives some great examples of this, as Paul addresses sexual immorality, living in holiness, and the impending return of the Lord Jesus to judge the earth. Each of the principles is worth understanding, but if you, for example, take 1 Thessalonians 4:3 alone, that it is “God’s will that you keep away from sexual immorality,” you might choose to live a completely self-absorbed life, trusting that as long as you keep sexual activity within the confines of marriage, you are in “God’s will.” 

That would be like saying as long as the nails on one wall of the house hold, it’s a good house. You certainly need those nails, but you need a lot more as well!

In Focus:

Let us take 1 Thessalonians 4:7-8 as our focus passage for this chapter. Here, Paul highlights that we are called not to “impurity” but to “holiness.” As you look at this, make sure you apply some important Biblical interpretative principles:

First: do not automatically apply your normal definition of a word. In this case, the word “impurity” can be a risk for us. We typically leap to “sexual impurity,” and would perhaps grab the reference to “sexual immorality” from verse 3 to make that connection. However, here is where you need to notice that it’s two different words in English because it’s two different words in Greek. Verse 3 uses the word that we get “pornography” from, a word that definitely refers to sexual activities. The word in verse 7? It has a wider range of meaning: impurity, unclean, filthy, unpruned, unpurifiable. 

You always want to check what the words really are, and if you are using a good English translation, it will use different words. It also doesn’t hurt to use a pair of translations or to grab a good study aid for the words.

Second: always check the context. Look at the whole passage: impurity here is used in a summary verse that includes sexual conduct, self-control, not taking advantage of your fellow believers, not being self-absorbed. Impurity is a whole-life issue, not just some portions. 

Third, take note of references and connections to other places. Here, an important note should be seen in verse 6: “as we also previously told and warned you.” Paul reminds them of what else he has said! Prior sermons, letters, discussions, all are important here. You don’t have access to these, but you know this much: Christian teaching was more than one note.

In Practice:

What does this look like, practically? To live in holiness rather than impurity?

First, it looks like having the right authority: Christian people answer to God, guided by the Holy Spirit. Sometimes, God uses fellow believers to hold us accountable, but ultimately the Spirit of God calls us to holiness. That means no man can excuse our impurity, either, so we best not expect our smooth-talking to be worth much. Remember the first point for holiness is knowing the God you are to be like.

Second, it looks like caring for one another: looking again at the context, Paul reminds them of their responsibility for each other. All the way through to the end. The Christian life is replete with opportunities to show love to one another. We should do that.

Third, look ahead at the following verses, where Paul speaks of minding our own business, leading quiet lives, and testifying to Jesus. That’s not isolationism, but it is avoiding being unhelpful busybodies and critics. If all you’ve got is how the other people are doing it wrong, then perhaps you need to revisit this passage.

In Nerdiness: 

So, 1 Thessalonians 4:17 is the one place in Scripture with a very clear picture of living believers being “caught up” in the air to meet the Lord Jesus. From this passage, the idea of the “Rapture,” from the Latin word for “caught up,” entered Christian theology. We have other doctrines that only have one primary passage, so it is not a problem to only have one passage. It’s just important to note that if you read Revelation front to back and back to front, you may not see the idea, because while some scholars will attempt to locate the timing between moments in Revelation, the passage needed is in 1 Thessalonians.

All that to also say this: we need to be very, very careful to realize that Paul is not working out a fully-formed explanation of the end of all things here. He is focused on encouraging one another to love and good deeds in this present age. While he writes without error, that does not mean he writes with perfect clarity. So let us not be overly dogmatic with what we think he might have meant, and focus on the plainer truths: be encouraged, the Lord Jesus will not leave you abandoned.

Overflow with Love

We’re due for the next TTWB segment, but I wanted to hit 1 Thessalonians 3:11-13 briefly and comment on the American situation.

First, the comment: it’s a mess out there. First, you have the killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. (I’d use “murder” but that is a technical, legal term and it is possible that one of my three readers could be in a jury pool if the folks who pulled the trigger ever go to trial. I don’t want to contaminate the pool.) Then you have ham-fisted responses to these killings by the local authorities, essentially trying to paper over these misuses of power. Now you have protests, some of which were handled appropriately and others were mangled in the government response (see the video of authorities in Minnesota shooting tear gas or something at people ON THEIR OWN FRONT PORCH, for starters), and questions. Lots of questions.

With that in mind, believers, let’s take a look at 1 Thessalonians 3:11-13.

