In 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11, Paul had finished answering questions raised by some of the believers at Thessalonica and assured them all of the certainty of their eternal future through the salvation earned by our Lord Jesus Christ. Even the loved ones who had died in faith were taken care of, in Jesus.
In 1 Thess. 5:12-13, Paul asked those in the Thessalonian church to respect and esteem very highly their leaders. (Likely, Paul had Timothy make sure that they had such leadership when he had...
In 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11, Paul had finished answering questions raised by some of the believers at Thessalonica and assured them all of the certainty of their eternal future through the salvation earned by our Lord Jesus Christ. Even the loved ones who had died in faith were taken care of, in Jesus.
In 1 Thess. 5:12-13, Paul asked those in the Thessalonian church to respect and esteem very highly their leaders. (Likely, Paul had Timothy make sure that they had such leadership when he had visited them. See again 1 Thess. 3:1-2.) These leaders should be respected and loved, not because they were perfect, but because of their work among and over the congregation and their important responsibilities in teaching and sometimes admonishing the people in the will of the Lord, according to His Word. (See again the way Paul himself did such work in this letter in 2:11-12 and 4:1ff. and 4:9-12.)
In 1 Thess. 5:13-15, Paul also reminded the people that they, too, had ministry that they could do with and for each other within the church. Peter described this in 1 Peter 2:9-10, as what some call “the priesthood of all believers.” Pastors and teachers and others in leadership have unique callings, but every Christian has been called to faith in Jesus, “out of darkness into His marvelous light,” and has “received mercy” and forgiveness through Him. That means that every Christian can also “proclaim the excellencies” of the Lord and share His love with others.
That such love and mercy shared among members was also needed was clear from what Paul wrote next. “Be at peace among yourselves,” he wrote (1 Thess. 5:13). Evidently, the church was not always at peace; and no church is, because it is made up of forgiven sinners, who have ups and downs and struggles and need to encourage and be encouraged by one another. Note what Paul wrote, as he continued: “We urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the faint-hearted, help the weak, be patient with them all” (1 Thess. 5:14). The Greek word used for “the idle” literally means “the disorderly," those who are undisciplined and unruly and “get out of line” in some way or another. The word is a military word for those who can’t follow orders and can’t march properly. It may refer to people in the church who won’t work and take care of themselves. (We will hear more about that problem in 2 Thessalonians.) It can also refer to other kinds of disorder among people, though, for which people need to be called to account.
There are also in the church “faint-hearted” people who need encouragement. The word can be translated “small-souled” people - people who don’t have much courage in facing affliction from the Jewish synagogue leaders and others who are hostile to Christians. (How often do we still today back down, rather than stand up strongly for what we believe?) We all need encouragement, in those times.
There are also people in the church who are “weak” and need to be helped and supported in some way. This can refer to physical and emotional ills and other troubles, or to moral struggles, or to those who are powerless when confronted with seemingly impossible situations. (Who among us has not been “weak” in one or more of these ways, at times, too?) The verb for “helping” has the idea of “holding on to.” The author, Lenski, says that such people “are not be to let go and to be abandoned as persons who amount to little, but are to be held to and to be supported.
Paul ended this very challenging sentence with the words, “be patient with them all.” The word for “patience” can literally be translated as “long-suffering.” God is long-suffering toward us and our sins and weaknesses, and we have forgiveness through Jesus, as we come to Him in repentance and faith. Otherwise, none of us could survive and live. Knowing that, we are called to be patient with one another and especially with others in the church.
The church is a kind of hospital for sinners. (See the words of Jesus in Matthew 9:10-13. Think about how overwhelmed hospitals are right now, with the Covid situation. There are so many people in the church with problems, too. We as individuals cannot do something for everyone; but together, if we all pitch in, we can do something for many - to help and encourage.)
This “helping” can all be very challenging; and sometimes we are hurt by others, even within a church. Paul added a word of warning, “See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seeks to do good to one another and to everyone” (1 Thess. 5:15). It is so easy to want to retaliate when we are wronged; but in the church, forgiveness should rule, as we think of what Jesus has done for us. Proverbs 20:22 says, “Do not say, 'I will repay evil'; wait for the Lord, and he will deliver you.”
