1 & 2 Thessalonians: A Message for Troubled Times (The Disciples Bible Commentary Book 43)

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The question of work emerges directly again in chapter 2, when Paul reminds the Thessalonians that he and his friends worked night and day so that they would not be a burden to them 1 Thess.

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Paul says this so that the Thessalonians will be certain how much Paul cares for them, despite his physical absence from them. But it may also serve as a rebuke to members of the congregation who might have been sponging off of the generosity of fellow believers.

If anyone had a right to receive from the Thessalonians, it was Paul, whose hard work had mediated the new life of Christ to them in the first place. But Paul took no money from the Thessalonians in compensation. Instead, he labored hard as a tradesman as an expression of his concern for them. They are not dead but only sleeping, because Jesus will awaken them on the last day 1 Thess. Their only concern should be to keep walking in the light, remaining faithful and hopeful in the midst of a dark world 1 Thess.

Among other things, this means that they are to respect those who work 1 Thess. The promise of eternal life is more reason—not less—for working hard in this life. As 2 Thessalonians opens, we learn that Paul is still happy that the Thessalonians are maintaining their faith in a difficult environment, and he encourages them that Jesus will return to set all things right 2 Thess. They should take heart: While we are most concerned to hear how Paul wants the problem solved, it will be helpful to make some suggestions as to how the problem might have arisen in the first place.

One could see how such a move would be eased if they had the sort of eschatological fervor noted in the first view. The churches in Macedonia were known for their evangelistic zeal, yet it remains unclear whether the idle in Thessalonica were necessarily using their free time for evangelistic labors. It is difficult to choose between these different reconstructions. They all have something in the letters to support them, and it is not hard to see modern analogies in the modern church. And questions of unhelpful dependence on the charity of others arise both in the local context e.

We can, however, move forward even in the absence of complete certainty about what was going on to cause the problem of idleness in Thessalonica. Paul will have none of it. Responsible Christian living embraces work, even the hard work of a first-century manual laborer. It is equally clear that Paul is disturbed when people take advantage of the generosity of others in the church. If people can work, they should work. Finally, the idleness of Christians appears to have given the church a bad name in the pagan community.

Benziger, , —62; Karl P. Michael Glazier, , , Agrell, Work, Toil and Sustenance: Ohlssons, , —23; John A.

Theologischer, , —67; K. See, with various points of emphasis, D. An Exegetical Study of 1 Thess.

2 Thessalonians 2

Nicholl, From Hope to Despair: Paul highlights that God expects every Christian who can work to do so 1 Thess. Being a manual laborer in a Greco-Roman city was a hard life by modern and ancient standards, and the thought that it might not be necessary must have been appealing. The idea is plainly that love and respect are essential in Christian relationships, and that living off the charity of others unnecessarily is unloving and disrespectful to the charitable brother s or sister s concerned. It is important to remember that work does not always mean paid work.

Many forms of work—cooking, cleaning, repairing, beautifying, raising children, coaching youth, and thousands of others—meet the needs of family or community but do not receive remuneration. Others—the arts come to mind—may be offered free of charge or at prices too low to support those who do them. Nonetheless, they are all work.

We ask you— urge is more like it—that you keep on doing what we told you to do to please God, not in a dogged religious plod, but in a living, spirited dance. You know the guidelines we laid out for you from the Master Jesus. God wants you to live a pure life. Just love one another! Keep it up; get better and better at it. We want you living in a way that will command the respect of outsiders, not lying around sponging off your friends.

First off, you must not carry on over them like people who have nothing to look forward to, as if the grave were the last word. Since Jesus died and broke loose from the grave, God will most certainly bring back to life those who died in Jesus. The Master himself will give the command. Then the rest of us who are still alive at the time will be caught up with them into the clouds to meet the Master. And then there will be one huge family reunion with the Master. So reassure one another with these words. Now we can take it easy!

We live under wide open skies and know where we stand. People sleep at night and get drunk at night. Walk out into the daylight sober, dressed up in faith, love, and the hope of salvation. He died for us, a death that triggered life. So speak encouraging words to one another. Overwhelm them with appreciation and love!

Our counsel is that you warn the freeloaders to get a move on. Gently encourage the stragglers, and reach out for the exhausted, pulling them to their feet. Be patient with each person, attentive to individual needs. Look for the best in each other, and always do your best to bring it out. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live. Throw out anything tainted with evil. The One who called you is completely dependable. Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary 2: We have a cunning adversary, who watches to do mischief, and will promote errors, even by the words of Scripture.

Whatever uncertainty we are in, or whatever mistakes may arise about the time of Christ's coming, that coming itself is certain. This has been the faith and hope of all Christians, in all ages of the church; it was the faith and hope of the Old Testament saints. All believers shall be gathered together to Christ, to be with him, and to be happy in his presence for ever. We should firmly believe the second coming of Christ; but there was danger lest the Thessalonians, being mistaken as to the time, should question the truth or certainty of the thing itself.

