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Commentary on "Friends Forever (1 Thess. 2:13-3:13)"

PHIL HARRIS

 

Day 1: Sabbath Afternoon, August 4, 2012 - Introduction

 

Overview

The theme for this week is one where Paul is speaking of a relationship that is eternal, now, ongoing and forever. It is not something that might have a beginning at a later date. He is writing to fellow saints who have accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ and whose sins have been washed away by the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ. They are fellow heirs in the Kingdom of God whose dead human spirits have been brought to life by his promised gift of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit which is the seal of their salvation.

Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. (1 Thess. 3:11-13 ESV)

One of the commentary goals this week is to establish is that we can know now that we have eternal security in the shed blood of Jesus Christ at Calvary which covers all the sins of those who place their faith in what our Savior did for us at Calvary. As Christians we are a ‘new creation’ and it is the Lord’s will that we grow in sanctification yet our works, whether they be good or bad, are unrelated to our eternal security in our relationship to our Savior.

 

Observations

The lesson focuses on verse thirteen in the above passage. By including the previous two verses we arrive at a better understanding of Paul’s message.

Keep in mind Paul is speaking to; “brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you”, 1 Thess. 1:4 ESV. They are who they are because God has chosen them. And, in the above passage we see that it is God who makes them to ‘increase and abound in love for one another and for all’.

By referring to those in the Thessalonian church as ‘brothers’ Paul is saying something far more powerful than having a mere earthly social or natural family relationship. Of course these things are important and true but he is speaking to something much deeper and infinitely more significant. All, including present day saints, eagerly anticipate the return of their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. What Paul writes are words of encouragement for all saints.

On the topic of our eternal security and salvation let’s take time to look at this part of Scripture:

A couple of verses that are taken out of context by Adventist theology are 1 Cor. 3:16 & 17 in support of their ‘health message’ without noting that Paul has a totally different message which has nothing to do with what you eat, drink or do with your physical body. If you study and understand the chapter as a whole you will realize that Paul is referring to the ‘jealousy and strife’ that causes them to take their eyes off of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who is the author of their salvation. Doing this is what pollutes the ‘body of Christ, the Church’. The ‘body’ Paul says is being polluted is the local church as a whole, not just the individual members of that church.

In this chapter we have this portion that makes direct reference concerning the security of a Christian’s salvation:

According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. (1 Cor. 3:10-15 ESV)

Note well that the issue of their eternal security and salvation is not at stake when writing either of these churches, Corinth or Thessalonica. In both cases however, Paul focuses on important issues and encourages them in their spiritual growth, their sanctification.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Eph. 2:10 ESV)

Yes, we have been created to do ‘good works’, that is, to grow in sanctification. However, a person becomes a new creation when the blood of Jesus Christ covers his/her sins and is indwelt by the Holy Spirit bringing his/her human dead spirit to life. Christians are totally a workmanship of Jesus Christ.

 

Summary

  1. When Paul calls someone a brother or saint in any of his epistles he is speaking of them as having something far deeper than a social or natural family relationship with him. He is directly alluding to each and every true Christian as having their dead human spirit brought to life by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. As members of the Body of Christ, the true universal church, our spiritual brothers and sisters become even closer to us than our natural family because we have an eternal relationship with them.
     
  2. While Paul is certainly alluding to being ‘forever friends’ with the individual members of the Thessalonian church and has a great godly love for them this really isn’t the concern he has for them. He is encouraging them on issues that affect their growing sanctification in a positive way.
     
  3. The sanctification, the works that he is encouraging them in is really a work or God in each of their lives. In-other-words, he is encouraging them (and us also) to be steadfastly controlled by the direction of God’s Holy Spirit in their lives on the premise that this is true freedom…freedom from the power of sin.
     
  4. The title for this week is an excellent one. However, to speak of being ‘forever friends’ implies that you know you are eternally secure in the Kingdom of God and you are assured that your spiritual brothers and sisters have the same true relationship with the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
     
  5. The phrase in the theme passage “blameless in holiness before our God and Father” applies to not just the eagerly expected return of our Savior but to every moment and day in the life of Christians in the sanctification of our lives. This is not about some mythical moment of personally reaching self-achieved perfect living in a sin filled world but all about a person’s daily walk within the embrace of the Savior’s own imputed righteousness.

 

GO TO DAY 2

 

Copyright 2012 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised August 4, 2012. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Camp Verde, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.

The Sabbath School Bible Study Guide and the corresponding E.G. White Notes are published by Pacific Press Publishing Association, which is owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist church. The current quarter's editions are pictured above.

 

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