It is more accurate to say that the Thessalonian Letters of Paul, Silvanus (Silas), and Timothy properly read and understood are the death knell to the interpretive mindset which engenders and maintains spiritual poverty to this day.
Both of these letters are among the first written New Covenant letters that we have and were both written in quick succession in the first years of the fifth decade, that is, approximately AD 51/52.
Taken together, as they should be because they were so intended, they fully cover and fully define and inform about The Day of the Lord – the second coming of Jesus in glory. That epochal event was as misunderstood when Paul wrote as it still is now.
Among the writings of Paul, the Thessalonian letters are the only letters whose main purposes were to illuminate about the return of Christ and to explain the recipients’ (the Thessalonian believers’) direct and personal participation in that Day – participation that would be realized while they were still living! The failure of both popular old and popular modern interpretation was and is to not see those crucial facts.
The co-authors began the first letter praising the Thessalonian believers for their steadfast reputation. As part of that opening encouragement, they stated that the recipients were properly waiting for the return of Jesus, Who would, accordingly, deliver them from the approaching wrath of God. They went on to talk about the very positive relationship they had with the Thessalonians, likening it to a nursing mother and to an instructing father. Those statements were the grounds of the authors stating that God was calling the Thessalonians into His own kingdom and glory. That calling was active of the imminent kingdom which was arriving with Jesus. The very same verbal form (present indicative) used of the authors’ relationship with the Thessalonians; “exhorting, comforting, and charging” was that used of God thereby “calling” the Thessalonians into His kingdom. Paul, Silas, and Timothy went on to praise the Thessalonians for receiving the exhortations and comforting and charging words not as the words of men, but as the very words of God. They said because of this they wanted to visit the letter recipients, Paul especially so, but that they were hindered by Satan. They wanted to go to the believers there because they, the believers, were the authors’ hope, joy, and crown of boasting to be realized in front of the Lord Jesus in His presence – His coming. Those were real words to real people about a real event that they all (Paul, Silas, Timothy, and the Thessalonian letter recipients) would really participate in.
Since Paul and Silas could not go, and knowing that afflictions were the testing of the righteous, they sent Timothy instead. Timothy returned with good news about their faith and love for Paul and Silas and their desire to see them, too. The authors rejoiced in this and hoped to actually visit the Thessalonians to increase their faith still more and then stated that such was in God’s plan to make them established in holiness for the coming of the Lord in His glory.
Already, four times the authors made know to the Thessalonians that they would directly participate in the coming of Jesus – the presence of Christ arriving the second time in glory to establish the Kingdom of God. They made plain that the holiness engendered by the praises and exhortations of the letter was for that very end.
To close the first letter, they warned the believers about issues of concern. More than likely, Timothy told Paul and Silas about the Thessalonians’ weakness and temptations in those areas. First, they warned them about sexual corruption, specifically about the kind that was rampant in the ancient Greco-Roman world. Next, they exhorted the believers to maintain brotherly love while being productive in their own lives in a self-sufficient way.
Then, they turned to a misunderstanding of the issue that they had emphatically referenced for holy living; the coming of the Lord. The Thessalonians had not understood the status of their fellow-believers who had recently died. It is highly likely that this was because of the insidious Gnostic error, which was ubiquitous in the ancient world. This error taught a false knowledge for salvation and hyper-spiritualized almost everything. As a result, it denied vital truths of God’s provision and administration. A few years later, Paul and Sosthenes would deal with the same error which influenced some of the Corinthians to deny the resurrection from the dead. Whether or not the Thessalonians’ misunderstanding resulted from Gnostic influence, the result was the same. They thought that life in the Spirit was only for the living. As a result, they grieved over their deceased fellow-believers because they thought that they would not participate in the glory of the Day of the Lord. Paul, Silas, and Timothy taught the corrective truth of the matter in no uncertain terms. Not only would the those who had died while believing in the Lord (called the sleeping) fully participate, but they would do so in a place of honor. They would rise first, before the letter recipients would be changed. (This truth was emphasized when Paul and Sosthenes corrected the Corinthians.) The authors assured the Thessalonians that not only would their departed fellow-believers participate in the glory of the Day of the Lord, but they would do so honorably, immediately before the living Thessalonians would. This was to be a cause of great joy! They said that all believers, the dead in Christ and the living Thessalonians, would be caught up together to meet the triumphant Lord Jesus in the clouds of the air – the former domain of Satan, the prince of the power of the air – and, accordingly, fellowship forever in the presence of the Lord!
Furthermore, they tightened the truth upon the Thessalonians by reminding them that the Day would come suddenly while men were proclaiming “safety” through their false salvation. They instructed them to abide in the armor of God because, they said, “God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him.”
They ended this first letter by instructing the believers to recognize their leaders and walk and function in the love and Holy Spirit of God. Then they pronounced this blessing: “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will do it.”
After this climax they put the Thessalonians under oath to have the letter read to all of the brethren. This indicated the absolute importance of the clarification of the doctrine of the approaching Day of the Lord Jesus for all of God’s people.
Seven times in this short letter, the authors exhorted the Thessalonians in eternal life through the teaching of the Day of the Lord and their God-appointed participation therein. The seven statements can be seen as five if one unites the last three into an elaborated teaching. This can be done without forcing anything upon the emphatic letter. Whether it is five times or seven times, the truth of the Day of the Lord and the Thessalonians’ direct participation therein – both those sleeping ones who had departed this life through death and those still living in the city – is the emphatic, oath endorsed teaching of Paul, Silas, and Timothy!
