2 Thessalonians 3:5 May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.
5 Ὁ δὲ κύριος κατευθύναι ὑμῶν τὰς καρδίας εἰς τὴν ἀγάπην τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ εἰς τὴν ὑπομονὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ.
Paul is wrapping up his letter with his usual prayers and final admonitions. I've been reading a book on Paul's prayers and so this one kind of jumped out at me. This is one of the prayers that he wanted to record in Scripture, so I would think that it is pretty important. Maybe it's something we should imitate.
What I see here is that we need God's help for our hearts to be directed to love Him. I know my own heart and I see how vital this prayer is. My heart manufactures idols quite easily. It also tends to focus on me. This prayer tells me that I need to pray for a heart that loves God more. I know I often find myself praying this over and over again some mornings as my mind wanders when I pray. I need God to keep me focused.
And how are we to be focused? We need our hearts directed to the steadfastness of Christ. When I see τὴν ὑπομονὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ I realize that it is Christ's steadfastness that matters here. The word τὴν ὑπομονὴν is in the accusative case, but τοῦ Χριστοῦ is in the genitive. It looks like τοῦ Χριστοῦ modifies τὴν ὑπομονὴν. In other words, the steadfastness that our hearts need to be directed to is the steadfastness that Christ has.
What does this do for us? It tells us that we can look at Christ's life for an example, to be sure. But it also tells us much more. It reminds us that our salvation is based on Christ's perfect obedience. It is not based on any of our own merit, but on His. This means that our salvation is assured because He secured it for us. This gives me great hope as I look at my own wandering heart.
How about you? Are you basing your salvation on your steadfastness or on His? My prayer is that as you read this you would reflect on the steadfastness of Christ and let that be your hope.
Showing posts with label 2Thessalonians. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2Thessalonians. Show all posts
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Friday, August 13, 2010
Sacred? Tradition
2 Thessalonians 2:15 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.
15 Ἄρα οὖν, ἀδελφοί, στήκετε καὶ κρατεῖτε τὰς παραδόσεις ἃς ἐδιδάχθητε εἴτε διὰ λόγου εἴτε δι᾽ ἐπιστολῆς ἡμῶν.
Paul is wrapping up an argument about standing firm with the man of lawlessness coming. He's telling them to remain steadfast in what he taught them. This is of course important as the man of lawlessness is a deceiver. I'm not necessarily ready to buy into this pointing to dispensational eschatology, but I suspect that this is an important chapter.
What I want to discuss instead is this word παραδόσεις. This is translated "traditions." This is also what the Roman Catholic Church uses to defend its stance on "sacred tradition." You see, what the Church teaches is on par with Scripture. That was Paul's approach, so it is theirs as well.
This would be perfectly fine if the church had the apostolic authority it claims. So what you've got to decide is whether or not Matthew 16:18 really does grant them the authority that they take for themselves. If they truly are part of an apostolic succession then you've got to give them their claim.
However, if they are just another cult like the Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses who claim divine authority then you need to be wary of them. That's the approach I take based on their history. There simply is not enough evidence to substantiate their claim for apostolic authority based on the history, but there is plenty to challenge it.
Where you land on this is critical because it gets to the very heart of the gospel. How is one saved? Is it the Catholic way or the Protestant way? I'm betting my future on the Protestant way. How about you?
15 Ἄρα οὖν, ἀδελφοί, στήκετε καὶ κρατεῖτε τὰς παραδόσεις ἃς ἐδιδάχθητε εἴτε διὰ λόγου εἴτε δι᾽ ἐπιστολῆς ἡμῶν.
Paul is wrapping up an argument about standing firm with the man of lawlessness coming. He's telling them to remain steadfast in what he taught them. This is of course important as the man of lawlessness is a deceiver. I'm not necessarily ready to buy into this pointing to dispensational eschatology, but I suspect that this is an important chapter.
What I want to discuss instead is this word παραδόσεις. This is translated "traditions." This is also what the Roman Catholic Church uses to defend its stance on "sacred tradition." You see, what the Church teaches is on par with Scripture. That was Paul's approach, so it is theirs as well.
This would be perfectly fine if the church had the apostolic authority it claims. So what you've got to decide is whether or not Matthew 16:18 really does grant them the authority that they take for themselves. If they truly are part of an apostolic succession then you've got to give them their claim.
However, if they are just another cult like the Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses who claim divine authority then you need to be wary of them. That's the approach I take based on their history. There simply is not enough evidence to substantiate their claim for apostolic authority based on the history, but there is plenty to challenge it.
Where you land on this is critical because it gets to the very heart of the gospel. How is one saved? Is it the Catholic way or the Protestant way? I'm betting my future on the Protestant way. How about you?
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Ultimate Justice
2 Thessalonians 1:9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, 10 when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.