Verse 11 is Paul’s prayer that God would bring him back to the Thessalonians. That’s pretty straightforward, isn’t it? There is a good example to be found here: we ought to love the people we have served God with enough that we’d like to go back and see them again. There is plenty of theology and Christology to be had here, but we’ll set that aside for now.

Verse 12 is the high-point here: the prayer that our love increases and overflows for one another. Where are we on that?

Where are we within the church? With all of God’s people?

I think we need to really pray through that before we answer it.

Verse 13 wraps it back up: blameless hearts before God our Father, so that at the coming of the Lord Jesus, when we see judgment come on this world like a flood, we are ready to be in the presence of God’s holiness.

Now: what do we do?

Every action you take, every word you speak, all belong to God’s lordship and will fall under His judgment in due time.

What will you do? You do not need me or another preacher or an author or anyone else, really, to tell you what to do that you haven’t already heard: open your Bible, listen to God speak through His word, by His Spirit, and do what He said: love your neighbor as yourself.

And if you want to define “your neighbor,” simply find the people who your people have hated for 400 years. That’s who the Samaritans were to the Jews. Oh, and probably they didn’t use the term hate. Generally, they just appreciated that they were Jews and not Samaritans, and preferred to avoid them.

So….who is your neighbor?

I think you can answer that question. I think you should answer that question: too often, we want our answers spoon-fed to us, so that we can then blame the messenger for getting it wrong, or when it gets hard, we can say, “Well, that was his idea, anyway, so I’ll leave it.”

You will face the Almighty God at some point and will answer for how you have loved His people. And if you are a follower of Christ, it may be the saddest moment of  your life as your Father in Heaven asks why you never loved your own family.

I pray that we all overflow with love for our brothers and sisters.

Encouraged: 1 Thessalonians 3

In Summary:
Paul opens 1 Thessalonians 3 giving his side of recent events, about how he reached a point where he needed to know what was happening with in Thessalonica, so he sent Timothy to check on the believers there. Here, it is helpful to remember the chronology from Acts 17, that Paul was only in town for a few weeks before being run out by the angry mob. He then went to Berea, and then on to Athens.

I see no reason to think that the recollections Paul makes here, of sending Timothy to the Thessalonians from Athens, are from any other time frame. It is, of course, possible, but the simpler solution puts the origin point there in the narrative. Of course, one should note that everything that happened in the life of Paul or Timothy is not recorded in the text, so we cannot make it an absolute claim. But let’s let the simple be the solution.

Having pointed out his personal concern for the church, he goes on to remind them of what he had told them in person—which is noteworthy, considering how little time they had together. There is something here to be considered, briefly: if you took a 3-week slice of any of your relationships and only had that to call on, what would your relationship have? Specifically, in your Christian relationships: do you go more than 3 weeks without encouraging other believers? Pastors and teachers, if someone took a 3-week slice of your teaching, how much would it help?

On track again, we wee Paul is concerned that the Thessalonian believers have been swallowed up by temptation in the absence of encouragement and teaching, even though he had warned them about the coming affliction that both he and they would suffer. The chapter ends with a benediction-type statement, a prayer that reads very much like it should be the end of the message. Paul, however, being a Baptist preacher, still has 2 chapters left to go…

In Focus:
Put 1 Thessalonians 3:7 in your focus for the time being: Paul is encouraged by hearing how the church is responding, even as he faces distress and affliction.

What affliction? Well, since Thessalonica, where Paul was run out in a riot, he’s been run out in a riot in Berea; he’s faced the philosopher’s guild of Athens and been cold-shouldered; he’s now most likely in Corinth—where he’ll be for over a year, but not without trial and difficulty.

Yet hearing from those he loves is an encouragement. Hearing from the ones he has taught is a positive for him.

In Practice:
Well, the first thing to do “in practice” is to keep the faith with what you have been taught! Not that this means we do not grow, develop, and change, but we should separate core truth from other understandings. Knowing that Jesus really lived, really died, really rose from the grave is crucial; your understanding of how to observe the Lord’s Supper is a secondary matter and can change. The first thing we should practice is keeping the faith.

The second thing we should practice is sharing with those who have taught us how we’re doing in keeping the faith. Sometimes, it’s obvious: if you are still face-to-face (or even Internet-to-Internet) with your teachers and mentors, they should be able to see it normal life. Although it’s also valuable to communicate directly about the impact someone has had in your life, you should also be obvious with it. If you are distant—send a note, an email, a card—there are ways.

