Journal – July 18, 2021
Revelation 2:18-19
18 And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass; 19 I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first.
2 THESSALONIANS 3:13-18
OBEDIENCE AND BENEDICTION
But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good. 14 And if anyone does not obey our word in this [epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed. 15 Yet do not count him as an enemy but admonish him as a brother. 16 Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with you all. 17 The salutation of Paul with my own hand, which is a sign in every [j]epistle; so I write.18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
Vs. 13 But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary in doing good.You brethren, be not dispirited in well doing, Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart (Galatians 6:9.) We have the meaning of our verse when the Holy Spirit gave us the Galatians. When Paul addresses those, who have not quit working and are waiting for the Lord’s Second Coming, You brethren, on the other hand who have maintained the true course, unaffected by these examples of pernicious and fanatical idleness; “brethren,” the sound portion of the church, who obeyed the, and followed the example of the apostle. The Greek, kalopoilito, ‘doing good’ has a restricted meaning that is suggested by the context=withdraw yourselves from them and reprove them, do not, however suffer them to perish with hunger—the well doing being confined in this case to almsgiving or charitable giving. The meaning is while they had seen the examples of kindness abused on the part of the slothful, their hearts were not to be shut on cases deserving of pity and support. A case was to be made between a lazy person and the really poor. The meaning is to do well to the loose and dishonorable lives of the persons reprobated in the precious verses. They were not to weary in acting fairly and honorable on all occasions in doing all that was right and good in the spheres of life and duty, more especially in whatever these previous warnings and charges implied and there was more need of consistent perseverance, as others had defected from the honest and blameless course.
Vs.14 And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed. Theologians have disputed about this verse, should it be joined to what precedes or what comes after it. In other words is this only applicable to second Thessalonians or is first Thessalonians involved? The Greek epistole translates to epistle and means a message, the Greek gramma translates to letter. Paul never uses the gramma in his epistles. A broad line is drawn between a letter and an epistle. A letter is written in consequence of some circumstance which requires to be dealt with promptly. An epistle addresses all and sundry whom it may concern; it is like a speech that looks forwards to publication. The apostle is telling the Thessalonians that if anyone ignores what he has written in his epistle to put a mental mark (KJV) on that one and avoid them. The NKJV tells us to take note of that person and stay away from them, it can be done so obviously that the person is put to shame. The avoiding of the person that is in error means all brotherly conversation is terminated unless or untill he becomes ashamed and repents or turns back to God,
Vs.15 Yet do not count him as an enemy but admonish him as a brother. The person ignored is not an enemy that we are to fight, if done properly the one doing the admonishing probably hurts more than the individual that is admonished until God the Holy Spirit makes him aware that he is the square peg trying to fit into a round hole. He became inconsistent; a false impression of the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ had led him sadly astray; he is guilty of neglecting secular duties and fallen into perilous habits of indolent dissipation of time. Remember the purpose of your dealings with him is not to run him off but to win him back.
Vs. 16 Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with you all. The apostle wants peace from the LORD for all the Thessalonians and the error that infiltrated the assembly regarding the Second Coming eliminated. Look at what Paul writes: The Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with you all. The apostle wants the Thessalonian Church to be his crowning work when he stands before the Lord Jesus Christ at the last judgment. Those that have been carried off regarding the false impression of the Second Coming are not to be regarded as an enemy. Those that still hold to their false views, have been led astray and are neglecting secular duties and have fallen into perilous habits of being apathetic in their use of time that God had given them; but they are still to be regarded as brother or sister in the Lord. They live in perilous times, it would be so easy to join in the immorality, of heathen neighbors or lapse into a heathen creed. Remember that in all this the purpose is to bring him/her back into fellowship.
Vs. 17 The salutation of Paul with my own hand, which is a sign in every epistle; so, I write. Up till this verse the epistle had been dictated by Paul and written by an amanuensis but verses 17 and 18 are autographic and are meant to authenticate that this portion of this epistle is his own composition. In this way Paul qualifies what he had mentioned in Second Thessalonians 2:2 regarding a forgery that may have caused the problems mentioned there. This salutation and the benediction that follows are in Paul’s own handwriting, (which is a sign in every epistle; so, I write) meaning to the church in Thessalonica. However, we do find he used this practice when writing to other churches. It was not what the apostle wrote, but his handwriting that authenticated the epistle. The objections which came from this statement about the apostle’s handwriting writing in every epistle are restricted to much when they suppose the meaning to be in every epistle which he might purpose to write. The objection is that the authentication is not found in all the epistles written after Second Thessalonians. It is found, however, in all that seem to require it. It is not found in First Thessalonians for circumstances had not yet occurred to necessitate it, but it is found in Colossians, and the first epistle to the Corinthians. The circumstances in which the other epistles were written makes such authentication unnecessary. In the epistle to the Romans, the last three or four verses were probably autographic: the epistle to the Galatians was, probably written wholly with Paul’s own hand contrary to normal practice; the second epistle to the Corinthians was sent by Titus, and the greeting and benediction may have been autographic; the epistle to the Ephesians was sent by Tychicus, who could vouch for it., but the apostle may have written the last verse; that which was carried to the Philippians was carried by Epaphroditus, though the apostle again without saying it added the last verse; the epistle to Philemon was apparently a holograph (a manuscript handwritten by the person named as its author), so in all likelihood they were sent by Timothy and Titus. It was not what the apostle wrote that, but his handwriting that proved the genuineness of the epistle, and his handwriting being so different from that of the copyist, he did not need to formally call attention to it.
Vs. 18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. The concluding benediction is the same as that of the first epistle (see under First Thessalonians v, 28), with the exception of pas (means: every kind or variety, without the article here, it is not a word of course, but showing that those were not excluded who had incurred his rebuke.) His full heart includes in his parting blessing the entire church without exception, and the epistle, like the first one would be read unto all the holy brethren. Amen, so be it.
Younger Catechism Question 106
Q: What does baptism represent?
A: Union with Jesus Christ.
Romans 6:3
3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?