False doctrines are like the winds that toss the water to and fro; and they unsettle the minds of men, which are as unstable as water.

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It is enough for us to know that our Lord will come, and will gather all his saints unto him. A reason why they should not expect the coming of Christ, as at hand, is given. There would be a general falling away first, such as would occasion the rise of antichrist, that man of sin. There have been great disputes who or what is intended by this man of sin and son of perdition. The man of sin not only practises wickedness, but also promotes and commands sin and wickedness in others; and is the son of perdition, because he is devoted to certain destruction, and is the instrument to destroy many others, both in soul and body.

As God was in the temple of old, and worshipped there, and is in and with his church now; so the antichrist here mentioned, is a usurper of God's authority in the Christian church, who claims Divine honours. Barnes' Notes on the Bible That ye be not soon shaken in mind - The word here used signifies, properly, to be moved as a wave of the sea, or to be tossed upon the waves, as a vessel is. Then it means to be shaken in any way; see Matthew The reference here is to the agitation or alarm felt from the belief that the day of judgment would soon occur. It is uniformly said in the Scriptures, that the approach of the Lord Jesus to judge the world, will produce a great consternation and alarm.

Of the truth of this, there can be no doubt. We may imagine something of the effects which will be produced by the alarm caused in a community when a belief prevails that the day of judgment is near. In a single year 17 persons were admitted to the Lunatic Asylum in Worcester, Mass. It is easy to account for such facts, and no doubt, when the Lord Jesus shall actually come, the effect on the guilty world will be overwhelming.

The apostle here says, also, that those who were Christians were "shaken in mind and troubled" by this anticipation. There are, doubtless, many true Christians who would be alarmed at such an event, as there are many who, like Hezekiah Isaiah Many real Christians might, on the sudden occurrence of such an event, feel that they were not prepared, and be alarmed at the prospect of passing through the great trial which is to determine their everlasting destiny.

It is no certain evidence of a want of piety to be alarmed at the approach of death. Our nature dreads death, and though there may be a well-founded hope of heaven, it will not always preserve a delicate physical frame from trembling when it comes.

Or be troubled - That is, disturbed, or terrified. It would seem that this belief had produced much consternation among them. Neither by spirit - By any pretended spirit of prophecy. But whether this refers to the predictions of those who were false prophets in Thessalonica, or to something which it was alleged the apostle Paul had himself said there, and which was construed as meaning that the time was near, is not certain. This depends much on the question whether the phrase "as from us," refers only to the letters which had been sent to them, or also to the "word" and to the "spirit," here spoken of; see Oldshausen on the place.

It would seem, from the connection, that all their consternation had been caused by some misconstruction which had been put on the sentiments of Paul himself, for if there had been any other source of alarm, he would naturally have referred to it. It is probable, therefore, that allusion is made to some representation which had been given of what he had said under the influence of the Holy Spirit, and that the expectation that the end of the world was near, was supposed to be a doctrine of inspiration.

Whether, however, the Thessalonians themselves put this construction on what he said, or whether those who had caused the alarm represented him as teaching this, cannot be determined. Nor by word - That is, by public instruction, or in preaching. It is evident that when the apostle was among them, this subject, from such causes, was prominent in his discourses; see 2 Thessalonians 2: It had been inferred, it seems, from what he said, that he meant to teach that the end of the world was near.

Nor by letter - Either the one which he had before written to them - the First Epistle to the Thessalonians - or one which had been forged in his name. It has been made a question, whether the apostle refers here to the former epistle which he had sent to them, or to a forged letter; and on this question critics have been about equally divided. The reasons for the former opinion may be seen in Paley's Herin Paulinae, in loc. The question is not very important, and perhaps cannot be easily settled.

There are two or three circumstances, however, which seem to make it probable that he refers to an epistle which had been forged, and which had been pretended to be received from him. This is such an expression as would have been employed if the reference were to such a forged letter. Nothing would be more natural for an impostor who wished to acquire influence, than to do this; and that it was often done is well known.

That epistles were forged under the names of the apostles, appears very probable, as Benson has remarked, from chap.

There are, indeed, none of those forged epistles extant which were composed in the time of the apostles, but there is extant an epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, besides the two which we have; another to the Laodiceans, and six of Paul's epistles to Seneca - all of which are undoubted forgeries; see Benson in loc. If Paul, however, here refers to his former epistle, the reference is doubtless to 1 Thessalonians 4: We have, however, the authority of the apostle himself that he meant to teach no such thing. The phrase "at hand," means near.

Grotius supposes that it denotes that same year, and refers for proof to Romans 8:

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