Category: Mining the Scriptures

With a final benediction, Paul brought to a close this second letter to the church in Thessalonica. These last words were written by Paul personally. While it seems that he dictated most of his letters,  (cf. Romans 16:22), he typically sent his salutation with his own handwriting. “See with what large letters I have written to you with my own hand!” (Galatians 6:11). Perhaps Paul had bad eyesight, or some other condition that made it hard for him to write.

The words themselves are beautiful and significant. They declared clearly Paul’s love for his brethren. He asked God’s blessing upon the Thessalonians, that God grant them peace, and be with them. The phrase “be with you all” is not merely a closing. Paul desired they be granted and maintain a close relationship with the Lord.

He finished his letter with a request that Jesus Christ’s grace or favor be upon them. The ultimate expression of this is salvation.

Paul continued his thought from the previous chapter, noting their absence from Thessalonica. So he sent Timothy to them to “establish you and encourage you concerning your faith” (2).

The encouragement was needed because of their suffering. The Thessalonian Christians were being persecuted because of their faith.  Notice the words used by Paul in these verses: afflictions, tribulation, tempt [-ation]. A lesson for us today: if we serve the Lord we too will suffer. What was true for them can happen to any of us at any time. “For, in fact, we told you before when we were with you that we would suffer tribulation, just as it happened, and you know” (4).

Paul was concerned about their faith. Understand, the devil (our tempter) is diligent in his efforts to thwart our faith and cause us to fail the Lord (cf. 1 Peter 5:8). So Paul’s motivation as he lived his life for Christ was to save himself, and as many others as he could. It made him a very effective ambassador for Christ!

Paul here sets forth a classic if/then exhortation. The first half, “If then you were raised with Christ” (1). This refers to our redemption. Christ was raised from the dead and ascended to heaven. When we submit to God, in baptism we are in the same way raised to “walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).

This newness of life is described here by Paul.  We are to “seek” and “set your [our] minds” on “things which are above” rather than “things on the earth” (1-2). We have been sanctified by God, and our lives should reflect the holiness to which we are called.

Redemption is described by Jesus as being “born again.” (John 3).  We are born again, as we have “died to sin” (Romans 6:10). Now we are “alive to God in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:11), or as stated in our text our “life is hidden with Christ in God” (3).

The end of redemption is reward. God has promised this reward to all who have been born again.  When Christ comes again, “you also will appear with Him in glory” (4). (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:49).

Philippians 2 reveals Jesus as our exalted example. He determined to do His Father’s will even to the point of death. This is the basis for these words, to obey Him.  Paul’s words, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (12).

Points to be made from this text:  Our obedience is to be continuous whether before others or not. Our obedience is necessary to be saved. We consider who God is both in person and position, and we respond with respect and awe. Our purpose in existing as Christians is to do His will, not our own (cf. Ephesians 2:10; Galatians 2:20. Our obedience to God can not be grudging and please Him.  We must obey Him because we love Him, not merely out of self preservation. The world is evil and corrupt, our life should be different as we show rather than just tell of holiness and sanctification.

Such steadfastness in obedience is for our own good.  It proves that our profession of faith is not in vain!

Paul’s great teaching on man’s redemption is encapsulated in these few verses. They are plain, though often misunderstood by the biases and twisted theologies of men.  What is affirmed?:

We have been saved by the grace of God. This is God’s love expressed by a freely given gift of salvation. The sin of man brought death upon him, and only God’s mercy can lift that burden.  His justice demanded a sacrifice and God supplied His Son.  This is a fact to which we all give assent.

Salvation is not universal.  It is granted only to those who exhibit faith in Jesus. He is the sole Messiah.  He is God’s chosen, we must not look to another.

With these two truths in hand, we know that we can’t earn our salvation. No one can boast about his standing with God because it comes despite, not because of what we have done.

God has created us to obey.  To do His good works, works that God has determined beforehand we “should walk in them” (10).

The question Paul asks here regards God’s supply or provision of  miraculous gifts to Christians.  Also under consideration were the miracles themselves (as we know confirming the word, and culminating with the resurrection of Christ Himself) cf. Hebrews 2:3-4).

Did God do this under the law of Moses? Or under the New Covenant of Christ? It was by the “hearing of faith” in Jesus Christ, which included salvation both to the Jews and to the Gentiles.

The conclusion is one that Paul argued continually in many places. It is interesting here he uses the miracles that had occurred and continued in the time of the Galatian Christians to make his point. “So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham” (9).

His question to the Galatians is one we must ask ourselves. Why were they returning to the law of Moses, when salvation was through faith in Christ? And, why do so many do the same today!

Here Paul expresses his confidence in his standing with God. It is because of what his life demonstrated, just as with the Corinthians he mentioned in the previous verses (1-3).

This was not a claim of self-sufficiency. He knew that he alone was incapable of acceptably serving the Lord.  He was a creature who relied upon God’s grace, as do we all.  As such he wrote that he did not “think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God” (5).

His sufficiency was given to Him by God. His sufficiency was as a minister of the New Covenant. In parallel, the New Covenant is sufficient. There is a significance in his comparing the “letter” to the “Spirit.” The letter kills (here referring to the Old Law). The Spirit gives life. Paul’s continued battle was to deliver the redemptive work of Christ into the lives of those who needed life, but had not found it. It is not in the Old Covenant.  It was solely through Christ and His work. “The Spirit gives life” (3:6).

Paul had in verse 4 admitted that he did not speak with human wisdom. This is one reason the efforts of Christians are disregarded by many in the world. The preaching of the gospel flies in the face of that for which the world stands.

