1: Paul and Silvanus and Timotheos
to the church of the Thessalonians which is in God Father and Lord Jesus Christ
Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and Lord Jesus Christ 2: Giving
thanks to God always for you all making mention of you in our prayers 3:
Remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and endurance
of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in sight of God and our Father 4:
Knowing brethren beloved your election[1] of
God 5: For our gospel came not to you in word only but also in power and
in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance as you know what manner of men we were
among you for your sakes 6: And you became followers of us and of the
Lord having received the word in (through) much affliction with joy
of the Holy Ghost 7: So that you were examples to all that believe in
Macedonia and Achaia 8: For from you sounded out the Word of the Lord
not only in Macedonia and Achaia but also in every place your faith to God-ward
is spread abroad so that we need not to speak any thing 9: For they
themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you and how you
turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God 10: And to
wait for his Son from Heaven whom he raised from the dead even Jesus who
delivered us from the wrath to come[2]
[1] Peter put the subject of election in
its proper perspective, by urging Christians to put forth a constant steady
effort in making their calling and election sure. The Bible says Christians can
receive forgiveness for sins committed after they are born again. Christians
can even return to God after backsliding [a state in which a Christian is not
serving God and fellowship with God is interrupted, but is reversible through
sincere repentance] 1 John 1:8-10, Jeremiah 3:12-15. The Bible also
says Christians can fall away. Falling away is not synonymous with backsliding.
But backsliding (which is reversible) can lead to falling away—a state which is
irreversible. Once a Christian falls away, repentance and restoration back into
grace is impossible Hebrews 6:4-6. This exhortation, to make our
calling and election sure, follows Peter’s list of things all Christians must add to their faith if they expect to
grow and be successful as Christians. Peter included both a promise and a
warning in this passage 2 Peter 1:4-10.
[2] The Church was already experiencing fearful
persecution, but Paul knew there was even worse coming—which he assured the
believers at Thessalonica they would be delivered out of 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18,
5:9. When he wrote of the “wrath to come,” he was referring to a future time
[which the prophets foretold], and called by various names: the “Time of Jacob’s
Trouble, the Indignation,” the time when, “the consummation and that determined
shall be poured upon the desolate Daniel
9:27.” Christians are never desolate, so Daniel’s reference to the
desolate could not have been referring to the Body of Christ. Those who belong
to Jesus, have the indwelling power of the comforter, the Holy Spirit. Paul was
also referencing Jesus, when he spoke of the “Great Tribulation,” which is
still a future event. When he wrote that Jesus had delivered them from the “wrath
to come,” he was referring to a pre-tribulational rapture.
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