Paul and Silvanus and Timotheus to the assembly of Thessalonians in God our Father and [the] Lord Jesus Christ.
Second Thessalonians opens with the same three names as the first letter, and almost the same words. The readers were young believers under persecution. The greeting looks ordinary. Yet almost every phrase in it is unusual for Paul, and one phrase — the address he gives this church — appears nowhere else in his letters.
Paul writes with two companions and drops the word "apostle" that heads most of his letters. One writer traces this to the state of the readers:
The Thessalonians knew Paul, Silvanus and Timothy. These men had been with them, and God used them to bring the gospel to them. He does not speak of himself as an apostle. In nine of his letters, Paul uses his title as apostle... He asserts his apostolic title and authority in the strongest way when he writes to the Galatians and the Corinthians. False teachers troubled those churches and questioned his apostolic calling. Since this trouble did not exist in Thessalonica, he does not remind them that he is an apostle. He did not parade his title. He mentions it only when someone questions the truth he preached, which he had received from the Lord.
Sharing the letterhead with younger men was itself a choice:
Most men in his high position as the apostle to the Gentiles would not dream of putting smaller and younger men beside themselves in their inspired letters... Paul does name others beside himself in his inspired letters, and that shows humility, large-heartedness, consideration for others and fellowship.
The letter goes to "the church of the Thessalonians" — one assembly, not several. Size is not the reason:
Calling them "the church" has nothing to do with having fewer people, all gathered in one company. In no city, perhaps, were there more saints than in Jerusalem, yet we read of the church or assembly there. There might be many houses in a city where the saints met to break bread, but together they made up "the assembly" there. In short, Scripture never speaks of "assemblies" in a city, whatever the number, as it does of a province. It always speaks of "the assembly."
Paul's greetings usually name a city. This one names something else, and only in these two letters:
"The church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father." The letters to the Thessalonians are the only place where we find the words "in God the Father" used to show where a church stands. In the other letters Paul usually says "the church of God which is at Corinth," or "the saints which are at Ephesus." Paul probably speaks of them this way because they had come to faith so recently. He takes this church at its birth, so to speak, and sees it only in its relationship to God. "One God and Father" — that is the first thought that springs from faith.
Being "in God" might sound like more than it means:
So we have, "The church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father." That is not putting them in Deity. It is family relationship.
The first letter said "God the Father." Here Paul writes "God our Father." One writer finds purpose in both halves of the description and in that extra word:
He again describes the assembly as in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The first separates them from Gentiles, as the second separates them from Jews... For what did a Jew know more than a Gentile of such a new, living and intimate relationship with God as Father? And what did a Gentile know more than a Jew of a rejected but risen Lord and Saviour in heaven? He adds "our" here, which the first letter's opening did not have. Why? To fix these saints firmly in the relationship they share with the writer, and with all saints, to Him whose grace is the source of all blessing. They walked well in most respects, yet needed that reminder more than ever.
Persecution was still active. The greeting meets that pressure before Paul makes a single argument:
The apostle at the outset reminds them of the perfect security of the assembly. It was in God the Father, and in the Lord Jesus Christ. No power of the enemy could destroy it... He writes to the Thessalonian saints while persecution was active against them, and both times he reminds them that the assembly is perfectly secure. The enemy tried to stamp out the work of God there, and the strain fell on them. Yet neither false teaching nor careless living had done its withering work among them, so the apostle had no need to blame them for anything.
- Placed — Paul does not address this church only in Thessalonica. He addresses it in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. No other church gets this description.
- Family — that phrase does not lift believers into Deity. It names a relationship: one God and Father, the first thought faith produces.
- Ours — the added "our" ties these believers to the writer and to all saints in one shared relationship.
- Separated — being in God the Father sets them apart from Gentiles; being in the Lord Jesus Christ sets them apart from Jews. Neither Jew nor Gentile knew either one.
- Safe — being in God is the answer to persecution: no power of the enemy can destroy an assembly held there.
Grace to you, and peace from God our Father, and [the] Lord Jesus Christ.
The second letter to Thessalonica opens with the same greeting as the first. It went to believers who were under persecution. Why repeat a familiar greeting to people in trouble? And what does it give them to hear that grace and peace come from two Persons at once?
Paul had already sent this greeting in his first letter. One writer explains why it had lost none of its force.
The "grace and peace" he wishes them is as fresh and new as if he were saying it for the first time. In fact it is all the more needed now that doubts and alarm have attacked them. It is no less available in days of decline than in days of greatest spiritual energy. But we must use it if it is to do us any good. If we ourselves have failed, yet the blessed source of this grace and peace is unchanging — "God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."
Another writer looks at the greeting from the side of their suffering.
As children of the Father, and owning Christ their Lord, he greets them and wishes them grace and peace from the Father and the Lord. Their sufferings changed nothing about this. They only brought its comfort, greater than words can say, right into the need they were in.
Each of the two words meets something specific in what these believers faced.
The Apostle writes to the assembly of the Thessalonians as being "in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." He sees that they enjoy the full truth of Christianity. That truth reveals God as our Father and Jesus Christ as our Lord… He wants these believers to have grace to endure their persecutions, and peace to guard their hearts despite their troubles.
One writer traces how these two names — God as Father, Jesus as Lord — cut the readers off from both worlds they came out of: the Jews and the other nations.
Again he describes the assembly as in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The first name cuts them off from the Gentiles, the second from the Jews. In truth each name marked them off from both. What did a Jew know, any more than a Gentile, of such a new, living, close relationship with God as Father? And what did a Gentile know, any more than a Jew, of a rejected but risen Lord and Saviour in heaven? He adds the word "our" here, which the greeting of the first letter did not have. Is it not to fasten those believers… to Him whose grace is the source of all blessing?
Set against Israel's standing under law, the change of ground is the whole point.
Grace had put them in that known position and relationship. So at once the apostle asks for them the favours they need, "grace and peace," to keep them always for God's praise and pleasure. God placed Israel before Jehovah under law; He sets us before the Father under grace.
The verse names two givers, not one. One writer draws out what that says about who Christ is.
Notice how closely God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ are joined here, as Joint Givers of these good gifts. It would be blasphemy to link the name of men or angels with "God our Father" in this way. In chapter 2 we will read plainly that Christ Jesus is equal with God, and this verse tells us the same wonderful truth. May God help us always to hold on to this foundation of the Faith, and to enjoy the Grace and Peace He offers us!
What does it mean to be wished "grace" when you already have it?
"Grace to you" is not only that you stand on the foundation of grace. "Grace to you" means you live from moment to moment in the resources of God's grace… The people of God need those resources of grace and peace every day, every moment… The source is one, yet there is still a difference. The name God the Father brings out the family side. The name Lord Jesus Christ brings out the kingdom side, His authority.
- Source. Grace and peace come from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ together. That pairing tells us Christ is equal with God.
- Unchanging. The source never changes. Grace is as available in days of decline as in days of great spiritual energy.
- Supply. Grace is not only the ground you stand on once, but the resource you live from moment to moment.
- Steadying. Under persecution it means grace to endure and peace to guard the heart in the middle of it.
- Standing. "Our Father" names a relationship neither Jew nor Gentile had known. We stand before the Father under grace, not before Jehovah under law.