9 οἵτινες δίκην τίσουσιν ὄλεθρον αἰώνιον ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ κυρίου καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς δόξης τῆς ἰσχύος αὐτοῦ, 10 ὅταν ἔλθῃ ἐνδοξασθῆναι ἐν τοῖς ἁγίοις αὐτοῦ καὶ θαυμασθῆναι ἐν πᾶσιν τοῖς πιστεύσασιν, ὅτι ἐπιστεύθη τὸ μαρτύριον ἡμῶν ἐφ᾽ ὑμᾶς, ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ.
Here Paul is explaining what will happen to those who were persecuting the Thessalonians. God would eventually repay them for their persecution and sin. He would not necessarily do it immediately, but it was coming. He contrasts their future with that of the saints. When Christ returns He will be glorified in the saints while those who did not believe will be punished forever.
I have heard complaints about the nature of God because of the so-called problem of evil. How can God allow such awful things to happen in the world? Why doesn't he stop evil men from doing evil things? I would submit three responses to this.
One is that you are talking about a world of absurdities. Should God turn every bullet into butter? He certainly could, but does it make any kind of sense for God to operate that way? We don't know the eventual implications of such modifications to His created order. He certainly could make these miraculous changes all over the place, but I would submit that would be an absurd world.
Two is that these folks will ultimately be punished in a way more horrifying than anything we can imagine. It seems that we all have a sense of justice. I have two small children and I see this in action every day. It doesn't take a child long to determine what is "fair" relative to his or her world. It takes a long view to see the justice that God will eventually dole out, but it satisfies my sense of justice knowing that evil will eventually be punished accordingly.
Third, this really speaks to how we perceive God. If He truly is God and He is truly good, then we can trust what He allows to happen. When we don't then we are telling God that we don't like the way He runs the world. That's kind of arrogant, isn't it?
Now this intellectual response may seem a bit cold to someone who just lost a spouse to cancer or to someone who had a storm ravage their house. I like to think that this is what I would fall back on though. Nothing in my life belongs to me, including my life. Christ bought my life with His. I am not my own. Therefore, nothing is mine and nothing is owed to me. An airplane could crash into my house (we are right by the airport, so this is not that ridiculous an idea) and kill the three people sleeping upstairs. That would be a terrible thing, but I don't think it would change my view of God. He owes me nothing, but He has given me the greatest gift possible in my salvation. Were that to happen I would know that there is a reason behind it, even if I could never hope to understand it while on earth.
I am not begging to be tested on this. But what I do know is that how folks react to pain demonstrates their view of who God is. Is God really God or are you going to be god and tell Him how to run His world because you don't like it?
9 οἵτινες δίκην τίσουσιν ὄλεθρον αἰώνιον ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ κυρίου καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς δόξης τῆς ἰσχύος αὐτοῦ, 10 ὅταν ἔλθῃ ἐνδοξασθῆναι ἐν τοῖς ἁγίοις αὐτοῦ καὶ θαυμασθῆναι ἐν πᾶσιν τοῖς πιστεύσασιν, ὅτι ἐπιστεύθη τὸ μαρτύριον ἡμῶν ἐφ᾽ ὑμᾶς, ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ.
Here Paul is explaining what will happen to those who were persecuting the Thessalonians. God would eventually repay them for their persecution and sin. He would not necessarily do it immediately, but it was coming. He contrasts their future with that of the saints. When Christ returns He will be glorified in the saints while those who did not believe will be punished forever.
I have heard complaints about the nature of God because of the so-called problem of evil. How can God allow such awful things to happen in the world? Why doesn't he stop evil men from doing evil things? I would submit three responses to this.
One is that you are talking about a world of absurdities. Should God turn every bullet into butter? He certainly could, but does it make any kind of sense for God to operate that way? We don't know the eventual implications of such modifications to His created order. He certainly could make these miraculous changes all over the place, but I would submit that would be an absurd world.
Two is that these folks will ultimately be punished in a way more horrifying than anything we can imagine. It seems that we all have a sense of justice. I have two small children and I see this in action every day. It doesn't take a child long to determine what is "fair" relative to his or her world. It takes a long view to see the justice that God will eventually dole out, but it satisfies my sense of justice knowing that evil will eventually be punished accordingly.
Third, this really speaks to how we perceive God. If He truly is God and He is truly good, then we can trust what He allows to happen. When we don't then we are telling God that we don't like the way He runs the world. That's kind of arrogant, isn't it?
Now this intellectual response may seem a bit cold to someone who just lost a spouse to cancer or to someone who had a storm ravage their house. I like to think that this is what I would fall back on though. Nothing in my life belongs to me, including my life. Christ bought my life with His. I am not my own. Therefore, nothing is mine and nothing is owed to me. An airplane could crash into my house (we are right by the airport, so this is not that ridiculous an idea) and kill the three people sleeping upstairs. That would be a terrible thing, but I don't think it would change my view of God. He owes me nothing, but He has given me the greatest gift possible in my salvation. Were that to happen I would know that there is a reason behind it, even if I could never hope to understand it while on earth.
I am not begging to be tested on this. But what I do know is that how folks react to pain demonstrates their view of who God is. Is God really God or are you going to be god and tell Him how to run His world because you don't like it?
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