Read with Me
2 Thessalonians 1:1-2 (HCSB)
Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy:
To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Listen with Me
Paul’s first letter to Thessalonica had been sent and received, and the believers there had responded with thanksgiving, as well as with some concerns and questions. Paul answers all of them in this second letter.
Paul identifies this letter as coming from the three key evangelists that the Thessalonians knew well: Paul himself, Timothy, and Silas, identified here by his full Roman name, Silvanus. This letter is addressed to the Church of the Thessalonians. The Greek word translated “Church” is ecclesia, which literally means “called out ones”. From the first time Jesus himself used that term for the people of the kingdom (Matthew 16:18), the term identified the followers of Jesus as those who have responded to God’s call to come out of the world system in order to live in His economy, as His set-apart people.
As Paul evangelized and taught, he made sure that the people who came into the kingdom of God through faith in Jesus understood that they were leaving behind their old lives and old allegiances and were now to live as inhabitants of God’s kingdom. Everything was different in them, they were new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17), and they were now to live out that new reality every day. And this teaching was reemphasized every time Paul referred to them as “the Church”.
Some might wonder why Paul blesses the Thessalonians with grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, but not from the Holy Spirit as well. Unlike today, when we put most of our emphasis on Jesus living in a Christian’s heart, the New Testament Church taught that in the post-Pentecost reality, it was the Holy Spirit that lived in the hearts of believers. The Holy Spirit constantly communicated the presence of both the Father and the Son into the lives of Christians, but in their lives and experience, it was the Holy Spirit who lived in them, who purified their hearts continually, and with whom they were most familiar. So, in greeting the believers in the name of the Father and of the Son, Paul is not ignoring the Holy Spirit. He was simply working in the understanding that the Holy Spirit was not distant or separated from the believers, but that He was a constant in their lives.
Pray with Me
Father, we really have grown away from the two great truths You have pointed out here. These days, very few Christians, at least in America, seem to understand that we have been called out, called to live outside the world’s system. Instead, far too many of us try to live out our faith in the midst of being enmeshed in the systems and thought patterns of this world. And, of course, when we do that, we find ourselves failing more often than winning. And we have moved into a place where we no longer understand that the Holy Spirit lives constantly in us, guiding us, empowering us, and communicating to us Your presence and presence of Jesus. Instead, the Holy Spirit is now seen more like He was in the Old Testament, as a distant, mysterious force that sometimes “comes on” a person, giving them power to do amazing things, and sometimes just causing them to act in strange ways. With these two key worldviews so different, it’s no wonder that we look so different and operate so differently than the early Church! Lord, help us to adjust our worldview in these vital areas, so that we can more effectively be Your people, and so that we can more effectively do the work You have given us to do until Jesus comes. Amen.