New Testament Study Guides - ElectronicGospel

THEMES
Persecution is on the apostle’s mind as he writes these letters to the
young church in Thessalonica.
He applauds them for standing fast in their faith despite the fact they he
had to leave so suddenly and his opponents remained behind in the city to
trouble the saints from a base in the synagogue. He uses his own integrity
and perseverance in the midst of ongoing persecution as an example they
can follow. Throughout the epistles, Paul takes a fatherly tone in consoling
God’s children and encouraging them to grow spiritually.
Because of the gross immorality throughout the Greek and Roman
worlds, Paul finds it necessary to discuss with them the matter of personal
holiness, especially as it touched on sexual morality. Every age of men has
been charged with sexual perversion and although it seems the twenty-first
century is the nadir of human behavior, thus it has always been. And so the
fact that sexual purity is a vital sign of sanctification must never be
overlooked or diminished.
Beyond sexual morality, Paul adds the virtue of minding one’s own
business and avoiding the sin of gossip. Because some of the Christians had
taken to idly awaiting Jesus, they had plenty of time for being busybodies
and few things are as destructive to communities. The fifth chapter of the
first letter contains a series of rapid fire exhortations about other matters of
personal behavior.
The doctrinal source of their discomfort was the return of Christ.
Perhaps they had been so excited about the coming glory that they assumed
it was imminent, but obviously it was not, because we are also waiting
nearly 2000 years later. Paul reasons that a great, widespread apostasy must
first occur, accompanying some son of perdition who would oppose God
and elevate himself to a position of worship.
The second coming, though, was to be a comfort since both the living
and the dead would be reunited with Christ for eternity. A stark picture of
the sad realities of Judgment Day for the wicked is found in the first chapter
of the second letter, making it awfully hard to remain complacent or
ignorant of God’s will.
Paul also touches on the seriousness of becoming idle and falling into
gossip because one is doing nothing but waiting on the Lord to return. The
apostle urges the church to warn such brethren, stop supporting them, and
even withdraw from them if they refused to repent. For a group so
apparently bent on having fellowship with Christ, such action would surely
get their attention. One wonders how much better each nation today would
be if it were true that the able-bodied would either work or not eat. Churches
must continue also to be careful not to support sinful habits by treating
addicts and lazy people like victims and objects of ongoing charity.