Alas! For all of this, the Thessalonians did not comprehend the truth. The second follow-up letter by the three, which was written and delivered within months of the first one, reveals that sad fact. How slow men are to see, comprehend, and believe!
The authors began the second letter by praising the Thessalonians for their increasing faith and love, which seems strange as the rest of the letter progresses. This, however, was the way of ancient letter writing and the championed way of Paul: praise the good, and build up with encouragement; then correct the errors for the same results of building up in the faith. As soon as they started the letter they referred again the coming of the Lord, this time they focused on His coming to execute vengeance on those who were persecuting the Thessalonians for their faith. This very fact encouraged the believers to maintain faithfulness until the goal of participation in the glory of Christ. This standing in persecutions proved them worthy of the calling of God to share in the glory of Jesus.
However, the Thessalonians were being mislead by outside influences that the Day of the Lord had already occurred. Such a hyper-spiritual teaching can be laid at the feet of ancient Gnosticism. It was correct that the Kingdom of God was spiritual. That was the emphatic teaching of Jesus and His apostles. Because of this, it could easily be abused by hyper-spiritual interpretations as happened to the Thessalonians. (It should be noted as an important highlight at this point that if the Kingdom of God could be observed with the natural eyes in the physical realm – as was abundantly taught by the Patristic Churches and is so taught by their spiritual step-children to this day – then all that the authors had to do was to say something like, “Look, the natural earth and our natural-physical bodies still exist, why be bothered by such self-annihilating false doctrine?” They didn’t say anything like that precisely because the Kingdom of God is not of this lowly realm!) The authors reminded the Thessalonians of the signs before the end, which Paul himself had inculcated when he was among them. Those signs, which were set in cryptic language, were still active and were not fulfilled. The Day of the Lord would not come until the signs were fulfilled. What were those signs? I will give the meaning of the signs instead of repeating the cryptic language. Clearly, the same teacher (Paul) who taught the cryptic language, taught its interpretation when he was with them. The Day of the Lord would not come until the restraining one, Claudius, was removed and then the son of lawlessness, Nero, would be manifested in his wickedness. Then the Lord Jesus would slay him by the appearance of His coming. This phrase, “the appearance of His coming” translates the words “by the outshining of His presence”. Another way to translate this is “by the dawning or breaking out of His glory”. Nero committed suicide in AD 68. The glory of Jesus was manifested in the Day of the Lord when He put the end to Satan, sin, death, and the Law in AD 70. At that time the kingdom of the world became the Kingdom of Jahveh and Christ the Lord. All of God’s holy ones shared in the full inheritance of the glory of the Kingdom of His Son!
Claudius was ruling when the Thessalonian letters were written. The signs of the end were still waiting for fulfillment. Only then would the Day of the Lord be manifested and fulfilled!
Hallelujah! What was theirs by epochal fulfillment is now ours by spiritual inheritance!! Glory to God in the Highest!
The authors ended the second letter by encouraging the recipients to remain faithful and productive through various commandments.
I started this essay by stating that the Thessalonian Letters are the End of Spiritual Poverty. How is that? What do I mean by that? All of the pronounced goals of the letters are yours by inheritance (if you are a believer in Jesus) just as they were the Thessalonians’ by God’s administrative and epochal fulfillment. What are these? Complete deliverance from God’s judgment; rule and glory (the “weight” of the spiritual manifestation of God); joy and crown of boasting in God’s people; fixity of thought in blamelessness and holiness; complete and ever-abiding reign with Jesus in all spiritual revelation and authority; fulfillment of the power of the presence of the Lord.
These are the spiritual realities that are ours by way of inheritance! These are the glories in which we are to abide and abound. Or, are you like the Jews of old and of today? They say, “When the Messiah comes, he will bring everlasting righteous, justice, and deliverance to the people.” “When the Messiah comes, he will give us the victory.” “When the Messiah comes, he will make us the head and not the tail.” “When the Messiah comes, he will be our peace and give us the overcoming knowledge of God.” They still await what the Messiah has done because they will not believe in the Messiah! Are you like they are? Have you distanced yourselves from God’s provision and fulfillment through lack of faith?
Today, in this Day Age of the Son, we have received all that Paul, Silas, and Timothy promised to the Thessalonians! There is no place for weakness or poverty in the Spirit! With them, we have inherited all of these things! Much, much more can be said about who we are in Jesus and what we have received in Him. Believe and receive!
Today we burn the incense from heaven upon the golden alter from heaven. We pray aright in the House of Prayer for all People. We know God in the Holies of Holies. We worship and praise God, thank God, petition God, make requests of God, and intercede in the Spirit of God according to the will of God in Jesus Christ regarding all things and everyone! Today we abide in the cherubimic chariot throne of God in Jesus Christ. We are filled with the seven Spirits of Jesus in Divine power and Divine full-knowledge. We crush the outside remnant of sin. The crush the outside croucher. This is the might of the wheels and of the wings of the throne of the Kingdom of the Son. Jesus holds the hyssop of Life and the iron rod of justice. Today we recline with Abraham the believer, along with Isaac, Jacob, and all of God’s elect at the table of Jahveh and we feast in this rich banquet of feasting upon Jesus Christ, the feast of life! The trees of life are ours. The rivers of life flow through us. I could go on, but suffice it to repeat now that The Thessalonian Letters properly understood put an end to anemic faith and spiritual poverty. This is all yours by God’s eternal purpose, design, and your inheritance. Believe it, take it, and thrive! The Messiah came and brought His full inheritance to His people. He came to save in approximately AD 30-33 and within one generation, in AD 70, brought back His inheritance for His people when He returned to judge.
Honor, Praise, Dominion, and Glory to God in the Highest! He has done it! He is worthy!