The third thing we should do is keep in touch with those we have taught: how are you encouraging those who you have taught and moved away from? That’s a challenge for me, personally, as I’m wrestling with what it means for someone who has preached and taught in several churches in the last few decades: how do I make sure to reach back and encourage? Not because those churches need me, but because I should continue to carry a burden for them. (And I do. Somebody damaged the calm of one my previous pastorates, and I think I was almost as aggravated as their current pastor)

In Nerdiness: 
I have taken the assumption that Paul writes the Thessalonians from Corinth, where Timothy was able to rejoin him after checking on the church. Other options exist—and I’m not a New Testament scholar, so you’ll have to check out some of the good resources on Thessalonians for that.

I also would note John Chrysostom’s comments on v. 3 (found in The Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture): Paul notes that his sufferings are the glory of the church, because God showed His love for the Thessalonians by allowing one of His servants, Paul, to suffer on their behalf. What would become of us if we thought that way? How much does God love us that someone suffered for our faith? How much does God love others that we should suffer for them?

Entrusted: 1 Thessalonians 2

In Summary:

In this chapter, Paul first hearkens back to his time with the Thessalonians. It wasn’t a very long visit (see Acts 17:1-9), and there was hardly time for Paul and Silas to build up the church there. They were able to win a good number of folks to Jesus, but overall his introduction to the Thessalonians was unpleasant. It was an unpleasantness that followed him onward from Thessalonica to Berea, where he had some peace there until representatives from the former showed up and started stirring up trouble.

As he recounts his time with the Thessalonians, Paul goes into his own motivations and actions during the three weeks he was there. He notes that “we were gentle among you…” and how they labored to avoid being a burden. He notes that the conduct of the ministry group was devout, righteous, and blameless. All three of these should be evident in the life of the church, especially if we are going to make a difference in the world around us.

Paul then goes on to note how the people who persecuted he and Silas are of the same mindset not only of those who killed Jesus but also persecuted the prophets of old. This is an important, though intermittent, theme in the New Testament letters: the continuity of the revelation of God from the Prophets, such as Isaiah or Jeremiah, to the Apostles. A good image is that they are the two spotlights shining on the subject, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is picked up in our doctrines of inspiration and other understandings of how God has worked: through one light shining on Christ from before He came, one light shining on Him after.

In Focus:

Taking a deeper look at 1 Thessalonians 2:17-20, we see Paul expressing thoughts about his relationship with the Thessalonian church. He recognizes that he was not able to stay as long as he wanted while also noting that he did not leave of his own free will. He notes that they made multiple efforts to come back, but there was always some form of hindrance. Paul attributes that hindrance to the work of Satan.

Why would Paul wanting to go to Thessalonica be important enough for Satan to interrupt?

If he had gone, Paul would have been able to encourage the church. He would have been able to make certain the church fully understood the Gospel. He would have been able to help the church start spreading the Gospel. He also would have helped them see the implications of the Gospel for their every day life, including modeling it on an extended basis.

Instead, he is left with ministry at a distance, with a deputized send of Timothy (chapter 3) to help out. His encouragement must come through a letter and a friend, rather than just himself. The benefit, though, is to future generations: we have very few notes of Paul’s sermons—some are present in the book of Acts. All of them are short. His letters are extended, and he uses the extra space to fill in deeper and fuller thoughts.

In Practice:

What, though, could this possibly have to do with us?

For starters, we should long for the encouragement, teaching, and modeling of life that happens in our face-to-face relationships. If we are never with other believers for these purposes, we are missing out.

Yet we should also note that God works out the details of our lives in such ways that we do not automatically expect. God uses the difficulties of our life to amplify and expand how He uses us in the world around us. So we should seek and utilize whatever opportunities we find in front of us, even if it is not the one that we wanted.

Dig in, then, and take up that which is in front of you, be it a camera, a pencil, or a small group of people who need encouragement. Go for it. God will work out the rest of the issues.

After all, we’re entrusted with the Word of God. Let’s not sit on it.

In Nerdiness:

1. “We” is fun in this passage: it could be either an editorial “we,” where Paul is primarily referring to himself but uses “we” because it sounds better; he could also be using “we” because it’s a broad reference to his entire team traveling and sharing the Gospel. I’m inclined toward him speaking on behalf of the group.
2. Paul’s statement of laboring to not be a burden (in 2:8-9) has often been used to club ministers who are paid for serving the local church or the Church upside the head. After all, Paul “labored” so as not to be a burden. A few notes: first, if your pastor is a ‘burden,’ then something’s wrong anyway; second, Acts records Paul as being there only about 3 weeks, so he didn’t set a long-term ministry pattern; third, again, if someone is burdening you and claiming it’s ministry, there is definitely something wrong.