However, Paul did have wisdom. “We speak wisdom among those who are mature” (6). This wisdom came from God rather than men. What Paul had to offer in his preaching was had been a mystery throughout the history of man, but had finally been revealed in the efforts of those days. When the “fulness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son” (Galatians 4:4).

“Rulers of this age” seems here to refer to the actual Roman and Jewish leaders who had crucified Jesus. “For had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (8).

The gospel of Jesus Christ, first proclaimed by Him, and then attested to by Paul and the other apostles and prophets (cf. Hebrews 2:3) is God’s wisdom offered to man.  May we all believe!

After a lengthy denunciation of the sins of the Gentiles in chapter 1, the apostle Paul spoke plainly to his countrymen.  While the Jews would quickly condemn such sexual immorality and idolatry in the lives of Gentile nations, the fact was the same types of immorality and idolatry had stained their own existence as a people.

It is the height of hypocrisy to condemn egregious sin in others when one is guilty of practicing the same evil. God judged the sin of the Gentiles in their rejection of Him. They “no longer retained God in their knowledge” (1:28), and as such were “deserving of death” (1:32).

Now consider the sobering nature of Paul’s question to the Jew, “And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God?” (2:3).

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge you will be judged…” (Matthew 7:1-2a).

Most of Acts chapter 2 contains Peter’s gospel sermon. It was at this time God kept His promise to establish the Messianic kingdom, and was the first time the declaration of the ratified gospel of Jesus was preached.

As such it is a significant event and significant message. In examining the first part of the lesson, we note first of all the gospel is proclaimed to be heeded by men (cf. Romans 1:16; 10:17). While some were wrongly thinking that these men who were preaching in tongues were drunk (cf. vs. 13), Peter revealed what was actually in play.

Their baptism in the Holy Spirit and the signs accompanying this event was prophesied in the Old Testament, and Peter brings their minds to this passage (cf. Joel 2). Not only was this a sign that the apostle’s words were to be obeyed, but it also was an indication that God’s ultimate blessing to all men had come. “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (vs. 21).

One interesting aspect of our text is Jesus’ description of Nathanael’s character. “Behold, an Israelite indeed in whom is no deceit” (47).

We can see such genuineness in Nathanael’s acceptance of Jesus’ ability to know the unknowable. Philip had brought Nathanael to see Jesus, and Nathanael was initially skeptical.  His words in verse 46 should not be considered derision, but an honest observation of troubles in the city of Nazareth at that time.

However, when Jesus was able to identify Nathanael without having met him personally, Nathanael proclaimed, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” (49).

Note that Jesus was a bit dismissive of the Divine power He had demonstrated. Not that it was invalid, or that Nathanael was too credulous, but rather as he told the man, “You will see greater things than these” (50). Every sign that Jesus needed to supply proof of His divine nature has been supplied! Praise God!

Can you imagine the moment when Zacharias’ began to prophecy? He had been mute since expressing doubt of God’s promise to bless him and Elizabeth with a child (20). Now, with the child named, God loosed his tongue giving him the ability to praise God for His blessings! (cf. 64).

The prophecy itself came after hundreds of years of silence, as Zacharias was “filled with the Holy Spirit” (67). It contained praise to God, a reminder of God’s blessings upon Israel, and an identification of John’s coming work. “And you child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways” (76). These words indicated that in John the Baptist God had fulfilled His promise given to Israel in Malachi 4:5, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.” This indeed came true, as John “grew and became strong in spirit” (80) and fulfilled his purpose as the herald of the coming Christ.

Here Jesus showed his compassion to a man stricken with leprosy. Touching the unclean man, and healing him of the disease. Leprosy was and is a horrific disease, and was without a cure in Bible times. While it was often not fatal, it was contagious, progressive, and caused deformation and degeneration of the tissues of the body.

In our time, it can be treated, as it is caused by bacteria. Doctors can administer a concoction of drugs to kill the bacteria.

The contagious nature of the disease as well as the horrific symptoms is why lepers were shunned from society. And why leprosy was determined to be an uncleanness in the law of Moses (cf. Leviticus  14).

This leper could not contain his joy despite being instructed by Jesus to tell no one of the healing. It is intimated that the reason for Jesus’ desire for secrecy was that knowledge of the miracle would impede His work. This is, in fact, exactly what happened.

John the Baptist, the son of Martha and Zacharias and cousin of Jesus, was born to his mother in her old age and heralded by his father (inspired with the Holy Spirit) as “the prophet of the Highest, for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, to give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins” (Luke 1:76-77).

This ministry of John is described by Matthew here. He preached repentance as he proclaimed the coming of the Christ. He prepared “the way of the Lord.”

John was described as an austere man here and elsewhere. As he appeared on the scene from the wilderness, his clothing was rough, and his food was simple “locusts and wild honey.” He was a successful preacher, capturing the hearts of the common people in Judea. His call to repent, and to be baptized for the remission of sins in preparation for the Messiah, was heard in “Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan.”

The second church Jesus wrote to was the church in Smyrna. The church is known as the persecuted church. This congregation was oppressed. As they sought to be faithful at this time, they were beset by tribulation (cf. James 1:24) and economic oppression. Even so they were rich spiritually!

Jesus comforted them. That comfort was not a promise to deliver them out of trials, but rather a promise to give them an eternal reward because of their faithfulness. “Be faithful until death, and I will give you a crown of life” (10). This end of the Christian’s sojourn on earth is our reason for hope. It is the reason we can live our lives in the midst of our enemies without fear! “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31) (cf. Matthew 10:28).

Here is our promise, made by the Lord to the church in Smyrna at the end of the first century, “He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death” (11)!