2 Thessalonians 3

Notes

Ver. 1. Now, my dear brethren in Christ, let me entreat your most fervent prayers for me and my fellow-labourers in preaching the gospel, that we may be graciously directed, assisted, and owned of God, in our great and difficult work; and that the gospel of salvation, of which Christ is the author and principal subject, may be speedily and successively spread far and wide; and may, as with you, be honourably received, and produce glorious effects in the conversion, edification, and holy conversation of multitudes, wherever it is preached: 2. And that we may be kept or rescued out of the hands of unbelieving Jewish zealots and false brethren, who are so insolently perverse and absurd in their reasonings and prejudices, and maliciously wicked in their principles and practices—labouring everywhere to defame, vex, and cruelly persecute us; for many who pretend to religion, and even to Christianity, do not cordially embrace Jesus Christ in his gospel by a true faith, which works by love, and purifies their heart. 3. But let neither the falls of others, nor their violent opposition to you or your way, for the sake of the gospel, discourage you; for God, whose faithful promise ye have heartily embraced, will graciously fulfil whatever he hath spoken, in confirming, establishing, and strengthening you in the doctrine and grace of faith, and in your profession of it, and practice of godliness according to it; and will preserve you from the ruinous influences of sin, Satan, and the world. 4. And as your preservation must be in the way of holy obedience, we firmly and joyfully trust in the Lord Jesus, that, through union to and gracious influences from him, ye shall, as heretofore, be enabled to persevere in an exact observance of all those commandments which we have delivered to you in his name and authority. 5. And in this hope we earnestly pray that the Holy Ghost would, by his grace, light, and influence, rectify every irregular motion of your hearts, and really direct and carry them into a clear and experimental acquaintance with the love of God to you, and into the most lively exercises of love to him, under a sense of his having first loved you; and into a patient continuance in well-doing, under all manner of trouble and persecution for Christ's sake, and a patient waiting for his great coming, to put an end to your trials, and make you a rich and everlasting, but gracious amends. 6. But, as we understand, some of your society, notwithstanding our former admonitions, continue to be idle and busy-bodies, by virtue of our commission from Christ, we do, in his name and authority, charge you to remove from your holy communion, and avoid all unnecessary familiarity with, every member of your church who thus obstinately perseveres in a course so injurious to public and family peace, dishonourable to the Christian character, and contrary to the rules of the gospel. 7. For ye know how ye ought to persist in following the holy, just, active, and unblamable pattern which we carefully set before you when among you; 8. Labouring to our utmost in preaching the gospel, and in working at our trades for our necessary subsistence, that we might give to no one the smallest occasion to pretend we were burdensome: 9. Not because we had not a divine right to a proper maintenance, as apostles and ministers of Christ, but that we might prevent every prejudice against us, and propagate the gospel more successfully, and that we might set you a good example, and excite you to industry in your respective callings, 10. For having observed some appearances of an indolent temper among you, we, when with you, strictly commanded, that if any of your members should, through wilful indolence, reduce himself and family to straits, he should not be allowed any maintenance out of the public charity of the church, which ought only to be applied for the relief of such as through sickness, old age, or the like, are not able to work for themselves. 11. And we still insist on this, as we are credibly informed that there are some of you who, in contradiction to our express injunctions, the general rule of Christianity, the express requirements of the moral law, and the order of the creation, and of all regular societies, indulge themselves in idleness, sauntering about, and curiously prying, and officiously thrusting themselves into other people's business, to the disturbance of neighbours, and creating of jealousies, misunderstandings, and quarrels among friends. 12. Such as are of this slothful and pernicious temper, we again solemnly charge, by the authority of God, and earnestly entreat, by the endearing love of Jesus Christ, and as they would avoid his fearful displeasure, and honour their profession of his name, that, with a quiet, meek, and peaceable frame of spirit, they would apply themselves diligently to the work of their stations, that, by the blessing of God, they may honestly provide for themselves and their families. 13. And we beseech such of you as attach yourselves to your proper work, unweariedly to persevere in the diligent discharge of the civil and religious duties of your respective stations, and particularly in liberality to the industrious poor among you. 14. And if, notwithstanding our present and former admonitions, any persist in their idleness, or other disorderly courses, let your church set a brand of infamy on them, turning them from her fellowship; and let every particular member abstain from all unnecessary converse with them, that, being put to shame, they may, through the influences of God's Spirit, be made to reflect on, and repent of, loathe, and abhor their sin. 15. But never treat them with austerity or roughness, as if ye aimed at their temporal or spiritual ruin, nor immediately look on them as implacable and incorrigible enemies to Christ and the gospel; but, in all your reproofs, censures, and admonitions, deal tenderly and affectionately with them, as brethren, in hopes that, by your diligent and repeated attempts, they may be reclaimed and restored to their former place in the church. 16. Now may the Lord Jesus Christ, the author, fountain, and bestower of all manner of peace and prosperity, by all the means of his own appointment, continually and abundantly confer it upon you, in your personal and relative capacities; and may he himself afford all and every one of you his special presence in the way of providence and grace, to protect, guide, assist, comfort, and perfect all that concerns you. 17, 18. Marking therefore my kindest wishes to you in my own hand-writing, as I do in all my letters, as a token of their being genuine, I earnestly pray and hope that the full love and favour of our Lord Jesus Christ, inclusive of all its manifestations, fruits, and effects, may continually abound to all and every one of you, from this time henceforth and for ever.