Reports of Others: 1 Thessalonians 1

In Summary:

So we come to the letters to the Thessalonians. Paul wrote two letters to these Christians, and most Biblical scholars are agreeable that 1 Thessalonians was written first. (You think that’s self-evident? It’s not—1 Thessalonians is first in your Bible because it’s longer than 2 Thessalonians. The chronology is a separate study.) This church was founded from Paul and Silas’ preaching in Acts 17, though the evidence in Acts is that the Apostle was not even in Thessalonica for a month!

1 Thessalonians opens as most of Paul’s letters do: with a standard greeting. Here, however, we see something different with Paul not asserting any title alongside his name. In most of his letters to churches, Paul identifies himself as either an apostle or a servant of the Lord Jesus. Here, he is simply “Paul,” writing with Silvanus and Timothy. Silvanus is the Latinized version of the name Silas, so this is Paul, Silas, and Timothy, the three men who were the initiators of Christianity in the region. They had persuaded many that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer (including death) and then rise from the dead, then turned to demonstrating that Jesus was this Messiah.

Beyond the difference in the introduction, Paul’s greeting is familiar: grace to you and peace, followed by an expression of his thanksgiving for the church. Here he uses “we,” as the letter would be considered as from all three of the named authors, but Paul is the primary writer. He highlights that the church came to be not only in word but in power, though we have no information from Acts about very many miracles or events that fit this description. I would suggest to you that part of the demonstration of the Holy Spirit’s power in Thessalonica was that the church established and flourished without Paul or Silas being there for an extended time—later, in 1 Thessalonians 3, we’ll see that Timothy was sent back to encourage and strengthen the church, but it was already there.

In Focus:
Let us take a moment to look hard at 1 Thessalonians 1:7-9. Consider what is said here of the Christians in Thessalonica: they are an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. That’s the bulk of modern-day Greece, dear readers, and indicates the church was not just doing well in its own town but sending out the Word of God to other places—as we see in verse 8! Paul notes that their faith has gone out (these days, I’m using CSB but I forgot how to change the automatic reference link) to the area. They have not quietly sat in their own church—despite knowing from the beginning (look back at Acts 17:1-9) that following Jesus would bring them trouble from the people around them.

From this point, Paul now states that he hardly needs to say anything about the work of faith in the people at Thessalonica: their reputation of obeying God’s word spoke for them.

In Practice:
Well, the first, most obvious point of application is this: what does our reputation say of us? For example, of our own local church?

Are we:
1. An example of joy in persecution? (v. 6) Not that we should seek persecution or idly let it happen if there are God-honoring means to prevent it, but “fear” or “panic” are not the responses we’re called to. How did you respond to suggestions of change in tax policy to persecute churches? How do you feel about government policies that sideline religion? Joyful? or angry, fearful, vengeful?
2. Followers of Christ with an active faith? Do we sit by and trust that someone will hear of us or do we go out and tell the world about Jesus? Oh, and do not think that we can do this with a Gospel of words only, but it must come with power shown in changed lives. If the church sits idly by in the face of sin in the camp, we are not showing an active faith.
3. Willing to share about the good things God is doing in the lives of others? Think about: the other churches shared the good that the Thessalonians had done. Does anyone hear of the good work done by the churches in your town…from your church?

In Nerdiness:
1. Saying that Paul wrote two letters should be qualified with a term like “that we have” or “that we know about.” It’s possible that Paul wrote the Thessalonians every other week but we don’t have the letters.
2. Not relevant to the text, but in 380 AD the Edict of Thessalonica was the proclamation of Nicene Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire. This came approximately 70 years after Constantine shifted the Roman stance to toleration, then a hearty approval of Christianity.
3. Traditionally, we’ve called the city Thessalonica, and I have followed that here, but it is considered more correct to use Thessaloniki as the English formation of the Greek name.
4. In most of my resources, two things stand out on the authorship of 1 Thessalonians: there are very few that suggest it was written by anyone other than Paul and there are many who are certain it was the first of Paul’s writings. And, by extension, they also hold it to be the oldest of the New Testament writings.