One In Jesus

2 Thess 2:14-15

(2 Thess. 2:14-15 ESV)  14 To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.  15 So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.

“To this” refers back to “saved” in 2:13.

The calling was “through our gospel.” This is, I believe, no more complex than a reference to the preaching of the gospel. See Rom 10:9-17 where Paul asserts that faith comes by hearing, hearing by preaching, and preaching by missionaries. Continue reading →

I apologize for not being involved in the comments these last several days. I’ve been under the weather with something called “endocarditis,” meaning an infection of the heart valves. I’ve been on 24-hour IV antibiotics for a month. (Anti = against; biotic = life; hence, against life or feel like death warmed over.)

Some hours are better than others and I’ll spare you the disgusting side effect details. Suffice to say I’m pretty much housebound and watch a lot of football. (Roll Tide!)

I’m likely headed toward heart-valve replacement surgery.

But I noticed a lot of comment traffic dealing with the “election” and “calling” passages. I thought I’d add this thought to the mix — inspired, of course, by watching way too much TV.

Presently, there are several shows on TV dealing with time travel and the resulting paradoxes that so fascinate science fiction writers, such as The Flash, The League of Legends, and Timeless. (I particularly enjoy Timeless because they have so much fun replicating the old days — with hair styles, clothing, and all.) The problem with time travel is that, in theory, you can go back in time, prevent your parents from meeting and so never be conceived, meaning you didn’t go back in time, so you were conceived after all …  Continue reading →

2 Thess 2:13-14

Having contradicted the false teaching regarding the Second Coming and likely concerned that he may have offended the church, Paul immediately shifts the subject to give a word of encouragement.

(2 Thess. 2:13-14 ESV) 13 But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.  14 To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

“Firstfruits” in v. 13 is a little surprising. It is, of course, OT language referring to the spring harvest. The firstfruits are the first barley, wheat, or other grain or fruit to ripen in the field, and some of these were given to God as part of the Pentecost celebration. The 3,000 baptized at Pentecost were the firstfruits, converted on the day of celebration of the firstfruits (no coincidence at all, of course). Continue reading →

Closing thoughts

So I started with just the text and Gordon Fee’s commentary on 2 Thess. And I soon worked with just the text as I found Fee too unwilling to consider the possibility that these events had already happened. He prefers a metaphorical interpretation — an interpretation that doesn’t really serve Paul’s purposes in writing 2 Thessalonians.

If we assume that Paul is right (and that 2 Thess isn’t some so-called Deutero-Pauline text but truly honest-to-God inspired scripture), then there has to be an answer. Follow the evidence.

When I finished my own, independent study, I went through over a dozen commentaries and found that nearly all offer no theory at all. Some suggest that Paul is offering a metaphor for any rebellious leader (seriously?). Some assume the Left Behind theory. Some list obviously absurd interpretations (Hitler, Stalin, the Pope) to demonstrate the impossibility of knowing what is meant. Some conflate this text with the mark of the antichrist, the beast, 666, and all that — which is unwarranted. He’s not called a beast or given a number by Paul. We can’t just assume to be true what we wish to be true. Continue reading →

Verse-by-verse exposition

Let’s work through the text to see how it fits to equate the Rebel with Simon bar Giora, the leader of the Jewish rebels against  Rome —

(2 Thess. 2:3-4 ESV)  3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first

If I’m right, the “rebellion” is the rebellion of the Jews in AD 66-70. “Rebellion” is the natural — even literal — word for Paul to use.

As shown by N. T. Wright in Jesus and the Victory of God, Jesus prophesied during his ministry in a failed effort to warn the Jews against just such a rebellion. Therefore, this was both rebellion against God and Rome. And Paul would have seen it especially as rebellion against God since Jesus himself had begged his people not to do this. Continue reading →