Ver. 2. Faith here evidently signifies faithfulness to resolutions, promises, and obligations, as appears from comparing this with the following verse, where the Lord is distinguished as 'faithful.' C.

Ver. 6. Disorderly, A military allusion signifying out of rank, out of union with the general movement, and without or contrary to the word of command. C.

Ver. 17. The apostle, either from tremor of the hand, inexpertness in the Greek characters, or perhaps because he worked and dictated at the same time, usually employed an amanuensis, but affixed his own signature to prevent imposition. C.

Reflections.—There is need of much fervent prayer for the success of the gospel, and for the preservation and assistance of faithful ministers, that their labours may not be obstructed by the craft or violence of wicked men. And it is an inconceivable mercy to have God's promise and care for securing our endurance and comfort in an evil day. Thrice happy are they whom the Holy Ghost directs into the love of God, and into a patient waiting for Christ's great coming; and whose hearts truly accept the faith, holiness, and hope of the gospel.—It is necessary, for the honour and safety of the church, that scandalous professors be prudently and carefully censured and withdrawn from; but true kindness, not harshness, must be used to bring them to repentance. The industrious, but helpless poor, should be relieved with cheerfulness, according to their wants; but idle and disorderly persons ought to receive, not liberality, but correction, from both church and state.—It is a great mercy to have exemplary ministers, persevering and lively Christians, but especially to have a gracious Redeemer present in the church.

Concluding Remarks on the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians.

This epistle naturally suggests the necessity of caution and careful examination when some new and striking doctrine is propounded; especially when such a doctrine rests upon some isolated portions of Scripture. The prophetic utterance in the Gospel by Matthew (ch. 24. 30, 34), conjoined with that of Paul (1 Th. 4. 15, 17), seems, when superficially examined, to indicate the speedy, the almost immediate, coming of the Lord to judgment. By superficial examination is meant, an examination of the passages by themselves, without the light to be derived from 'comparing spiritual with spiritual,' scripture with scripture. Such comparison, humbly and prayerfully conducted—as all scriptural examination specially requires—would have enabled the Thessalonians to discover that, while the Lord, as judge, is ever at hand, the precise time of his coming is utterly unknown (Mat. 24. 36, 42), and that a long series of events, most precisely foretold, must be realized before the day of his final coming to the judgment of the quick and the dead. The Thessalonians, in thus hasting to a conclusion apparently warranted by some few passages of Scripture which they had not paused to compare with others, exhibited, however, nothing but what is common in the history of all ages of the church. Hence have arisen errors and heresies upon the one side; and, to escape them, the letheal sleep of infallibility, on the other. But God, who always brings good out of evil, light out of darkness, and order out of confusion, has overruled this propensity in the case of the Thessalonians, and drawn from the apostle this second epistle, in which their error is corrected, and a salutary warning against precipitate judgments furnished to all future ages of the church. C.