This same advice and encouragement are found in many other places and in other letters of Paul. As I have mentioned before, some think that 1 Thessalonians may have been the first letter (epistle) that Paul wrote to a church. Others think the first may have been the Letter to the Galatians. Regardless, what Paul says very concisely to the Thessalonians, we see in much more detail in, for example, Romans 12:14-21 and in Paul’s description of Christian love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.
How can such “patient” love and care grow in our churches? Paul went on to write, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thess. 5:16-18). Here again, Paul is very concise. We can look at other Scriptures that give us more help and direction. See Ephesians 5:20 and Philippians 4:4-13 and Romans 5:1-5, for example. The more we rejoice in God’s love and mercy for us, the more we talk things over with God in prayer and listen to His answers in Scripture, especially in Jesus, the more we can be thankful for all that we do have as God’s people, and can share that hopeful attitude from the Lord with others.
We cannot do any of this on our own, of course. Paul added, pointing us again to God and to the Scriptures, “Do not quench the Spirit, Do not despise prophecies; but test everything; hold to what is good. Abstain from every form of evil” (1 Thess. 5:19-22). God often showed His presence with smoke and fire in the Bible, in the wilderness wanderings and at Mt. Sinai and other places. God’s Holy Spirit also showed Himself at Pentecost with tongues of fire that rested on all the disciples; and they were able to speak the Word in other languages to people. Don’t quench that fire of the Spirit, the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. The Spirit works through the Word of God and gifts like baptism, where the Spirit comes through water and The Word. Use those gifts! See Acts 2:1-11 and 2:37-40 and John 3:1-6.
We also hear what we know is truly prophecy, what God wants to speak to us when we hear His Word, through the Scriptures. All of the Bible is God’s Word, and that Word is the means for testing anything else that claims to be a message from God. See 2 Timothy 3:14-17 and 2 Peter 1:16-21 and 1 John 4:1 and the way that the Bereans tested what Paul said by comparing it with Scripture in Acts 17:11, as they should have done. That is still the test for whatever we hear and read. Compare it with the Word of God. Then, as Paul said, “Hold fast to what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.”
This is the very high standard that God has for the church and for His people in the church, as Paul described it. Paul also knew that none of us lives up to this standard. We try, but none of us comes close to following God’s will as we should. That is why Paul gave the Thessalonians two more great promises from the Lord. The first, in 1 Thess. 5:23, is a prayer that “the God of peace” would bring us peace, through Jesus, and count us as blameless, forgiven and acceptable through what Jesus already did for us, until Jesus returns and declares us “not guilty” on that last day. See again 1 Thess. 1:9-10 and 3:12-13 and 5:9-11.
Paul added one more promise: “He Who calls you is faithful, and He will surely do it.” God will do what He has promised. See Old Testament passages such as Genesis 18:25 and Numbers 23:19. See also Philippians 1:6: “I am sure of this, that He Who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” See 2 Timothy 2:10,13, as well.
Paul knew that his own salvation depended not upon how perfectly he did things, but upon Jesus. He too needed prayer, so that he continued in faith and faithfully sought to do his work, in sharing the Gospel. So, he asked in 1 Thess. 5:26 for prayer for himself and his fellow workers. He also spoke of a greeting with a holy kiss, as an expression of Christian love and concern for others. See Romans 15:30, as another example of this. It would probably be the equivalent of a handshake or hug in our culture or the greeting of peace that some churches use in worship. In these Covid days, it might be a wave to someone from a bit of distance
Paul had one more serious request, which he asked the people to be sure to do in Thessalonica. This letter that Paul had written was to be read to all the people of the church. It was a Word from God, through Paul, and everyone should hear it and pay attention to it. The Jews had read Old Testament Scriptures in their synagogues and in the temple. Now the words of the New Testament were also to be read in the churches. That is what we still do, to this very day. God’s Word is vitally important for us all always.
Paul closed this letter with a blessing, as he did in his future letters. He wanted the people of the church to remember and be guided and blessed especially by “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ." It is only through His undeserved love and favor for us that we have salvation and hope. Hang onto these and similar promises of God in Christ as you close this letter. See also John 10:27-28 and 2 Timothy 4: 8, 18.
Next week, the Lord willing, we will move on to a study of 2 Thessalonians.
